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Chapter Text

There was a part of him that knew he never should have taken him, but seeing Obi-Wan with his son - his child that he'd been told had died along with his wife - had been too much to bear. A flash of red hot anger and the deed was done, like so many times before. He should have walked away, but somehow couldn't leave him alone in the unforgiving galaxy, those wide eyes fixed on him.

Uncle Ben, he'd called him. Well, at least Obi-Wan hadn't called himself the boy's father. Not that Vader had yet. Not that Vader even knew if he was. Physically, yes, of course, but the day that Padme had died he'd tucked Anakin Skywalker so far away that he might as well have been dead. No longer were the terrible deeds he did in the name of saving her, but because he had nothing left. He was Vader. And this child…. was Padme's. He looked like Anakin, but every inch of the soul felt like Padme's. Vader knew he'd only destroy that if he kept him there with him.

But somewhere on the flight the little boy - Luke. That was the name she had given him - had gotten closer and closer until he was practically in Vader's lap, sleep tugging on his young mind.

Five. It had been five years since Padme had died, so he wasn't any older than that. So young and so innocent and so very, very vulnerable, but Luke trusted him. Perhaps his instincts told him who he was, even if Vader couldn't admit it aloud. Maybe… maybe this was a chance that he hadn't dared hoped for. Maybe he could train him. He could protect him from every danger at every angle, including his own Master.

Vader found a gloved hand against blond hair, despite every inch of his darkened soul screaming against it. This child - his boy - was a flicker of light. A danger to his source of power. He should cast him aside, but he couldn't. He knew he couldn't.

And so he'd hide him away. Protect him. Train him. Someday, he and his son would set the galaxy right.

Uncle Ben had been afraid of the tall man dressed all in black. Afraid… and something else. Luke didn't know what. It had been heavy, like the blanket fort he'd made once that had gotten wet when the rain came. Not sad. It was more than sad, but he hadn't had a chance to ask as the closest thing he'd had to a father had pushed him in the opposite direction and told him to run. He hadn't come back. Maybe Luke had run too far.

The man had found him, though, and Luke had felt surprise leap off of him. He wasn't mean to him and he was afraid too, even if he didn't say it. Afraid and sad and maybe a little bit of the same heavy feeling that Uncle Been had felt. He had bent down and scooped Luke up from the corner he'd tucked himself away in and something in Luke told him this man wasn't going to hurt him. Uncle Ben had always said to trust his feelings.

He didn't see Uncle Ben again. He didn't know if he ever would. He had asked the tall man where he went and the man had told him that things were being "put right," whatever that meant. He thought Uncle Ben had taken him - stolen him, he said - away from his father. Luke didn't know his father. Everybody had one, he guessed, but he didn't know much about his. He had asked the man if he was taking him to his father and he sure thought that the grunt behind the mask was a yes.

The man lived in a castle. A real castle with fire coming out of it. Luke had pressed his nose against the window of the shuttle as it landed, half expecting to see some sort of monster come out of it. Instead the hangar doors opened and the man landed, the shuttle jolting a little under them. That's where the excitement ended, though. The castle felt empty and strangely cold, even with the fire all around it. It was a cold that left him scared, but one look at the man and Luke had tried to ignore it. He was brave, even though he was scared. Luke could be too.

It wasn't totally empty. There'd been a hooded man that greeted them and called the man dressed in black Lord Vader. The name didn't sound right to Luke, but if the hooded man said it maybe it was true. His name was Vaneé, Luke finally found out, but only because he asked. Uncle Ben would have told him to be patient. He wasn't very good at that though, and Lord Vader didn't seem to mind.

So Luke asked questions. Where were they? Mustafar. What's that? A planet. Was this a castle? Yes. Did he have an Arkanian Dragon? No. Did he live here? Sometimes. Did Luke's father live here?

Lord Vader stopped mid-stride, not turning, but Luke could feel the conflict.

"Uncle Ben didn't wanna talk 'bout him."

"Out," Lord Vader snapped at Vaneé and the old man scuttled away, leaving Luke standing alone with Lord Vader, his loud breathing echoing in the room.

"Are you my father?" Luke asked, the question leaving him on instinct.

He thought he heard a sigh escape from the mask and he felt the answer. It was true. Uncle Ben had told him his dad was dead, that that was why he couldn't talk about him. He missed him. He'd loved him.

"Obi-Wan lied to you," Luke's father growled as if he'd read his thoughts.

"Can you feel it too?"

His father turned, the mask facing Luke now and he could imagine a set of eyes much like his own behind it. He wondered why he wore it. "Yes."

"Uncle Ben was teaching me," Luke continued, his little nose scrunching up as he remembered all of the frustrated moments. "He said I didn't like to wait."

"Impatient," his father provided the word and Luke nodded. "He often said that." He tilted his head and Luke swallowed down the question about the mask that kept trying to escape. "Would you like me to teach you about the Force?"

He'd been waiting a long time to find out more. He was pretty sure all five years of his life. He and Uncle Ben had moved often and he'd never really known where he came from. The stories Uncle Ben let slip had been few and far between, and maybe not even true, but this was. He couldn't see his father's face, but Luke knew when to trust his feelings. Maybe he could tell Luke all the things about his family that he didn't know.

He nodded and grabbed his father's hand. It tensed for a half a second, but then gently closed around Luke's much smaller one as the two started down the castle hallway and towards his first lesson.

It had taken some time to find a rhythm. His duty took him to every corner of the galaxy, and while leaving Luke on Mustafar wasn't ideal, taking him aboard the Executioner was out of the question. The 501st were loyal, but his flagship housed nearly forty thousand between troop and crew. Someone would notice the boy and, somehow, it would get back to Palpatine. No, Luke was safer on Mustafar because, even if Vader couldn't be there himself, the Sith Cave under his fortress would work well to shield the boy from his Master's notice.

He was a quick study, and it was clear that Obi-Wan had begun to teach him before Vader had uncovered the truth. Young as he was, Luke was able to move small objects with the Force and his instincts were sharp. He learned quickly, just as a young Anakin Skywalker had, and was just as easily bored by lessons too easily conquered. Part of that showed in driving Vaneé further into madness - exploring the fortress, dismantling droids to try to put them back together, and even a dangerous trip down to the lava's edge that nearly cost his incompetent servant his life for allowing it to happen - and part in the Force bond that was forming. That the boy was initiating.

Luke wasn't afraid of him. Just opposite, somehow, and as weeks turned into months, Vader could feel the young mind reaching to his. First it was when he was in the fortress, but then, on longer trips, he could feel his son touching his mind from across the galaxy. It was a strange sensation, full of trust that pushed back the cold he'd become so accustomed to since that day in Palpatine's office when he'd taken the knee and sworn his loyalty. It was dangerous, but no matter how many times he pushed Luke out, the boy managed to find a way back in.

"I'm not afraid," his son told him after a lecture on staying hidden. "I wanna go with you."

"No."

"Why?"

Because he'll find you. They were words Vader didn't dare speak out loud, but ones the inquisitive child clearly heard through the bond that was becoming stronger and stronger each day.

"You won't let anybody hurt me," Luke said firmly, turning those pale blue eyes up at Vader. "Right?"

His chest tightened dangerously and he pushed away memories from a life that should have been long-gone. A life in which he'd fought so hard, but he'd never had the power to protect those he loved. And here was Padme's son, staring up at him with no fear because he trusted his father to protect him.

Vader's hand seemed to move without permission as he set it on top of blond hair and his next breath rasped even more than usual as he pulled it unsteadily in. "I will protect you," he swore. "I will always protect you."

Luke grinned up at him, the light beaming off the child tugging at what was left of his soul.

"You wanna see the droid I'm building?" his son asked, taking the hand on his head so that he could pull Vader after him. And he let himself be pulled, if only for the moment.

Vader had known no peace in the years after his turn, and following the death of the woman he loved and what he had thought had been the death of their child, he'd wanted no peace. It would only serve to dampen his newfound powers in the Dark Side. And yet... he'd found slivers of it, just as he feared he had when he brought Luke with him. In moments it dulled the perpetual pain and urged hope that had been buried so deeply inside of him. 

And maybe that's how it had happened.

There had been a desperate chill that ran through him, and it was the only warning that Vader had as he finished his report, still knelt on one knee with his face turned down as the holo projection of his Master loomed before him. "And onto other business," the Sith Lord said. "The boy."

It was like a lightsaber piercing through his chest. For a moment he couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Desperately Vader tried to clamp down on the mix of terror rising in him and the explosive rage that would be directed on the party guilty of letting it slip. The list of people that knew Luke was there was painfully small.

"Did you think you could hide him from me?" Palpatine asked. "The last remaining Youngling of the old Order."

Memories flashed through his mind and dread clawed at him. No. No, he would not allow Palpatine to kill his son. His own child. Or command him to do it. It was an order that he wouldn't follow. He'd learned he was capable of most anything if given the right circumstances, but surely even he wasn't capable of that.

A rough, dark chuckle left his Master. "Do not be troubled, my friend. The Younglings in the temple had been corrupted by the Order, but perhaps there is a place for your son in my Empire." Somehow, the words didn't give Vader any comfort. Nor did the ones that followed. "You will bring him to Coruscant so that I may watch over his training."

There was a moment, brief and flickering, that Vader considered running. Scooping Luke up and disappearing into the Outer Rim or the Unknown Region.

But the reality came quickly on the thought's heels: there was no running. There was nowhere Palpatine would not find them. There was only biding his time.

"Yes, my Master," Vader spoke, his voice low and determinedly steady. If Luke was to get out of this alive, it was the way it had to be. He couldn't protect his son if he was dead.

Everything was big. The sky, the planet, and all the tall, tall buildings that Luke thought looked like should have been able to reach into space. There were so many of them. So many new things. When they'd come in, Father had even tilted the shuttle so Luke could see the mountains and the ocean off in the distance. It'd been so pretty that he'd crawled up on the dash just to get a better look before his father had pulled him back into his seat. He wanted to see it all, but Father wouldn't let him. Not yet. Maybe after they did whatever it was that he didn't want to do he'd take him to see the streets far below where they had landed.

This place - Coruscant - was busier than where they lived in the big black castle with Vaneé. From the moment they landed he felt the unspoken order of silence filtered over their bond and Luke found himself having to run to catch up with his father's long strides. When they crossed someone through the hangar or in the halls the person would stop, scooting out of their way and standing stiffly until they passed. They were scared - so was his father. He was just better at hiding it - but Luke didn't know why.

The further in they walked, the fewer people he saw. Finally they reached a lift and, once they were alone, his father turned his black mask towards him. "Say nothing unless spoken to. Say nothing more than to answer the question asked. Understood?"

"Yes, Father." Luke said dutifully. He tried to reach out through the bond to cheer him up like he often did, but felt an immediate push back. Father didn't want to be cheered up. He wouldn't even let him try.

The doors opened and Luke followed him out on his heels, not daring to be left behind. There were two Humans - he though so, anyway - in red robes standing at the door. They didn't scoot out of the way, but opened the door for them. The room was huge and dark and cold. Colder than the castle, but he'd gotten used to that. Maybe this was why his father was afraid. Luke was a little scared now too.

"Come closer, child," a voice called from the shadows and Luke stopped, the want to run overwhelming.

His father nudged him forward with the Force and he squinted, his eyes adjusting enough to see a figure in a dark robe sitting on a dark throne in the dark room. He took another step forward, then another, and a shiver ran down his spine at the wrinkled old man peering out from the robe with his yellow eyes. He gave a strange smile that looked anything but friendly. "Yes," he said, but Luke didn't know what question he was answering. "You look just like your father did when I first met him. He was only a little older than you are now."

Luke looked back at his father, hoping for some sort of direction. He didn't receive any. That mask was as emotionless as ever.

The robed man looked him up and down and Luke felt pressure on his mind that sent another shiver through him. "And powerful too. I can feel it. You will stay here in the palace."

"With my father?" Luke asked without stopping to remember the rule: Say nothing more than to answer the question asked.

"We shall see," the robed man said and Luke didn't like that tone. He was lying. He wanted to take him away from his father. He wanted to steal him like Father had said Uncle Ben did.

Luke started for his father - why did he seem so far away? - and with a small flick of the robed man's hand, every muscle in his small body seemed to freeze. He couldn't move and panic started to creep in.

"Luke," his father hissed, but Luke was already desperately fighting the hold as the fear built inside, threatening to overflow.

"Let go!" Luke yelled and the glass behind the robed man cracked, the sound echoing through the room. Blue eyes found yellow and the big, black chair the robed man sat in lurched from where it was bolted to the floor, jolting him to standing. Luke saw rotting teeth as the man laughed and anger flooded his mind. He wanted to leave. He wanted to go home. He wanted —

The glass exploded behind the robed man and sped towards him, stopping halfway to him as he held up his free hand, the one pointing at Luke as if to hold him in place twitching down and the boy hit the marble floor hard.

"Yes. Very powerful indeed," the robed man chuckled, his voice distant. "You've done well bringing him here, Lord Vader."

Luke heard his father respond, but couldn't make out what he said. Instead, as the room faded around him, he only felt the touch of his father's mind over their bond, trying to calm him. But there was something else mixed with the reassurance. It was that heavy feeling that Luke would someday know was guilt.

He wanted to go home.

The first night that Luke spent on Coruscant, all he could think was how much he hated it. He hated the loud noises, the freezing cold floors, and robed guards that sent him scurrying immediately back into the room when he'd stopped crying long enough to go looking for his father. He was alone and he was scared and his father had promised to protect him. He'd promised.

Luke reached out and felt darkness return over the bond. Fear, anger, and other emotions he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

I want to go home, he pushed the words and the feeling past the barriers his father put up, feeling fresh tears threaten as he curled up around a pillow on the bed that was far too big for him. I want to go home.

He didn't know when he fell asleep or how long he slept, but he woke to the sound of his father's breathing through the face mask and one large, black glove on his small shoulder. Slowly he blinked sleep out of his eyes as he tried to piece together where he was.

Then reality came crashing back in. "Where were you?" he demanded, jerking out from under the gloved hand and rolling to stand on the bed. Even with the added height, his father loomed over him. He was bigger, stronger, and he was supposed to protect him. He'd promised, but after what had happened he just left him. Luke felt fresh tears building as he lashed out over their bond, unable to find words to express the overwhelming feeling of betrayal.

Images slammed into him like he'd been hit again and he fell back into the bed, fractured glimpses of bright, blue-white light and searing pain followed by endless floating and for a moment he thought he was drowning.

Then the images were yanked away as fast as they'd appeared and his father had his hand on his head, the closest thing to a hug as he seemed to be able to give. "Breathe, Luke," Father reminded him.

He'd done something. The hooded man had done something and —

"Enough," his father growled out and Luke choked down the next sob. "You're angry. Hold onto that. Focus it. Use it above fear and someday, you will be more powerful than even the Emperor is. He has foreseen it."

Luke sat there for a long moment and tried to push back his fear. Both his own and the fear he'd known had been his father's. Maybe being brave and strong was just not showing it. He could be strong. Father was strong. If they both were, nobody could hurt either of them and then neither of them would really be afraid. "When?"

"When you've completed your training."

He thought about it and nodded determinedly. "Can we start now?"

And just like that, Luke felt a glimmer of pride flicker over their bond.

There were a lot of rules on Coruscant. Technically there had been a lot of rules on Mustafar too, but if Father wasn't around, Vaneé was really bad at making Luke do something he didn't want to do. It was funny. He didn't think he would miss Vaneé if he got to go on an adventure with his father, but after just a few weeks on Coruscant, Luke was sure that he'd prefer Vaneé over Emperor Palpatine. They were both hooded and old, but at least Vaneé didn't scare him.

No, Luke reminded himself. He'd promised Father he wouldn't be scared. He would train and when he was afraid, he'd remember how angry he'd felt when the Emperor had hurt him and pulled his father away from him. If he trained hard enough, someday he wouldn't be able to do it again.

It wasn't someday yet.

Father had been gone for a few days and Luke had worked hard while he was gone. He was meditating and focusing, channeling and growing the power even quicker than he had on Mustafar. Even more interesting than being able to semi-reliably move objects a whole lot bigger than he used to or being able to reach further and further to touch his father's mind was the set of instructions his father had left him.

He'd never been very good at following instructions. He preferred to take things apart to see how they worked, but he couldn't do that if it started broken. A bunch of little pieces laid all over the room and they were supposed to fit together. He looked at the instructions, back to the pieces, and back to the instructions. None of it made sense.

Luke pulled in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He could do this. He had to do this. It was supposed to be finished by the time Father got back. He couldn't start the next level of training until it was.

Another deep breath, then another, and he focused on what was supposed to be the end result. He felt something whoosh by his nose and cracked one eye open to see all the little pieces floating in the air. Well, that was a good sign.

One by one the pieces fit together, twisting and clicking and snapping into place. He watched the wires thread together and the cylinder over them to resemble his father's own lightsaber. He held it out and turned it over in his hands, one thumb running along the smooth surface of the handle. That looked right. It was a little big, but he'd grow into it.

He touched the trigger and nothing happened. No snap-hiss that he'd become accustomed to hearing from the red lightsaber his father carried or even - if he thought back far enough - Uncle Ben's blue lightsaber. There was nothing.

The door to the room opened without warning and Luke jumped to his feet, the useless lightsaber still in his hands and positioned between himself and the intruder. Instantly, the sense of danger melted away as blue eyes focused on the black-clad form of his father and Luke felt the first real smile since he'd left. "You're back!"

His father didn't answer as he strode into the room, the door sliding behind him and he came to stand in front of Luke. He extended one gloved hand and the boy handed over his project for inspection.

"It doesn't have a power source," Luke pointed out after a moment. "It won't turn on."

"No," his father breathed out and reached deep into the folds of his suit for something. Luke waited as patiently as he could, tipping up on his toes in vain to try to get a better look at what he was fitting into the hilt and tilted his head in curious question as he slid a piece back into place. "The Kyber crystal is the power source for all lightsabers," his father explained as he handed the hilt back to him and took a step back, allowing his son room to flick the switch.

A crimson blade - just like his father's - leapt from the hilt and Luke stared at it in awe. "Do I get to learn?"

"Yes, but first, my Master requires our presence."

Luke swallowed hard, the blade disappearing. He hadn't seen Palpatine since the first day that he'd met him and he was pretty sure he never wanted to again. He gripped the hilt tightly. "Can I take it with me?"

"You'll need to," his father said and moved towards the door.

Luke scurried behind him, his shorter legs working doubletime to keep up. They wove through the hallways and he tried to memorize the path they were taking so that he could find his way around like he had back home in the castle on Mustafar. Finally, they reached familiar doors and the familiar Red Guards that stood in front of them. As before, they were allowed to enter.

"I understand your studies have paid off, my child," Palpatine said from deep in his shadows and Luke tightened his grip once again on the hilt of his newly constructed lightsaber. He wasn't sure if it would do him any good if the Emperor decided to attack him again, but he would put up a fight if he did. "Come," the aged, robed man said as he reached a gnarled hand out to him. "Show me."

He didn't have much of a choice. Luke stepped forward and Palpatine took the hilt from his smaller hand. He turned it over, inspecting it, and the red blade leapt to life without warning. He eyed it and turned the same strange smile on Luke that he'd given when the boy had shattered the glass behind him. He braced himself, ready for the worst, but the blade disappeared.

"You constructed it yourself?" Palpatine asked.

"Yes," he managed to squeak out.

"With no help?"

He thought of the power source his father must have slipped into it, but that was it. "Father left instructions," Luke answered.

"Very good. Very good indeed." He handed the lightsaber back to him. "The Rule of Two prevents me from teaching you myself, but your father may instruct you under my supervision. I have foreseen great power in you, young one. Great power."

Young one. Child. He wondered if the Emperor even knew his name. "My name's Luke."

A rough, ugly chuckle left the man at that. "It was, but Luke Skywalker is too easily connected with Anakin Skywalker -"

Luke looked back to his father, feeling a strange pain emanate from him at the name.

"- and you wouldn't want to put your father in jeopardy, would you?"

His chest tightened suddenly and he wondered how a name could be dangerous. He looked to his father and back to the Emperor. "No," Luke managed. "How would I do that?"

"No one must know that Anakin Skywalker survived Order 66, and because of that, no one must know Luke Skywalker lives. No…. From this day you will have a new name. One worthy of a future Sith. Destined for greatness in our order. From this day you will be called Natus."

The name settled on him, heavy and cumbersome, as if he'd tried to put on his father's armor. It wasn't comfortable and it didn't feel right, but he wanted to protect his father. He gave him one more look and saw the barest of nods. Okay. If it would help protect him, he could learn to be Natus.

TBC

Chapter Text

There were two sounds: the subtle buzz immenating from the repulsorlifts of the training droid he'd finally finished the upgrades on and the soft hum of the lightsaber in his hands. Red light echoed off of the marble flooring of the room he'd claimed as his own for combat training nearly a year before and Luke let his blue eyes slip open as he loosed a breath. Okay. Time to see just how well those upgrades worked.

Before he'd fully expelled the breath the droid was on the move. It lurched to the side, a laser shooting out from one barrel and Luke's blue eyes didn't snap open until after his lightsaber was in motion to block it. He used the momentum to pivot, swinging around and ducking down to avoid another shot, before popping up and flipping over the one that followed it. He landed firmly and blocked another three in succession, his blade moving faster than any normal Human should have been able to swing it. Especially a boy of nine.

The droid jerked upward, taking the high ground, and Luke ducked and rolled to avoid the next shot. His predicted path was cut off, leaving the marble scorched in front of him. Good. The upgrades were doing what they were designed to do. He weaved to the side, and then redirected to keep up with its fast pace, the latest volley singeing the fabric of his tunic. His soft, black boot slipped across the slick floor and threw him off balance. He slid, catching himself with his left hand and was thrown fully to the floor from the next blast.

In the back of his mind Luke clocked an amused presence, but he forced it out of the way as he rolled to his feet in a motion he would have liked to have been smoother. He dodged a shot, then another, blocking a third. He blocked another and another, the final one ricocheting back towards the droid, clipping it. He swung his blade upwards, the practice-setting on the lightsaber not quite allowing the blade to slice it clean in two.

Luke stood in the middle of the room, heaving one breath after another as he glared at the sparking bit of machinery twitching on the floor. There'd been something… No, not something. Someone. He spun to the entrance and didn't see anyone there. There shouldn't have been - this entire section of the palace was closed off - but there were traces. He closed his eyes, trying to focus as he stepped forward.

When he opened them again he was at the entrance, blue gaze sweeping what appeared to be an empty hall. The strange thing was that he could still feel it: that distant amusement. Someone was there and they were toying with him.

Irritation boiled and Luke shoved it down, trying to focus it as he reached out with the Force.

There.

He turned, his lightsaber flashing open as he jumped at a shadow. He heard a step, though, caused by a little too much weight added a little too quickly to floors already prone to echo. It gave him the direction that he could chase after.

And he did. Through the hallway and around the corner. He wouldn't admit it, but it was fun. A living, breathing person was a whole lot more clever than a droid. Or at least harder to predict.

Luke reached a hallway with a set of windows overlooking the gardens below and he spotted one that had been thrown open. He dove for it just in time to see a flash of red-gold hair against the green of the tree. The girl - around his age - dropped from a lower branch and looked up, their eyes locking. She shot him a triumphant smirk and was gone, disappearing into the grove of trees and leaving him to wonder how she'd gotten into the private halls in the first place.

He didn't see the girl again for weeks, and with his father away chasing down some threat to the Empire and no summons from the Emperor, Luke had no one to ask. He'd learned fairly early on that trying to ask the Red Guard anything was a waste of breath and he wasn't allowed outside the wing where his rooms and training space were located. She wasn't dangerous, he didn't think, but certainly unexpected.

Finally, the summons came as it usually did: without warning and with what felt like no point. Luke was pulled from his studies - or, from staring at the archives of some won battle that had crossed in his mind with at least three others just like it at some point - and was escorted to the throne room where Palpatine had been speaking to an image of a Grand Admiral over the holocomm. Luke wasn't acknowledged for a long, boring stretch as the conversation continued, but even when it finally ended, the Emperor only wanted to quiz him on lessons he'd been studying. It was everything Luke could do to focus and pull the answers out of the depth of his mind. It felt pointless. Did he really think that was as important as learning about the Force?

"A question has occupied your mind, my child," Palpatine said, cutting off Luke's monotonous description of an ancient Sith battle.

And that was it. His opening. He had been so loyal to his father's rule: say nothing more than to answer the question asked. It drove him nearly mad sometimes, but for once, Palpatine had opened up the door. "I saw a girl in the palace. Around my age, red hair…"

"You wish to know who she is?" the Emperor asked, and Luke carefully felt for the best way to respond, just as Father had taught him.

"Only to make you aware of her presence, my lord."

"And do you not think I am aware of her presence, young Natus?"

Okay, well that hadn't been the right path to take. His mind slammed to a halt, desperately scrambling for the right answer.

"Do you know why you study ancient battles?"

The change back to the previous topic spun him even further off balance. There was a shift in Palpatine's demeanor. The toying was done and he was easing into a more familiar air. Luke couldn't pinpoint when he'd started it, but when he was summoned it often shifted midway, almost like Palpatine was trying to put him at ease. But that led to yet another lesson his father had tried to teach him: the Emperor did nothing out of kindness. If he appeared to, there was another angle.

The longer it went on, the more often Palpatine offered something for nothing, the more Luke wondered if maybe Father was wrong.

"I… I guess I thought it was so I could learn how Father fights and join him someday," Luke answered, his voice uncertain.

"Perhaps," the Emperor agreed, "and that you might learn the strategies and implement them now. To know friend from foe, to decipher where allegiances should be made and where the embers of rebellion should be sniffed out." He paused and Luke felt those yellow eyes boring into him, even if his own blue had been fixed on the marble floors. "And this girl? Is she friend or foe?"

"If you brought her here, she's a friend, right?" Luke asked, feeling that the answer was wrong even as it left his lips.

"There are many that are ultimately loyal to me that will still vie for your position. Others yet that have shifted loyalties that have not yet been uncovered."

"Wouldn't you know?" Luke asked, genuinely curious of the answer.

"I do," Palpatine answered, but even as he did the two words rang through the Force as a lie. "But those loyal shall always root out the disloyal. And this girl. What do you think? What do your feeling tell you?"

Luke let his eyes flutter closed and stretched out. He pictured the girl with her smirk and her flowing red hair. She felt… good, he thought. Maybe not safe, but trustworthy. But to him or to the Emperor or both? "I think… I feel," he corrected, "that she is talented. Smart. I trust her."

"As you should," Palpatine answered, his voice more cheerful than usual. "Though… I fear your father may not see it so clearly."

Blue eyes popped open and he looked up. "Why?"

Palpatine heaved a sigh. "Your father fears much and it often blinds him. If he sees you trust another, he may fear losing you."

"He's my father," Luke answered firmly. "He won't lose me."

Palpatine hummed noncommittally and peered out from under his hood. "Only time will tell. For now, on with you. See if you can find your elusive ghost. I expect you to have a name next time I call to you."

Luke ducked his head again. "Yes, my lord," he answered and backed his way out of the throne room, past the Red Guard, and into the hall. He would need to find her, to actually seek her out. He did his best to brush off what Palpatine had said about why his father wouldn't want him to. Surely he knew that nothing could break their bond.

When Vader had first found his son and brought him to live with him on Mustafar, the boy had been like a shadow. If he were on planet, Luke was there. If his duties had taken him away, Luke would be there to greet him as soon as his shuttle touched down. When Palpatine had ordered him to bring him to Coruscant, it had been one of the few things that hadn't changed.

More independence was to be expected with age, but it was odd to find the hangar empty, especially since Luke would have known he was arriving.

Vader stretched out, searching the boy's presence out until he found him. He was focused. Overly so, and Vader let the Force guide him until he found him in the furthest hallways of the wing Palpatine had confined him to. He didn't respond to his fathers presence - or his loud footsteps or the steady, rhythmic breathing that his mask announced to the worlds - but instead was studying a door at the end of the hall.

Finally, his son tilted his head, eyes still fixed on the door. "Do you know who stays here?"

"I do not," Vader answered, searching across their bond for better understanding of the question beneath the question. And he saw her. A girl, no older than Luke himself, leading him on a chase before taking off out a window and down a tree. So, Palpatine had picked himself up a new pet to train. His Hand, he called them, even if each one thought they were the only one. Interesting that he'd chosen a child this time. More interesting yet that he'd chosen to house and presumably train her there.

Blue eyes were now fixed on him. "Who is she?"

"A distraction," Vader snapped. "Ignore her."

"But the Emperor said I need to find out her name."

"Not at the expense of your training."

Luke ducked his head, his mood soured. But then, just as quickly, Vader felt it lighten. "I did just finish the repairs on my upgraded Marksman. Wanna see?"

"I have no doubt you've engineered a dangerous sparring tool," Vader answered solemnly, "but I wish to see your progress training against it."

The boy's mood lifted a little more as he darted past him, eager to show off his advancements since his father had been away. He stopped, though, and turned, his smile reaching those blue eyes. "I missed you," he said. "Are you going to stay a while this time?"

Despite his own earlier moroseness at his son's lack of greeting when he arrived, the words caught Vader by surprise. That sort of vocalized sentiment had no place in these halls. It was dangerous, yet he could not find it in him to chide his son over it. Instead he pushed a long breath out through the vent in his mask and started forward, forcing Luke to have to jog to keep up. "Do not think my absence is any excuse for laziness."

Luke laughed at that, the sound real and dangerously light as it echoed off the marble floors. "Never."

"He is progressing well," Palpatine said as he watched the holorecording of Luke dancing around the training space, toying with the droid and allowing its system to learn his movements before taking it on in earnest. "I remember a formattable youth that mastered Form Five once. He does not have your physical strength, but much of your former speed." The words sounded like praise on the surface, but it was impossible to miss the underlying truth beneath them: Luke was every bit as talented as Anakin Skywalker had been at his age and, if he remained on the path the Emperor wanted him on, he would someday be much more than Vader had become.

"There's a softness in him, though," Palpatine mused as the projection of Luke bent to pick up a piece of the droid, cringing as he did at the charred edges. "I would have thought that would have been dealt with by now, Lord Vader."

Vader didn't answer immediately, turning one response after another over in his mind. Perhaps this was his chance. "Children grow out of such sentiments when they're faced with true battle. Allow me to take him with me on the Executioner."

Palatine turned yellow eyes on him and he could feel his Master looking for ulterior motives. "No," he drawled at last. "The time is not yet right."

It was a dangerous game being played, and Vader knew one move too far would only serve to cause Palpatine to try to create a wedge between father and son. It was the reason that he had wanted him on Mustafar and the reason —

"Though the child has been separated from others far too long," Palpatine mused. "Book learning and combat with droids will only take him so far."

The girl. So Palatine had sent her.

"He is yet to bring me her name. Why do you think it is taking him so long?"

He knew. That was clear enough from the question. "His focus has been on his training."

"Finding her is part of his training. And hers. You will not interfere again."

There was a long moment as two powerful wills battled for dominance over a child that wouldn't even know he was the center of it.

"Though, if he has devoted so much time to his training, then perhaps it is time to showcase those skills. One of your own battle droids, perhaps."

Vader's would-be argument about Luke and the girl ground to an abrupt halt at the meaning behind the words. It was presented as a chance, but it was a threat. Keep pushing, remain defiant, and Luke would pay the price.

"If you believe the girl will teach him a valuable lesson, then it is as you will it, my Master."

"Yes," Palpatine hummed and settled back into his throne, seemingly content to keep Vader knelt before him until he tired of his presence.

He didn't know much about the girl with the red hair, but he did know that she liked a challenge. Part of that challenge, he'd decided, must have been to avoid being found. So far, she'd won that, but that didn't mean he hadn't gotten close.

There was the first time at the windows. Later, he could have sworn he felt the same spark of amused mischief in the halls, but this time he didn't hear or see her. The time after that he couldn't feel her through the Force, but he knew he was being watched. Okay. She wanted to use him to learn whatever her Master was teaching her. Fine. Luke would just have to work on his investigative skills.

He started with the room his father had found him standing in front of. It'd taken a few tries - rewiring an entry pads were a little different than rewiring a droid - but he'd gotten inside. There wasn't a lot to see. A bed, a few articles of clothing, and a datapad with a few familiar tomes of ancient battles downloaded to it. Interesting. She was studying some of the same history. Not that that did him any good. Or did it?

Luke minimised the book and navigated to the data settings of the device. Maybe, if the Force was with him, he could piece together some kind of identification data. If not a name, at least another clue.

A notification window popped up. Nice try. Look higher.

Blond brows knit together and he frowned. Higher? The library? No. That didn't feel right. But maybe the landing pad. Maybe. There wasn't any higher you could really go, and definitely not in this wing of the palace.

Luke made his way up the rarely used starecase, not willing to let the lift give him away. As he drew closer, he could feel her, and his steps quickened until he was taking two steps at a time. He hit the top and the doors slid open, the breeze that came with standing this far above the traffic of the ever-busy Coruscant met him there. He breathed it in, eyes closed for a moment, before he let them open to search the flat landing pad.

And then he saw her. She wasn't hiding. In fact, she was sitting in plain site on the low, outer wall of the landing pad. Her back was to him, knees were bent with feet dangling over the edge, and the breeze teased at her long red-gold hair. She didn't turn, but he felt her amusement flicker from her. "Took you long enough."

Luke made his way over to where she was seated. "Maybe you're bad at leaving clues," he offered.

"Maybe you're bad at following them." She turned, that same triumphant smirk she'd worn the first day he met her tilting her lips. "You afraid of heights?"

"No." He hopped up to join her, swinging his legs around to dangle off the edge like hers. "I come up here all the time."

"On the ledge?"

"Sometimes, but mostly just the landing pad."

"I know. To see your father when he lands," she said matter-of-factly. "You weren't up here when he came back a few days ago."

Luke blinked hard, turning to look at her. "You've been following me?"

"You broke in my room," she countered, as if the day's event had had anything to do with her supposed weeks - maybe longer - of following him. "How'd you get in?"

"Rewired the security panel."

She hummed thoughtfully at that. "You're good at that, aren't you? Like the training droid?"

He shrugged. "I guess." A moment passed, then another, and he watched her out of the corner of his eye. "How long have you been at the palace?"

"I don't know. More than a year. Maybe a few."

"Were you here before I got here?"

It was her turn to shrug. And then she was moving, a foot underneath her and she pushed her weight up and back, flipping to the flat surface behind them. She was halfway turned to the door by the time he scurried to his feet. "Hey, wait! I'm supposed to get your name!" he called after her.

She tilted her head. "You ask a lot of questions. What do I get?"

"My name's…" He swallowed his real name before he could let it slip. Sure, she was within the walls of the Palace, but Father hadn't been exactly happy about Luke's search, and the Emperor had said that no one could know his real name or it'd put his father at risk. "Natus," he supplied the name Palpatine had given him instead.

"Okay." She kept moving towards the door.

Luke thought quickly. A name for a name wasn't going to be enough. Something more interesting then. "You like training droids? My father uses these upgraded battle droids. They're faster and stronger than the one you saw in the training room." She stopped, but didn't turn. It was like she was waiting. "You wanna see?"

He saw her pretty green gaze flicker back to look at him and a shadow of her smirk returned. "What are you waiting for, Natus?" she asked, and Luke grinned as he started for the door to the stairwell.

His father was going to kill him. Okay, killing him might be a stretch, but if he caught even a hint that Luke had gotten into the private training rooms - much less brought the girl with him - he was pretty sure he'd receive a lesson in just why everyone was so afraid of him. He wasn't even on planet that afternoon, though. He was in orbit in the Executioner. It was as good of a chance as he was going to get until a mission took him to a different system.

Luke had never been into his father's private suite without him, but he knew enough to know the rooms that were absolutely off limits. The meditation chamber, for one. The private bacta tank and medical facility was definitely on that list. Really, the whole set of rooms, but there was a quick path to get directly to the large, open training arena that Luke wasn't technically allowed into without his father. It was fine. In and out and he'd never even know they were there. He was being careful enough.

His guest was less so. She took in every inch of the bare internal hallway and the closed doors that led to the off-limits rooms. Luke could feel the unasked questions bubbling up inside of her, even if he didn't know what they were. Finally, as they ducked into the training room, one slipped out. "Does Darth Vader sleep?"

Luke spun on his heel. "Of course he sleeps. Who doesn't sleep?"

"Droids?"

"He's not a droid."

"He's not all human either, is he?"

"Do you wanna see the battle droid's or not?" Luke demanded, his tone sharper than he'd really meant for it to be.

The red headed girl shrugged, seemingly unphased by his tone. "That's why we're here."

Luke moved over to the storage closet and opened the door to reveal the towering, charging giants. There were three of them - one fewer than there'd been the last time he'd been here, which likely meant his father had damaged one beyond repair - and the girl came to stand right next to him, startling him a little. She moved like a ghost.

"Whose lightsaber was this?" she asked, reaching out to touch the weapon clutched in the middle droid's hand. Luke didn't have time to answer, though, as a set of red eyes lit up, causing her to freeze where she stood. "Did you do that?"

"No. It must have some sort of sensor on it. It's fine. There's gotta be a way to power it back-" He was on his way to check the back of the droid when everything inside of him screamed danger. He reacted, jumping back and reaching for her, but she was already moving as the blue lightsaber snapped into existence. He blinked at it, surprised by the colour for half a beat.

"Move!" the girl yelled and he felt her hand take hold of his wrist, pulling him out of the way. As the laser blade swept through the space he'd just been standing in, the strangeness of the colour didn't seem to matter as much anymore.

He jumped back, right hand reaching for his own lightsaber on his belt, and the red blade leapt to life.

"Guess we're going to fight it then," she grumbled off to his side and he risked a look as she activated her own magenta blade.

"Do they all look different?" he demanded and she balked at him.

"That's what you care about?!"

Luke dodged the sweep of the blue blade at him, dancing out of its way and flashed her a grin. "What? You're the one that wanted to see it."

"Not fight it!" she snapped as she blocked a swing at her clumsily so that she almost lost her grip. Interesting. So she was great at puzzles and sneaking around, but duelling didn't look like it was her specialty.

Luke slipped around the droid, catching it unaware, and swung his blade hard at a weak point at the droid's knees. The contact caused it to spark a bit, but no real damage was done other than to piss the droid off. It turned and attacked with brute force. Luke barely had time to flick the power up to a higher level to parry.

"Were you on training mode?" the redhead demanded.

"That's what I use with mine."

"You think your dad's gonna use a training setting? They're his droids!"

Luke didn't bother answering as he shoved hard, but the height and the weight was more than he'd ever trained against. He didn't have time to get out from under the blade to try to counter the height difference between himself and the droid, but instead was forced to one knee under the weight of the attack.

"Natus!" he heard the redhead cry and she rushed the droid. It pivoted, slamming its blade into hers hard enough to knock her lightsaber from her grip and reached around with its left hand, hauling her up and off the floor. Fear mixed with anger, and Luke wasn't sure which was hers and which was his own, but he took the only opportunity he had. Using the Force, he sprung up from the floor, slashing out and he took the droid's left arm clean off. The droid swung around with the blade, enough momentum that, even though he brought his blade up to block, Luke was tossed into the wall. Hard.

He felt himself sliding down, unable to get his feet under him or pull his focus together. It seemed like all he could do to keep his eyes open, and he was failing at even that. His vision swam as the droid loomed closer, coming in for the finishing blow.

And then it stopped as if frozen in place. Luke blinked, trying to clear his vision as the giant, black droid was lifted off the floor, lightsaber dropping harmlessly, and began folding in on itself. It sparked and sizzled, crumpling in as tightly as it looked like it could go, then it was crushed some more. The ball of metal and gears dropped heavily next to the lightsaber and Luke finally looked beyond it to see his father standing with his gloved hand outstretched, fingers curled, and rage rolling off of him.

Yeah. This had been a terrible idea.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd been that afraid, not that she let on during her report. Mara kept her chin up, her voice steady, and her eyes fixed on her Emperor's yellow ones as she spoke. It wasn't hard when she recounted what led up to the event, or even the event itself. It wasn't something she'd intentionally repeat, but she'd been relatively sure that they'd get out of it alive, despite Natus' distraction at points.

No, it wasn't until she got to the part about Vader's entrance into the matter that she had to steady herself. He'd simply appeared without warning, destroying his droid as easily as if it had been a thin parchment in his hand. She had only seen him in passing before that day and never with his attention anywhere directed at her. She could still feel the cold that crept into her. It was deep and it left her shivering. Despite her control, she felt the shudder pass through her.

"And then?" the Emperor prompted.

"He told me to get out. I didn't think it'd be smart to stay."

"Bright girl," her master praised and she felt some of the cold recede. "And the boy?"

"He stayed."

"And did he get your name?"

Mara had to school her expression quickly as she realized she'd never given it. Natus had earned it after everything, and she knew he owed it to the Emperor as proof, but after everything she'd just left.

"Yes," she lied, hoping it was convincing. She'd meant to give it, and that was the real test. It wasn't Natus' fault she'd scurried out.

The Emperor hummed softly to himself and she wasn't sure if he'd sensed the small lie or not. "You may return to your studies."

The dismissal was clear. She offered a quick bow and hurried out, but instead of heading up to the library, Mara headed outside. She circled around the edge of the Palace and to the gardens below, looking up and gauging her position. No. That would have been his training room, and he wasn't there. She inched over another handful of rooms' worth and found a tree that got her to a terrace. From the terrace there was a drainage pipe that led to another three floors and to a window with a balcony. She stepped onto it and stretched out with the Force. He was alone, but the frigid cold presence of his father wasn't far. The window was safer and would provide a relatively quick exit. She flipped over the opposite edge of the balcony and inched her way across a decorative ledge until she reached a set of closed, double windows and peered inside. It was a large room with model spacecrafts and half-finished droids lying about. In the corner sat Natus, his head down and his shoulders hunched in defeat. She popped her knuckles against the window.

Natus looked up, startled. Despite everything that had happened that day she saw a small smile tilt his lips and he unfolded himself from the floor, moving to unlock the window. "Hi."

"Hello," she answered, swinging one leg over to the inside of the window for a more secure perch. "How bad was it?"

Natus cringed. "Just be glad you got out of there when you did."

"I wasn't given much choice," she reminded him. His father had sent her skidding towards the door with his barely contained anger shoving her the rest of the way out. She guessed she was lucky he didn't do to her what he'd done to the droid.

"Right. Sorry about that."

The concern for her feelings was strange. She didn't claim to have a whole lot of experience with Siths - or future Siths? She really wasn't sure how that worked - but she was pretty sure that worrying over someone's feelings wasn't part of a Dark Lord's job description. "We both survived."

"You could have warned me you don't know how to fight with a lightsaber."

"I just started learning," she argued, but caught herself, tilting her head. "What good would it have done anyway? We didn't exactly go in there to fight them."

"True," Natus chuckled.

"Anyway. I'm much better with a blaster."

Natus scrunched his nose. "You're a kid."

"So are you. Doesn't stop us from training to serve our Emperor."

There was a subtle shift in his mood that she couldn't quite pinpoint. Before she could try to pick it apart, it was gone and he frowned a little. "I guess I lost this one, huh?"

"What'dya mean?"

"Your name. I thought, maybe…"

"You'd show me a killer droid and I'd tell you?"

He shrugged and she felt the edges of her lips tilt upward.

"You don't know anything about girls, do you?"

"I don't really know much about people," he admitted, a sad undertone to his voice, but then he met her eyes. "But I bet you're not like most girls."

Her smirk drew a little closer to something real and she leaned in close to his ear like she was telling him a secret. "Mara Jade," she whispered.

And then they both felt it. That cold that would precede his father. Mara offered him that real smile before she swung her leg around, moving quickly to her escape even as the door to Natus' room opened. Vader wouldn't see her. Natus might be good with a lightsaber, but her specialty was finding ways to get in where no one else could. Maybe she could teach him. Just not today. Probably not for a while, but he had her name now, just like the Emperor had wanted, and if the Emperor wanted them to help each other, not even Lord Vader could keep them apart.

TBC

Chapter Text

Some days it was difficult for him to remember life before the Empire. Before the Dark Side. Before the decisions he'd made that had only worked to fuel the guilt and eventual self-loathing that acted as the spark that ignited the focus to do what must be done. To bend the galaxy's knee. To bring peace. By force, if necessary.

If left to that purpose and left to his own methods, he and his Master likely would have gone on until the older man's death, which would have been many years down the line. Vader was no fool. He knew the Jedi had hidden much from him - Obi-Wan in particular - and Palpatine was willing to teach him. It was grueling, and consistently left him with new scars on the flesh he had left, but he'd made his choice. He'd made the choice to serve his Sith Master. Luke had not.

When Palpatine had ordered him to bring the boy in, Vader had hoped the Rule of Two would save his son, and for a brief moment he thought it had. He'd expected the Emperor - who had had a hand in his own childhood - to push and prod, but he hadn't expected her.

Mara Jade. A Hand in training.

Vader knew what these Hands did. Investigators, assassins. He had no complaint in them if they stayed out of his way and, by proxy, his son's. His Master had made it clear that Vader wasn't to forbid Luke from being near her - not that it would have done much good. He was the son of Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, and forbidding it would have only served to guarantee the budding friendship - but she'd put his son's life in jeopardy in the very way Palpatine had threatened to if Vader didn't yield to him. That couldn't be a coincidence.

Shy of outright killing the child - something he knew he was perfectly capable of - he couldn't keep her away from Luke. He could make it more difficult by filling his schedule, but the moment Palpatine caught wind of that he would add his own task to the training curriculum. A favour, or course, to his protege, to add his own wisdom to build up his own apprentice. Not that it was ever acknowledged that that was what Luke was. Asajj Ventress had been Count Dooku's apprentice, even if not in name. The Rule of Two clearly only cared about what was openly acknowledged. Ventress hadn't been the child of the Chosen One, so as long as she had been useful she was used. Luke's fate was darker. Vader knew that, in the end, Luke's true Master was the one in which he pledged his loyalty to. And he had. He'd initiated a bond typically formed between Masters and Padawans that had only proven stronger with blood. Sidious was trying to break that, and he would use the girl to do it if he was able.

Luke was strong, but he had to be stronger. His father wasn't always going to be there to protect him. He had to learn to protect himself.

The altered battle droid fired with the stun setting and Luke's boot slipped on the marvel floor as he tried to move. He hit the hard surface and Vader could feel the shock run through the boy's muscles as he twitched, trying to move.

"Again."

The droid loomed closer and Luke struggled against the previous pulse. He could do this. He had the raw talent, he just had to find the will. If he didn't, the next adventure Sidious sent him on through young Jade could be his last.

No. Vader felt his blood boil. If it came down to it, it would be his Master that fell. Not Luke. Not Padme's son.

"Father," the boy croaked out, managing to flop over on his back and those blue eyes went wide. "I can't!"

"You must," Vader boomed and felt his breath catch, despite the forced pull of air in and out of his lungs. Luke pushed himself up, almost getting a foot in place to leverage himself upright, but fell hard again. "Focus your fear," his father instructed. "Use it. It should not use you. Nothing should use you."

He watched through the lenses of his mask as the boy - only ten for a handful of standard months now - struggled and failed.

He wasn't afraid and he wasn't angry. Mildly irritated and frustrated, yes, but nothing powerful enough for the Dark Side to use as fuel. He was certain his father would save him, and while every paternal instinct - for what good they ever did him - screamed to stay, he knew that he'd be setting Luke up for dangers when he was away. Which would be soon. He'd put off his duties for months now with only a quick few placating trips to keep Palpatine from forcing him away. The Emperor had never preferred his lingering presence on Coruscant. Eventually, Luke would have to rely on his own wits.

"Again," Vader demanded as he turned, cape licking at the heels of his boots and he felt his son's desperate touch at their bond.

"Fath-!" The cry was cut short as the stun beam hit him again and the familiar presence was lost over their connection.

Vader turned, surveying the scene, before shutting the droid off through the Force. His footsteps, heavy and slow, echoed through the room before he stopped and bent to where the boy lay unconscious. With strangely gentle movements he picked him up and cradled him against his chest. For today, the training was finished. Tomorrow it would start again.

—

"I see training went well."

Luke groaned from his place on the floor, bent halfway over his crossed legs with a cold pack balanced at the base of his skull. Everything hurt, but not so much that he couldn't shoot Mara a glare where she stood in his room's doorway. "Not everyone has dancing lessons for their training."

"Keeps me light on my feet," she countered, twirling a little in a teasing manner before she sank fluidly to sit on the floor with him. "So I can dodge attacks rather than kissing the floor all the time."

"Yeah? You wanna go up against the battle droids again?" Luke grumbled.

"With your dad controlling them? No thanks. The whole palace can hear his again -" she dropped her voice, doing her best to imitate his father's powerful tone - "every time it beats you."

It had been six standard months since he and Mara had snuck into his father's training area and accidentally activated the battle droids he'd upgraded. Since then, Father had taken his lightsaber training to a new level. He was constantly exhausted and sore. Always in new places. "I just wish he'd tell me how to fix what I'm doing wrong, but instead it's channel your fear."

"Again," Mara tried again for her imitation, but snorted a laugh halfway through.

Luke moaned as he repositioned his melting cold pack. "I just want to beat it once. I used to think I was good at it."

He felt Mara's mood shift, as if she were trying to pick up on what she was supposed to say in that situation. Without feeling her presence in the Force soften, her voice did. "You are good at it, Natus. You're the best I've ever seen."

He looked up, the ice pack finally sluffing to the floor. "Really?"

Her expression lit up, as did her presence. "Was that good? My instructor said I was having some trouble with believable empathy."

Not for the first time, Luke found himself wondering just what kind of lessons Mara was given.

Then the meaning of the words caught up. "Hey!"

She flashed him a grin. "You've never seen the Emperor with a lightsaber. You'd understand if you had."

Sure, Palpatine might be powerful in the Force, but it was difficult to imagine he was very quick on his feet, which meant she was teasing him in layers that evening.

Mara settled back against the wall. "Maybe what you need is less to channel your fear and more to overcome it. Put it in perspective. That's what my instructor in Escape taught me. He said if you're not afraid, you can think your way out of nearly any situation."

"Back up. Instructor in Escape?"

"Not important," she waved him off. "My point is that we have to give you perspective. You spend every day in this corner of the palace. Of course you're afraid of droids."

"I'm not afraid of droids. I don't like getting stunned into unconsciousness." He paused, tilting his head a little and regretting it instantly. Why did ice have to melt so quickly? "And so were you. I didn't get hit that hard."

"I'm just saying you need experience. Is your dad going to come up here tonight?"

"No, he's going off-world. Some sort of uprising in the Mid Rim the Emperor wanted dealt with quickly."

The corner of Mara's lips curled up and Luke didn't have time to protest as she reached forward, hauling him to his feet along with her, and dragged him towards her favourite entry and exit: the window.

—-

There was a big, bright world outside of the Palace walls that Natus hadn't seen. The Emperor had said that his dad didn't want him outside. Lord Vader was notoriously paranoid - so she'd heard from the palace staff she'd chatted up when she'd first come across Natus and had looked for more information on him - and there were a lot of rumours on where his son had come from. Some said Vader had killed his mother and taken the boy while others - dreamers, Mara thought with not a small amount of disdain - thought perhaps Vader kept a lover that he didn't dare bring to the capital world. Finally, many of the staff thought Lord Vader had simply stolen Natus away from some unsuspecting family. A child with promise that he'd delivered to the Emperor and asked to take on as his heir. That had been the rumour Mara had given the most credence to right up until she'd actually been in the same room as Darth Vader. Natus was naïve and often softer than she would have expected, but in that moment that Vader had stood in the training room and destroyed his own creation, Mara had been forced to acknowledge it. She hadn't thought that Siths knew how to love, and while she didn't think it was a love she would want directed at her, she was pretty sure Lord Vader would burn the whole galaxy if it would keep his son safe.

Still, Natus hadn't seen much. His father wasn't providing him with the well-rounded education that the Emperor was assuring that she had, so Mara felt a certain responsibility. Despite his absurd naïveté, his reliance on his father rather than himself, and the overwhelming desire for human connection she felt every time she was near him… she was fond of him. Mara didn't find herself fond of people that didn't prove immediately useful. Just him. She couldn't put her finger on why, but she was willing to trust the feeling for now.

He whined the whole way. He wasn't supposed to leave the palace turned into he wasn't supposed to leave the grounds, which eventually shifted to a shrill, panicky feeling as she dragged him onto the street. Her hand started at his wrist, but eventually moved to interlace her fingers with his, which served to calm him a little. Slowly, she felt him start to relax and at some point she started having to drag him along less because he was afraid they'd be caught and more because he was mesmerized by all the sights.

Mara didn't really remember coming to Coruscant. She was sure it'd been in the last handful of years and she was positive she'd lived with her mom and dad somewhere else at some point, but it was all hazy. Why, she didn't linger on. Something inside always reminded her that nothing good would come of it. This was her here and now and this was her life. Coruscant and training and serving the Empire. Serving the Emperor. It was an honour. Someone had told her that along the way.

As she and Natus walked through the streets on the top level of the city she found herself watching him watching those around him with fascination. She was used to coming out into the city to sit and observe, but he wasn't, and because of that he was fixated on every alien race and every new experience. It wasn't until she saw a set of stormtroopers that she realized it was time to go. She might have leeway to wander and learn, but he didn't.

"What about-?" he tried to ask, but she was already pulling him away from the vendor and towards the lift. A quick glance around and she tugged him inside, punching several levels from the options.

"What was that?" Natus demanded.

"Unless you want dear old dad to find out you're out and about, we need to make sure they don't see us," she explained.

"You think they'll tell him?"

"You don't have any clue who he is, so you?"

He tilted his head in the way he did when he knew she knew the answer that he wasn't certain of. "He makes sure there's peace in the galaxy."

"Sure," Mara answered as they hit the first level she'd punched. The doors opened and she tightened her grip on him so he wouldn't leave.

The doors closed and they started their plummet again.

"He does," Natus pressed.

"I'm not saying he doesn't," she defended as they started to slow again. Just a few more levels. "Maybe just not how you expect."

"Like you'd know," he groused.

Something deep in her chest constricted for him. "I see more than you do, probably." He really was hopelessly naïve.

Whatever response was battering around his head was cut off as the lift slowed to a stop and the doors opened to reveal bright, flashing neon lights and all the sights and smells that accompanied the market district level. She glanced at Natus to see his blue eyes wide and the unfiltered sense of utter awe wafted off of him so that she couldn't help but pick up on it through the Force. For half a moment, she considered dragging him back into the lift. All the lightsaber training, all of his ability in controlling the Force wasn't going to do him much good in the end if a few flashing lights stole his attention. She wanted to help him, so she guessed she shouldn't shelter him like his father did.

"C'mon," Mara grumbled as she tightened her hold on his hand and tugged him forward. "Keep up."

He picked up his gait to keep up with hers. Even so, she had to tug him along every time that a cart or a booth caught his eye.

"My instructor in Escape always says that you have to have at least half a dozen distractions when you're learning because there'll be at least three anywhere you go," she explained.

That caught his attention. "Again with your escape instructor…. What is the Emperor training you in?"

She shot him a glare, but continued her original line of thought, ignoring his question. "You're always up against time, capture, and failing."

"Failing what?"

"Your mission."

"Wouldn't getting caught be failing?"

Mara shrugged. "Sometimes that's the best way to get in." At least, that's what Instructor Korbal had said. She hadn't gotten to the explanation of how yet.

Natus frowned, the expression pronounced. "It doesn't matter. The Emperor doesn't let me go on missions with my father."

"You've just gotta prove you can take care of yourself."

"How?"

She flashed him a wide grin. "By not failing."

—

When Mara had declared it a mission to go deep below Coruscant's top level, Luke had assumed she meant more than just avoiding troopers. That had proven to be a task alone though, especially the first few times. Apparently two kids running around the market level just looked like trouble, but it gave Mara a chance to show off all the tricks her instructor was teaching her. For months now, every time his father was off-world they would sneak out for another round.

But his father wasn't off-world that day. In fact, they had training planned for late that evening. Normally that wasn't something Luke could find in himself to look forward to anymore, but this training would be different. Not that Father had said as much, but Luke had sensed the mildest tones of anticipation over their bond. It was rare. So rare, that he knew it had to be something exciting, so when Mara had shown up at the window he had turned her down.

Not that she had taken no for an answer. Instead she'd told him she'd been given an assignment by an instructor and she needed some help with it. She was vague on the details, with the exception that he was expected to be a distraction. Not a big deal. In and out, and she promised to have him back in more than enough time to make his training session.

They went deeper below the top layer of the city than they ever had before, Luke's ears popping as they plummeted further and further down. Finally they stopped and Mara hesitated just past the opening as the doors slid closed behind them. He looked to her and saw her eyes closed and her lips moving, as if she were reciting something. He reached out with the Force, careful not to disrupt her, but caught the anxiety that was slipping through the mental shields that she was getting better at constructing every day. He wondered if the feeling was contagious or if the Force was trying to warn him about something. His father constantly reminded him that, if he listened, the Force could tell him when something was going to happen. He was trying to get Luke to use it in training when the droid shot him with a stun beam, but he knew it wasn't limited to that. Father used it when he was protecting the Empire and its citizens from people that wanted to hurt them. Luke just had to zero in on the cause behind the feeling, which was hard to do when he didn't even know what they were getting into. "What exactly is your assignment?"

Mara cracked a green eye open and offered a glare. "It doesn't matter. I just need you to be a lookout."

"For what?"

"Trouble." She pulled in a breath and started forward without warning.

He scurried to catch up and caught her wrist. "Mara, I have a bad feeling about this one. If you'd just— "

She jerked her hand away and picked up her speed and pushed through a door that could have easily been missed on the street. It led to a grungy flight of stairs and she started down. "You know, you're not always going to get the full story when you get an order."

"This isn't my assignment, it's yours," he reminded her tightly as he followed.

"And that's why I can't tell you the details. It's need-to-know, and lookouts don't need to know."

Luke snorted at that one. "Sounds like—" The feeling slammed into him as hard as if someone had physically hit him and he stumbled, the argument cut off. It was enough that Mara finally stopped a step down and turned to glare a moment before brushing him off and taking the half a dozen steps down towards the door. Luke shook his head, trying to focus on the why behind it, but as Mara wrenched the door open they both saw the why in the form of three massive aliens that turned to look down at the red headed girl.

Mara yelped as Luke used the Force to pull her back and slam the door shut behind her, the thin metal bending against one of the aliens' attempts to pry it back open. Luke held it closed as Mara ran past him, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him with her. As they raced back up the stairs, he heard the aliens break through.

Another flight up and Luke stopped, pulling a startled sound and confused feeling from her as he pulled her towards the exit on that level. "Trust me," he said and with only a fraction of hesitation, she nodded.

They burst through the door and into the back alley of a residential level. There wasn't a trooper in sight, but if the Force had told Luke when to exit, either it or her training showed Mara where to go. It was her turn to take the lead and she tugged him forward, dodging in and around people and aliens alike, even as he heard their pursuers slamming through the door they'd taken to get into this level. She tightened her hand around his and pulled him off to a side alley where there was a pile of trash waiting to be hauled away. She pulled him behind it and they crouched there, neither of them daring to breathe.

A long minute crawled by, then another, and all Luke could hear was the general commotion of a dozen different species packed together in a residential district without room to breathe without breathing on each other. "You think…?" he risked after another long moment.

"Maybe. Give it a second more."

"You going to tell me now?"

Mara frowned and a sigh escaped her. "There've been some rumours floating around that an Imperial officer has been providing help to a gang of smugglers." She pulled a small cam from her belt. "I was supposed to go in, get any evidence I could, and bring it back. None of what my instructor told me made me think they'd have guards. Definitely not at the stairway."

"So what now?"

She tucked the device away again. "I still need my evidence."

"They'll be looking for us," Luke pointed out.

"They've found you," a gruff voice said from overhead.

Both kids looked up to see one of the giant, greenish-blue aliens that had been chasing them. Flat nose, glowing violet eyes, and more hair on his face than Luke thought he'd ever seen. With one swipe of his massive arm, the trash heap they'd hidden behind was scattered and both he and Mara were left in the open. On instinct, Luke started to reach for his lightsaber that was partially hidden by his black tunic, but Mara grabbed his hand and gave him the barest of head shakes. Sometimes the best way to get in is to get caught. That was one of the lessons Mara's instructor had taught her and it looked like that was her plan. Luke really hated that plan.

But, even as the giant alien and his buddies snatched them up, he reminded himself that he trusted Mara.

—-

She really hadn't meant for Natus to get dragged this deeply in. Any assignment she was given, unless told otherwise, was supposed to be handled by her and her alone. A lookout wasn't too far out of the assignment perimeters, especially if no one ever knew he was there to begin with, but he was now square in the middle. It could be a problem, but only if they got out alive.

Mara was okay with getting in trouble for blurring the lines on her assignment if it meant they got out alive.

They were hauled back down to the level she'd been trying to go to, both of them draped over one of the creatures' big shoulders with a hand holding them in place, claws at the tips of their fingers pressed into her and Natus' back to keep them from struggling.

She watched everything, just like she'd been taught. Every turn, every small marker to show her where they were and how to get back. Clearly they didn't see either of them as much of a threat. Just a couple of kids in the wrong place at the wrong time. It made people easier to manipulate when they thought that.

They entered a building that creaked when the creatures walked, the claws on their giant, bare feet scraping lightly across the flooring. Mara could hear chatter in the distance and it was getting closer. No. They were getting closer.

Mara risked a glance at Natus who was facing the other direction. She reached out through the Force. He was better at connecting to her mind than she was to his - truth be told, he made every new talent learned in the Force look simple when it rarely felt that way to learn - but she tried to communicate her confidence in the idea. They were okay. They were going to be, at any rate. In return, she felt equal parts fear and anger. He felt balanced between the two, like his mind was struggling to decide which to hold onto. Fear was pretty close to winning.

"What the —?" a male voice demanded, clearly startled by the creatures' appearance. Or, more likely, their appearance with their young hostages. "Mallicar. Explain yourself!"

The greenish-blue creature that wasn't holding either Mara or Natus - Mallicar, apparently- cleared his throat. "We commed in that there were intruders and you said to pursue."

"You indicated they were a problem," the first voice bit out. "These are children. Put them down. Now."

Mara slid to her feet, landing with more grace than Natus managed. As he stumbled to gain his footing, his tunic flipped up at his left side, revealing the hilt of his lightsaber. She turned to the owner of the voice - instantly clocking him as Lt Commander Char Ollumbra and the person she'd been looking for - and watched his grey gaze latch onto the weapon. "Come here, boy. What do you have there?"

Well this was a problem. She had hoped she could get a visual confirmation and that would be that, but they weren't so lucky.

Natus turned reflexively away, putting his body between the approaching officer and his lightsaber still connected to his belt and fixing a glare on the man. From Natus' other side, Mallicar snatched it loose and one massive, clawed finger triggered the red blade. All of the colour drained from Ollumbra's face. "The rumours are true," he breathed, but then his face flushed with rage as he turned back to his guard. "Do you know who he is? What you've done?"

"It's just a kid."

"That -" Ollumbra motioned at Natus - "is the Sith Lord's son!"

A darkness passed over Mallicar's face that Mara didn't like. There was a rage that filled the air at the mention of Vader's name, like he'd had a personal run in with the Sith apprentice. "Then we kill him," he growled as he took an aggressive step forward. Mara saw Natus widen his stance a little like he did before they sparred. Except he didn't have a weapon.

"And then he'll kill you and every last person we're trying to get off this forsaken planet!" Ollumbra snapped.

"Well we can't just let him go."

"No, we just have to keep it far away from us. Vader can't trace it back here."

With their focus on Natus, Mara's gaze swept the room. No one had come in after them because no one else was needed. With the large, alien creatures blocking them in, there was no clear path to an exit. They were trapped. Maybe she should have listened to his intuition afterall.

She let her gaze flicker back to Natus who, in turn, stood poised like he was ready for one of his father's battle droids to attack. Every muscle in his body seemed to be coiled and that icy blue gaze was fixed on his red blade in an alien's hand.

Without warning, without moving, she heard his voice in her head. DOWN! he commanded and she hit the floor.

—-

He had never had his lightsaber plucked from his belt before. He'd dropped it when hit hard enough during training, but no other living, sentient creature had dared to take it from him, or even try. Luke felt his any fear from being snatched as they had evaporated in that moment as they discussed how they were going to kill him and Mara, all the while avoiding his father's wrath that would come crashing on them if they did. They thought they had a plan - told themselves they could survive this - and that these children were merely obstacles to be dealt with. Like they weren't being trained by the two strongest Force users in the galaxy. Luke felt his fear harden into anger, each word working to sharpen it into rage.

So this is what Father had meant when he'd said to channel his fear. He understood now.

He didn't have to look to Mara to know that she was looking for and ready to take any advantage that presented itself. DOWN! he thought at her, not entirely sure it would work with anyone he hadn't formed a Force bond with like he had his father, but the instinct proved correct. Mara hit the steel floor under her boots and Luke pushed outward with the building rage and the Force slammed into the three aliens and the man that looked like an Imperial officer dressed in civvies. All four flew back, one of the aliens hitting the wall hard enough that a resounding crack echoed through the room.

Both kids - so easily overlooked just seconds before - flashed into action. Mara drew her lightsaber from deep in the folds of her tunic and the purple blade leapt to life as Luke reached for his own fallen weapon, the red light filling the room.

One of the aliens rushed Mara and she danced out of the way. Dodging and moving until she had an opening, swinging the brilliant purple-white blade at one clawed hand and severing it from the arm it had previously been attached to. The lead alien - Mallicar - drew a weapon and aimed it at her. "Put it down, girl!"

Luke tugged hard at the blaster, sending it flying towards Mara. She cut it neatly in half.

Then he stumbled. It took half a beat longer than it should have for him to realize that the Human behind him had clipped him with a shot. Not with a stun weapon like the droids he practiced against. No, he put together as he caught a glimpse of the way the fabric burned at his left shoulder. This had been a live round. He turned his attention on the man who simultaneously raised a hand as if in surrender and leveled his blast to take another shot. "I don't want to hurt you, boy. Put the lightsaber down."

"No," Luke growled and the Human began firing. Luke clumsily blocked the first shot, sending it wild. The second was more controlled, as was the third, and the fourth ricocheted off the red blade and into his attacker's chest. He dropped instantly and Luke stood ready for a fifth shot, despite what he watched happen. Slowly, reality started to catch up and he eased out of the red-hot rage that he'd channeled to keep himself alive.

"…go! Natus!"

He turned, finding Mara at his shoulder and she touched his arm, careful to avoid burned flesh beneath the still-smoldering black fabric. "What?"

"We have to go," she repeated.

Luke blinked hard, gaze sweeping from the man who lay with pale, grey eyes staring unseeing at him from where he'd fallen to where one of the aliens hadn't gotten up from his initial attack with the Force.

"The other two will bring help," Mara said as she tugged him towards the exit. "C'mon!"

He thumbed the control on his lightsaber and the red blade snapped out of existence. Mara kept pulling him forward by his opposite hand as he tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened. They'd been taken. They were going to hurt them. Kill them. They were…

"Wait," he snapped, slamming to a stop. "Who were they?"

"Traitors," Mara hissed, still trying to move him forward. "We have to go. C'mon!"

Questions folded in on themselves in his mind, too convoluted to make their way out of his mouth. He shook his head, trying to clear it. "I killed him."

"He was going to kill you," Mara countered.

"But he was a person."

"So are you."

He didn't know what to say to that and Mara didn't let him stand there to think on it too long. With a warning of backup and danger, she pulled him towards the stairwell, up a few flights, and then to the lift. It was okay, she promised. He'd done what he had to do.

It didn't feel okay.

—

It didn't come as a huge surprise when his father had delayed whatever special training that he'd had planned. Mara had finally explained that the man that had been shooting at them was a Lt Commander in the Imperial Navy that had been suspected of treason. Turned out those suspicions were right, and while Luke didn't know exactly what they'd been doing or who they'd been working with, his father was the Emperor's go-to man to quickly handle anything that might threaten the Empire or its citizens.

Ollumbra had been the traitor that Mara had been sent to find evidence on. His father's involvement was an added layer of proof that the man had not been innocent, but Luke couldn't shake the image of those pale grey eyes staring at him after Ollumbra had taken his last breath.

He couldn't sleep that night and had gone to the training room to wear himself down against droids that proved far too predictable. Into the morning, the afternoon, the evening…. Every time he tried to stop to rest, he found himself buzzing with nervous energy again, the smell of sizzling flesh filling his nose and shouts echoing in his mind. Then there was the cold. It'd all happened so fast that he hadn't known what to equate it to, but with time he realized it had set in the moment the life had left Ollumbra's eyes. The moment Luke had killed him.

Father didn't fill him in on the investigation and Luke didn't ask. Even so, three days later it was over and done and his father was ready for the training he'd promised his son. By then, Luke was so exhausted that he couldn't imagine any scenario in which this went well.

They didn't go to the training room, though. Instead Father led him up and up and up until the lift emptied them out into the private hangar bay on the roof of the palace. There sat his personal TIE fighter and, for the first time in days, Luke felt the cold, dead gaze recede to the back of his mind with the sudden understanding. Father was going to teach him to fly.

It had been years since Luke had been in any sort of craft. He knew it was a Lambda-class shuttle that had brought them there, but how his father had flown it he couldn't say. At six years old, he'd been more interested in watching the stars streak as they flew through hyperspace than the controls Father had worked to make it happen. This time he watched everything. Black gloved hands moved and he asked questions when his father didn't readily explain a motion that might have been as natural as breathing to him. More so, maybe. There was a pre-check, repulses lifting them up into the air, and the feeling of excitement that he wasn't sure was entirely his own. Father wasn't just teaching him today, he was sharing this with him. For a few moments, as the craft sped up and out of the central city, he felt free. They felt free. Maybe they were.

They stayed well within the atmosphere, Luke watching as his father walked him through every command the craft needed and demonstrated in ways he never had in his lightsaber training. They swung up above the buildings and out towards the mountains, skimming the ocean water and, at last, the TIE came to rest on the same mountain Luke recognized from when they'd first arrived on Coruscant years prior. Father had said someday. Father didn't lie to him.

But he'd been lying to Father.

The craft set down gently and the ramp extended so that they could exit. Wind whipped around them, kicking up off the ocean and cooling before it reached Luke's face. Despite the exhilaration, he felt the guilt weighing on him. "I was there," he said, his words nearly carried away by the wind.

"I know."

Two very simple words breathed out and amplified through his mask, but Luke didn't feel the usual frustration or anger that he did when the battle droids won a round. He would have thought that sneaking out would have been so much worse than a failed exercise. "You're not mad?"

"Did you think I did not know?"

"Sorta," he managed.

"I knew."

"Why didn't you stop me?"

There was a long moment of audible silence, but Luke could feel the conflict over their bond. "The Emperor… feels you are too soft. Too sheltered."

"I killed him. Ollumbra," Luke confessed, and he felt his father's surprise as he turned to look at him through the lenses in his mask. "I didn't mean to. He saw my lightsaber and knew who I was. That I'm your son. He started shooting, and I accidentally deflected one of the bolts right at him." He felt the rush of emotion as he voiced the deed that had kept him awake.

"Did you think you'd always fight droids?"

Luke looked to his father, his vision blurring a little at the idea that he might have to feel this again. "I don't think I want —"

"You are my son. He will not be the last that will try to end your life because of that."

"Will it always hurt?"

There was a long moment of silence between them and a flicker of subdued emotion. Luke saw a glimpse - a memory, maybe - of bodies laid strewn around what looked like the Palace and the overwhelming feeling of rage and sorrow mixed together, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. Father reached out, his hand on Luke's wind-blown hair in what had become a comforting gesture. "I will teach you to use the pain. To be stronger than it," he swore.

Father didn't lie. He'd said he'd bring Luke to this place someday, and there they were. Luke just had to be patient. If he was, he could be strong like him.

---

TBC

Chapter Text

This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Not now, not this way.  Everything should have been in place before they ever made their move, but there they were with lightsabers humming and buzzing - red and blue, something in the back of his mind supplied. Strange - on either side of his Master. And Palpatine with that Force-damned cackle filling the room. He knew what Vader feared. They weren’t ready. 

Luke moved, all those years of training showing in each intentional step. Even as Palpatine stood waiting, Luke shifted his weight, redirecting his attack to come along the Sith’s right side rather than the easier-defended left.  Vader tried to join him - he knew they must take Sidious together or they’d both fall - but he was frozen in place. He could only watch as his Master ignited his red blade and it connected hard with the brilliant blue. Again, Vader commanded his feet to move, but again they remained fastened to the floor. All he could do was watch. 

Sparks flew in a battle almost too quick for the eye to see. Luke and Palpatine exchanged blows, red blade only barely missing taking the younger man’s head from his neck as he ducked, sliding before popping up and the blue blade swung for Sidious’s middle. Vader had always known his Master was faster than he let on, but frozen in place as he was, he could only hope Luke was faster. 

That cackle filled the room again as Luke dodged, swung, and Palpatine was playing with him. Vader could feel it, but he couldn’t call out. It was as if the enhancer box connected to his damaged vocal cords was malfunctioning, and all he could do was push the warning over the bond he shared with his son. 

If he heard him, Luke didn’t show it. He spun, parried the red blade aimed at his back, and pivoted the rest of the way around. 

Time seemed to stop as Sidious took the barest of openings to lunge forward, red blade piercing straight through Vader’s son. His blue eyes went wide with surprise and Palpatine cracked a vicious smile as he turned to look at his apprentice, allowing Luke to crumble to the floor. “Did you think this would end any other way?” the Sith Master cackled. 

But he didn’t matter. All that mattered was Luke, but Vader still couldn’t move. His son reached a bloody hand out to him, fear radiating over their bond even as the light faded from blue eyes and the hand fell limp. 

Vader screamed and the room snapped out of existence. Suddenly he found himself suspended, surrounded by bacta, and the only noise within the tank was the sound of the respirator forcing air in and out of his damaged lungs. It was a dream. A nightmare. 

Father ? Luke’s voice filled his mind from Coruscant. Not the nearly-grown man that his father had just seen wielding a lightsaber that had looked strikingly like the one Anakin Skywalker had once carried, but a boy still in training. Still protected. He was alive and he was alright, but he was growing increasingly more concerned. Are you hurt?

No, Vader responded, forcing his presence to calm over their bond. It was a dream. A nightmare. It wasn’t real. 

But it would be unless he stopped it. If life had taught him anything, it was that his nightmares were always deeper and they would come true if left unchecked. He had to stop it. He wouldn’t let Palpatine take the only person left in the galaxy that he loved. 

Outside the tank, he saw movement. It was time to finish this mission quickly and return to his son. 

——

He wasn’t in the training room where they had agreed to meet that morning. Nor was he in his room, the library, or the maintenance closet he’d commandeered at some point for the droids he had a habit of building. An hour into their training session that never was, Mara finally found him in the private hangers on top of the palace. So Natus hadn’t gotten distracted by a droid, he’d gotten distracted by a TIE fighter. Great. 

Mara gave a short huff of frustration as she drew closer to the pair of black boots, which was all she could see as the almost-teen was standing on a lift and halfway into the guts of the craft. She ducked around so that she could peer up, finding him focused on the task at hand. “Having fun?” 

Natus jumped at the sudden sound of her voice, slamming into the durasteel hull and dropping his tools. Mara pressed her lips together tightly to keep from laughing as he cursed, ducking down to glare at her. But before he could start in, his gaze swept the morning sky and the pieces started to click into place. “What time is it?”

“Little after oh-nine-hundred,” she answered, not totally able to keep the amusement at startling him from her voice. Not just anyone could sneak up on Darth Vader’s son. 

“ Dank Farrik !” he snarled, slamming the heel of his boot against the control on the repulsive lift so it would start down. “I’m sorry. Guess I got distracted.”

“You been here all night?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

She toyed with the idea of asking him why or leaving it be. She knew he’d had nightmares following the incident in the lower levels of Coruscant with the traitor and the aliens. Even though his father had taught him to build stronger mental shields that would keep the nightmares from being heard by any Force-sensitive being in the palace - that had happened one night and it was not an experience Mara was eager to repeat - that didn’t mean that the nightmares were gone, and she wasn’t sure what good dwelling on them would be. 

Natus took a seat on the lift, his boots dangling inches above the permacrete and he was eye-level to where she stood. “The Emperor talks to you wherever you go, right? Watches you?”

She tilted her head, wondering where he was going with that question. “He can . He doesn’t always.”

“How does he do it?”

“Why?”

Those sky blue eyes turned to look at his swinging boots. “Something happened with my Father last night. I felt it, but he won’t tell me what. I want to make sure he’s okay.”

“He’s Darth Vader,” Mara deadpanned. “Of course he’s okay.” His gaze fixed on her then and she heaved a sigh. “Even if I showed you how I think it’s done, why do you think he wouldn’t block you the second he felt your presence?”

“Do you always feel the Emperor?”

“No, but I’m also not your dad, and you’re not the Emperor.”

She caught what she would have considered unearned confidence - he was talented, but even his ego couldn’t be so inflated that he thought he was on par with the Emperor, right? - before he clamped down on it. “Then it’s on me if I get caught. I have to try.”

Mara didn’t bother asking him what he was going to do about it if his dad was really in trouble. He had the 501st with him if the utter terror he’d instilled in the galaxy didn’t keep his enemies at bay. Natus was fixated, and when he got like this it was a waste of time talking him out of it. Especially with the direct approach. “What’s in it for me?” 

“I’ll tell you a secret.”

Well, he did know how much she liked secrets, but she couldn’t give it to him that easily. “You already tell me secrets. I’m the only one you talk to that isn’t an adult.”

His lips twitched down and he took a long moment as if he were mulling over his response carefully. “I’ll tell you a secret only my father and I know. Well, and the Emperor too, I guess.”

“What makes you think I don’t already know it?”

“You don’t.”

Interesting. He believed it, if nothing else. “Fine. If you’re wrong, you owe me a favour. A big one.”

“Fine,” he echoed, hopping down from his perch. 

“And if - when - your dad catches you, this is 100% on you.”

“Thanks for the loyalty,” he snorted. 

“Hey, I think this is a waste of time. You’re the determined one. You get the blame. Those are my conditions.”

“Okay.”

With confirmation, Mara turned on her heel, aiming towards the lift. 

“Where are you going?” he called after her. 

“Somewhere less out in the open.” 

Somewhere they were less likely to get caught. 

——

There wasn’t a lot of room in his droid closet, but once they had cleared a space under his work desk Luke and Mara tucked themselves under it. It was like she was trying to put as many barriers between them and the outside world as she could. 

“If this doesn’t work like you think it should, I still get paid,” she said firmly.

“Right,” he agreed, feeling the anxiety creep up. He was pretty sure it was his own, but Mara was good at masking her emotions. It could have just as easily have been hers and she’d never admit it. 

“Okay.”  Mara crossed her legs in front of herself and Luke mirrored the motion. Hands on knees, eyes closed, deep and meditative breathing. It wasn’t anything new. “Most of the time I’ll just communicate back, but I only saw what he was seeing once. I didn’t initiate it, but—”

“I can fill in the blanks,” Luke promised her. “Just tell me how it felt. Tell me exactly what you did.”

There was a stretch of quiet only filled by their breathing and Luke had to will himself to keep his eyes closed. Finally, she started in, her voice slow and thoughtful. “It was like a dream. You know the kind where you see things from someone else’s eyes, but you’re still kind of you? He had been advising me on a mission he sent me on and there was… someone with him. For a second I thought he showed me, but he never acknowledged the person he was talking to to me. I just saw him.” She paused, searching back into her own memories. “It felt like floating and I pictured the throne room and then the Emperor, and then I… imagined what he would see from where he sat. He told me later he’d guided me through it. It was a test.”

And now she was guiding Luke through it. He gave a small sound of acknowledgment and pulled in a deeper breath. 

Floating. Empty. Quiet. In the blackness he could feel the bond and he let the shadows melt off of his father, watching as they retreated to reveal a scorched ground at his boots. They whisped outward and the 501st stood with Father, blasters drawn and ready, but the only others that Luke saw appeared to be civilians. Poor and terrified. They tripped over fallen bodies, scurrying away from Father as he advanced with heavy footsteps and lightsaber drawn. Luke didn’t understand why. They didn’t appear to be any threat. 

And then Father stopped, and Luke had to intentionally pull his own presence back, lest he was discovered. That made seeing what was happening difficult. More than a handful of steps ahead was deep in darkness again. But he waited. He wasn’t great at being patient, but sometimes it paid off. 

This was one of those times. 

From the shadows emerged a figure. Broad and likely average height, but he looked so much shorter next to Father as he approached. His skin was a greenish-grey and he wore a helmet like Luke hadn’t seen. He carried a weapon like he’d never seen too. At least he assumed that the circle in his hand was a weapon of some kind. 

“Did you find him?” Father boomed, his voice modulator causing his voice to echoed out and the civilians could be heard scattering in the shadows. 

“He was not here, My Lord.”

“Then you have failed.”

“Perhaps not. We believe the villagers have hidden him away. Seventh Sister will pull a confession out. Willingly—“ his eerie gaze swept out across the shadows — “or unwillingly.”

“Pray that she does. My patience grows thinner with each failure.”

Luke held his breath, a chill of warning running up his spine as the milky eyes flickered over and landed where he stood. The alien hissed, the circle in his hand ignited with brilliant red blades, and he was looking right at him. “My Lord! We are not alone!”

Father turned, but Luke was frozen in place. It was only then that he saw the alien’s free hand where it was extended out in front of him, locking him in place. He couldn’t pull away. He couldn’t escape, and he had no idea what happened if he was cut down without being physically there. 

A more familiar blade arced outward, cleanly sweeping through the alien’s neck and instantly the pressure released Luke as the head tumbled, gloved hand loosing its grip on the strange lightsaber.  Father - very much the essence of the feared Darth Vader in that moment - turned to his squad. “Burn it down. Leave no survivors,” he ordered, and with the smallest flick of his hand Luke found himself being hurled backwards. 

——

She had  resigned herself to waiting. It was good practice, she knew. Not everything came as quickly as she would have liked. 

One moment Natus had been deep in a trance-like state and the next it was as if someone had physically tossed in back. He slammed into the table leg, all the assorted parts on top clanging and clattering loudly and he gasped, desperate to pull air into his lungs. 

“Hey!” Mara yelped, rocking up on her knees and leaning over him. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

He looked dazed and more than a little terrified. Natus blinked hard once and then again before she thought he actually saw her. Slowly, his eyes focused. “He killed him,” he choked out. 

“Killed who?”

“The man with the red blades. He killed him because he saw me. Then he told the stormtroopers to kill everyone .”

Dank ferrik. Vader had sensed him and unleashed on everyone around him, including one of those creepy inquisitors he used. They were the only ones besides Natus and his dad and the Emperor that carried red lightsabers. She needed to tell him. It’d get back to him anyway and it wasn’t a far leap to make that would put her right where she sat. She’d tell him, he wouldn’t be caught unawares, and maybe he’d go a little easier on Vader. Really, she was helping to protect Natus’ dad. 

“I have to go,” she started, but wide, blue eyes focused on her and she wasn’t sure if it was what he’d seen, lack of sleep the night before, or a combination thereof that created the storm in his eyes. She froze in place. “Natus….”

“Luke,” he croaked out. 

“What?”

“My name is Luke. That’s the secret I’m not supposed to tell.”

If she’d felt uneasy with the situation at hand before, now she felt the dread creeping in to take hold. She’d thought it’d be some silly secret he thought was important from his ivory tower. No, it had to be his real name. He’d been given another for a reason, and Mara couldn’t imagine how this exchange they’d made had been even. “Why?” she managed.  

He swallowed hard. “Because…” He cleared his throat hard, but he still looked on the verge of folding into her arms and sobbing his eyes out. To his credit, he held his composure. “Because I trust you.”

The words rang out and Mara found herself torn. She wanted to help. She shouldn’t, but she did, and easing her master’s wrath was the only way she knew how to do that. She reached forward, fingers against his cheek. “Hey? It’s going to be okay.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m going to make it okay. You said you trust me?” 

He nodded and she leaned forward on impulse, pecking a kiss to his cheek. She’d never done it before and she had no idea what possessed her to do it then, but it startled Natus - Luke - out of what was beginning to feel like a spiral. 

 She stood, and her feet carried her out and down the hall with practiced speed and silence. She was going to make it okay. 

——

Vader was furious. The idiot Fifth and Seventh Inquisitors had dragged him halfway across the galaxy with a lead they were determined was real, only to turn it into a prolonged interrogation of what seemed like every village on the  Force-forsaken planet. If that hadn’t been enough, Luke had managed to… Vader didn’t even know what. Project himself somehow? He knew well enough that one trained in the Force could reach out - Luke did it all the time through their bond - and the truly talented might even be able to see through another person’s eyes, but his son hadn’t done that. He had projected himself through the Force in a way that the Fifth Brother had even been able to see him. If it hadn’t been so terribly dangerous, Vader might have been proud. 

But Fifth Brother had seen him, and that changed everything. If he’d gotten word to Sidious, if the Emperor knew how powerful Luke was becoming…. The nightmare he’d had crept back to the front of his mind and he suppressed a shudder. He wouldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t allow any harm to come to his son. 

Luke didn’t try to reach out to him as Vader hastily wrapped the mission up, leaving only ash in his wake, but as they came into Coruscant’s orbit, Vader finally touched the bond he shared with son lightly enough that he shouldn’t be noticed. He couldn’t get specifics without alerting the boy - nearly a teen now, he reminded himself. Hardly a child -  but the anxiety was impossible to miss. Perhaps he would think twice before attempting something so foolish again. 

A couple hours later he stepped out of his personal shuttle and onto the private landing pad he used whenever he was at the palace. The staff around the ramp stood at perfect attention, fear oozing out of every pore, and his gaze immediately fell on the lanky twelve-year-old hovering close to the stairwell. Luke looked exhausted and there was something more than fear of his father’s judgement for his actions in his eyes. 

Luke met him halfway to the lift and didn’t have to scurry quite as much as he used to to keep up. Neither spoke, the understanding that an audience was not needed or wanted, but as soon as the lift door closed, the calm façade that his son had managed to plaster into place flashed out of existence. “Father, I’m sorry! I didn’t know anyone would see me. I —“

“It has been dealt with,” Vader boomed in response. 

“I saw.” Luke’s answer was so quiet that Vader wasn’t sure he would have heard if his helmet hadn’t amplified it for him. 

“Were you alone?”

Blue eyes flickered up instantly. No. He hadn’t been. That could only mean that Palpatine’s damned Hand in training had been with him. And, in turn, that would mean that she had told the Emperor. 

Vader flicked his hand and the lift screeched to a stop between floors. He turned to his son. “What did she tell him?” he demanded and the boy, to his credit, only flinched a little. 

“I don’t… nothing. She didn’t tell him anything. She said she'd make sure it was okay, so she couldn’t have told him.”

Logic only sound to a boy not yet thirteen. Foolish, wishful logic. “She will have told him everything.”

“No!” Luke argued, pulling himself a little taller this time. “No. She was helping me. She wouldn’t betray me.”

There was no explaining it to him there, Vader conceded as he released the lift and they began to move again, the doors emptying them out on the residential level. He would see soon enough. He could not trust her. He could not trust anyone but his own flesh and blood. 

Come to me, Lord Vader , Palpatine’s voice rang suddenly in his mind. Bring the boy . 

If this turned as badly as Vader feared, it could be a lesson learned very shortly. 

—-

He had a bad feeling about this. Luke had been so worried about his father’s reaction in realizing that his son had, essentially, been spying on him, that he really hadn’t put a great deal of thought into how Mara had planned to help him. He hadn’t heard a peep from her since she’d disappeared and left him alone in his droid closet, but now that Father was back they were both being summoned by the Emperor. Together. That so rarely happened that it always reminded Luke of the first time. He didn’t remember much from the event, only that Palpatine had kept him from his father and he’d done…. something. It’d been so long now he didn’t remember, but it had set the Emperor’s attention on him and on his training. It made Father uneasy.

The Red Guard let them in and Luke followed a step and a half behind his father, catching the surprising sight of Mara just behind the Emperor’s throne. There was a flash of emotion in her eyes before it was hidden again behind the careful mask of indifference. 

Luke nearly stumbled into his father as he stopped - Luke’s own gaze still fixed on Mara - and took a knee before his Master. Luke imitated the gesture and there was a tense silence that weighed heavy on the room as Palpatine watched them with those strange, yellow eyes of his. 

“You were sent to dispel the rebels and restore order.”

“It has been done, my Master,” Father answered without daring to raise his masked face.

“Has it?”

Luke risked a glance up at the sharp question, finding the Emperor’s gaze fixed solely on his father. Blue eyes shifted to the left of the throne and green met them. The movement was so fractional, that for a moment he thought he imagined it, but the hardening look in her eyes confirmed the warning that had come in the barest shake of her head: Don’t move. Don’t speak. Don’t intervene. 

Palpatine stood slowly. “I see no rebels in your custody and the village that the inquisitors called you to was left in ash, one of them dead as well. By your hand, was it not?” 

“It was, my Master,” Father breathed out. “His ineptitude had gone on long enough.”

“And yet, you have nothing to show for it either. Perhaps it is more than you say.” One wrinkled, gnarled hand reached out, fingers splayed and that yellow gaze turned on Luke as he felt an invisible hold begin to drag him forward across the smooth floor. His knees slid and he struggled to get his feet under him, to give him some leverage, but even as he got one under him he was lifted up and the pressure that had pulled him forward relocated, wrapping entirely around his throat. His hands clawed at the invisible hold as his boots left solid ground.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt his father’s fear spike and he remembered the lesson that he’d been taught for so many years now: use the fear.

Luke did. He pushed back hard, and for a split second he thought he’d shatter the hold on him. Instead, the Emperor flicked his fingers, sending Luke crashing to the floor hard enough that black spots danced in front of his vision.

“I will have no more insolence from either of you,” Palpatine snarled. “Natus, your obedience is not only at your convenience, but at all times. Your father should have taught you that by now.” He turned, and Luke thought he’d do the same to his father that he’d done to him, but instead white-blue lightning leapt from his fingertips, arcing out and throwing Father back as it raced up and down this black suit, short circuiting mechanics that kept him functioning. “And you, Lord Vader,” the Emperor continued, “I will have the truth from you.”

A painful, rasping weeze left his father, but Luke didn’t dare move, didn’t dare think lest Palpatine catch wind of the real reason why his father had killed the inquisitor. To protect him. He didn’t know exactly why the inquisitor needed to die to protect him, but he sensed it, and he knew to trust his instincts. 

Luke’s father rolled to his side, propping himself up, but instead of getting to his feet, he returned to his bent knee, lowering himself before Palpatine. “I let… my emotions… dictate my actions,” Father weezed out.

Palpatine studied him for a long moment before turning to Mara, something unspoken between them, and she nodded. The floor felt like it fell out from under him. She’d betrayed him. Father had been right. 

“Your failures put on display,” the Emperor murmured and his gaze turned back to Luke. “Perhaps we have kept your boy secluded too long if you fear that he finds your failures out.”

“If it is your wish, my Master, I will take him on the Executioner with me to --”

“No. He is too naïve and not ready to be put on display for the Empire to see. I will send him with my Hand on her missions. From the shadows, he will learn, and you will have more time to devote to the job at hand.”

There was a long, tense moment and it was everything Luke could do to swallow the protest. It wouldn’t do any good. All it would do was hurt both of them.

“As you wish, my Master,” Darth Vader swore, his deep voice seeming to resonate off the walls of the throne room.

---

She hadn’t meant for it to happen that way. Two days before, after they’d been hidden away to attempt a dm feat they should never have touched, she’d told her Master what she knew: Natus - because she didn’t dare refer to him as Luke and reveal that he’d given away his secret to her - had been capable of using the bond he had with his father to see the events through Vader’s eyes. Vader had found out and had lashed out, killing the Fifth Brother and ordering his 501st to burn the village. The Emperor rarely cared when Vader left bodies piled up behind him, so it must have been more. More than she knew and more than she’d been able to tell him. 

“His loyalties are split,” the Emperor mused after both Vader and Natus had left. “It is up to you to realign them.”

“Lord Vader is his Master. His father,” Mara answered.

“It is the way of the Sith that the apprentice eventually does away with the master. I expect nothing less of Lord Vader, but he should not have an ally in that boy.”

Everything about the conversation was strange and Mara tucked her whirling thoughts carefully behind her shields. He could sense them if he wanted to, but for the moment the Emperor seemed very caught up in his own thoughts. 

“You will depart tonight and soon, my child, you will win him over to our side.”

“What if blood is thicker?”

“Then I will have little use for him and I will bring Lord Vader back into line in other ways.”

A chill ran down her spine and it was everything she could do not to shudder against it. Instead she bowed deeply. “As you wish, my Lord,” she answered and turned to leave, the understanding that she would either have to betray her friend or lose him forever nipping at her heels.

Chapter Text

There were times that Mara wondered just how much the people around them knew. From the staff at the palace to the pilot flying them and the small collection of stormtroopers to be dropped off along with - but never responsible for - two twelve-year-olds on the planet, did they ever ask questions? Did they know who they were, what they were doing? She didn't think so. The Emperor functioned on a need-to-know basis, and those around him had to rely on - to trust - that he had the bigger picture.

It was that trust in a larger plan that had demanded that Vader send Natus off with her after suffering retribution for his failures, and, Mara cautiously assumed, trust in the larger plan that had eventually bent his knee to the Emperor's demands. Granted, he'd nearly choked the life out of her when she'd come to collect his son, but the end result was the same. Trust was given, even if that was the only available choice to make.

Though that didn't necessarily extend to her. Natus had talked his father out of killing her and had gone with her without a fight, but the usual excitement had washed out of him and there was nothing friendly in the cold look he gave her, if he looked her way at all. He hadn't initiated conversation and hadn't bothered to ask where they were going. The real worry came when he boarded the ship and hadn't needed to be run off from the cockpit. While his father had been giving him flying lessons, he never left Coruscant's atmosphere. No matter the reason, Mara had thought he would want to see their jump to hyperspace firsthand. Instead he'd found an alcove and sat with his eyes closed in what looked like a meditative state. Fantastic. The kid that never seemed to stop preferred to meditate than talk with her. That boded well for the mission.

Mara watched him from the short passage she'd taken from the cockpit. She pursed her lips and drew in a breath. She'd given him all the time she could. Time to clear the air.

"We'll be coming out of hyperspace in a couple hours," she said by way of greeting. "You should get caught up."

"I take it I need to know this time?" he asked without opening his eyes.

Mara snorted at that. "Listen, I get you're not happy with me —"

Blue eyes snapped open and there was a sharpness in his voice that matched his expression. "You don't matter. It's your Madter that doesn't think I'm ready. You're just his eyes and ears. You proved that much."

She tried not to grimace at the razor sharp words. "Natus…. Luke."

There was a flash of anger in his eyes and her skin tingled as she felt a brief pressure from the Force pushing in around her, reacting to his mood. "You're not going to manipulate me."

"I'm not trying to," she answered, trying to keep her voice calm. There was very little about him that reminded her of his father until that moment. Under the boyish features ran an incredible amount of power, and while she had her own set of talents, she knew she couldn't match him in the Force. If he was going to start developing the same paranoid streak his father had, there was no telling if she'd live long enough to prove she wasn't his enemy.

"What's the mission?"

She blinked, startled out of her thoughts. With a small sigh she pulled a datapad from her pocket and took a seat on the floor with him so that he could see as well. He wanted to act like she hadn't been his only friend for years? Fine. She could be professional about this.

"The planet is called Myrkr," she explained, the datapad zeroing in on the planet in question. "Type One atmosphere, forest covering most of the terrain, inhabited."

"It says we already have control over it. So what? There's an uprising?"

Mara swallowed the snort she normally would have given him. He wouldn't take it as their normal teasing today. "That's more your dad's area of expertise. You and I are going in to confirm a rumour."

Natus - because apparently she was only allowed to refer to him by his real name if she was in his good graces - scrunched his nose. "That's a waste of talent."

"You want to tell the Emperor that or should I?" She felt his reaction a fraction of a second before his head snapped up to glare at her and she raised her hands in mock surrender. "I don't mean literally. I just mean that he didn't tell me why, just assigned the mission. If he gave it to me - to us - there's a reason."

"You trust him."

"Of course." She swallowed down all the reasons why that he wouldn't be ready to hear in that moment. If the Emperor was right - and he always was - about his split loyalties, then she had to ease him into the understanding. She had to show him. Otherwise she'd drive him further away and she wasn't willing to dwell on what that would lead to. She slid her finger across the screen, pulling up the next page of data that included a holo that popped up of a small, lizard-like creatures. "These little guys are what we're looking for. The ysalamiri. Supposedly they reside in the jungle."

Now Natus looked even more insulted. "Anyone could verify they're there."

"He wanted us."

"He wanted you."

Mara let a small smirk touch her lips. "Exactly. That's how you know he needs his best."

—-

Luke squinted against the bright sun as they exited the shuttle on a small landing platform and adjusted the pack that Mara had tossed his direction on one shoulder. Inside, tucked between supplies, was his lightsaber. He'd been informed that it was too conspicuous to wear in the open without the dark cloak he typically wore on their adventures in the lower levels of Coruscant to hide it. He felt naked without it - exposed - and he resisted the urge to touch the bond he shared with his father for reassurance and guidance. If he truly wanted to travel with his father on the Executioner, he had to learn to hold his own in any part of the galaxy. That meant against enemies seen and unseen. Against any obstacle. He took a breath, his goal in mind, and he allowed it to sharpen his resolve. His lightsaber wasn't his only weapon, and any enemy that found him would learn that all too quickly.

Locals lingered at the edges of the permacrete as if they thought they were being inconspicuous, watching stormtroopers march out onto their world. There was an unease that flickered through them, their attention fixated on the white-clad soldiers as they whispered amongst themselves. Why, Luke wasn't sure. There were countless stormtroopers on Coruscant and only the tiniest fraction visible here. They kept the peace. The people should be relieved, not afraid.

It didn't matter. They didn't matter. Getting to the creatures - the ysalamiri - and confirming whatever rumour Mara had been tasked to confirm was all he needed to focus on. He didn't have time for distractions.

Speaking of… Luke moved to where Mara was quietly looking between her datapad and the thick foliage in the distance. "Exactly what rumour are we supposed to be confirming?"

"Not beneath you anymore?" she popped off, not bothering to look at him and he bristled. She didn't have any right to be mad at him in all of this. She was the one that had broken confidence and he and his father were punished for it.

He set his jaw. "I'm just not interested in being caught unprepared."

Mara's datapad chimed and she sighed, finally looking up. "I don't know the details because the intel didn't provide them. An ISB agent caught a transmission and was able to decrypt part of it, but not enough to know more than, if these things exist, they're worth an exceptional price on the black market. The kind of price people only pay for weapons. We're supposed to confirm that the ysalamiri are actually here and see if it's worth sending a retrieval team in."

Well, now that he knew more, it sounded like even more of a waste of time. And maybe it was. Maybe the whole point was to see if Luke would follow Palpatine's orders and how he'd react paired with someone he no longer trusted. Maybe this was his test. "In there?" he asked, motioning to the trees.

"It looks like the way."

The two almost-teens started towards the outside of town in silence. With the arrival of stormtroopers, no one paid any attention to them and they made it to the forest in just under half an hour, which was quicker than Luke would have predicted. The foliage was thick, tendrils of plants he'd never seen in either the Palace gardens or in planetary studies reached out from beneath. While they were likely reaching for the sun beyond the shade of the other growth, Luke couldn't help but feel like it was reaching for them. There was something strange that he couldn't quite put his finger on, and it lay beyond what they could see. If Mara felt it, she didn't show it. Instead she started picking her way along the edge, looking for the opening to make her way inside.

Luke let his gaze sweep the treeline, the sounds of the forest filling his ears. He pulled in a deep breath as he let his eyes flutter closed, reaching out with his senses and letting the noise blur together and pull him in. It felt…. thick. Congested. So much so that he felt like he was running into a wall not too deep into the forest.

Mara's curse pulled him out of the moment and he saw where she was sucking on the side of her hand like a thorn had snagged her. Without warning, he reached forward and tugged at a nearby branch with the Force, ripping it from its tree and sending it and the wall of vines clinging to it crashing down. Mara jumped back with a surprised yelp before she whipped around. "Some warning next time?"

"Pay attention then," he snapped back and strode past her, feeling a bit more smug over her boiling frustration than the situation probably warranted. For half a beat, he thought she might lash back out, but instead he just heard her push a breath out through her nose and stalk after him.

"Did you feel anything?" she asked after several moments of wordless walking, even if not quiet. There was no way to keep their steps completely silent against the thick underbrush biting at their boots.

"Something," he acknowledged. "Not sure what though. You?"

He could practically feel her frown. "There's a lot of noise."

On instinct, he almost started to walk her through how to filter some of it out. They had always helped each other before, sharing bits of knowledge that the other lacked. But then she'd taken the trust he'd given her and handed it straight over to Palpatine. She'd put his father at risk. She'd put him at risk. She didn't deserve his help.

He turned to look at the thick forest ahead of them. They could make it through, but unless they knew where they were going, they'd be wandering aimlessly. Even as he paused, she pushed ahead, pulling her datapad out to supplement what she couldn't feel through the Force. Not willing to be left behind, Luke followed, jogging a couple of steps to catch up with her quick stride and reaching out to try to get some sense through the thicket.

And then it crashed into him hard enough that he stumbled. He reached out, fingers searching on instinct for some sort of invisible forcefield that would have caused his body to react that way, but there was nothing there. He looked to Mara who had also stopped, and he reached out to get a feel for if she'd been hit by it too or if she'd merely stopped because he had.

There was nothing.

Luke blinked hard, stretching out again, but he couldn't feel her. He couldn't feel anything through the Force. It was like suddenly going blind and deaf. Fear crept up and he swung the bag around, reaching for his weapon even as Mara tilted her head curiously.

"Interesting," she murmured and took two steps back in the way they'd come. She looked around before motioning. "Come here."

Fingers grasping his lightsaber, and Luke kept his thumb close to the trigger as he swung the pack back around and followed Mara's instructions, confusion overwhelming his earlier need to be obstinate for obstinacy's sake. As quickly as he had lost his connection, it came flooding back, and his fear hardened into anger as he turned on her. "What the hells is that?"

"I don't know. The forest, maybe? Something blocked our connection to the Force." She reached into the folds of her tunic and removed her lightsaber. He watched her step forward, step back, then to the side as she tested the limitations.

"It can't be the trees," Luke murmured, gaze sweeping upward. "They're the same kind we've seen since we entered."

"Something else then," she answered and her purple blade snap-hissed into existence. She swung it forward, lightly marking a tree. She moved again and marked a second one. Then she stepped back through the invisible wall and glanced back thoughtfully. "Your training may have focused more on it… is there any weapon that can nullify the Force?"

"No," he answered immediately. "It's in everything."

"I mean, I know that, but maybe it can be… contained? I don't know."

"What are you thinking? The ysalamiri are doing it?"

"Maybe. They're supposed to be a weapon right? And the Emperor wanted two Force sensitives to confirm the rumours." She started forward again.

Luke didn't dare cross the threshold again. "Consider it confirmed."

She turned a look on him like he'd lost his mind. "We haven't confirmed anything. We haven't even seen one."

"Then let's find another way in," he pressed, looking down the way. Maybe it was the trees. Who knew what was hidden in all of this?

"You really are reliant on it, aren't you?"

"What?"

"You can't do anything without the Force."

"Of course I can!"

Mara snorted. "Good. Then you won't slow me down."

Luke stared at her as she practically bounded deeper into the forest, clearly pleased that she thought she had the advantage. It wasn't that, he told himself. Not at all. He just had a bad feeling about this. A bad feeling that stayed with him even as he crossed the barrier and felt the punch to the gut that was being cut off from the Force. And it stayed with him as he and Mara trudged deeper into the forest.

—-

She had been more curious about it than worried. Hells, Natus was worried enough for both of them. The further they made their way into the forest - both with their lightsabers drawn and clearing a path forward at this point - the more the silence weighed on her. Not the auditory silence. Every sound still screamed in her ears, making it hard to rely on her hearing for any forewarning of danger, but the silence in the Force that had begun to feel like a wet blanket draped over her face. It was thick and warm in all the wrong ways, limiting her view and throwing off her senses. Mara had given Natus grief before about his reliance on the Force, but - and she wouldn't dare admit it to him - she was finding herself right there with him.

A creature scurried off to their left and both of them turned, lightsabers held ready and Mara reached for a blaster she had holstered at her hip. They stood still for a long, tense moment before nothing happened. Natus was the first to let his guard drop and she followed suit, begrudgingly reminding herself that her instinct to follow his Force sensitivity above hers was null and void in this place. The deeper in they went, the more she felt like her theory had to be right. They just had to prove it and they could get out of this Force-forsaken place.

They made it another standard hour before the sun set too low to safely continue. They prepared the camp, Mara directing Natus on what needed to be gathered, stacked, and situated. Once they'd gotten the fire going, they huddled on either side of it, both still shivering. Mara looked through the flames to see the strained expression etched into her - former? - friend's face. She hugged her knees a little closer. "He can't hear us, if you wanted to talk," she ventured.

Natus looked up, startled by her words or maybe just her voice. "What's there to talk about?"

Mara pursed her lips together. "I don't know, maybe the fact you blame me for something stupid?"

"I blame you for selling me out," he growled, shoulders hunching down a bit more as he bent forwards the flames. "I shouldn't have expected anything more from you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're the Emperor's Hand. That's who you're loyal to."

"That's who you're loyal to too," she reminded him.

There was a longer moment than she would have preferred before he grunted a soft affirmation. "Sure, but you didn't have to tell him about what my father did. If you'd just kept it to yourself, Palpatine wouldn't have hurt him."

Mara set her chin on her bent knees, watching him. "He would have known," she said softly.

His eyes flashed dangerously. "Not if you hadn't told him," he snapped. "Father warned me, but I didn't listen. I —"

Another sound caught their attention and both of them were on their feet in an instant, lightsabers in hand. Mara's gaze swept the dark foliage in search of the source. Across - with nothing to show for it - and then up until she saw it. High in the tree, claws hooked into the branch, a ysalamiri. She motioned up.

"Is that it?" Natus whispered.

"Yeah. I think so."

"How do we know if it's causing the… problems?"

"I don't know."

They stood there for a long moment, marveling at the creature that didn't seem to care that they were there. Their eyes were turned upward when the branches gave the barest rustle and a creature leapt forward and at them.

Mara reacted on instinct honed by her instructors rather than the Force, and swung out with her blade. It caught one of the canine creatures in the jaw, sending it yelping into the night. She held her humming blade up, ready for the next attack, but heard a cry that was all-too-human behind her. She spun, finding Natus sprawled out on the ground with his lightsaber just out of reach. The creature loomed over him, teeth bared, and for whatever reason Natus looked unable to move.

A snarl behind her was the only warning as another creature leapt out, whip-like tail snapping at her and it caught her left hand. A tingling sensation instantly spread, giving her the answer as to why Natus was still on the ground. These creatures paralyzed their prey and he had no connection to the Force to push the venom from his veins.

She sidestepped, lightsaber out to hold her own foe back as she reached for her blaster to try to take out Natus'. The creature was too smart for that and switched its trajectory. Mara gave a cry as it leapt forward. It threw her to the ground and the hilt of her lightsaber was all that she could put between its teeth and her throat.

The creature snarled in her face, straining the muscles in her arms as she struggled to hold it at bay. She swung up with her blaster, the butt of it slamming into its skull and it howled as it scurried away.

She rolled to her feet, a weapon in either hand, and she leveled her blaster at the ysalamiri. Time to test a theory.

One shot with a second for good measure and the creature fell dead to the forest floor. All at once the Force flooded her senses and it was like she could hear again. She looked up at Natus who was pinned under the creature who had already sunk its teeth into his left shoulder and looked ready to move to his neck. It didn't have the chance as power leapt off of him, slamming hard into the creature and there was a loud crack as it hit a tree. Any of its pack mates scattered at the display and Natus collapsed to one knee from where he had stood.

Mara was at his side in an instant, her voice as calm as she could muster as she swatted his hand away from the bleeding wound. "That bad?" he asked, taking a hard seat on the ground.

"I packed med supplies," she promised, a mental inventory running through her mind.

"Figured you needed to deliver me back."

His meaning caught up with her a fraction of a second later than it should have and she pressed down lightly on the wound. She thought every muscle in his body must have tensed. Served him right. "I'm worried about you, not the mission."

"Sure you're capable of that?"

She reached for her bag with the med supplies. "Listen, just because your dad's a paranoid son of a bantha herder doesn't mean you have to be. I was protecting you - and him - when I told my Master. And I want to help you now, so hold still."

She tugged at his dark tunic to get a better look at the wound and his back arched, the cry only barely swallowed. She reached for a bacta swab and dropped it, the hand that the creature had swiped at still partially numb. She switched hands and grabbed it, opening it after several tries and laying it across the wound.

There was a long moment before his muscles relaxed just a little and his chin drooped, a sigh escaping him. "Did it get you too?" he asks softly.

"Only with the tail."

"That's how it starts," he grumbled and she found blue eyes on her, only slightly unfocused. "How?"

"How did I get away?" she guessed.

"How were you protecting us?"

It was Mara's turn to sigh and she took a seat with him. For now, in this spot, they had warning and defense. "Your father killed an Inquisitor. That much would have gotten back to the Emperor from any number of spies he keeps in your father's ranks."

"He does what?" Natus demanded, clearly regretting the way his head had jerked up almost instantly. He grimaced and she waited a moment for him to work through the fresh wave of pain.

"Your father knows," Mara said softly. "It's expected. The Emperor also knows what I do… when he wants to, but you knew that. It's why you thought I could help you."

"So you were saving your own skin," he huffed.

"And yours. It's not often that he's caught unaware, but when he is he gets angry. He had time to plan before Vader returned. His reaction was controlled. I'm not saying it was pleasant, but neither you nor your father's lives were in danger. If I hadn't said anything, it could have gone much worse."

"Or better."

"I wasn't willing to gamble with your life," she murmured, and while the words could certainly be strategic to soften him, she found that she meant them.

Natus sighed, hunching forward. "I don't want to hate you," he confessed softly after a long stretch.

"Then don't. You don't have any reason to. I'm on your side."

"You're on his."

Her eyes narrowed. That was the second time he had made it sound like he stood opposite of his Master's master. She reached forward, her fingers stained with his blood and they touched the back of his hand. Slowly, tentatively, they ghosted along his knuckles until she could wrap her fingers around so they touched the palm of his hand. His own fingers tightened on hers and those blue eyes of his were fixed on her. "I'm on yours," she pressed, her voice quiet but firm. "Always."

He watched her for a long moment, the emotions bubbling past his barriers bigger than she thought a person should have been able to have. And maybe that's what made them special, Luke and his father. Maybe they felt everything more strongly, with more ferocity than any other Human could. Love and hate, fear and determination. Loyalty. Betrayal.

Finally he gave a nod of acceptance and she could see the wariness pulling at him. She rocked forward, fingers as gentle as they could be as they peeled back the bloody bacta patch to reveal the jagged wounds left by the creature's teeth. She frowned and grabbed a second one, fitting it into place to continue the first's work.

A soft sigh escaped him. "It's all going to be different," he murmured tiredly, but she wasn't sure exactly what he meant. With the slight slur in his voice, she wondered if he'd know if asked later.

"You should rest."

"They might come back."

"I'll keep watch."

"You'll protect me?" he asked, his tone a little teasing and it pulled a real smile from her.

"Yeah, Luke. I'll protect you," she promised.

He didn't argue the name. Instead he shifted, laying his head against her bent leg and settling in, trusting her to keep them safe.

—-

He woke in stages, confusion hanging over him like a thick fog. He wasn't sure where he was. Certainly not in his own soft bed in his room on Coruscant. As he broke through another layer of fog, Luke could hear the sounds of nature all around him. Birds chirped, leaves rustled, and as he shifted he felt dirt under his fingertips. He pried his eyes open to see early morning light through a canopy of trees.

A soft groan escaped him as he rolled, fully intending on sitting up and regaining his bearings. Discomfort spread through his left shoulder and he felt a hand against his back. "Easy," Mara coaxed and she helped him sit up. "How're you feeling?"

"Groggy," he answered, the prior day's events slowly working their way back to his memory. He reached up to his injured shoulder, fingers exploring the dried bacta patch. It was stiff and sore, but nothing compared to the burning pain from the night before.

"Looks a lot better than last night," Mara murmured. "Can you stand? We should get going when you're up for it."

Luke grunted an affirmative and let her help him to his feet. "What about our proof?"

She shrugged. "I shot one of them and we got a pocket of access to the Force. It's up to the scientists to figure out how that works." Mara crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the trees. "I'll make sure the Emperor knows."

"Knows what?"

"What you brought to the mission," she answered. "Technically you ran the rest of those things off last night."

Only after she'd found a way to not only prove that the ysalamiri were responsible for blocking the Force, but in taking the one that had been blocking it for them out. But she knew that. Of course she knew that. This was her trying to prove that she meant what she'd said the night before: she was on his side.

"You okay?"

Like turned to find Mara watching him curiously. He didn't feel the light pressure that would have told him she was prying. Instead, she was letting him decide how much he wanted to tell her. "Yeah," he said at last. "Just thinking."

She hummed softly, a little uncertainly, and he turned. It was his decision. He could fight himself the whole way, struggling to stay angry at his only friend who hadn't tried to betray him. Who truly did believe that she was on his side, and maybe she was. Maybe if it came down to it - and the truth was that, someday, it would. There'd be a day that Palpatine either killed him or his father or they killed him. There could only be two - she would choose him. He wanted to believe that.

He offered her a smile "You ready?"

Mara blinked, her own expression softening. "Yeah."

They started forward, passing through the bubble to where the Force was inaccessible and he tilted his chin and squared his shoulders, ignoring the pull on his healing muscles. He wouldn't let the weakness show. He wouldn't let it stop him.

Chapter Text

It had been one assignment after another, the Emperor's orders bouncing he and Mara from one planet to the next while his father could be found wreaking havoc on enemies of the Empire that conveniently appeared on the opposite side of the galaxy. Luke knew why, just as his father did. It was the truth no one acknowledged because it wouldn't do anyone any good. For now, Palpatine's orders were to be followed with the utmost loyalty, and Luke was proving himself the loyal little pet that the Sith Master wanted.

It had been just over a year when he learned that his father's and his paths were crossing. He reached out often, their bond as strong as ever no matter the distance, but he hadn't been so long without laying eyes on him since his father had found him with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now, as the shuttle he and Mara piloted - the babysitters masquerading as pilots long since abandoned for a more discrete approach when available - came out of hyperspace in the Mustafar system, it was everything Luke could do to keep his expression even. It had been eight years since he'd been near the planet that he'd called home for the first year with his father. Life had taken him in many unexpected directions since then, but in many ways, it had started there. He'd learned to trust his father and his father had taught him more than Obi-Wan had ever dared. His father had faith in him. He knew what he could be and he trusted Luke in turn to fulfill his potential. Luke wouldn't let him down.

"Homesick?" Mara teased, nodding towards the volcanic planet just off to the left of its moon that was their actual destination.

"Just thinking."

"Loud enough for the whole system to hear."

He felt his face flush a little and his partner flashed a triumphant grin. He rolled his eyes, letting her enjoy herself at his expense. He'd get her back eventually in one of the few games they still indulged in.

"Lambda T-4, we have you entering the atmosphere of Nur," a voice chimed over the system, sounding more bored than Luke thought he'd ever heard. "Please state your business and clearance codes."

"Transmitting codes now," Mara answered, keying in their top secret clearance status codes that would bypass the first instruction.

There was a long moment as they continued their descent and Luke let his gaze sweep the crashing waves on the moon below. A year on Mustafar and he'd never given its moon much of a thought. It was beautiful, in its own dark and stormy way. The closer they drew, the more power he felt off of the waves as well as the giant fortress spiking up above the them. Fortress Inquisatorious didn't appear to have any shields, but there would be enough firepower to blast them out of the sky if some idiot got the codes crossed.

"Taking their time, aren't they?" he muttered, easing back on the descent ever so slightly.

Mara shrugged. "They're just verifying. Your dad should already be there, so they'll be expecting us."

Luke huffed a response and the comm system chimed. "Lambda T-4, you are cleared for landing in bay three." He picked up speed again and glanced at Mara.

"You haven't been here either, have you?"

"No. No real reason to deal with the Inquisitors until now." He felt her mood shift ever so slightly like it did when she was weighing a question. He motioned for her to go ahead. "I hate when you do that," she grumbled.

"Just ask."

"Zero patience." She shook her head, resetting. "Has your dad told you why we're being called in on this?"

Ah. Luke knew that Mara knew that he and Vader communicated, just as everyone involved simultaneously knew that it was frowned upon and impossible to stop. That's why she'd been hesitant to ask. He tilted his head, caught between pretending he didn't know what she was talking about and being straight with her. He flipped the switch and the thrusters allowed their shuttle to hover as it came into the dock. "No," he said at last and they touched down. His senses flooded with his father's presence and the smallest smiles touched his lips.

"A little professionalism, fly boy," she muttered, the nickname the only sign she was teasing as she stood and chatted for the exit. Luke punched the button for the back ramp and followed, pulling himself together. He was the son of Darth Vader, a future Sith. Someday he would command the Inquisitors and first impressions lasted.

The two teens exited the shuttle, drawing only a few glances at the fact that neither wore a uniform of any type. Instead they were both clad in dark colours, Luke's a bit more reminiscent of Jedi robes than Mara's, with lightsabers hanging from their belts on full display this time. Luke spotted his father in the distance with a tall, ashy-pale creature dressed in an Inquisitor's uniform with the same strange lightsaber fastened to his back that the Inquisitor his father had killed had had.

You've grown, the thought echoed over the bond he shared with his father and Luke wondered if it had been intentional.

"Lord Vader," Mara greeted, the closest thing to humility that Luke thought she could manage with his father. She turned towards the ashy-pale creature. "Grand Inquisitor."

"I'd heard rumour that the Emperor's Hand would be assisting on this," the Grand Inquisitor said, his tone almost amused as he looked Mara up and down. Then those eerie yellow eyes turned on Luke and the teen held his gaze unwaveringly. "And you… what might you be?"

"My son, Natus," Darth Vader boomed and there was something satisfying in the startled expression that the Grand Inquisitor couldn't keep from his face.

He regained his composure and gave the smallest of bows. "Lord Natus."

The title added weight to the Sith name he'd been given that Luke hadn't expected, but he kept his expression even and his gaze hard. "Father, I understand our next assignment is yours."

"It is," he confirmed. "Come." He turned, and Luke instantly fell into line with him, just a step and a half behind as had been their habit in the Palace, and it left Mara and the Grand Inquisitor in their wake. Strange how quickly the dynamic changed.

Do not dwell on her feelings, his father chided. In this matter, she answers to you.

They continued through the bay, Luke watching the Imperial soldiers and Inquisitors all around them. He reached out, trying to gauge the size of the fortress. It reached out and down, power radiating off of every wall as it held the waters out and, deeper down, something in. It was a prison. Interesting.

Father led them to what appeared to be a briefing room, surrounded by large windows that stood between them and the vast ocean on the other side. Inquisitors waited for them there and offered their lord a bow upon entry. Luke's gaze swept the two women - one a dark skinned Human with long braids and a hard look. The other appeared to be a Mirialan, though if she were, her green skin had paled so that it almost appeared a similar shade to the Grand Inquisitor - and he found the Human watching him back, the slight tilt of her head pulling her uniform back just enough to show the bandages beneath. Luke let his gaze turn lazy as the Grand Inquisitor moved forward, acting as a bridge between Darth Vader and those that did his bidding.

They had uncovered a confirmed rumour of a child - the Grand Inquisitor's word, though a little probing confirmed the child was closer to fifteen or sixteen - that had shown tremendous power. They had received permission to recruit and train the Force sensitive individual rather than destroying him.

"Then why haven't you?" Mara asked, her cold tone drawing a spike of irritation from both Sisters. Irritation… and embarrassment.

"Because they couldn't," Luke answered. "They tried and failed."

His father's breathing altered just enough for Luke to pick up on the snort that no one else seemed to notice. "Indeed, and their failure has opened an opportunity for you. You will deliver him here. He will not become a Jedi."

"How would he?" Luke asked. "Any Jedi that would teach him are dead."

The room grew a little colder as his father's mood shifted, but he was relatively certain that the chill was aimed at the Inquisitors. "Not all. Grand Inquisitor, provide my Master's Hand with anything she and my son will require. Natus."

The abrupt summoning caught him by surprise and Luke felt a flicker of curiosity from Mara as well. Just as quickly, she turned to the Grand Inquisitor and began drilling him for information

—-

Vader strode through Fortress Inquisitorius with intentional steps, military personnel and Inquisitors alike scattering to make way for the Sith Lord. Behind him he felt his son keeping up, his own footsteps much more certain than they had been when he left the Palace on Coruscant. He was older now and stronger. He'd always been quick to pick up on feelings around him, but to be able to pick apart what the Inquisitors had failed at from their own thoughts… He'd taken what his father had taught him and built on it. It was impressive, but that did not mean he had completed his training. He would be tested in ways he had not been yet.

Doors opened for them as Vader led Luke into another private meeting room and closed behind them. "The Emperor has been pleased with your progress," he stated, not turning to look at the boy who was quickly growing into a man outside of his father's care.

"We've had many successful missions. I admit, I was a little surprised we were called away from Lothal. We were making progress."

"An ISB agent has been sent in your stead." Vader paused at one of the large windows that opened out into the ocean and Luke came to stand next to him, his hands clasped behind his back and those blue eyes so like his own once were staring out into the depths. He watched him for a long moment, trying to get a better read on him. The last year had been difficult, even if neither were allowed to show it. Though if Palpatine's intention had been to drive a wedge between them, he'd been unsuccessful. He had missed his son, though. More than he had even given himself a moment to realize.

"You know… if anyone ever fires a couple rounds off in here, these windows aren't going to hold," Luke said as he touched the glass, his vocalized thought filling the empty air and intentionally quiet bond between them.

"No one is foolish enough to attack this fortress."

"It only takes one fool with what he believes is a purpose," Luke answered seriously, disproving Vader's immediate assumption that he'd just been filling the silence.

Luke shifted, but kept his shoulders back and his chin tilted up. "Mara and I have seen more than our share in the last few months, Father. I don't understand why."

"They are merely sparks that need to be extinguished. Do not concern yourself with them, Son. Instead, your focus must be on the task at hand." Blue eyes studied him internetly and Vader turned to face him fully. "Do not mistake the Inquisitors' failure for utter ineptitude."

Slowly, he saw the carefully crafted mask of stoicism start to crack. It was in the eyes first - Luke's eyes often betrayed him - and by the time it worked its way down to the way his lips quirked upward at one corner, his brows drawn down and his head tilted ever so slightly, the amusement had broken fully through. "Are you worried for me, Father?"

"Yes." The word rode out sharply on an exhaled breath and it served its purpose to startle some of the weight back into the conversation that should never have left it. He needed Luke to understand. He couldn't underestimate this foe. "Few Force-sensitives remain that have the untapped power to make them a potential use for the Inquisitor Program. Avron Elrick not only proved his potential, but training."

"You do think he has a Master," Luke mused softly, a little awe making it into his voice.

"Perhaps, but more likely a Padawan with delusions of grandeur. I do not require both, only Elrick."

"And if the delusional Padawan comes to his rescue?"

"Then you will kill him."

Vader felt the hesitation, even as Luke squared his shoulders a little. "Wouldn't two Inquisitors be better than one?"

"We are nearing the mark, my son. Soon you will join me, but to do that, you must commit and prove yourself capable."

Confusion flashed briefly over their bond. "I am capable, Father. I am committed."

"Then deliver Elrick and dispose of his would-be Master."

Father and son stood alone in the room, the younger desperately trying to regain control of his feelings that betrayed him. On impulse, Vader reached a gloved hand forward to rest briefly against the side of the teen's head. The words couldn't be spoken, but the meaning was clearly accepted, and Luke gave a short, terse nod. "I'll bring him to you, Father," he swore and turned on heel.

He'd grown in the last year. Matured. If Vader didn't secure his son at his side, Force only knew what would happen. The time was now, and he knew Luke would come out victorious. He was, afterall, his son.

—

For what little good the Inquisitors had done to bring in Avron Elrick, Third Sister had at least managed to plant a tracker on him during their battle. She'd been more offended than Mara thought she had the right to be when she'd questioned if that would actually lead them to Elrick, but the tracker had proved useful. They tracked him to the Bryx sector and must have damaged his hyperdrive because he didn't get very far after the short skirmish.

"Is that where he landed?" Luke asked as he slipped into the co-pilot seat, finally relinquishing his post in the gunnery station, and motioned towards the splotchy red and brown planet below.

"It is. What can you find on it?"

He already has a datapad in hand, scrolling through the details. "Anzat," he read aloud. "Breathable atmosphere, looks like we have a presence there and it looks like there's really only one spaceport. I'm sending down an alert to grab him when he lands."

"They won't be able to hold him," Mara counted and received a shrug for her efforts.

"Worth a shot."

"Anything in the databanks to indicate if he has allies there?"

"You mean a Master?" She heard his fingers dance across the screen as she took them into orbit. "Maybe… there's only been one known Jedi noted in Anzati history. She never made it past Knighthood, but there's also no record of her death. Karis Sali."

"Could be who he's running towards."

Luke made a small, noncommittal sound. "I don't know… I think these records must be incomplete. Says she was born three hundred years ago."

"Then just a place to hide," Mara agreed and the spaceport was coming into view as they descended.

They landed without any trouble, but as predicted it had been a waste of time to involve the local security. Two men dead and at least five more injured, Elrick was nowhere in sight. Thankfully their beacon was still active.

Active, and leading them below the spaceport and into the valley that was filled with mist. They lost precious time as one well-meaning Imperial transport pilot tried to talk what he thought were just two kids out of the pursuit. They shook him, finally, and started after their mark.

"You think he's heard one too many specter tales?" Mara asked as her boots skidded in the soft mud on their way into the valley.

"Maybe not. Even our records had some spooky descriptions of the natives," Luke answered with an unexpected seriousness lacing his voice. "They feed on a sentient's essence, supposedly."

"Did your dad say anything about them?"

"No."

"Meaning it could be untrue, could be he didn't know, or…"

"Could be he wanted us to figure it out for ourselves." They hit the bottom and she could barely make him out just a handful of steps away the fog was so thick. "He seemed to think this was a big one. Maybe the one that lets me join him."

Mara frowned a little at that. He hadn't talked about joining his father for a good two or three months now. She'd hoped he'd accepted his place, at least for the time being, but there they were again. "Do you really want to?" she asked carefully, inching towards him.

"Of course. That was the whole point of this."

She pushed a sharp breath out through her nose. "Glad to know I was just a landing pad on your way across the galaxy."

"That's not what I meant!" he argued, and he must have realized his voice was as loud as she had. He grimaced and turned to look at her, mist dancing across his skin and his eyes were the clearest part of him. "It's not what I meant," he repeated, though quietly this time. "I just mean it's the next phase. I join my father, learn the ropes of the Imperial Navy, and you—"

"Go on alone," she finished for him.

His hand snapped out, catching her by the wrist. "You're never alone, Mara. I'd never—"

It hit them both at once. A fluctuation in the Force. A warning. He released her and they both grabbed for their lightsabers, purple and red igniting just in time as green came slicing through the mist. Mara caught the blade with her own and she felt Luke take an intentional step back. Suddenly, the mist started to part, rolling outward and away from them at his command, and it revealed Elrick on the other end of the lightsaber.

He was tall, with narrow eyes the colour of lava and skin almost as dark as the stone it would have created, blue-tinted blood caking the side of his face. Now open and on display, he lashed out, swinging his blade around expertly at her and using his height to his advantage as he barreled down on her.

But Luke came from the other side, splitting Elrick's attention. The older teen parried well enough, his boots slipping in the muck all three were battling in. He swung, he parried, but Mara and Luke had spent their childhood sparring against each other and the past year honing their partnership. It wasn't long before the green lightsaber was driven from his grasp and he backed up and away from their blades. "Kill me then. I won't go with you," he snarled.

"That's not your fate today," Luke answered as he adjusted his grip on his blade.

Mara was ready to join him as he started forward, but suddenly every muscle tensed like it had been frozen in place. Her fingers twitched without command and her lightsaber fell, the blade snapping out of existence, and a sense of dread crept up from behind her like the mist.

"Mara!" Luke shouted, but Elrick had taken advantage of her immobility and had called his lightsaber to him. Green clashed with red and the older teen drove Luke back so that there was a greater distance.

A strangled curse left her as the mist crept around, a figure that was vaguely human emerging. Grey skin and dark hair, the woman's coal-black eyes felt like they cut through to her soul, and all at once Mara couldn't help but remember Luke's description of them: they fed on the essence of sentient beings.

The creature circled her, even as lightsabers hummed and clashed in battle behind, and Karis Sali tilted her head. "Have you come then, to take my apprentice for the Empire?"

If the Anzat woman expected Mara to answer, she should have loosened her grip. As it stood she felt like she was being crushed by some unseen force. Or perhaps the unseen Force. It was strange. Maybe this is what it felt like when a Jedi used the Force, but Mara would have thought there was less darkness involved. Less barely-bridled rage.

Sali came to stand directly in front of her and she tilted her head. Mara could feel her rummaging inside of her mond. "You are more," the Anzat murmured. "So much more, yet so much less than what you could be. You serve the one that will bleed you dry because you do not know anything else. Your family, your life… all stripped from you. There will be nothing left if you devote yourself to an empty cause."

"You know nothing," Mara managed.

"I took an oath once," Sali said, "to put away my cravings, these desires of my kin. The Jedi Order helped me find another way. I can help you find another way."

Mara flexed her fingers as best she could against the hilt of her lightsaber, but it barely moved. "The Order is dead."

"Perhaps it is." A sadness made its way into Sali's face and it shifted, pockets opening up in her cheeks to produce tentacles. "And we are both doomed."

The Anzat woman approached and Mara struggled against her hold.

—-

Luke found himself face down in the mud, muscles burning and temper blazing. He'd been up against foes of every shape and size in the last year, but never a Force-sensitive. He'd been waiting for the opportunity usually only allotted to his father and his Inquisitors, but there he was squandering it. Elrick, even injured, was fast on his feet. Fast, nimble, and - just as Father had warned him - powerful. With a sweep of Elrick's arms, the Force had turned against Luke and had sent him skidding back so that he tumbled feet over head.

He snarled dangerously as he pulled himself to his feet, calling his lightsaber to his hand. The hilt snapped to his palm just in time to flick the trigger and brace himself against the incoming swing of green. Luke pushed back, swung hard, and skidded to his knees to duck the swipe at his head. He popped up on the other side, taking advantage of a rock to leverage his weight off of as he let the Force propel him upward, and he flipped while still in the air so that he could land a blow as he passed. His red blade connected with green, stopping his forward movement, and instead he focused his power downward and drove the would-be Jedi to his knees.

A silent, mental scream broke through his concentration as he landed, and Luke's head whipped around to where Sali loomed over Mara, tentacles extended as if she intended to feed off of her. "No!" he screamed, flinging his hand out and power erupted from him. It lifted the Anzat Jedi from the muddy ground, suspending her there with her limbs outstretched and her head tilted back and far away from mara.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he could feel Elrick stand to take another swing at him and his opposite hand swung out, two fingers lifting from his lightsaber was all it took to drive Elrick back in his fury.

Mara still hadn't budged from her terrifyingly taught position that Sali had frozen her in and Luke stalked forward. "Let her go!"

"Only if you let us go!" the Anzat answered, straining to speak from where she was suspended. "We want nothing of you."

"And I need nothing from you," Luke said and his fingers twitched. Bones snapped and life evaporated from her dark eyes as he allowed her body to crash to the ground.

Mara sucked in a strangled breath even as Elrick screamed behind them, anguish ripping through the air as he raced forward, desperate to end the battle no matter if he found his vengeance or his death. Luke used the Force to redirect the blade and he slipped around, blocked it at his back as he pivoted, and swung around with his opposite hand and lifted Erick in the air as he had his Master. The other teen gargled and choked against the invisible hold and Luke felt the anger threaten to overtake him.

But killing him wasn't the goal.

With effort, he released the newly unconscious Elrick down into the mud and turned back to where Mara had collapsed. Fear surged and Luke darted forward only to drop to his knees next to his friend. "Mara?" he called desperately, his palm against her cheek. He hadn't seen how close Sali had gotten. If she's gotten her tendrils on her and drained her. If she had…..

"Don't go," Luke begged softly, cradling her. "Don't go."

And in his arms, she didn't budge.

—

There had been a consistent cold that clawed at him even after leaving Anzat as if the mist had worked its way though his skin, permeating his muscles and clinging to his bones. It wrapped around his lungs and filled his mind, whispering words of doubt following him wherever he went, despite the overall success of the mission. The Jedi was dead, the apprentice had been delivered to Fortress Inquisatorious, and the medics said that Mara should wake soon.

But they'd said that yesterday. They'd said it when they'd arrived the day before that too. The longer she slept, the more the whispers felt true: he hadn't been strong enough and he'd failed her. He gave an involuntary shiver and tried to push them back. She'd be okay. She had to be.

Luke pulled in a deep, steadying breath through his nose as he approached the door leading to the lower chambers. Father had arrived back on the planet and he'd been summoned. He thought the medical staff - slim as it was in the Fortress - was likely relieved to see him go. He had only left Mara's side when pulled away by duty. It was the only reason he'd left now.

He moved through the dark hall, and he couldn't help it when the tombs on either side drew his attention. Frozen there were sentients of every shape and size, and at the end he saw the newest addition: Karis Sali, her neck still at an odd angle from where he'd snapped it. Luke stopped and stared, uncertain how he should feel about the trophy on display that had once been a living, breathing sentient.

"You really must be his son to have been able to defeat her."

Luke whipped around at the unexpected voice. How the Third Sister had been able to creep up on him like that, he had no idea. She either had mental barriers that anybody would have killed for or he really was distracted. Maybe a bit of both. Whichever the case, he felt the briefest flicker of smugness from her and she nodded towards the end of the hall. "Your father is waiting."

He moved past her, walls falling back into place and she felt like a void of anger and bitterness and ambition, just like her brothers and sisters. She didn't walk with him, but he felt her watch him to the end of the hall and the door that opened for him there. On the other side stood his father with another Inquisitor. Elrick was strapped to a table, sweat standing against dark skin, and he struggled to pull air into his lungs.

What's happening? Luke asked over their bond, not willing to put his ignorance on display.

"He is being remade," his father answered out loud, drawing Elrick's attention. The teen let out an almost feral scream at the sight of Luke and a wave of cold slammed into him. It was all he could do to remain steady under it and the Inquisitor returned to his work, the torture reclaiming Elrick's attention.

Luke grimaced, turning his gaze to his father and reminding himself what Elrick's Master had done to Mara. There was a long, brutal moment before the Dark Lord turned, cape whipping at his ankles and his son was relieved to follow him out. Thankfully, the Third Sister was nowhere to be seen as they exited, the door stifling Elrick's screams behind them.

"Do not waste your pity on him, my son. He would have struck you down the first chance he had. Now, we will break him and the pieces will be put together as an Inquisitor. He will serve you."

"I don't need his service," Luke managed, the chill running through him again.

"And yet you will have it. You have earned it." There was a moment when only the mechanical breathing from his father's suit filled the silence. "When she wakes, you will return to Coruscant with the Hand. She will make her report and you will join me then. I have foreseen it."

Luke swallowed hard, the thought of parting with Mara leaving him sadder than he would have admitted out loud. He pursed his lips, wondering if there was a way he could ask for more time without it sounding like he had changed his mind. He still wanted to join his father, but almost losing Mara was like a terrible glimpse into what life would be like without her and he hated it.

Another chill ran up his spine and he squeezed his eyes closed. "Father, I think they did something to me. I don't know what, but since Anzat it's been so cold."

There was a flicker over their bond. A heaviness of guilt that Luke rarely felt from his father. And just as quickly as it had come, it was shut off again. "I once taught you to sharpen your fear to your advantage. This too will strengthen you."

"How?"

"You will learn to use it. I will teach you once you have joined me on the Executioner."

"Why not now?" Luke pressed. He didn't like the idea of living with this terrible feeling any longer than he had to. It weighed on him like it might pull him under if it stayed with him too long.

"It will take time." His father turned, and Luke could feel yellow eyes watching him from behind his mask. "It will not always feel like weakness," he promised, his voice a little softer.

"I trust you," Luke promised and raised his head.

"You did well, my son. Go. It won't be long."

Exactly what wouldn't be long, Father didn't say. He strode forward, leaving Luke to find his way back to the small medical wing alone.

—

She couldn't remember what had happened. There'd been something between landing on Anzat and the sharp smell of a medical facility, but Mara couldn't remember what that was. Her mind felt sluggish, but she pushed past the haze and into consciousness, she found her training fell into place without effort and fed her details about her surroundings. Sharp angles, echoing footsteps, a tiny room… It was too small to be the medical wing on Coruscant and too well stocked to be Anzat. Nur then. She'd been dragged back for delivery, which at least meant Luke had gotten out alive. Probably. She looked to her left and then to her right. No, definitely.

In a chair, slumped at what would prove was a horribly uncomfortable angle once he woke up, slept Darth Vader's son. She watched him for a long moment, taking in the familiar features of the boy that had managed to worm his way past every defense she had and had become her friend. She'd fought with him, bled with him, and saved his life on more than one occasion. It looked like his turn to save her this round.

He stirred and Mara let her eyes slip closed again. She heard him stretch, the chair scraping and he popped his neck loudly before a long moment of silence. "You just going to keep pretending to be asleep?" he finally asked, and Mara couldn't help her own snort of amusement over it as she let her eyes slip open. Luke stood over her bed now. "How're you feeling?"

She took a moment, carefully stretching out each limb and each digit, finding everything exactly where it should be. "Whole."

"Listen to that vote of confidence," her friend snarked, but the amusement didn't reach his eyes.

"What happened?"

"You had a run in with an Anzati Jedi that nearly killed you. You've been out for a couple of days."

"Did you… win against them both?"

"You don't have to sound so surprised."

"Yes I do. Two Jedi? You're good, but…"

He gave a shrug. "There was a lot riding on it."

"Right. Joining your dad on the Executioner."

His blue eyes flickered to meet hers and Mara was a little taken back by the intensity in them. "I thought she was going to kill you. I thought you were… I killed her before she could. I ended it." He pressed his lips together, looking away and a shiver passed through him.

Mara reached out, her fingers light on his wrist as she pulled him towards the bed and scooted to give him room. He took it, but instead of sitting on the edge like she'd expected he folded his legs up and slid them under the blankets to settle back against the headboard. "Okay then," she snorted, but leaned against his arm, the closeness comforting in the wake of what they'd been through. "Thank you. For saving my life."

"You've done it for me."

"And I'll do it again," she promised and heard him sigh, dropping his head to the side so that his cheek rested against her red hair. "You're going, aren't you?"

"Guess that depends on what you tell the Emperor."

"Do you want to go?"

"I don't want to leave you."

"That's not an answer."

"Sure it is." He slunk down just a little. "Could we not talk about it?"

Mara nodded and sighed, letting her eyelids droop and she hooked her arm through his. It was stupid. It wasn't like he was leaving the Empire. He was just continuing his training. They'd see each other. They'd have missions that crossed, the Emperor would make sure of it. She knew all of that, but even as she tightened her hold on him and he leaned in a little more, she couldn't help but feel like this was the beginning of the end.

Chapter Text

There had been quiet curiosity through the ranks when he'd boarded the Executioner. No one said anything out loud, of course, but he did wonder if all the same rumours would run through the 501st ranks that Mara had told him ran through the Palace during his tenure there. Apparently there had been all sorts of theories amongst the staff on who he was and where he'd come from. Here, Luke could feel the curious glances from behind white helmets, but no one dared ask a question beyond what they were given, which wasn't much. Even so, just as at Fortress Inquisatorious, the moment that he was introduced as Darth Vader's son he instantly became Lord Natus.

Luke shadowed his father a great deal the first three weeks, barely a moment to himself to absorb what he was observing. There was equal parts fear and respect from the 501st and never a delay when Vader gave them an order. When his father disappeared into his own chambers, Luke was expected to train. It would have felt familiar in his training at the Palace, but instead of upgraded battle droids, he faced off against select members of the 501st with their weapons set to stun.

He'd underestimated them the first time and had spent the weeks following looking for ways to adjust. Training had always been against either droids or Mara with her lightsaber, but he'd made the painful assumption that experience in the field for the last year and his control over the Force would set him up for success, and maybe it would have against any other regiment. These men - none of which ever removed their helmets or provided Luke with a name - were fast and deadly accurate. Every time he went down he thought he heard his father's demands of Again! that had sharpened his skills in his childhood. This was just the next level. Learning to defeat the 501st meant that he could square up against anyone. So each time he fell, the numbness threatening to spread and drag him under, he focused and used the Force to push life back into his limbs. He was getting better, but despite the promises, none of it seemed to be pushing back the chill his father had promised to help him tame after his battle on Anzat. All he could do was try to distract himself.

Lightsaber held at the ready, Luke closed his eyes and stretched out with his senses. Five stormtroopers encircled him, each with their blaster rifles in position. He'd been up against three of the five before, and since they wouldn't give him their names, he decided that going a second round with the trooper warranted a nickname if nothing else. Alton, Barrix, and Clyde. The other two had to earn a mental label.

Barrix moved first, the shot fired with little more than a flicker of warning. Luke dodged, pivoting to block a shot from Unknown Trooper One that came at him at the same time as Alton's shot. He cursed as Alton's clipped his right arm, numbness spreading fast enough that his fingers went loose around the hilt of his lightsaber. He called it with his left hand as he pushed off the floor, flipping through the air as two more blasts collided where he'd been standing and swung out as he landed. There was a hiss that echoed through the room as his lightsaber connected with Clyde's shot, ricocheting back into the stormtrooper and throwing him to the floor. He didn't move, the stun weapon having done its job.

Unknown Trooper Two was ready to test his merit when there was an abrupt lurch from the Star Destroyer. Luke straightened, his lightsaber still humming but dropped to his side. "It's too early to have come out of hyperspace."

"Yessir," Alton agreed.

There was movement outside, but if they were scurrying because they'd been ordered to their stations or because they were trying to figure out why they'd dropped out of hyperspace, Luke couldn't be sure. He reached out over his bond with his father and found him moving towards the bridge with purpose. He turned towards the stormtroopers and motioned to Clyde. "Get Cl… get your man to the medbay and get to your posts."

A chorus of yessir followed him as he turned on heel and started for the bridge.

There were no alarms going off, no sign of danger other than the apprehension, and no one noticed him immediately as he passed through the doors and onto the bridge. He took in the scurry of activity, his father receiving a report from the captain and the commander, and through the viewport he could see a vessel floating in their pathway. Commander Oldus Renz was the first one to notice him, but he didn't dare interrupt his Captain's report to the infamous Sith Lord. Not that Father didn't know he was there.

"…codes are old, but they check out, my lord," Captain Marrow was saying as Luke came to stand next to his father. A quick glance out of the main viewports showed an old cargo ship that appeared to be stranded close enough to their trajectory that it had pulled them from hyperspace. "Scans do indicate damage to the hyperdrive as well as…"

Luke felt Renz's gaze follow him as he took a couple steps back and squatted down to speak to one of the communication officers in the crew pit. "What were the codes?"

The officer looked up, startled, and he paled a little. "M-my lord?"

"The codes that the freighter gave when you hailed it," he clarified.

He felt a sharp tug against the bond and the meaning from his father was clear: stand up, stop bothering with the pit officers, and return to bid side. Luke didn't budge, but instead sent a trust me back and hoped he could make good on it. If his hunch was right, his father would be pleased. If not…

"F6589D7," the officer provided, his voice trembling just a little.

Luke flashed him a grin. "Thought so." He straightened, finding his father's expectation hovering over the bridge like a storm cloud, both Commander Renz and Captain Morrow watching now as well. "It's from the series of codes that were compromised about six standard weeks ago that had me on Lothal," he stated.

"If it was compromised, it would have been flagged by our security protocols," Morrow said, his tone bordering just close enough to condescending that Luke knew how little stock he put into the teen's opinion, but just far enough that it wasn't outright disrespectful.

"Good question as to why it wasn't," Luke answered and turned to his father. "One I'd like an answer to. With permission, Father, I can put together a boarding party and find out how they were able to bypass Captain Morrow's security protocols so thoroughly."

Are you certain you are correct? his father's voice echoed in his mind.

Yes.

"My lord, if I may," Morrow started and Vader's head snapped back to look at him, the captain going instantly silent at the movement.

"You may not." He turned back to Luke. "Choose four stormtroopers to accompany us."

Us. Luke tried not to look too disappointed at that. Did his father think he couldn't handle such a simple task on his own?

No. He mentally shook it off. It didn't matter. He'd just have to prove himself here just as he'd proved that he deserved to be here. "I won't fail you, Father."

"See that you do not."

—

As quickly as Luke pulled together his boarding party, Vader was ready to assume that his son had put speed over precision. Not that any incompetent stormtroopers lasted in the 501st, but it hadn't been the approach Vader would have expected from the boy who had not only had a name for every droid he'd built as a child, but could explain every step that had gone into building it and why. Nor was it the approach Luke had actually taken, he quickly discovered as he heard his son mentally counting off the troops by names that Vader was relatively certain were not actually theirs.

And just for a moment he was catapulted to a different time with men in the armor that had inspired the stormtrooper uniform and the names they'd given themselves that their Jedi generals had called them by. And a Togruta teen who he'd given his own nickname to….

Father?

Luke's light tug on their bond caused him to physically jolt, the memory of a young woman that Anakin Skywalker had failed to protect shoved emphatically behind mental barriers and he turned his eyes on his son. You named them.

What was I supposed to do? They wouldn't tell me their real names, Luke countered. Barrix is in the lead. Left to right that's Waller, Trixi, and Flash.

With the names Vader received clips of memories as explanation. Luke meeting Barrix in the troopers' barracks wing, Waller's unmovable stance, Trixi's clever deceptions, and Flash's lightning speed at the trigger. The three men and single woman looked different under their helmets, but it took another fraction of a moment to shove at the memories of men loyal to a Jedi he counted as dead. A Jedi whose son stood before him, waiting. His son.

Luke seemed to take his silence as waiting for a debrief. The teen swallowed hard, resetting, and motioned towards the door that would open to the docking tube that connected the Executioner to the damaged freighter that had given them the name the Wanderer. "Captain Zanders is aware that we'll be boarding for inspection. I believe his focus will be on you and the stormtroopers, so I'll slip away and see if I can find what he's hiding while he gives you what I'm sure will be a less-than-honest tour."

"To his detriment, if that is true."

Luke tilted his head a little at that, but gave no verbal response. His son had a kinder heart than service to the Empire often demanded. While he had not been tested regularly in the past year with the Emperor's Hand, Vader saw the remnants of the same struggle after the Jedi's death at his hands as he'd seen years prior when he'd ended the traitor's life deep in the underground levels of Coruscant. Death weighed on Luke and left him to struggle with the chill one felt when they had not yet fully surrendered to the Dark Side. His son was clever and resourceful, but in the end, if there was any true hope that he would survive, he would need the power that could only come from the Dark Side. It was Vader's responsibility to teach him that.

The stormtroopers stood at the ready and Luke gave a sharp nod. The door hissed and the six of them moved forward towards the Wanderer.

—-

One lesson that Luke had learned in his travels across the galaxy in the past year was that things rarely went as anticipated. It was a person's ability to quickly readjust that would determine success, not how closely the events followed the first edition of the plan. When he had first pitched the idea of taking a boarding crew aboard the Wanderer, he'd seen it as a way to prove himself. Force knew that with his father there, all eyes would be on him. But that's what played in Luke's favour. Captain Zanders didn't give him more than the briefest of glances, his grey eyes fixed on the looming Darth Vader.

Luke didn't wait around to test the theory out too far. Instead he slipped away from the party, finding a hallway that he could use to follow his senses down. He let his eyelids grow heavy, focusing less on sight and more on the sounds of the ship around him, to the soft sound of his boots against the floor, and, eventually, the voices that drifted towards him. Blue eyes flashed open and he leapt silently back and out of sight just in time for two crew members to pass through the connected hall.

"…secure and quiet," one said, his voice hushed.

They were making their way down the hall and Luke heard their footsteps stop. He pressed himself against the wall at his back, letting the Force enhance his hearing and instantly regretting it as metal grating scraped along permasteel, and it was everything the teen could do not to make an audible noise of his own. Another few moments and the sound resumed - presumably in the opposite direction - and the halls were left in silence.

Luke shook his head a little, trying to refocus through the sound that would likely take up residency in his brain for the next couple of days. He followed to where it had originated from and found smooth hallway floors. Dark blond brows drew together and he kept his footsteps light as he searched for… There. A small handhold that was easily missed in the groove between permasteel slats. That's how they'd moved it. He took a knee, palm flat against the cool steel, and stretched out with his senses to find multiple life forms below. Interesting.

"Who in the galaxy are you?!" And one above the hidden compartment. That would have been good to know. The man looked half panicked. "You're not supposed to be here. I should —"

He'd never been fantastic at using the Force to convince another sentient, but no time like the present to hone a skill. "Stop. You will escort me to the hidden compartment below."

The man looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Listen, kid—"

Luke let the irritation fuel his next try. "You will escort me to the hidden compartment below."

And just like that, his eyes glazed over a little. "I will escort you to the hidden compartment below."

Okay. Good. That worked. But there were at least two more crew members already down there. As this one moved to shift the hidden door, Luke caught his arm, putting everything he had behind the words. "I am Natus, Darth Vader's son. Captain Zanders personally instructed you to escort me."

"Cap'n Zanders," he answered sluggishly, pulling the door open. Well, hopefully that wasn't all that stuck.

The hidden passage below revealed a steep set of stairs. His unwillingly-willing companion took them one at a time and Luke used the Force to move the cover back into place as he followed him down.

For a moment, the only sound was that of his escort's and his own boots on the metal stairs, but when they reached another door at the bottom - this one requiring biometric entry - and it slid open, irritated voices could be heard inside. "I warned you!" one growled, and the words were followed by the crack of electricity and the sharp cry of whoever was on the receiving end.

They circled the corner into the large room with walls covered in sound-suppressant foam. The two crewmen that he'd nearly run into turned, startled by their entrance, and just beyond them was what Zanders had been so desperate to hide from the Empire: cages filled with sentient beings being transferred. This wasn't a registered prison transport - or even an unregistered one - which really left one realistic option: slaves.

"Mick, who the hells-"

His escort - Mick - looked back at Luke as if he were working through some complex mental puzzle. Great. This wasn't the best place for the control to slip. He didn't think he'd have any problem taking down the three men, but a stray blaster bolt could easily strike one of the caged beings.

"This is Lord Vader's son," Mick stated, and while his tone was a bit bland, it wasn't wavering as if he was fighting it. "Cap'n wanted me to bring him down."

The two blanched at that. "Vader knows?"

"Did you think you could keep it from him? From the Empire?" Luke snapped, his growing anger hardening each word and he watched them pale even more as he touched the bond with his father. He was going to want to see this.

---

A few minutes later Luke was on his way back upstairs, all three guards with him out of a lingering feeling of distrust. Their captain stood with his father and two stormtroopers - Barrix and Trixi likely taking a look at the damaged hyperdrive - with him, and a look of dread flashed through Captain Zanders' eyes as he seemed to piece together that the teen should have been watched more closely.

"How many?" Vader boomed and Zanders' dread spread into his movements as he started to take a step back. Luke's father reached out, gloved fingers splayed ever so slightly, and Zanders gave a strangled yelp as he was lifted off the floor.

Luke's own fingers twitched and the door they'd entered the bridge through snapped shut, cutting off the crewmen's would-be escape route. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked them before turning back to his father. "Thirty adults and about half as many children. They all looked like they could be from Outer Rim territories."

His fathers focus was fixed on the dangling captain who looked like he was desperately trying to move but couldn't. "Where were you delivering them?"

Zanders choked a little and a glove finger flicked to release the hold on his throat, even if nothing else. Zanders sucked in a lung full of air. "A buyer. On Coruscant."

Interesting. No wonder he'd had stolen codes. He'd been bold enough to try to traffic slaves on the capital planet.

"A name," Darth Vader demanded.

"I don't have it."

He choked and sputtered again, and behind Luke, one of the crew members shouted a name: "Merrick!"

Zanders crumbled to the floor as Luke's father turned his attention to the crew member. The man - though he wasn't more than a few years older than Luke - swallowed hard. "I want assurances."

"And I will have what you know, willingly or not," Vader warned.

The crew member nodded his understanding. "I… okay. Okay. Triton Merrick runs a business somewhere in the lower levels. Labor, mostly, a couple brothels. Cap'n meets him at a maintenance shop on Level Twenty."

"Stupid bastard," Zanders coughed. "You think you'll walk away?"

"Deal with him," Luke's father said and the captain seemed to catch the meaning before Luke himself. It took an uncertain, nonverbal check before his father confirmed. Kill him.

But he's unarmed. He's our prisoner.

His father didn't answer him, but instead whipped one arm out, lightsaber in hand - ignited - and sliced through the captain before anyone else in the room could process what was happening.

You will not hesitate to obey my orders again, Darth Vader instructed before turning to the stormtroopers as Luke struggled to regain his composure. "Bring him."

That cut off the immediate acknowledgment of the instruction. What about the people below deck?

I will free them, his father responded, but something about it didn't make sense. They were heading towards the exit, the other two guards thrown back against the wall hard enough to knock them out by the time they reached the bridge's door.

—

The two stormtroopers that had fixed the hyperdrive joined them as they made their way to the bridge between ships and Vader could feel his son's confusion growing. He didn't ask at first, desperately trying to cling to trust, but finally he stopped, looking back towards the hallway where the beings he worried over were still trapped. We can't just leave them, Father.

"Take him," Vader ordered and the four troopers led the slaver away. Once the bridge door was sealed again, he turned towards his son. "They are already dead."

"No they're not." His confusion and pain at the thought reminded Vader of days long gone and a boy who had allowed sentiment to cloud his judgment for too long.

And it had nearly killed him.

It had only been when he'd embraced the darkness that he had found a way to protect the one left. The same darkness could allow his son to protect himself as well, if only he'd use it, yet every opportunity Luke found to avoid it, he did.

"Is this punishment?" Luke demanded. "For not murdering the captain in cold blood?"

"It needed to be done."

"Does this?" his son demanded, hand sweeping towards the hall. "They're innocent. Possibly Imperial subjects, and what? You're just going to let them sell sentient being off to—"

"I am going to set them free."

"How?"

"In death, along with everything and everyone on this ship."

His son studied him for a long moment and he felt a strange pressure on their bond. Prodding and searching, as if he were looking for a way to convince him of another path. And then he found it, and there was a sourness from him. He pushed a breath out through his nose, turned away, drew one in, then looked to his boots. "And if I do it, you'll let them live?"

"I have no interest in the slaves they peddle, only the slavers and the buyers," he said to his son. Though perhaps it was a lie he was telling himself.

"They can leave?" Luke pressed, and in that moment Vader wasn't sure if he saw more of Padme or Anakin in him. A perfect blend of determination and passion.

"The ship will be theirs to do with what they will. I will not stand in their way," Vader vowed.

Luke studied him for another long moment before giving a sharp nod and turning down the hall. It was necessary, Vader reminded himself as he heard the lightsaber ignite and the first cry from down the hall. The darkness had saved him. It hadn't been easy, but it had made him strong. To survive, Luke had to be strong.

—

He lay curled up on his bed in the small room he called his own on the Executioner, the chill settling even deeper into his bones than after Anzat. They hadn't been innocent, but the majority of them had been unarmed. The few that managed to get a blaster leveled at him hadn't landed a shot before they were cut down. Even if it had bought innocent people their lives, it didn't feel like justice.

Luke curled into himself and reached one hand out to the table by his bed, fingers pressing the button on the comm. He waited and waited, but she didn't pick up. Not that that was unusual. The Emperor kept his Hand busy, but as the comm pinged an alert that Mara was unavailable, he felt the chill reach a little deeper. A little more permanent.

The door to his room slid open without warning and Luke was halfway to laying into the intruder before he realized it was his father. He sank back instantly, having only made it to his knees from the curled position, and wished he was anywhere but right there.

He hated it. After so long wanting to be near to his father, he simultaneously hated being near him and hated himself for feeling that way in that moment.

The door slid shut behind Darth Vader, sealing them in the room. "You did well today."

"Thank you, Father," Luke answered hollowly.

"It was necessary. It will pass."

"You keep saying that."

"You are not using it. What do you feel?"

Luke sank back against the bed, avoiding eye contact. "I don't know."

"Search your feelings."

The teen pushed a frustrated breath out his nose. "Frustrated?" he tried, and when his father didn't admonish him he continued. "Angry. Confused. Upset." He drew in a deep breath, feeling the weight before he breathed out the final confession. "Guilt."

"You ended the lives of enemies of our Empire. Do not feel guilt for that. Do you recall what I taught you about fear when you were young?"

"You told me to use it. Sharpen it."

"And you did. If you allow your feelings to control you, you will drown in them. Instead, use them. Sharpen the fear to wield as a weapon. Hone the frustration to balance it. Harden the guilt and use it to climb above. Only then will you be ready."

Luke blinked hard, turning his gaze on his father. "For what?"

His father didn't answer at first. He just stood there, a towering man hidden behind a mask, often even to his own son. "If I'm supposed to learn, I need to know."

There was another beat of hesitation. Then another before Vader finally loosed what sounded a little like a sigh through his mask. He moved closer than Luke often found him these days, but did not take a seat with him. "In the end there are only two," the Sith Apprentice said. "In the end, either we will be pit against each other-"

"No," Luke managed. "I won't. I won't fight you."

His father reached a gloved hand out and it rested on his head like when he was young. "- or against him. You must be ready. You must be strong. You must master the Dark Side to do that. It is the only way."

Luke reached up and took his father's hand, wrapping his fingers around the rough material. "I won't let him take you from me," he swore. "Or me from you."

"Then we are agreed."

He swallowed hard, forcing down all of the other ways they might find down with the lump in his throat. "Yes, Father."

---

Chapter Text

With the wide reach of the Galactic Empire, it was entirely conceivable that whatever planet Mara Jade found herself on for a mission, she would never have need to see again. She certainly hadn't given Lothal a second thought until she had received orders to return and had heard - entirely by accident, of course - that Darth Vader had been tasked with bringing the growing rebel problem under control where his Grand Inquisitor had been unable to do so. And where Vader went, there was a shadow in the form of a teenager that followed, though he might not be a shadow much longer in the way the name Natus had started to spread with every rumour imaginable attached to it. Darth Vader's son, and if Vader were Palpatine's heir apparent, Natus was Vader's with all that that entailed.

Rumours were often embellished in her experience. She hadn't spoken to Luke often in the last year that he'd spent on the Executioner with his father, but she knew him. Mara thought she probably knew him better than anyone else and half the things she heard from officers and stormtroopers that had no real idea who she was weren't even in the realm of possibility. Not that she would tell them that, or anyone for that matter. She knew Luke, but if he had any chance of thriving in the lot life had handed him, the galaxy had to see him as the son of the Empire's most dreaded enforcer.

Though it would be interesting to see how he'd changed. She imagined that this mission to Lothal would give her just that opportunity, even if it was a bit strange that with a Sith Lord and his son on planet that the Emperor's Hand had been ordered there as well.

It wasn't that knowing, sometimes bordering-on-mischievous smile that met her as the ramp unfolded from the Lambda class shuttle she'd landed in, but the face of a man dressed in black, the insignia on his uniform identifying him as a special agent in the ISB. It took her a fraction of a second longer than she would have liked to place him in her surprise to see him rather than Luke. Agent Alexsandr Kallus. He'd been the one to come in after she and Luke had left a year prior. The fact that he hadn't either been shunted off to the Outer Rim or simply Force-choked as soon as Vader had arrived meant he was at least competent at his job. Hard to believe if he hadn't cleared the planet yet.

"Jade," the ginger agent greeted, gaze locked and studying her. "I am -"

"Agent Kallus," she supplied, making her way down the ramp and shoving her surprise - because it certainly wasn't disappointment - firmly to the back of her mind. "I know who you are. I take it you have the details of my assignment?" All the Emperor had sent her with was the understanding that a list of rebel sympathizers had been cultivated on this planet. Most individuals were well connected and it would be difficult at best to bring them in, but there were other ways to make sure they stayed in line. Making an example of one of their cohorts often did the trick to pull the others back in their place without disrupting the delicate balance on an industrially important planet.

"I do. If you don't mind walking during the debrief, I'll get you set up."

They started towards the base itself. "Any reason they're sending ISB agents as errand boys?"

"Were you expecting someone else in particular?"

If he knew the answer to the question or just wanted her to think he did, Mara wasn't sure, but it was clear he wasn't going to give her any more information than she strictly needed. That was fine. If it became important she had her own ways of finding out. Not even the Imperial Security Bureau was beyond the reach of the Emperor's Hand.

She heard the barest snorts of amusement from him before he began speaking, handing her a small tablet. "Margon Visra is a socialite."

"I've spent some time here. She must be one of the few."

"She is. Old money, the Visra family owned a tremendous amount of land in Capital City and they still manage the leases on that land."

"And well compensated for it," Mara mused as she slid her finger along the touchscreen of the tablet. "Where did the intel come from?"

"Originally, an interrogation overseen directly by Lord Vader. You'll find the details available there."

The interrogation had named several people that had been marked as lower priority. Margon Visra was the one of interest to the Empire, if it did turn out that she was a rebel sympathizer. "You think she's funneling her family money to them?"

"That is the running theory," Kallus answered as he came to a stop at a door. "Private offices, for your convenience. You'll have access to the base—" he handed her a code cylinder — "and any support you need. We've limited the number of personnel that have been alerted to your presence, as instructed, but Lieutenant List will be available for anything else you may require."

Mara gave a brief nod of acknowledgment and reached for the control on the door. As the ISB agent turned to leave, her fingers hovered there. "Agent Kallus, there is something before you go. I understand Lord Vader is on planet."

"He is," Kallus answered slowly and she saw faint lines as he furrowed his brow in anticipation of what the request might be.

"I'd like to borrow his son for part of my investigation."

"His son?"

"Natus. Yes." Kallus looked ready to argue that particularly weighty request and Mara offered him a smile. "If Lord Vader protests, just remind him it's the Emperor's Hand making the request."

"Of course," Kallus said tightly and turned on heel, the sense of apprehension following him out.

Mara's smile grew just a little as she let herself into the office to read up on all the details intelligence hadn't dared to send out even over encrypted communications.

—

It was rare that Luke found himself answering to anyone but his father or the Emperor. It was typically others that had started answering to him. The 501st's loyalty was absolute, the Inquisitors carried out their orders sent down, and any additional military personnel jumped to do his father's bidding and, by extension, his own. The return to Lothal to clean up the Grand Inquisitor's mess should have put him in a place of command. And it did, mostly, with the exception of Grand Moff Tarkin.

The Grand Moff was exhausting. Every order he gave, every decision made, all seemed to be his own personal expression of what he thought was power. It would have been easy enough to ignore like any other officer squabbles if he hadn't thought that he had some sort of control over Luke himself. It was as if the man was personally offended by the fact that Luke had never been through the Imperial Academy and felt he should be reminded of what Tarkin thought was his place. And even though Luke could feel his father's irritation with the man, he'd been instructed not to directly counter him. Why, Luke couldn't fathom, but it was like a breath of fresh air the moment the old, dried up windbag left Lothal to handle business elsewhere.

The roar of the TIE engines shook the mountains as he dipped in the sky, not bothering to hide the smile as he tilted the fighter, barely scraping through a narrow pass. He hadn't flown in weeks and even though he hadn't broken through the planet's atmosphere, it still felt like freedom. No obnoxious Moff, no twitchy governor, and no ever-elusive rebels that he was relatively sure weren't even on the planet anymore. Just him and the controls under his fingertips and —

Return.

It was less of a word and more of a feeling conveyed with far more weight than was necessary over the bond that he shared with his father. The order slammed into him hard enough that he physically lurched back against his seat, having to move quickly to correct his fighter's control column and even the craft out.

Yes, Father, he returned, hoping that the disappointment didn't ring too loudly. If it did, it wasn't acknowledged. Whatever had cut his flight time short had his father distracted. Maybe they had found the rebels after all.

A few minutes and a quick flight over the plains later, Luke set his TIE down on the landing pad, his father and the ISB agent they had been working with already waiting for him there. There was something about the mood that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Luke popped the top of his fighter and used the Force to propel himself up, boot lightly touching the outer shell to give him the additional leverage he needed to clear it and jump to the ground below. He landed, Agent Kallus quirking an eyebrow at him, but his father wasn't so amused at the display.

"Your presence has been requested."

Luke rocked forward to follow as his father abruptly turned, stalking deeper into the hangar. The teen remained silent, waiting for him to continue, but was surprised when Kallus was the one that handed him a tablet. "The Emperor's Hand is on Lothal. She asked for you personally."

A title, not a name. Interesting. Despite not being able to keep the rebels at bay, Kallus had proven himself resourceful and clever, two qualities that had likely saved his life when Darth Vader himself had been sent to clean up the mess. Luke wondered if even he hadn't been able to uncover Mara's name or if he was merely being respectful of the place she held in Palpatine's inner court.

"You are dismissed," Vader said as his son skimmed the details of Mara's mission.

He waited until Kallus had turned, likely off to keep a careful eye on Minister Tua that Father seemed convinced would be the key to luring the rebels in. If the Force had revealed something to him, it hadn't to Luke. Maybe because he was needed somewhere else now. "Looks like Mara's going to be the final —"

"She does not need you for this. If it is sentiment or an attempt to flaunt the meager power she holds-"

"Not so meager," Luke countered and immediately felt his father's temper flare. He raised his hands, palms outward in mock surrender before glancing around to confirm they had space to speak. He lowered his voice anyway. Clearly his father's paranoia was at a height today. "Let's play the game. If you push back and she tells Palpatine—" not that it was very likely. Mara's pride had never been that easily wounded - "we come under more scrutiny. More scrutiny means more time with Tarkin…."

His father gave a soft snort. "Tarkin is nothing."

"They say he holds your leash," Luke answered, the phrase he'd heard tossed around when the troops thought he wasn't listening still making him bristle. "He's here to watch us. Mara's here to do her job, unless we make that difficult for her."

"You've missed her."

The denial danced on his tongue before he swallowed it, opting instead for the truth. "Of course I have. She's my friend."

"Sentiment then."

"A little."

"You'll be needed. Not at this moment, but soon."

"And I'll be here. Promise." He flashed his father a wide grin and he wondered if he rolled his eyes behind the lenses of his mask. It certainly felt like it.

"Go, my son, but return as soon as I call."

"Don't I always?"

—

Mara was deep in research when Luke arrived, and at first he wasn't sure she'd heard the door slide open. She had three different tablets and a console at her disposal, bent over and jotting down notes. Her hair was longer, the red-gold strands tied loosely back and those sharp green eyes darting from one screen to the next. Her face was a little thinner, cheekbones a little more defined, and she looked older than she had when they'd parted ways. He supposed they both did. Somehow a year had flashed past him at the speed of light, but as he stood in the doorway and watched her, Luke realized just how much he'd missed her.

"How likely is it that you'd be able to get a last second invite to a socialite's gala?" Mara asked without bothering to look up.

Luke blinked in surprise, the abrupt question throwing him for a second. He shook his head a little, intentionally resetting. "Well, no one on planet is going to tell Darth Vader's son no, but it's not like I make a habit of it." Or had ever done it, if he were honest. "Hi, by the way."

The pointed tease finally drew her gaze up and it traveled him up and down. "Hi," she echoed and stood. "I guess it's been a while. Are you taller?"

"A little. You're not."

Red eyebrows darted up. "Rude."

"Accurate," Luke answered, flashing her what he hoped was a charming grin. It was supposed to be at any rate. Under her studying gaze it just felt awkward and clumsy.

"Now you definitely owe me a favour," she answered, and her smile was easy. "If I've got you for a while?"

"Of course you've got me," he answered too quickly to actually think the words through. He cleared his throat. "We're, uh… Our assignment is to handle the rebels on Lothal, so technically, helping you is just an extent of that."

"Good to know." She locked eyes with him and he felt like he was frozen in place. "The socialite is Margon Visra. Seventeen years old, native to Lothal." She reached for one of the tablets she'd been reading on when he'd entered and a projection of a tan woman with short, dark hair and eyes as bright blue as the Great Western Sea on Coruscant. Luke hadn't met her, but he recognized her from the overview Kallus had provided him with.

"She's on a list that has been cultivated here. I don't see anything new. What brought you in?"

"General threat analysis. If she is financing a rebel cell, it has to be handled quickly and quietly. If her whole family is involved it's an even bigger problem."

"And you're thinking walking in with me is the way to handle it quietly? They know whose son I am. And it won't be like before where we just slip in and out. If we go in there with an invitation, everyone at that party will know as soon as we walk in."

"And all eyes will be on you."

"And you."

Mara flashed the same smile that she used to show off just before dragging him out of his bedroom window when they were kids off to have an adventure in the lower levels of Coruscant. "Who says I'm coming in with you?"

Luke frowned at that. "I'm the decoy?"

Her smile didn't fade, but it did soften ever so slightly. "Who else would I trust at my back?"

And just like that, the increasingly infamous Lord Natus found himself agreeing to be the decoy.

—

Mara risked a glance at him from the back of their behicle as they zipped through Lothal's Capital City. Luke had changed a great deal in the last year. It wasn't just that he'd gotten a little taller, finally growing into the black robes he favoured a bit better, or that his hair had darkened with as much time as he'd spent away from direct sunlight. It wasn't even the confidence in which he held himself now with his chin tilted, back straight, and shoulders squared like he'd just graduated from the Imperial Academy. It was all of that, but even more, it was his presence in the Force. It was… hard to pin down. Heavier wasn't the right word for it. Weightier, maybe. And sharper, like a weapon ready to be wielded with terrifying precision. Not that she should really be surprised. The Emperor had sent Luke off with her to gain some basic skills in the field, but she wasn't the one that would prepare him to be a Sith. Vader would put him through the fires for that one, and it wasn't surprising that some of the innocence that had somehow remained a dominant force in him for so long had been burned out as his father prepared him for that. It wasn't surprising, but it was a little sad, despite Mara not knowing exactly why.

"What?"

The question startled Mara out of her thoughts and she found a familiar set of blue eyes watching her now. How strange it would be when they finally turned Sith-gold. "Just thinking."

"Staring," he chuckled, tilting his head in amusement. "Have I changed that much?"

"Yes."

A little of his confidence wavered at her bluntness. "But in a good way, right?"

Mara shrugged. "Just different." She felt his disappointment rather than saw it, and she found herself smiling just a little as she nudged his boot with her heeled shoe. "You saying I haven't changed at all?"

"A lot, but in a good way."

"How so?"

If she didn't know better, she would have thought that she saw the faintest hints of red on his cheeks. He recovered quickly and nodded towards the front of their escort vehicle. "We're going to let you out, circle, and then Jom'll let me out down the street. I'd ask if you needed a good way in, but…"

"I can climb in a dress," Mara promised with a smirk. "Just make sure Visra's attention is on you."

"I don't think that'll be a problem."

There was something about the way he said it that brought more questions than answers, but they'd have to be saved for later. "See you on the other side," she promised and stepped out of the vehicle, slipping easily around another to use the lineup to block her path from any curious security that had been hired for the party. She took in the sights between the vehicles, from the security postings - three visible where guests were exiting their vehicles and another two at the door - to the guests dolled up in their finery, many looking as if they had come from off world, and finally to the house itself that towered over any other she'd seen on Lothal. The Visra family has done exceedingly well under Imperial rule, both for themselves and as a mediator between the Empire and the locals. If Margon was, in fact, funneling their family money to rebels and it got out, it could prove a massive disruption on the planet.

Mara rounded the corner to where all of the intel she'd been able to scrape together in such a limited time had indicated would be her best point of entry. And there it was: a nice hole in security that gave her access to a second story balcony that she should have no trouble reaching with a little help from the Force.

She was halfway to the wall when she felt a prickle of warning followed immediately by a voice. "May we help you find something?"

Apparently her intel hadn't been entirely thorough. A security patrol moved towards her, an air of distrust hanging off of him. Mara drew in a steadying breath as he approached her. "I don't need help. You may go."

"This is a restricted area."

Well, so much for that trick. Time for Plan B. "I just got turned around. Could you point me in the direction of the front door?"

"I'll need to see your invite."

"My escort has that."

"Then let's see if we can find him."

The last argument danced on Mara's tongue, but from the look the security guard was giving her, he was well past any excuse she could muster, no matter how good it was. She'd just have to find another way in. She was nothing if not adaptable.

—

Luke had Jom drop him off at the back of the line so that, perhaps, he wouldn't draw too much attention until he made it to the door. There were some familiar faces littered amongst Lothal's party-goers, including a few high ranking Imperial elites. Interesting. He wondered if that was part of Visra's cover. She wouldn't be the first rebel sympathizer to hide in plain sight and think she was safer for it. They always found them, though. They were always uncovered.

He let his eyes flutter closer for just a moment and reached out through the Force, letting his senses explore the feelings that surrounded him. Arrogance. Pride. Anxiety. Anger. Tampered down frustration.

Wait.

Blue eyes popped back open just in time to see Mara being escorted by a guard. The last one was definitely her. He let his gaze drift back around to the door where Margon Visra had appeared and had spotted him. Strange. There was more excitement rolling off her than he would have expected, though apprehension was tangled up with it. She flashed a pretty smile and bowed a little. "My Lord Natus, such an honour to have you here."

"I appreciate that last minute accommodation," he answered and she beamed at the praise.

"When I heard that you'd reached out, I immediately—"

Mara approached from behind, cutting her off. "Natus, could you please explain to this imbecile that we were invited."

Luke's gaze turned cold as he fixed it on the security guard. "She is my guest," he said sharply.

"For the Empire's sake, let her alone," Visra half-squeaked. She turned back to Luke and Mara, the groveling reminding Luke of an Imperial officer that knew his moments were numbered. "My deepest apologies, Lord Natus. Mistress…."

"Kavra Cee," Mara provided and looped her arm through Luke's.

"A pleasure and an honour to welcome you both into my home tonight. Please."

The pair moved past her and into the house, and Luke could practically feel Visra's gaze following him. "I take it things didn't go as planned?" he murmured so only Mara could hear.

"There's always a Plan B. What do you think of our hostess?"

"A bit eager to please, but if that's because she loves or hates the Empire, I'm not sure."

"That is what we're here to find out."

Luke risked more than a sideways look at her as she let go of his arm, her gaze sweeping the crowd.

"You weren't wrong about people knowing who you are. I would have thought you'd keep a lower profile than that."

"We've been on Lothal for a few weeks. Word spreads." He glanced out, but instead of instantly turning back to their own conversations as most did when they realized they had Vader's son's attention, eyes remained locked. Just not on him. "You know they're looking at you, right?"

"Only because I walked in with you," she answered casually.

"Not just that."

She turned her full attention on him. "Oh yeah? Do tell, flyboy."

Luke felt what had to be an absurdly goofy grin take hold without permission and on impulse he extended a hand.

She took it, letting him draw her close and never breaking eye contact. "You know we're here to work, right?" she asked very quietly.

"And what better way to inconspicuously move around the room?"

"Do you even know how to dance?"

"I trust you to lead me."

She flashed him a grin of her own and Luke wondered if she'd always been that pretty or if it was a result of the dress and the heels and the atmosphere. No. He'd noticed it while she'd been pouring over her research. It was just Mara.

While she let him lead her to the center of the large room, once they were there she subtly took the lead. No one else would have noticed how she directed his hands and how he followed her trained steps in a dance that let them both have enough leeway to look beyond the other. Even so, she still hadn't broken eye contact.

"Can you keep a secret?" she asked softly.

"You know I can."

She snorted a laugh. "Do I?"

"For you, I'll take it to the grave," he swore.

She seemed to weigh that for a moment before murmuring a confession so quiet he almost missed it. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Luke answered without hesitation. "I —"

It's time.

The order over the bond slammed into him as hard - perhaps harder - than it had that morning. It caused him to stumble under the weight and Mara reached a hand to steady him, her expression worried. He let his mouth drop open, prepared to explain when the first order was followed by a now that left no room to argue. "I have to go. I'm sorry. I thought —"

An emotion he couldn't quite place flickered across her expression before a careful mask of indifference was set into place. "Lord Vader calls," she answered, her hand dropping from his arm. "As he does."

"I have a duty," he tried, but she wasn't buying the explanation.

"You got me in. That's all I really needed from you."

The words dug deep and he had the strangest feeling they were meant to. "I am sorry."

Something behind him drew her attention away and he risked a glance. Visra stood halfway into the hall, her back to the party, and she didn't look happy with whoever she was speaking to just out of the line of sight. She huffed, and stepped fully into the hall, pulling more of Mara's attention.

Another sharp tug on the bond provided Luke with a strong reminder that his presence had been demanded. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised, but Mara was already on her way.

With a huff of frustration he started for the exit. There was no time to waste. For either of them.

—

Much to her frustration, Luke hadn't been wrong about eyes being on her. The moment he was gone there was a man to her left offering her a drink and another to her right asking her name. If she's been irked at the way he'd bailed so instantly at Vader's beck and call before, this only intensified it.

Which did absolutely nothing, Mara reminded herself. Vader might be playing games, but Luke was doing what he did: trying to find a way to please both parties. It wasn't his fault that his father was playing games. Luke had gotten her in and only time would tell if Vader continued to drag him where he wasn't needed just to help ease his own paranoia. For now, it was time she found a way to her answers.

She ducked away and left the two men with their drinks and their dull questions, the fresher her excuse. She slipped back into the hall that Visra had disappeared into and found it empty. A quick glance in either direction showed the house staff in and out of the kitchen at one end and a set of circular stairs at the other. If the layout of the house was accurate, office spaces would be the next floor up and the bedrooms the floor above that. The key was not getting spotted heading up the stairs.

A server left the kitchen, hands full and focus on the party on the other side of the hallway. Mara slipped a finger through the back thong of her heel, sliding it off and repeating the movement on the second so that she could move quickly and quietly as soon as it was time. Her gaze was fixed on the movement beyond the wide door and into the kitchen, and she let the Force guide her. As soon as the feeling struck she rocked forward. Every step was quick, light, and intentional as she darted down the hall in the opposite direction of the kitchen and took the stairs up, not slowing until she reached the first turn and was out of sight of any would-be curious staff.

As she made it to the top of the stairs, she could hear muffled voices from down the hall. She followed the sound, hedging close to the far wall as she drew closer.

"…think that they can come onto our planet and take our factories," a low, rough voice was saying.

"Our people," a woman answered, but it didn't sound like Visra.

Mara reached into the folds of her dress to a hidden pocket, pulling a device out and clicking it on.

"We've let them. Fifteen years we've let them."

A projection of Rough Voice's face appeared from her device, showing off sharp, thin features and a hard line to his mouth. Dark hair was slicked back and he couldn't have been much older than Mara. With his face appeared a name: Tob Gaman.

"I'm not sure let is the right word."

The device recalculated, this time producing a woman who wore a headscarf over dark hair and equally dark, piercing eyes. Seyda Cors.

"It is if we do nothing about it. Then we're no better than those people downstairs. I still can't believe Visra brought us here of all places with that crowd."

Visra. Now she was getting somewhere.

There was a sound from the opposite side of the room like a door had slid open and shuffling followed. "Your sister finally release you or has she turned us over to the authorities?" Gaman demanded.

There was a low chuckle from their newly arrived companion that was decidedly not Margon Visra. "My sister wouldn't want to risk her reputation."

Mara looked down as the device worked through its calculations to fit the voice with a file. A new face popped up: young and smug, with eyes just as blue as Margon's. Doman Visra, her brother. Well that was an interesting turn of events. It looked like the Empire had suspected the wrong Visra sibling.

"If he'd come here tonight…." Cors said, almost too softly for Mara to pick up on.

"But he didn't," Doman Visra answered. "And by the meet next week, we'll have all of our security in place."

So there was someone else involved. Perhaps the rebel they were funding. If so, Doman was no longer the one to make an example of. Mara could be patient if it meant unraveling an entire cell. It was going to be a busy week.

—-

The sharp demand on his attention had quieted, which likely meant his father was distracted. Luke took every shortcut he knew between Visra's house and the shipyard where he was supposed to be at that very moment. By the time he arrived the battle with the rebels was in full swing and his father was crossing lightsabers with two of them. The Master must have been the one that the Grand Inquisitor had failed to keep.

Luke ran along the catwalk, his own lightsaber igniting in his hand as he leapt from it, using the Force to soften the landing in front of the startled Padawan that looked like he was coming to his Master's rescue. The boy - Ezra Bridger, according to Kallus' files - blinked owlishly at him. His jaw dropped as if he were going to ask a question, but Luke didn't give him time. Instead he swung hard, the aggressive move barely giving his new opponent time to bring his own lightsaber up to clumsily parry.

Bridger stumbled back, but found his balance and came at Luke again. He was either brave or foolish. Which one didn't really matter now that Father had found them. It was time for the would-be Jedi to figure that out. Luke sidestepped the blue lightsaber as it cut up to his left, bobbed to avoid another cut, and finally reached his hand out. The humming blade was inches away from his palm and Bridger gawked at him as Luke used the Force to direct the blade to go wide, his free hand flashing outward. Bridger gave a sharp yell as his boots lifted off the ground and he hung there, suspended in the air, and Luke flashed a triumphant grin. He turned back towards his father's battle, wanting to show that albeit a little late, he was pulling his weight in this assignment, but he didn't get the chance.

There was barely a warning of danger before the explosion ripped through the night air, sending Luke heels over head tumbling across the shipyard. He landed hard, the heat from the explosion burning patches of his black robes. His gaze swept outward, finding the Jedi ushering Bridger towards their stolen ship as fast as he could. A cold fear settled deep in the pit of his stomach as Luke's gaze settled on the fallen walkers that were piled exactly where Vader had stood before. "Father!"

Blaster fire pinged off of the permacrete at his feet as he raced towards the debris, the stormtroopers that had been there as backup scattered uselessly as the rebels made their way towards the ship. The walkers shifted and Luke reached out to help give them a pull, his father unfolding from the pocket of protection he had created for himself. The blast bolts shifted and the Sith Lord's lightsaber flashed to life, throwing one bolt back at the Mandelorian girl who had fired.

Luke started to bolt for the escaping shuttle, but his father's black gloved hand clamped down on his shoulder. There were no words, but the command was clear: he wasn't to pursue. Something told Luke that he wouldn't be cleared to leave to help Mara either. Whatever she'd uncovered at the Visra mansion, she was on her own for now. This wasn't the end of his father's plan.

—-

Hera Syndulla felt like she was running on autopilot after their near-fatal escape. They had come to Lothal to risk the rescue of Minister Tua in return for a list of sympathizers to the rebellion. People that were living every day at risk of the Empire deciding they were more trouble alive than dead and eliminating the problem.

Just like they'd eliminated Minister Tua.

"It's not your fault," Ahsoka said softly from the projection as the cockpit doors opened behind Hera, Kanan dropping heavily into the shuttle's copilot chair. "Is everyone on your team okay?"

"A little banged up, but we made it out mostly in one piece."

"Considering we were up against two Sith Lords, we got away easy," Kanan grumbled, rubbing at his shoulder where the masked Sith's blade had caught his shoulder guard.

"Siths?" Ahsoka echoed.

"Yeah, you know the -"

"I know what they are," Ahsoka cut him off, her brow furrowing as she leaned in towards the camera a little, her worry clear in the projection. "But there were two? The Master and the Apprentice?"

"I guess," Kanan answered with a shrug he clearly regretted. He groaned and motioned at a surprisingly quiet Chopper who was there to make sure their communication remained encrypted. "Hey, Chop? You get an image of those two?"

Chopper chirped his affirmative and Hera watched Ashoka's face as Chopper pulled the image of the masked Sith and the blond teen that had come into the fight late.

"We've caught some rumours of him," Ahsoka said and motioned to the masked Sith. "They call him Darth Vader, but he's not the Master. He's the Apprentice. Who's the boy? Do you have a clearer angle?"

"He was fast," Hera murmured, but Chopper had what Ahsoka was looking for. He pulled it up and sharpened the image so they could all see the teen's face.

"He called Vader father," Kanan offered.

When Hera looked back, Ahsoka looked like she'd seen a ghost. "Are you sure?" she managed. "You heard him call Vader father?"

"Yeah. Why?"

The Fulcrum agent blinked hard, resetting herself. "Get to your contact and send coordinates. I'm coming to you."

The transmission cut before they had time to argue.

Chapter Text

There was a constant buzz of activity throughout the lower levels of Coruscant. Flashing, neon lights buzzed and people moved through increasingly cramped pathways the further down one traveled. She knew it was a good place to get lost in the crowd, and as long as they could both reach the destination without attracting attention, it was as safe of a meeting place as they could find on the capital planet.

Ahsoka Tano took a seat at the back of a tapcaf and ordered a drink. The others in the cantina were more interested in their own anonymity than they were in her, which suited her purpose nicely. She waited and waited, eventually pulling on a calming technique she'd learned as a youngling in the Jedi Temple. These meetings rarely went exactly as planned and certainly not on the timetable they preferred. Care was always prioritized over timeliness or it could put them both at risk.

But the crew of the Ghost were sitting on Lothal, possibly exposed and being hunted by a Sith Lord. She'd told them to stay because she knew she needed their help if her suspicion was confirmed, but as minutes ticked by she couldn't help but wonder if she was allowing her emotions to get the better of her.

Just as she'd been on the cusp of deciding he wouldn't make it, a hooded figure entered the tapcaf. He spotted her and made his way through the crowds of patrons to take a seat with her, finally removing his hood. "Sorry I'm late," Bail Organa murmured. "They've tightened security again."

Ahsoka took a sip from her drink. "Thank you for coming."

"What was so delicate that you couldn't risk an encrypted channel?"

Blue eyes darted quickly around the room as she let the Force reach out, verifying as best she could that no one was eavesdropping, before turning to meet brown. "You were with Padme in the end, weren't you?"

He blinked hard, the surprise at the question clear in his expression. It faded slowly into sadness and he gave the smallest nod. "Yes."

"And her child…. he died with her?"

There was a flicker of conflict in Bail as he nodded again. "Yes."

Ahsoka drew a steadying breath and reached out, her fingers touching his arm. "This is important," she stressed. "If I'm right, more important than you could know. I need the truth, Bail. Is Padme's son - Anakin's son - dead?"

"You knew Anakin was the father?" Bail asked, his voice deadly quiet and the Togruta woman snorted.

"He wasn't that subtle."

A soft, sad smile tilted his lips. "Neither of them were." The Senator pushed a breath out through his nose, dark gaze falling on her hand still clutching his arm. "Why are you asking about this, Ahsoka?"

"The crew that leads Phoenix Squadron - the crew of the Ghost - are on Lothal. They came across a teen that would be just about the right age. Look." She reached into the bag she had with her and pulled a tablet out.

Bail took the tablet and the screen lit up with the image that Hera's droid had captured. Some of the colour drained from the Alderaanian man's face as he stared at the image. "He looks just like…"

"Doesn't he? I could have sworn I was staring at a younger Anakin."

A sorrow took over, drawing at every inch of his features. "She named him Luke. Padme named him Luke," he managed, his voice cracking a little at the boy's name. "Obi-Wan took him. He'd planned to deliver him to Anakin's family on Tatooine, but I'd heard that something prevented him from doing so. He raised the boy himself, but I lost contact about ten years ago. Nothing from him and no way to find him without raising suspicions."

"Obi-Wan wasn't there," Ahsoka said quietly. "He was with the Sith that they call Vader. He called him father. I'm afraid the Empire got to him and has been…. What?" She hadn't thought he could find a way to look more surprised than before.

"You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"About Anakin. How he died."

She shook her head. "With the others. I'd heard he was killed in Order 66."

Bail gave a quick glance around to the crowd, reaffirming their privacy. "My understanding was that he died on Mustafar. Obi-Wan certainly thought so, but he….. He was involved in Order 66. He… Obi-Wan said that he'd discovered that Anakin had pledged himself to the Sith Lord."

A chill ran through her. "Anakin wouldn't have. He—"

"Obi-Wan saw it with his own eyes. He…" Bail clenched his jaw, shaking his head a little as if he were shaking terrible memories away. "If Luke is alive and he's with Vader, I fear the worst has happened."

Ahsoka tried to breathe through all of the tangled emotions raging inside of her, each one clambering for a prominent place in her chest. If all of this was true, Anakin was alive and he'd been turned to the Dark Side, just as Maul had predicted a decade and a half before. The Sith Lord had turned him and he'd become the monster that was raining terror down in the galaxy, spreading fear everywhere he went. But why? She had no doubt that Sidious was powerful - persuasive - but she knew Anakin. Her former Master was one of the most stubborn beings she'd ever met. Stubborn, determined, and so very kind. Yes, he had moments that he often pushed the boundaries of the Code, but to become Vader made no sense. To burn the galaxy without reason… no. She was missing something. A key. A reason. The Anakin she had known could be a force to be reckoned with, but it was always to protect the people he loved. Obi-Wan, his troops, her, Padme….

Perhaps even his child.

She pushed a breath out though her nose. "Thank you," she said quietly as she stood.

"Where are you going?"

"To get answers." She pulled her hood up and set some credits on the table to cover her drink.

"You can't save him, Ahsoka. Even if he was Anakin, the man you knew is gone."

"Maybe, but I have to know for sure. I'll be in touch."

She felt his concern follow her out, nipping at her heels and all the way to the lift. She couldn't blame him, but she couldn't just abandon them. Not again. Not with so much on the line.

—

Mara woke in the earliest hours of the morning, a soft knock at the door of the quarters she'd been provided with pulling her out of a light sleep. She glanced at the clock next to the bed. Just past four local time. Great.

The second knock drew a frustrated groan from her and she rolled out of bed, her tired senses catching wisps of a familiar presence. She trudged her way to the door and unlocked it so that it slid open to reveal Luke holding a data cylinder. "I come bearing a gift," he offered.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "You sure your dad is in a sharing mood?"

"Didn't ask. Mind if I come in?"

Mara stood there for a long moment, letting him question if his charm would win out or not. She shouldn't let it, but she knew she would. She plucked the cylinder from his fingers and turned to pad her way back into the room. She could practically feel his grin from behind as he followed, the doors sliding shut behind him. "I'm going to guess this isn't your work?" she asked, holding up the peace offering in reference.

"I've been a little tied up, but when I heard you had switched focus on your investigation, I had Lieutenant List pull the full report we have on the Visra brother."

She wondered, by the way he said that, if certain information hadn't been made readily available to her. It wasn't beyond the ISB to play politics, even with her. It was all a power game. "I'm sure he loved being woken up for that."

Luke shrugged, taking an uninvited seat on the edge of her bed. "It's his job."

"How's your impromptu assignment go?"

He snorted as he fell back against the bed. Mara turned to the console and inserted the cylinder. "That good, huh?"

"They've gone to ground. Father thinks they're still on the planet, and maybe they are, but he hasn't been in a sharing mood on what he needs me for."

Mara risked a glance behind her as the intel booted up on the screen. "You know what he wants."

"What's that?"

"You, jumping at his every whim."

Luke sighed heavily from his place on her bed and she heard him shift, but he didn't sit up. "Can you keep a secret?" he asked, the words echoed from earlier that night at Visra's party.

A smile tilted her lips. "As well as you."

"I'm serious. This has to stay between you and me."

She turned, finding him on his side so he could look at her and Mara moved to the bed. She took a seat, slowly lying down so that she was facing him. "On my life."

There was a beat of silence between them before Luke nodded. "He's afraid. Afraid of losing me."

"And he thinks I'm going to steal you away?" she chuckled.

"For him, yes."

"Him?"

"Palpatine."

Mara watched him closely. It wasn't the first time he'd spoken like this, but it had been a long while. "We're on the same side, aren't we?" she asked carefully.

"Yes. Father pledged his loyalty to Palpatine, but there are only two. Someday, that's going to mean something."

She let the words sit between them for a moment before offering a quiet response. "Palpatine won't live forever, you know. Vader is his heir for a reason. You're Vader's heir."

"Is that how everyone sees it?"

"That's the way it is."

He heaved a breath and offered a tired smile. "Peaceful transfer of power isn't exactly the Sith way, but maybe. I hope so."

His eyes slipped closed and Mara continued to watch him. Strange, how she'd always assumed that Palpatine was resigned to Vader's eventual ascension. As if once he was old and frail the Sith Apprentice would do away with him as perhaps he'd done to his own Master, but never a day before. Maybe it was a lie she told herself. Maybe she'd just never let herself linger on the question too long, because if she did she would have to recall the order that had never been rescinded: Vader should not have an absolute ally in his son.

But he did, and Mara knew that. Palpatine likely knew it too, which would eventually lead to the question of what that would mean someday.

Thankfully that someday wasn't that day. Or night. Or morning. Whatever it was.

Mara hadn't realized that her own eyes had fluttered closed against the swirling thoughts, but as she opened them she saw Luke's remained shut. His breathing had evened out and she inched a little closer to him. "Luke?"

"Hmm?" he answered sleepily.

"Promise me something?"

He eased a little closer to her as well so that their foreheads were almost touching. She tilted forward so they were. "No matter what happens, I don't want us to be enemies," she murmured, the confession feeling much louder than it really was in the room.

Luke's arm snaked around her waist, fingers toying at the fabric of her shirt as it settled at the small of her back. "Never," he swore.

—

Getting into Lothal was easier than getting off with a blockade settled around the planet, and Ahsoka proved that three days after she'd told them to sit tight and wait for her. And they had. Through the burning of Tarkintown that had clearly been meant to drive them out of hiding and the two relocations to avoid stormtroopers. By the time Ahsoka finally arrived, even Hera had been ready to call it. It wasn't just them that was taking a risk by staying, but Lando - who had been helping to shield them - and the people of the planet that were being used as bait by the Sith.

With Ahsoka came a few answers, but those bred more questions. She told them a story - or at least the highlights, as Hera couldn't help but feel so many details were being left out - about her Master and a child that they had all believed was dead. The child that she believed was the teen that had attacked them along with Vader.

"Let me get this straight," Kanan managed, looking almost ill as he spoke. "You think that Anakin Skywalker - hero of the Clone Wars and rumoured Chosen One of the old prophecies - had a kid that has been raised as a Sith?"

Ahsoka nodded. "You see why I needed to come here. If that boy is Luke Skywalker…."

"And what?" Sabine demanded. "Do you want to take him with you? We'd need an army to get to him and likely all we'd end up doing is bringing Vader down on us. That's a huge risk for someone that doesn't want to leave the Empire."

Hera sighed. "I know how important this boy must be to you, Ahsoka, but Sabine's right about the risk."

The Togruta woman gave her a soft, sad smile. "Kanan knows the prophecy, but I wouldn't expect the rest of you to. The Chosen One was said to bring balance to the Force. Obviously things didn't… work out that way, but—"

"You think maybe his son can?" Kanan asked. "Kid's definitely powerful, and he's young. I don't want to know what he'd be if he finishes his training under Vader."

Hera turned to look at her lover. "You're usually the skeptic."

"This is huge."

"Yeah, and impossible," Zeb grumbled from the outskirts of the conversation.

"Isn't that what your crew specializes in?" Ahsoka asked. "The impossible?"

Hera sighed. They did have a habit of pulling off jobs no one would be crazy enough to even attempt, but she didn't have time to answer. Kanan answered for them all.

"What do you need from us?"

—-

The intel Luke had brought her had been surprisingly thorough. He may not have gathered it all himself, but he'd focused laser precision on what she would need and had had List obtain it for him. One of the pieces of intel led her to a particular hangout for Doman Visra and she found him surrounded by people that the Empire didn't have on their radar yet. And one of those people turned out to be very useful in making her way into his trusted circle.

Aurous Fyr hadn't been at the meeting in the Visra home a few days prior, but he was close with Doman and after a few drinks had been willing to provide an introduction. Mara had given him the name Salina, a cover that placed her as a displaced farmer-turned-factory-worker. A perfectly crafted cover to endear her to the budding rebels, and it had. None of them had spotted her at the party and while they weren't sharing their deepest secrets with her from the start, they also weren't as tight lipped as they should have been around a newcomer.

Especially Aurous. He was the weak link, at least for Mara. He could go on for hours and hours about his idealistic views, how the Empire got everything wrong but they - in all of their infinite wisdom - could get it right. She wasn't sure if he was sad or irritating or both, but at least he was useful. Sometimes more useful than others.

"Every move is small until its not," he said as Mara sat with him outside of the empty warehouse they were meeting in that evening. "A thorn in their side until real change can be made."

"What does real change look like?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, the corners of his mouth tipping up before he turned back towards the stars. "Like making a splash they can't ignore."

Mara forced a laugh. "You just said the same thing with different words."

Aurous chuckled at that and glanced back to the others who were out of range to hear his lowered voice. He leaned in closer. "There are sects, you know, all over the galaxy. Some people are boots on the ground, some are the pockets that fund them."

"I've seen how you look at the tab at the tapcaf," she laughed at him. "You're not funding much of anything."

"I'm not, no, but others are." He glanced back towards Doman Visra.

"Like what?"

"All kinds of things all over the galaxy."

Unlikely. Doman might be inflating his own importance to his followers, but the intel she had showed his finding was mostly local. Granted, local could cause a sizable problem on a planet like Lothal.

"But here, now…. Retribution."

"For what?"

"What do you mean, for what? Didn't you hear? Vader burned Tarkintown to the ground."

"Sure, but it's Vader," Mara answered, a strange knot starting to form in the pit of her stomach. "Going up against him is a quick way to end up dead."

"Directly, maybe, but Seyda knew a guy who knows a woman and she's the real deal. She can hit Vader where it hurts: his son."

Mara schooled her expression carefully. "You really think she'll pull it off?"

"We'll know soon, I guess."

"It's happening now?"

For the first time, Aurous shot her a curious look and Mara knew she'd pushed too hard on one subject. She looked out at the sky and let a frown tug her lips down. "What time is it?"

"Twenty-one-hundred, give or take."

"I should get going. Morning comes early." She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, using his distraction to snag a small bug to the fabric of his shirt. "See you tomorrow after work."

He mumbled a reply as she slipped off of the stack of crates they'd been sitting on and started back towards town. The moment she was out of their range, she quickened her pace. She needed to find Luke.

—

Six days. It had been six days since the rebels had escaped from the shipyard and six days since they'd gone to ground. Luke knew he wasn't the only one questioning at this point if, perhaps, they'd managed to sneak past the blockade, but Father was convinced they were still there. Convinced that they could be found and that Luke's attention needed to be focused entirely on the situation at hand. So while Mara had the more exciting task of worming her way into Doman Visra's inner circle to figure out who he was helping to fund with the rebellion, Luke was stuck with orders to meditate and seek out their prey. He was talented, but no one was good at everything, and the patience that it took to intentionally reach into the future had never been his strong suite.

One blue eye cracked open at a noise from outside in the hallway. He closed it, pulling a deep breath in through his nose and then back out, reaching through the Force. He saw… a bird. Small, a little bit round. A Morai. He'd read about them as a child, but had never seen one. Luke reached deeper, following the bird, and saw a figure standing in the distance. The person was cloaked, possibly alien, but as he tried to get a better look, a set of voices from the hallway outside dragged him out of the vision, the figure gone before he could discover anything else.

Luke gave a frustrated grunt as he unfolded himself from the floor. This was pointless. The base was too loud. Too distracting at all the wrong moments. He either needed utter silence or a steady stream of noise to work as a backdrop. He wasn't going to get either there.

He made his way out of the compound, none of the officers or stormtroopers daring to stop him. The cool night air caught the hem of his dark cloak he'd wrapped around his shoulders and he pulled the hood up to shadow his face as he made his way into the city. It was late, most of the vendors having turned in for the night and only a handful of people milling around the streets. The quiet wrapped around him, easing his mind and his frustrations.

After a while, he found himself moving aimlessly, thoughts resettling on the Morai and the being in the distance. Slender, dressed in a hooded, brown cloak, the person hadn't looked like any of their rebels. Possibly the pilot - Syndulla, he recalled from the file - but that didn't feel right. It was someone else. Someone that the Force had been trying to show him. Someone —

A sense of warning washed over him and he spun, finding the street mostly empty save a stormtrooper escorting a cadet. He blinked hard, hand on the hilt of his lightsaber, and let his gaze sweep the area. There was something here. There had to be.

The stormtroopers passed on the opposite side of the street and Luke continued to look, finding nothing. He turned, ready to reluctantly call it a fluke, and found the troopers had crossed to his side, the older one raising a blaster that wasn't regulation and aiming right at him.

The stormtrooper fired and with a speed that had been built through years of training, Luke's lightsaber leapt to life in his hand in time to deflect what turned out to be an attempt to stun him.

Another blast came from off to his left from the cadet, and Luke didn't have time to fully bat that one away. Part of the blast struck his shoulder and a numbness spread. The cadet seemed to realize he was in trouble the moment Luke didn't go down at the sneak attack and Luke jumped forward, still blocking the occasional blast that came near him from the older man as he chased down the now fleeing cadet.

Frustration built as he chased him through an alley and rounded a corner. Enough frustration that he didn't sense the trap. He realized the mistake too late as he slammed into a giant Lasat who grinned toothily at him. "Sorry 'bout this, kid," he offered as he took Luke by the cloak.

The teen didn't have a chance to react as a stun ray hit him. He felt the numbness spread and desperately tried to push back against it. Another hit him, and with the third, he was dragged into darkness.

Chapter Text

Mara had spent the last few years tracking the Emperor's enemies down to every corner of the galaxy. There were times when she had a full dossier of information on them, and others when she knew relatively little. While one was often easier - unless the intel was incorrect like it had been with Visra - she had picked up enough useful tricks that finding a single teenager when she knew what planet and what city to look into should have been a simple task. Add to that that she knew her mark as well as she did, and the fact that she kept turning up empty was not a good sign.

Her first stop was the base. She checked in with Lieutenant List - the incompetently ambitious officer that Agent Kallus had made Mara's laissant and that Luke clearly had access to - to verify his or his men's last known sighting of the infamous Lord Natus. The lieutenant had partial and outdated intel that he stumbled through, clearly without an understanding of how a Force-sensitive individual might use meditation to find someone they were looking for. Patience had never been Luke's strong suit, though, so the fact that both his quarters and the space he and his father had been provided for their investigation were empty meant that he'd given up on that particular angle.

Next she found a guard on the base that had confirmed that he'd seen Luke leave and Mara wasted the next hour looking for him in town, the knot in her gut simultaneously growing and tightening with each passing moment. She was wasting time. If he'd been taken - something that she hadn't really thought was possible, even she had known that there would be less trouble if he knew someone was going to try something stupid - then her loose-lipped source was right. Visra and his little band of would-be rebels had found someone with talent to back financially. Now that someone had Luke.

Might have Luke. Mara stopped in the middle of the darkened street, forcing her raging thoughts into order. She didn't have any hard proof yet. She closed her eyes, did her best to clear her mind and ease her breathing, and reached…. The Emperor was the only person she'd ever been able to hear from anywhere in the galaxy, but if there was ever going to be an exception to that, it was going to be Luke.

She pictured him. From his darkening blond hair to those bright blue eyes to his smile that he'd never known had lifted her spirits as children. She focused on what his voice sounded like, the phrasings he used when he spoke, and she could almost feel his fingers against her wrist. Mara? It was his voice, but with none of the confidence that had underlined it since he'd made his way out into the galaxy.

Her eyes snapped open and she found herself in the street alone. He had been taken, but she didn't have any idea where, and she didn't have time to figure out if her limited skills in that particular arena could find him.

Mara took off in a sprint, barely stopping at the entrance to the base to show credentials and then moving as quickly as she dared to without drawing attention to the same wing that Vader was supposedly meditating in. She made it to the outer security and skipped past it and in, the Force doing the heavy lifting for her. The second set wouldn't have been nearly as easy for anyone else, but the Red Guards that traveled with Vader took orders from the Emperor above Vader - not that anyone had alerted him to that or he probably would have tossed them out the airlock the first chance he had - which meant that they allowed entrance to the Emperor's Hand, supposedly on her Master's orders.

She was escorted into the inner room, the Red Guard moving to the controls of a bacta tank. A man floated inside. Well, half a man. He was missing all four limbs, only stumps remaining in their place. His skin was ashen as if it hadn't seen any sunlight - natural or otherwise- in years, the scars leaving deep grooves in the sickly pale skin. Pieces of equipment were implanted into his chest and his throat, lights flashing, and as the bacta stirred around him, gold eyes flashing open.

Mara hadn't realized she was staring until that moment, nor had her brain really connected this damaged creature to the powerful Darth Vader until she was driven back by the Force, slamming her into the far wall hard enough that she saw dark spots dancing against her vision. She was lifted then - all by a man hanging by a harness in a bacta tank - and she felt an invisible hand close around her throat. She struggled not to fight it, instead focusing everything she had into a single name. "Natus," she choked out and the hold on her throat released, even if the grip holding her suspended in the air did not.

She watched from where she remained suspended as Vader was lifted from the tank by the harness, the breathing mask coming with him. As the liquid pooled on the permasteele below, Mara could see that the small groves in his skin weren't a trick played by air bubbles, but even further scarring. Burns, she thought. It was like he'd been burned alive. No wonder he lived in that suit. It must have been what was keeping him alive.

Green eyes followed as the harness eased him down, a medical droid moving into her line of vision to take hold and guide him to where what looked like only the torso of his suit waited for him. She watched as the droid eased him into it and then back onto a waiting table. With no warning the Force hold on her released with his distraction and she dropped unceremoniously to the floor. She could leave. Any sane person would have, but instead she continued to watch as four other droids joined, each with a mechanical limb in hand and they moved to the stumps all at once. Mara had her footing now, but nearly lost it with the onslaught of anguish that followed the reattachment of those nerves to a fully conscious patient. Finally, the helmet was put into place, shielding those terrifying Sith-gold eyes from her.

Then, all at once, the Red Guard that had escorted her in and had begun the extraction procedure fell dead, his head turned at an awkward angle. Those blacked out lenses of Vader's mask turned towards her. "Jade," he snarled, "what of my son?"

Mara swallowed hard, not used to having to steel her nerve like this. This was about Luke, and Luke was convinced his father loved him. Time to test that theory. "Natus has -" She cleared her throat hard, fingers going to it.

"Out with it," Vader growled.

She turned a hard glare on him, refusing to be intimidated. "Natus has been taken."

She couldn't see his ashy, scarred face, but she could imagine the look as fury leapt through the air like electricity.

—

He hated waking up after getting slammed by stun weapons. It had been a while since the 501st had been able to take him down quite that hard, and with the way his head was aching, they must have had to hit him several times.

Luke groaned as he forced his eyes open, but it wasn't the Executioner that came into slow and painful focus. Instead he was on the floor of what looked like a cleared out storage room. Right. He wasn't on his father's flagship and maybe not even on Lothal. The rebels they'd been chasing hadn't gotten the jump on him in the streets and they must have been the ones that brought him there. Well, he couldn't risk them gaining any more momentum. He rolled to his side, every muscle protesting the movement and made it to his knees. Slowly, intentionally, he got one foot under him and leveraged himself to stand, even if a little unsteadily.

One breath in, another out. He repeated the motion again and again, drawing on the Force until his head cleared and he was left standing in the center of the small room. He let his eyes remain closed even as he felt a presence approach the other side of the door. They must have been watching him. Fine. It wouldn't do them any good.

The door opened and Luke flashed into action. They'd taken his lightsaber, but they couldn't take his ability to use the Force. He lashed out at the Togruta woman who entered, fingers outstretched and the Force wrapping around her. She looked entirely unbothered by it, and it took only a fraction of a moment to see why as she managed to break his hold on her. He'd never seen anyone do that before.

Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger came flying into the room even as Luke was pushed back and the teen felt power build with the anger inside of him. He lifted them both in the air, both squirming and unable to pull the stunt the woman just had. She was the real threat. He turned, ready to use them in his attack against her.

But she stood with her hand outstretched in a calming motion. "We're not here to hurt you, Luke."

It was like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on his fury, replacing it with fear. "How do you know that name?"

"I knew your mother," she said quietly. "And your father. Anakin Skywalker."

Luke remained frozen where he was, Jedi Master and Apprentice still suspended midair with their boots dangling off the floor. His eyes were fixed on the Togruta woman though, the two Jedi fading back into the corner of his consciousness. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you all."

"My name is Ahsoka Tano. Anakin was my Master during the Clone Wars."

The words slammed into him harder than any attack could have. He stared at her, taking in every physical detail and letting the Force drift out for the ones he couldn't see. Every syllable felt true, which was impossible. Father would have told him. Father wouldn't have….

"He was protecting you," Luke managed, tasting the words as they left his tongue to see if they felt right. He was such a tangled ball of emotions that he couldn't tell.

"Could you put them down?" Tano asked, motioning to Jarrus and Bridger. "They'll leave. This conversation belongs between you and me."

Luke didn't budge and Tano offered him a small smile that looked a little sad. "I promise, no one will hurt you here. We'll talk, then you're free to leave."

Slowly, Luke released the two. They didn't move immediately, but at Tano's look they finally turned. Jarrus paused, every muscle tense as he spoke. "We'll be right outside." Even though it looked like he was directing the words at Tano, Luke knew better. It was a warning for him.

The door slid closed behind them and he found Tano staring at him, her expression strangely shattered as if somewhere in the silence of their leaving she'd received the worst news of her life. Or, perhaps, she'd just let her guards fall. Whatever it was, Luke had to struggle not to squirm under her gaze. "What?"

"You look so much like him," she answered softly. "Younger than I knew him, but it's in the eyes."

Luke bristled a little. "My father has gold eyes."

"He didn't always." She pulled in a deep breath, letting it flow back out through her nose. "You asked if he was protecting me by not telling you about me." She waited until he gave a small nod of confirmation behind the meaning of his half vocalized thought a few moments before. "I'd like to hope so, but your father probably doesn't even know that I'm alive. We were on two separate missions when the…. when it happened. The cruiser I was on crashed with only a couple survivors. I… I knew something terrible had happened to him during that time, but I thought he'd been killed at the temple with the others."

Luke felt a flicker of irritation at the story Palpatine had allowed to surface about the fate of Anakin Skywalker. "He didn't die with those traitors."

Tano blinked at him, surprise melting into something that looked like pity after a moment. He squared his shoulders at the expression and she offered a smile before sinking to the floor, sitting cross legged and looking up at him. "What do you think happened, Luke? What were you told?"

A lifetime of warnings against anyone knowing who they were swirled in his mind. It was dangerous. If the galaxy knew Anakin Skywalker had survived, it would put his father in danger. Not that anyone had explicitly told him why. He had assumed it was because they would think he was a traitor like the rest of the Jedi Council. Better to be Vader than Skywalker after the fall.

But Tano already knew who he was, and despite being a Jedi herself, he couldn't feel any ill will towards him or his father. There was only affection and sadness and guilt.

"There's an old Jedi saying: The choices of one shapes the future of all," she said after a long moment. "I left him. I wanted to help a friend, so I left him when he needed me most. I've turned it over in my head for fifteen years. What if I'd made a different choice? What if I'd chosen to stand by him and fight by him and…" She closed her eyes, the guilt rolling off of her in waves.

Luke took a hesitant seat, mirroring her posture. "The Jedi betrayed the Republic," he said quietly, "and they betrayed him. One of them tried to kill him. He left him for dead and stole me."

"Who?"

"Obi-Wan."

Surprise flickered through her blue gaze. "Obi-Wan loved your father. He was his Master. He would never —"

"But he did," Luke bit out. "I've seen the scars. He left him to burn alive on Mustafar."

She pursed her lips, seeming to take the information in. Her silence felt like an unnatural weight and Luke squirmed a little under it, a question leaving him without permission. "What was he like? Back then?"

Tano's mood lifted a fraction. "Kind. And brave. Determined and absolutely devoted to the people he loved. I saw him risk everything again and again for what he believed was right." A soft smile touched her lips. "He called me Snips and he pushed me to be my absolute best. He's the reason I survived Order 66. I couldn't have done it without his training. Without him." Her gaze met his. "When I found out he was alive and that you had survived, I knew I had to meet you. I knew I couldn't abandon either of you again."

"You didn't know," Luke found himself saying softly.

"But I do now, and I want to help."

The teen's head snapped up at that. "Help? You want to leave the rebellion?"

"I won't join the Empire. Not after what they did. The Emperor is… he was always whispering in Anakin's ear, always influencing where he could. None of us saw it, and that's our fault. He was right in front of us and we missed him."

"If you're not joining us, what then? You can't help us."

"Are you happy, Luke?"

"That's a weird question."

"Is it? Does no one ask you that?"

"No."

"Are you?"

He thought for a long moment. He had his father, he had Mara, and he was on his way to becoming one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, even if it was at the whim of someone else.

Tano gave a small shiver. "Do you know why the choices of one person can shape others' future? Each choice ripples out into the galaxy. Your father made a choice. I don't know why he chose to follow Palpatine, but he can make a new choice now."

Luke felt irritation bubbling up inside. "Do you think we could just leave, even if we wanted to?"

"Do you want to?"

"No," he answered automatically, but she didn't look convinced. He stood. "You said I could leave once we'd talked. We've talked."

Tano unfolded herself with less haste. "Of course." She rapped the door and it slid open to show what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse, the rebels he'd been hunting standing to the side. He started past her and she touched his arm. "I know you feel trapped. Maybe your father feels the same way. If you believe it's right, tell him… tell him I haven't given up on him. That I won't abandon him again. All he has to do is name the place and I'll be there. I'll get you both out."

Luke swallowed down the response, but if it was a promise or a curse, even he didn't know. All he knew for sure was that he had to get out of there.

—-

He had been dreaming when Jade had arrived, Padme's laugh filling his mind as they stood in the gardens of the Jedi Temple, a much younger Luke giggling and chasing Ahsoka around the Great Tree. She had stopped, spinning around and catching him, only intensifying the laughter. He'd looked so happy, but something dark had welled up in the boy's father's mind as he watched, despite the light that surrounded him, and the overwhelming feeling that his boy was slipping away had taken hold with it.

And now he knew why. He couldn't say why his old Padawan - long since dead from the Order his Master had set forth - was the face of the danger, but the mind often played strange tricks in sleep. What mattered was finding his son.

Jade had sparse useful information. A link to the money funding whoever had taken Luke, and even that she was hesitant to give up lest she reveal her hand and compromise her mark. Clearly she'd hoped that Vader could pick up on Luke's location like a tracker one might latch onto a ship. And perhaps he might have, but something was blocking him. Luke's presence was muddled. Quieted. It was as if something or someone was blocking them from that connection. All he knew for now was that he was alive, but even that could change quickly. That left Jade's local idiot that held vital information as their best resource.

"I'm responsible for the answers here," the teenager told him with more confidence than she'd earned.

"Your assignment matters little against finding my son."

There was a spark in her eyes. "You think I don't want to find him? If our Master finds that we threw away information on the rebellion for Natus, what do you think is going to happen?"

Vader held her gaze from behind the lenses of his mask, her logic infuriating, but also correct. Was he not always warning his son of being conscientious of the precarious place they held within the Empire under Palpatine? Clearly Jade was aware of it to, though anyone working directly under the Emperor was.

Jade pushed a breath out through her nose. "We'll get answers, but I'll bring him to you. If you show up at his door, everyone on the planet will know."

There was a long moment before Vader conceded. "Bring him to me."

The boy - Aurous, she called him - followed Jade to him like a pup on a leash. Jade played her part, all her well honed skills in emotional manipulation put to use. Skills he knew that she had and would continue using on his son. He shook the thought free as best as he could. Everyone had their own agenda, but she had brought this to him and he sensed she was willing to do what she needed to in order to find Luke.

Aurous rounded the corner and came to an immediate stop. Eyes wide and fear flowing off of him in waves that could have rivaled Kanino's, he tried with all of his might to scramble back the way he'd come. Jade blocked his exit. "Cooperate, and we won't hurt you."

"She won't," Vader boomed, his mask amplifying his voice as he took a heavy step forward.

He turned, expecting to blow through the petite woman, but she went low, blocking him with an elbow to the gut and a sweep to the ankles. He went down hard and she had already popped back up, one boot pressed firmly on his chest. "Who did Visra pay to take Natus?" Aurous jolted, trying to knock her off balance, and she shifted her boot to his throat, ready to apply pressure if he so much as twitched the wrong way. "That was a mistake," she told him coldly. "I'll give you one more chance. Tha name, the location. I want it."

"You work with them," the boy managed. "Why would I tell you?"

"Because death comes in many forms," Vader warned, "and I will have you screaming for it if you do not."

Aurous gave a nervous little laugh. "He'll be dead long before you find him. She's a Jedi. Even you can't stop her."

Vader crossed the space between them, his hand outstretched and Jade stepped back as he used the Force to haul him off the ground. "I am death to the Jedi." The boy went rigid as Vader reached deep with the Force, feeling Jade's disapproval on the outskirts of his awareness, but to her credit she kept her mouth shut. He dug and dug, working his way through Aurous' feeble attempts to think of anything else. He saw several young people - likely the ones funding the attack - speaking into a holocomm, but instead of a face visible in the projection there was a symbol. A symbol that looked remarkably like markings on a face he'd tried to push out of his mind for years. The same face that had filled his dreams that very night.

Aurous collapsed and Vader found himself in the back alley, Jade staring at him expectantly, her lips moving in a question he only heard the last of. "….apprentice?"

"What?" His voice modulator hiding the raspiness he felt behind the words.

"You said 'the apprentice lives.' Who is that?"

"No one that concerns you." He started past her. "He is yours to do with what you will. I have what I need."

"Like hells!" she snapped. "I'm coming with you."

"You have served your purpose."

"My purpose is to make sure we find him," she growled. "I'm not leaving him in the hands of whoever this is. You want to keep your secrets, fine. Keep them. They don't matter to me. Luke does."

She seemed to realize the slip in name the moment Vader connected that his son had told her. He felt the rage - the fear - well up inside of him and, even without lifting a finger, the Force closed around her throat with his command. She struggled and choked, but even then her glare was defiant.

And then her gaze shifted behind him and he heard "Father!" from that direction.

Vader turned, Luke's voice causing him to drop Jade. His son stood in the alley, a little disheveled and exhaustion hung off of him like a wet cloak. He gave a weary sigh. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill my friend. We have a lot to discuss."

—-

He felt like he was walking through a thick fog, his mind flipping through everything that had happened and everything that might as he walked through the night's events with his father. He listened, the mask hiding any visual emotion and Luke didn't have the energy to push against his father's mental barriers. There were no clarifying questions, and as far as Luke could tell his father recognized the Togruta woman's name.

When he'd finished, they stood in the private room inside the base. The silence was heavy between them. Mara had begrudgingly taken her mark into interrogation to see if she could pick anything useful up off of him after Darth Vader had left him unconscious on the floor of the alley. It was just Luke, his father, and an offer he'd relayed from his father's former Padawan. Finally, the silence became unbearable. "What do you want to do?"

There was a strange flicker in the Force around him, as if he were hardening his resolve. "If Skywalker's apprentice wants to meet, then I will go."

Tired as he was, it would have been impossible to miss the way he distanced himself from the situation. Luke had heard Palpatine refer to his father's true name as if he were an entirely different person, but in the decade he'd spent with his father he had never heard him choose that. Anakin Skywalker was Luke Skywalker's father, even if he were tucked away in a suite and behind a mask. To deny being Anakin Skywalker would be to deny being Luke's father. But this woman was Skywalker's apprentice, not his old Padawan. It was as if he weren't willing to claim her. As if it might be more than he could handle.

"You don't have to," Luke said quietly. "Go, I mean. She just wanted to talk. I didn't feel any ill will towards me or even towards you. She wanted….to give us a choice, I think."

"She is determined, and the choice you speak of is not one we can make."

"But won't we?" His father turned towards him and Luke could feel gold eyes staring at him from behind his mask's lenses. Or maybe they were blue. He wondered if they ever flickered back to their natural colour or if they remained Sith-gold. He shook the useless thought off. "Someday Palpatine will make us choose. We either end his life or he forces one of us to end the other."

"That time is not now. You are not ready."

Luke tried not to feel the pang of disappointment at his father's lack of faith in him. "Okay. If that's true, would it hurt to have allies that hate him? It doesn't have to be now. It could be a year from now. Ten years. But when we're ready, I feel she'd make a powerful ally."

There was a long stretch of silence that was filled only by his father's breathing. "When Jade is finished with her rebel, he will take the message to the Apprentice. I will meet with her." He turned to leave.

"Father." Luke waited until his father had stopped, though his back was still turned to him. "Promise me something if you must go: speak with her. Hear what she has to say. I can't shake the feeling that if you kill her, you'll never forgive yourself." Father had never lied to him. If he said he would, he would.

There was a harsh exhale of breath from the black mask and his father gave a sharp nod of agreement before turning to leave. Luke remained there for a long moment, turning the situation over in his mind and wondering if this might be the path to freedom.

When they had let Luke go, Ahsoka had resigned herself to the possibility of never hearing from him again… or from his father. The fact that Anakin was alive was still almost more than she could wrap her mind around. Even more so that he'd become Vader. She understood why Bail had kept the secret so close to his heart - both that son and father had lived - and she felt the same weight of responsibility pressing down on her. Even after the questions from both the Ghost crew and eventually from Commander Sato when an encrypted message came through that gave her coordinates where to meet. The name had been left off and she'd brushed it off as a vetted source. It wasn't a complete lie. Who else but Anakin would have her meet him on Mustafar where Obi-Wan had supposedly left him to burn to death?

Between the nuggets of information Luke had provided - much of it heavily skewed by the source, she imagined - and Bail's information from Obi-Wan himself, Ahsoka thought she had something of any idea what had happened, just not what had sparked it all off. Anakin had always been hotheaded, often at just the wrong times for the Order's liking, but the idea that he would have betrayed everything and everyone he cared about to follow Palpatine into the darkness didn't make sense. There was still a piece missing, and if nothing else, perhaps he could provide that to her. Though she couldn't help but hope that maybe he'd leave the Empire behind.

She had thought about tracking down Rex in his self-imposed retirement to ask him to act as backup. They had both been successful in talking clones down from the inhibitor chip programming and while the Dark Side was perhaps a bit more complicated, it still felt like brainwashing. A sickness that worked its way into the psyche and ate away at a person's logic and will until they bent the knee to Palpatine's demands. For all the times that they'd saved him, it was the former chancellor-turned-emperor that had caused the death and destruction of so many, many people she'd loved. If she weren't careful, she might find herself in a compromised as well.

In the end Ahsoka had gone alone. If things went poorly, Hera had the coordinates of Rex and the others' last known location and Kanan had been left with the promise of trust me in hopes that it could override the childhood trauma of Order 66 even if she couldn't be there with him to guide him through. She had to trust them - and the Force - that if Anakin was beyond her reach that they would carry on the fight. She couldn't leave him again. Not when he'd reached out. Not when there was hope.

She touched the shuttle down at the planetary coordinates that had been relayed to her and took a breath that didn't work to steady her at all. She felt like a bundle of nerves and guilt. She had to move past her emotions, though. That's what her Master had taught her.

He was waiting for her when the ramp unfolded out of the back of the shuttle. A towering figure in all black, face hidden behind a helmet and a control panel on his chest that indicated that it was the suit that was pushing air in and out of his lungs. The hot wind that blew off of the sea of lava behind him kicked up, whipping his black cape around. She steeled herself as she walked forward. "Anakin."

"Anakin Skywalker is dead," he boomed, his voice sounding nothing like she remembered, and the words sent a chill through her. What if Luke were wrong? What if Vader had lied to him his whole life, kept him near to corrupt him by telling him he was his father?

Fewer bonds were as strong as one formed between Master and Padawan. If this was Anakin, she should be able to tell. With another breath, Ahsoka reached out with the Force. For a moment, she felt a flicker of familiarity, even if it was beaten down by and buried under fear and anger and self-loathing. As her blue eyes slid open again, she knew. Not only who he was, but why he denied it. "I'm not a threat to you. Whatever happened, whatever… went down between you and Obi-Wan—" she felt the simmering rage spike at the name — "I'm not here to hurt you. I want to help you. You and Luke."

Power slammed into her, forcing her back. "You will not speak his name."

Ahsoka widened her stance, bracing herself. "I can't imagine what you must feel like you have to do to protect him in all of this, but Anakin…. Palpatine isn't the answer. You have to know that. We thought the Clone War destroyed lives, but Palpatine's empire has spread more destruction, more destitution than the war ever did. He's using you both for that, and that's not you."

"You should have remained dead," Anakin said, his voice sharp and cold, though she could feel the raging emotions.

"How could I with him using you like he is? I don't know what drove you to him, but it's not too late to make a different choice. For you and Luke." She took a careful step forward. "Think about what Padme would have wanted for your child."

Any crack in his emotional guards was instantly sealed at her name and it was all the warning Ahsoka had before his lightsaber flashed to life in his hand, a red blade rather than blue crashing down against her own white blades that reflexively crossed in front of her in a defensive position. She shoved him back hard, using the Force to send him skidding a few more feet. "I didn't come here to fight you!"

"Then you will die," he answered and lunged again.

Where Anakin's style had been quick and light, Vader's was heavy and powerful. Ahsoka felt her muscles strain as she parried, weaving and bobbing and eventually putting distance as she leapt into the air, barely clearing his swiping blade as she sumersalted over him. "At least tell me what happened!" she snapped as she landed, turning to face him with all the determination that he'd encouraged in her growing up. "If you're going to try to kill me, at least explain how it came this."

She caught his blade with hers and pivoted around, ducking another swipe, and she heard him push a harsh breath out through his mask. "You see destruction where I see order."

"With no free will. That's not order, Anakin. Palpatine has made slaves of an entire galaxy. You have to see that!"

He gave a sharp cry, the next blow powerful enough to send her stumbling. Her back hit the jagged rocks and everything in her screamed not to flip backwards out of his way as she might have done any other time. She listened to the instinct, rolling instead and getting a foot under her. Somewhere in their battle they'd inched closer to the edge of one of the cliffs, and if she'd rolled back instead of to the side, it could have easily put her over the edge.

The red blade swung out and Ahsoka leaned back heavily, her wide stance keeping her stable even as she bent backwards at a ninety degree angle. The hum of the blade buzzed in her ears and she popped back up only to duck low and catch him hard in the right shoulder with the hilt of one of her own weapons. Well, despite the rumours, he wasn't entirely machine. It was good to know that, even if only physically, there was a little left of her old Master.

Anakin snarled at the bluntforce blow and as he swung around to deal her one of the same - his with an arm she knew was made of heavy metal under the glove - and she jumped up, flicking her lightsabers off so that she could use his arm as a brace to gain the leverage she need to vault up, gaining higher ground. She stood on the jagged edge of the cliff and looked down on him, her own lightsabers still quiet at her side and her mind spinning until it came into sharp focus on a memory. "You saved my life, you know. All those years of training with Rex and the 501st. When Order 66 was enacted, it was your training that saved me because you demanded the most out of the people you cared about. Because my life was in your hands. No one else knows about Luke." A small lie, but one that needed to be told to save Bail. "I'm not going to hurt him. Or you. I am not your enemy."

Instead of lunging at her with all the rage he'd been fighting with, Anakin stopped. She did everything she could to quiet her own mind so that she could catch glimpses of the raw, pained emotions that were seeping through the cracks of his mental barriers. He turned and the light caught his mask's lenses at just the right angle so that she could see through them. He watched her, and while there was no physical change in his stance, she could have sworn his eyes had shifted to the old, familiar blue. "No," he breathed out the acknowledgement.

Ahsoka loosed a breath of her own, hope creeping back in.

"The Hand knows," he said, "and as long as I let you live, that puts my son at risk."

And with a flicker of his hand, hope flashed out of existence. Her mentor, her friend, her brother reached out with the Force and flung her from her perch, sending her over the edge of the cliff and towards the lava below.

----

Mara found him on the roof of the base, and for just a moment it felt like they were ten years old again, hiding out on the Palace's landing pad, Coruscant stretching out below them. But this wasn't Coruscant and there was no hiding from what had happened. By using her contact as she had, she had burned the bridge to Visra without gathering the information she had needed and it was only a matter of time before that became abundantly clear. And if he didn't know already, it wouldn't be long until the Emperor discovered that it had been to save Luke. She had tried to walk that line between the assignment and protecting her friend and by failing one, there was a chance she'd failed both. Only time would tell how the Emperor reacted.

There was an air of sadness that hung on him since his father left, something like guilt following at his heels as he moved. If it was because his capture had disrupted so much or something else entirely, Mara had no way to know. Since Vader had left the planet, Luke had tucked himself away with little interest in anything else.

Until now.

The moons were rising over the horizon and he must have felt her approach, even if he didn't move. Mara eased herself over the lip of the wall surrounding the roof and took a seat with him, both gazing out into the distance. In the silence, it was harder to clamp down on all the questions she had.

"I can't promise you an answer, but I can promise not to lie," he offered without breaking his focus.

Mara swallowed hard, sorting through the long list. "Why did they let you go?"

"To deliver a message."

"Which was?"

Luke's chin dropped against his chest. "I can't tell you that. All I can say is that Father is…. dealing with it."

"He knows the person who took you." That gained her a sideways glance. "He called them the Apprentice."

"That's not a question."

Something in her screamed not to ask, but the investigator in her needed the answer. "Who is it?"

Blue eyes turned back to the horizon. For a moment she thought he was thinking it through and searching for the right words, but as seconds turned to minutes, it became clearer and clearer he simply wasn't going to answer.

"Okay. Do you know?" she ventured.

There was another long moment before he loosed a breath. "I know what I was told, but…. We're never told everything, are we?"

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes I feel like there are these huge gaps… Like I'm still that sheltered kid that only knows what he's told about the outside world. They're stories that could be true or not, but even after leaving the Palace, I don't know if I know what's true."

His shoulders slumped a bit more and Mara frowned. Despite everything - his training and the life he lived - there was still a light to him. Not everyone was allowed to see it, but it was there. He couldn't and didn't hide it from her. To hear him sound so lost in that moment, so uncertain, hurt. "I don't know who I am," she confessed softly, her own carefully guarded truth the only comfort she had to offer. "I can't remember my parents' faces anymore or much about my childhood. I couldn't tell you when I came to live at the Palace, but…" She reached out slowly, her palm covering his hand that was braced against the permacrete of the roof wall. He turned to look at her again. "But I do remember meeting you."

He stared at her for a moment, a sense of awe battling for a prominent position in the raging emotions he was projecting out without care. Then, without warning, he leaned in, his lips pressed against hers. The kiss was quick, but it sent a warmth flushing through her system. As he started to pull back, Mara reached up with her free hand, fingers curled around the back of his neck and she pulled him in again. He melted into her and she could have sworn time stood still.

A sharp coldness cut through the air and they flew apart to see that they were no longer alone on the rooftop. How Darth Vader of all people had managed to quietly sneak up on them was anybody's best guess, but there he was, and if an emotionless mask could look unhappy, his did.

"Father," Luke managed, swinging his legs around to stand. Mara followed suit, not wanting to give Vader the chance to accidentally toss her off the roof to her death below.

Vader's attention turned to Mara. "Your assignment is complete. Visra funded a rebel named Ahsoka Tano and now she is dead."

A strange twinge of sadness flickered from Luke before he caught it, but his father turned to him. "She lied to you, my son. Like her Master's Master before her, she attempted to kill me. In the same way, she met her end."

The Apprentice. A Jedi's Padawan. Perhaps someone that Vader had killed. That made more sense. Not why he was holding it all so close, but another dead Jedi in his wake was nothing unusual.

Vader turned, growling out a harsh "Come," to his son with the expectation the order would be obeyed even before he started walking.

Mara turned back to Luke, his expression strained. "What?"

"Like I said: sometimes it's hard to know what is true." He tried for a smile. "But you are."

He turned before she could answer, following after Vader. Things were set right and for the moment they were safe from her Master's wrath, but that didn't help ease the pain of him leaving again.

"And you," Mara answered softly to the empty rooftop, but it was Luke. He had a way of knowing.

----

Chapter Text

When the order had come through for the Executioner to reroute to handle an insurgency, it had seemed like overkill. A small, backwater world made up of farmers and millworkers was hardly a threat, even if they were pushing back. It didn't take the 501st to quiet a budding rebellion on a planet like that, much less a Sith Lord and his son. It wasn't until they touched down that Luke was let in on their real goal: they were after a Jedi.

Not that his father would tell him anything more than that.

"You know I could be more help if you'd share," he grumbled once they were out of earshot of the troopers that had gone to the surface with them.

He felt his father's glare, even if he couldn't see it from behind the tinted lenses. "You were made aware when it was necessary."

And not a moment sooner, which had become the frustrating reality after he'd been taken by Ahsoka Tano, or perhaps after she had supposedly betrayed his father, which even all these months later Luke had trouble settling within his own mind. Her determination and her offer to help had felt genuine while his father's excuse had not. And perhaps it was that conflict that had kept his father from sharing. Luke could feel all the aggravation with none of the explanation and it was becoming infuriating.

"Your focus must remain on the goal."

The teen looked over, his simmering temper boiling at the flat command. "I am focused."

Darth Vader came to an abrupt halt and turned, the 501st continuing ahead. "Your thoughts betray you and they remain scattered. With each new distraction, you open yourself up to dangers you have not foreseen."

"But you have?" Luke popped back. "Then tell me. If you keep secrets from me, what good does that do?"

His father studied him for a long moment and Luke fought the urge to squirm, to fill the relative silence with further arguments, but as quickly as Father had stopped, he pivoted around and began walking again. "The goal is all that matters," he grunted as Luke had to scurry to catch up.

It is what will keep us alive.

Luke startled at the first words over their bond in weeks, and with them came the well-guarded fear. He wasn't referring to the goal of their mission. He meant the end goal. The one that would displace Palpatine and give them both the chance they needed to survive.

Are we close?

No response came as they caught up with the stormtrooper that had made their way ahead of them, the one Luke had nicknamed Barrix waiting to accept orders in regards to the village they were closing in on. "Lord Vader, readings show life forms hiding throughout the village. Some firepower, though they don't appear eager to surrender."

"Then we shall make them, Sergeant," Vader answered.

There was a nudge over their bond and Luke steadied himself. If the villagers fought, they wouldn't stand a chance, and they were going to fight. He watched his father stride forward and Luke's lightsaber hilt snapped off his belt and was pulled into his hand, thumb at the ready to flick it on if needed.

Not that Father needed his protection.

A flick of a black glove sent a pile of crates jolting to the left, revealing a young man with what looked like an old blaster rifle. He didn't have time to level the weapon as he was pulled off the ground, boots dragging in the dust and fingers losing their grip as both hands struggled to untie the invisible knot around his throat.

"You have among you an enemy of the Empire," Vader boomed. "Hand the Jedi over or you will all meet his fate."

Luke heard the snap of the man's neck and he fell to the ground, eyes staring hollowly. There was a sharp cry, then another. One villager - a woman with fiery hair the colour of Mara's - led what they thought was an attack. After her came dozens more, and one by one they fell by blaster fire and two red lightsabers. They didn't stand a chance.

But they weren't meant to. They were a distraction. A sacrifice. Luke heard the distant roar of the craft's engines beyond the screams of the dying and he focused through it, pinpointing the source. "Barrix!" he yelled, and the stormtrooper that had accepted the name ages ago now took off with him without a hint of hesitation.

Luke dodged and sidestepped as blaster fire filled the air around him, the number of villagers rushing to their slaughter for one Jedi to escape not lost to him. The craft was already in the air by the time they reached it. Too far for blaster fire to stop it and he reared back to throw his lightsaber with all his might.

"Sir," Barrix said sharply and Luke turned, seeing that he had a very different type of weapon in his hand than he usually carried. This one was capable of launching a tracking device, but it'd need help to reach the ship speeding towards the atmosphere

Barrix fired and Luke reached out, pushing the device as hard as he could with one hand and pulling with the Force against the ship to slow it down with the other. He felt his boots start to slide against the dirt as the ship pulled hard, but the combination worked as the tracker latched on. Luke released his hold, stumbling forward as he did. Barrix reached out to steady him. "We have them, sir," he acknowledged as the ship broke through the atmosphere to what the Jedi inside surely thought was his escape.

"Good," Luke huffed, his gaze sweeping the carnage that had been a village before their arrival. At least it hadn't been in vain.

"Sir?"

Barrix's voice cut through a fog Luke hadn't realized he was wading through, his tone suggesting it wasn't his first attempt to gain his attention. He hadn't realized how exhausted he was. How much trying to hold onto the ship had taken it out of him. He'd seen his father pluck them from the sky before. Not often, but it had happened, and Darth Vader never swayed.

"Lord Natus!"

The shout sounded distantly as everything went dark around him.

—-

He came back to consciousness in stages. The first thing he truly became aware of was a distant, heavy ache that he couldn't quite identify the source of. Then the sounds followed after that. The low, steady rumble of the hyperspace engines and air being forced through the vents of the ship. And the steady, rhythmic breathing that had become both familiar and sometimes even comforting since his childhood. Father.

Luke pried his eyes open to find himself flat on his back in his own bed, staring at the ceiling in his quarters on the Executioner. He swallowed hard and found his throat strangely dry as he tried to focus and piece together what had happened. There'd been a battle, a fleeing Jedi, and a tracker. That's right. He'd tried to hold the ship in place for Barrix to have a better chance to tag it. He just couldn't quite remember if they'd gotten it or not….

"Yes," his father stated the answer out loud, drawing Luke's attention to the right side of the room. The Sith Lord stood at the large viewing window, watching stars streaking by as they sped through hyperspace. He turned as Luke started to shift, feeling a strange pull along his left side. "Were you not aware you had been struck?"

It took a moment for him to sort through his thoughts enough for the question to make sense and he reached around to where he'd felt the pull of a healing wound. "I was focused on the goal," he tossed his father's earlier words back to him.

Conflicting emotions battled within his father before they were cut off from their bond, leaving Luke in the silence that had dominated it recently. He forced himself to a sitting position and caught a glimpse of his father's gold eyes behind the lenses of his mask. Neither flinched away in a silent battle of wills, but after a long moment Luke's shoulders slumped and he loosed a long breath. He knew his father was angry with him. Or disappointed. Irritated. Something along those lines. Every time he got close to figuring it out, he was shut off. If it was the fact that he'd entertained Tano's offer or his budding relationship with Mara - if it could even be called that with as little as they saw each other - or both, he wasn't sure, and he couldn't fix it if he couldn't find the broken piece.

A small sigh sounded from the black mask, drawing Luke's attention. "You did well, my son," he spoke the first bit of praise Luke had heard in ages. "It was your strength that kept the Jedi from escaping."

"Then the tracker worked? Do we know where he's going?"

"We are in pursuit to the planet Alderaan."

"Commander Renz's home planet?"

"He will accompany me to the surface."

Luke frowned, carefully kicking the covers from his legs so that he could swing his feet to the floor. "I'll be dressed and ready to—"

"You will remain here."

"I'm fine."

"Your injuries have not healed."

"Close enough. Bacta tanks work wonders." He stood, proving that he was steady and crossed his arms over his chest. "Would you sit by, if it were you?" His father didn't answer and Luke pushed a frustrated breath from his nose. "How can I earn your forgiveness if I'm never allowed the chance?"

"There is nothing to forgive," his father answered automatically.

"Then why did you shut me out after Lothal?"

And there it was: the question finally spoken out loud. For better or worse, there was no taking it back now.

Darth Vader turned, aiming for the door, but stopped before he triggered the sensor. "We will depart in an hour."

He left Luke standing in the room alone with what he hoped was at least a begrudging approval.

—-

There had been little warning sent ahead of Darth Vader's arrival, but as Imperial subjects, Alderaan was obliged to receive the Dark Lord and anyone he deemed to bring with him. It left Bail Organa with an uneasy feeling and the stark reminder of his last conversation with Ashoka Tano. Even more so when he saw Padme and Anakin's son trailing Vader with his head held high and his gaze sharp. He looked like his father, no question about it. From the dark blond hair to those bright blue eyes. The younger Skywalker was shorter than Bail had imagined, his mother's petite stature tempering some of his father's height in him.

The two black-clad figures strode towards them from their landing shuttle, accompanied by a ranking officer and a collection of stormtroopers. At Bail's side, Breha brushed her fingers against his, though it was less a small gesture of support than catching him as she turned, hissing under her breath. "Leia."

A cold chill swept through Bail as he turned to find his sixteen year old daughter approaching. She offered her parents a shrug, a hint of mischief in her eyes. "What? As Father's aid, I should be here to shadow him and learn."

There wasn't time to argue and Breha sighed under her breath before steeling her composure. Bail could only hope he'd done half as well with his own as Vader approached and he offered a bow that made his stomach churn. "Lord Vader, my apologies for the delay in docking. The —"

"You may dispense with your excuses, Senator," Vader snarled as he came to a stop in front of the small welcoming party. "I require only your cooperation."

"Of course," Bail answered, careful to keep his tone neutral. It was difficult to believe that this monster standing before him might have once been the Jedi hero of the Clone Wars. Whatever had happened to turn him into this had hardened him, leaving him unrecognizable in more than just his appearance.

"A fugitive was tracked to your planet. A Jedi." The pause he took weighed heavily in the air between them and Bail couldn't help but feel that he was being studied from behind that black mask.

"I haven't heard of a Jedi coming to Alderaan," the senator answered honestly, "but, of course, anything you need is at your disposal."

There was another uncomfortable stretch of silence that was filled only by Vader's steady breathing and the occasional gust of wind on the landing pad. "You will provide my son Natus with the reports of ships that have landed in the last five standard hours and any that have departed with or without passengers. Commander Renz and I will take my stormtroopers into the city to begin the search."

The Dark Lord's attention broke from Bail for just a moment, seemingly redirecting to the teenager he was calling Natus. Bail watched, feeling like an outsider in what looked like a silent conversation. Not one that was going in the teen's favour.

"Organa's aid will accompany you in your research," Vader directed at his son before he turned towards Leia.

The chill froze in the pit of Bail's gut. Innocent as the assignment might have been if given by anyone else, from Vader's lips it sounded like the worst kind of threat. "I'd be happy to offer my help if you—"

"She will do, as you will accompany me in the search."

Leia, for her part, had squared her shoulders, meeting Vader's son's gaze with ease. "Don't worry. I'll make sure our guest gets what he needs."

Bail gave a small nod of acknowledgment. There was no stopping it now, only praying that Vader never caught a hint of who their adopted daughter really was.

—

His father hadn't wanted him on-planet for this assignment, even after he'd been the reason they'd found their rogue Jedi in the first place. Luke had thought he'd convinced him, but Darth Vader had made it abundantly clear by saddling him with Organa's aid, ensuring that his son would stay out of the search and oversee the grunt work than any trooper with even half his competency intact could have handled. No matter how hard Luke fought to win back his father's respect, there was no opening. No trust. It was infuriating. It was insulting. He'd come too far for this, and exactly who did his father think would take up his side when it all came crashing down if not for his own flesh and blood?

"My lord?" Organa's aid called, pulling Luke out of his thoughts. Her tone was sharp and forced, and her polite mask did little to conceal the utter disdain she felt in using the title. "Will that be sufficient?"

"We need the data from both major and minor ports," Luke tried, hoping it was vague enough to answer and yet not give away that he hadn't actually heard the question.

The aid frowned a little, her dark eyes narrowing. "Yes, that is what I said," she answered tightly, motioning to the guard that had been sent along with them and they moved through a set of doors into a control room. "We'll expedite the requests from here."

She looked to her guard and he gave a deeper bow than Luke might have expected before moving to the controls. There was a nagging feeling now that Luke was willing to pay attention. Growing and persistent, and it dug deeper into his mind the longer he studied her. She reminded him of someone, though he wasn't sure who. Those dark eyes and something about her features. There was something there…

"I'm not unaware that your father doesn't trust mine," she stated plainly, turning to one of the monitors, "and that you're essentially here to babysit me, but I'd appreciate it if you'd at least pretend to listen. Unlike the Sith, I can't read minds."

Her father? Well, he'd terribly misread his father's intentions on this one. Interesting.

"I'm not a Sith yet, Princess," Luke answered, seeing her now watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"But that's something they can do."

He let the corners of his lips twitch up, the amused expression not entirely put on. "There are techniques, sure. The Inquisitors use that, but I usually can get a pretty good sense off of feeling."

She quirked an unimpressed eyebrow. "Just that good, huh?"

His smile turned a little more real and he let his eyes flutter closed, reaching out with the Force and letting it speak back to him. "Definitely distrust," he offered, hearing her snort, "but also a little curiosity mixed in. And fear."

Leia Organa finally turned to look at him, crossing her arms and sizing him up. "I'm not afraid of you."

"I know. It's not yours, just…. surrounding you." Blue eyes opened again. "My guess would be your father. He didn't want you in here very much,"

"And yours didn't want you out there searching with him," she shot back.

Looked like she wasn't half bad at reading the room either. Impressive, even if he didn't dare confirm her suspicion. Better to change the subject.

Luke glanced over towards her guard and followed an empty path towards the door. "If you were a fugitive on the run and you landed here, where would you go?"

She tilted her head a little at that and he could practically see her trying to decide if she should be honest with him or not. "Your father indicated that we should stay here."

"Father indicated that he wanted the reports. Your man can handle that, can't he?"

Her guard looked over, startled at the conversation he'd clearly been listening to. "My apologies, my lord, but I've been tasked with the princess' safety. I can't—"

"She'll be safe with me. You don't need to worry about her."

His eyes glazed over a little. "I don't need to worry about her."

Leia's arms dropped out of their defensive position as she stared in surprise. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing. Well, just a little persuasion. He's fine."

She didn't look convinced. "So you don't read minds, but you can force people to do what they don't want to do."

Luke gave a small shrug. "Some people. It doesn't work on everyone. You still haven't answered my question."

Leia pursed her lips together. "If I tell you and we find him, can you promise me you'll treat him fairly?"

There was something so earnest in her request that Luke surprised himself by offering a small nod.

"And you'll tell your father you used that trick on me to convince me to leave our post?"

Luke barked a laugh at that. "I don't think anyone's going to believe it'd work on you, Princess."

She flashed him a knowing smile and strode past him, leaving him to follow with that strange, growing feeling that there was something about her that he should know, but didn't. He shook his head and followed the headstrong princess out. Sooner or later, he'd figure out what it was. He just had to try to be patient.

—

In the days that led up to and surrounded Palpatine's grab for power that had turned the admittedly flawed Republic into a nightmare of an Empire, there had been no question between right and wrong. Master Yoda's escape, going to try to help Padme, taking Leia in…. There had been no question. No hesitation. But things had changed when Leia had come to live on Alderaan and become an Organa rather than a Skywalker or an Amidala. While the personal risks certainly hadn't diminished as Bail helped to form up and push forward their kernels of rebellion, it did not - it could not - follow him home. While Breha would have fiercely stood with him to take on the entire corrupt Empire, it wasn't just about them. It wasn't even just about their world and protecting their people. It was about a beautiful, passionate girl that was quickly growing into a woman. It was about protecting Padme's daughter. It was about protecting their daughter.

If there was a Jedi on Alderaan - and Vader was convinced there was - Leia's safety had to come first. It wasn't easy and he wasn't sure he could sleep soundly on the decision, but it was the only one he was capable of making. Right and wrong had been so much simpler before he'd become a father.

Vader had split his troops up to scour the capital city, though the way he stayed on Bail left the older man wondering just what Vader thought he knew. There had been a few times over the years in which the Empire had come close to discovering his involvement, but even if the Dark Lord were suspicious, there was nothing to discover this time. There'd been no warning, no contact, and the royal house was providing the Empire with any resources requested. Even their daughter.

"You once worked closely with the Jedi," Vader boomed suddenly, his altered voice sending chills down Bail's spine. "Perhaps this one thinks he has found refuge here."

"I have had no contact with the Jedi since their betrayal," Bail lied, rattling off the propaganda accepted as truth across the galaxy that had been provided to explain the downfall of the defenders of the Republic. Even now, all these years later, so few knew the truth. Even fewer cared.

"So you have said." He whirled, the motion so abrupt that Bail nearly collided with him. "Mark my words, Senator. If I find that you have hidden this traitor away and are providing sanctuary to him, it is not just you who will pay your price."

The threat was clear. His world, his wife, his daughter…. Bail surprised a shudder. "My loyalty remains with the Empire."

"See that it does," Vader snarled, and continued on his path through the city.

—

Darth Vader was everything Leia might have expected. A towering mountain of darkness that left a chill in the air wherever he went. He was vicious and focused, using her to control her father by assigning her to his son. She dreaded to think what would happen if he found the Jedi he was after. There were stories that were passed around about him and what he'd done when the Empire had replaced the Republic. How he'd appeared from the wreckage like a monster born from the pain and had hunted down any of those that had escaped the slaughter. She had thought some of those stories must have been exaggerations until she saw him herself. Even in their brief and indirect encounter, she could practically feel the evil that leaked off of him. She was a quick study of new people she met, and it didn't take any more than those few moments to know who and what Vader was.

His son was different than she had expected, though. While Vader seemed to suck all the joy from the air, Natus was… lighter, somehow. Perhaps he just wasn't as far gone yet or hadn't been given quite the opportunity to take the plunge into utter darkness, but there was something different about him that felt more human than his father. Maybe he'd stand by his promise to make sure that the Jedi was treated fairly.

"Credit for your thoughts?"

Natus's voice pulled Leia back to the moment and she looked over, weighing exactly how much she wanted to say. There was no question he was there to keep an eye on her, but that didn't mean she couldn't find out a little bit about the Dark Lord and his son. It might come in useful someday.

"Just… thinking. What's it like? To have grown up under him, I mean."

The question seemed to catch him off guard and he thought about it for a moment as they walked. "I'm going to guess probably not very normal, but all I know is how I was raised."

There was a twinge of guilt in her and she pursed her lips together, trying to hold it in.

"I imagine you know something about that?"

Leia turned at that. "Our fathers are very different."

"Really? Two men with the weight of responsibility pressing down and trying to do what they can to make the galaxy a safer place?" He offered her a small smile. "My upbringing wasn't conventional, but it's what I needed. I'm stronger for it. Aren't you for yours?"

Everything about the question felt real. Leia let the words hang between them for a long moment before nodding solemnly. "I think so." She pulled in a breath, letting it calm her. "I didn't have a conventional childhood either. Between growing up a princess and then junior senate… becoming my father's aid… But I wouldn't change it either. Maybe I didn't get to live a simple childhood, but working so closely with my father has taught me more than most my age." She stopped, watching him from the corner of her eye. "Our age, I suppose. You're younger than I expected."

"Sixteen."

"Me too." Leia felt a strangely real smile tug at her lips. No, he was nothing like she'd expected.

"I hope, for both your sakes, that your father isn't involved with this Jedi," Natus murmured.

"He's not."

"How do you know?"

"Because my father trusts me. If the Jedi had contacted him, I would know and he hasn't."

Natus gave her a strange look at that one, like she'd struck a chord. " And he wouldn't keep that from you? Even when he's afraid for you?"

"Especially then."

He opened his mouth, but the response didn't come. Instead his head snapped to the side, his focus absolute on something unseen in the distance. His fingers twitched at his side and a cylinder that had been fastened to his belt popped off its latch and into his waiting hand. They waited in silence for a long moment, then another, only the sounds of the forest surrounding them. She watched Natus's sharp gaze take in every shadowed corner surrounding them and had the distinct feeling that he was reaching out with something more than what he could see.

But there was nothing. If there'd been something there, the surrounding wildlife would have been the first to know, not them. Leia pushed a frustrated breath out through her nose and took a step towards him.

Without warning his left hand flashed out towards her and Leia was shoved back. She hit the forest floor hard enough that it knocked the breath out of her, leaving her wincing and struggling to replenish it even as she rolled to her side. She saw Natus had thrown himself in the opposite direction and was in the process of pulling himself into a knelt position, his lips twitching downard in a grimace even as his red lightsaber snap-hissed into existence. She was about ready to lay into him for throwing her when another volley of blaster bolts sped through the air, only to be met with the saber in his hand. They struck, ricocheting off of the laser blade and burning leaves in the trees as they flew upward. Natus straightened and reached out with his free hand, dragging a figure from the thick branches of a tree.

Leia watched as their attacker hit the forest floor hard, his blaster landing a few yards away. He howled in pain, right hand reaching to grab at his left that was bent at a painfully awkward angle.

"Serves you right," Natus told him icily. "You could have hit her." He reached out and called what must have been the Jedi's own lightsaber from his belt and into his hand, inspecting it.

"What do you care?" their attacker growled back.

"Typical Jedi. Ready to burn anybody in your path."

Leia watching the downed man carefully. This was the Jedi that Vader was chasing? He was barely older than either she or Natus, and hadn't all the Jedi died out before she'd even been born? That was what she had heard. There was no way that he was old enough to have been knighted by then.

"Isn't that how you handle things, Sith?"

Natus smirked at that and took a menacing step forward, but even before Leia could find her voice to bark an order at him, he stopped, inexplicably still until his boots began to drag across the soft dirt. They lifted slowly yet fully off of it and his right hand, finger by finger, came unclenched from his lightsaber and it shut off as it fell to the ground, Natus' head tilting back and he made a struggling, choking sound.

Leia turned to the injured man. "Put him down!"

For the first time, his pale green eyes turned towards her. "No."

"I'm Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan and daughter of Queen Breha and Senator Bail Organa. You will release him."

"You don't get told no very often, do you, Princess?" the Jedi demanded through clenched teeth. "You're no different than any of the others cowering to the Sith."

"I am different. My father is in the senate. He can -"

"I don't trust you!"

Natus gave a strangled yelp from where he was suspended, fingers clawing at his throat. He twisted and turned like whatever was holding him up had him by the neck, the rest of his body loose in the air, and he finally forced one hand away, reaching out towards the woods, and closed his fingers around the open air before pulling hard towards him.

"No!" the Jedi shouted and there was a small, terrified sound as a little creature was pulled feet over head from the brush. It hit a root hard on its way out and Natus came crashing to the ground, gasping and sputtering as his hand went to his side. He remained knelt there for a moment, the creature crying softly where it had landed, the Jedi clutching his arm and terrified, and Natus struggling to pull in fresh breath. He tried to stand once, losing his footing, but seemed to push through the pain to get to his feet. He grabbed his lightsaber from where it had fallen as he did.

"You're not the one that was doing that. You're not Force-sensitive," he rasped, blue gaze flickering from the Human to the little green creature that was finally straightening. It looked like a baby, small enough to fit in Leia's hands, and it stared up at Natus with big, dark eyes and cooed. Natus nodded at it. "He is."

"That's not possible," Leia managed, the reality of what that could mean for the child flooding through her. She'd heard the stories. No one in the Temple had survived. Not even the children.

Natus shrugged, the motion stiff and causing him to wince again. "Maybe he just ages slower than most, but he's definitely the one that just tried to choke me."

The little guy cooed again, his long ears twitching.

Natus turned back to the Human. "Which begs the question: who are you?"

Leia moved towards the child slowly and carefully, not wanting to spark up anyone's notice. The little one looked directly at her, curiosity in every blink of his dark eyes. He needed help. She couldn't let Vader get ahold of him.

She wasn't sure what the fake-Jedi had said, but it had clearly set Natus off. The Sith-in-training snarled a curse under his breath and with a twitch of his fingers, used his powers to tug on the injured man's broken arm. At her feet the little creature made a startled sound, but Leia instantly scooped him up. "It's okay, you're not going to hurt him, are you, Natus?"

He turned a glare on her that seemed to freeze the air around her and the creature burrowed closer as Natus spoke. "Did you forget that he shot at you too?" His gaze fell to the little one and softened very slightly. He pushed a frustrated breath out and turned towards the captive. "Don't make this harder on yourself."

There was a long moment where Leia thought he was going to do just that. Finally, he spoke. "My father worked in the Temple. He was killed when the Clones executed the Jedi. I escaped, and I took him with me."

The baby cooed again and Leia held him close, comforting him as best as she could. She should be looking for an out, some way to escape, but something inside of her kept her rooted in place as she watched the other teen call the discarded lightsaber he'd taken from the injured man. "And this?"

"Helps if people see him using the Force."

"So you're the distraction, huh? The protector?"

It was like all the fight rushed out of him and it showed in the way that he slumped forward. "I was supposed to be."

The baby made a small sound, tired and strangely calm, drawing Natus' attention. He studied it for a long moment and Leia would have given anything to have known what he was thinking in that moment.

"Do you have somewhere you can take him?" he asked, and it took Leia a moment to realize the question had been directed at her.

"You're letting him go?"

"That depends how far his protector is willing to go. The Empire is only looking for a single Jedi."

The injured man looked at the little one and back to Natus. "If you let him go, I'll do it."

"We can let them both go," Leia argued, knowing how unlikely it was.

"The Empire is looking for a single Jedi," Natus pressed. "They'll find one, but I'm willing to give them him."

"Why?" The word left her without permission. It was a terrible decision, but still better than she would have expected from an Imperial. More than she would have expected from Vader's son, even with his earlier promise.

"He's just a kid. Even if he was there, he didn't have anything to do with what happened with the Jedi. You wanted him treated fairly and this is the only way I see how to do that."

Leia nodded slowly. As far as she could tell, he was telling her the truth. She glanced over to the still-nameless-protector and he gave a nod of agreement. "And him?"

"I'll do what I can for him," Natus promised softly and looked towards the hills. There was a sound in the distance - something he picked up on quicker than she had - and it was clear someone was coming towards them. "You want to get him out of here? Now's the time. I'll tell them I slipped you."

Leia shot him a look of disagreement before turning with the little one in her arms. She didn't have much choice other than to trust him in this. She just hoped that the trust wasn't misplaced.

----

The adrenaline rush from the quick skirmishes and the looming reality of a child - a baby - that would be put down for the crimes of those that had come before him was finally wearing off as Luke stood listening to the princess of Alderaan's retreating steps in one direction and what sounded like a troop of stormtroopers incoming from the other. With the waning rush came the ache, both in his throat from where the child had tried to choke the life out of him to save his friend and from where the blaster bolt had ripped through him when they'd first found them. He was tired - no, exhausted - and utterly uninterested in facing what he had to do next.

But it had to be done. Both he and the Jedi-pretender knew that.

"They'll know, won't they?" he asked and Luke pressed his lips together in a thin grimace.

"Yeah. They could find out after you were dead too, but it'd take a whole lot more. They'll take my word."

"And how do I know you'll keep it? Your word."

Luke offered a shrug, regretting it as he felt a painful tug at his side. "Because you're not a big enough threat to warrant all of this show if I was just going to kill the kid anyway."

The protector seemed to think about that for half a moment before nodding. "I've always been willing to die to protect him, but I…"

"I told the princess I'd do what I could for you. I'll make it quick." He handed over the lightsaber he'd taken from him. "They're coming."

He nodded, struggling to his feet with his broken arm and flicking the lightsaber on. It hummed green.

It was all for show and they both knew it, but as the Stormtroopers drew closer the protector took a swing at Luke and Luke dodged before moving for the quick kill. The body of a man that couldn't even use the Force but had chosen to protect a child that could with his last breath fell to the forest floor and Luke stood over him. Father had always said the coldness that accompanied death would go away, but it never had.

"Lord Natus!"

Luke turned, something even beyond exhaustion taking hold and he stumbled a little as he did. Commander Renz picked up his pace with his troop behind him just in time to reach a steadying hand out. Luke shook his head. "I'm fine."

There was a moment when Renz looked like he might argue, but redirected his attention to the body laid out on the ground. "That was the Jedi?" he asked, his voice carefully neutral.

"Yes." Luke grimaced and his hand went reflexively to his side. "I'm sure your men can handle the cleanup. If you'll tell my father… I'll see him on the Executioner."

There was an order and a stormtrooper appeared on either side of him. He must have looked about as bad as he felt. Pity, because the last thing he wanted at that moment was company.

----

His son had lied to him. Vader knew the moment that Renz had appeared with Luke's message and the body of what they had been told was their Jedi fugitive. Who he really was did not matter, only that his son had fought him and would have known beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was not Force-sensitive. He had lied to the commander, then he had asked that lie to be passed on to his father, and by including others in it he had bound his father's hands. A mistake such as that would not be tolerated by the Emperor, even if they could pass it off as such. That left Vader with two options: reveal that they did not have their Jedi yet and put his own son in danger or back Luke's lie publically and allow the true Jedi to escape.

Rage boiled inside of him as he stormed through the halls of the Executioner towards his son's quarters. He blew through the doors without so much as a warning over their bond, though it would have been impossible for Luke not to have felt the anger.

The lights were turned down, the stars streaking by highlighting his son's face where he lay curled on his bed. One arm was wrapped around his middle, hand protectively over the injury that Vader had warned him hadn't finished healing. He should have left him on the ship. He should have ordered him to stay.

"Do you understand what you have done?" he snarled, drawing Luke's attention sluggishly to him.

"What?"

"Do not play ignorant. You knew the body you sent back with Renz was not the Jedi we sought."

"I made a judgment call."

"You allowed weakness to sway your judgment and then lied to me."

Luke pulled himself up in the bed, his eyes sharp even in the dim light. "Then I guess we're even."

From behind his mask, Vader blinked in surprise at the cutting, angry words. He mentally shook the surprise, grateful that the voice modulator would help cover it. "Explain."

"Now who's playing ignorant?" Luke groused and swung his legs over the side of the bed, standing and moving closer to speak quietly, even if forcefully. "Ahsoka Tano, Father."

"What of her?"

"You said she betrayed you - betrayed us - and that's why you killed her. I understand that she may not have fit into what has to happen and maybe she did need to die, but you lied to me about it because you didn't trust me with the truth. And then you pushed me away."

Vader's temper flashed dangerously at the accusation and he took an aggressive step towards the teen, gloved hand clenched at his side and he could feel the Dark Side awaiting his command to strike out. Silence the boy. Put him in his place. Hurt him.

No.

Not Luke. Not his son.

Slowly and with great effort, he reeled his rage back in. As the air between them eased, he saw Luke's shoulders slump a little, energy spent with the outburst and the subsequent reaction. The teen loosed a breath. "I'm not wrong. I've played it over and over again, and that's the only answer that feels right."

"You have put us both in danger," Vader said tightly. "To prove you knew?"

"No." The word rode out on a tired breath. "I did find him, but he wasn't a Jedi. It was a child. A Youngling. He wasn't a part of what the Jedi had done, so I made the best judgment call I could."

Flashes of memories from what often felt like another life swept through his kind. Children. Younglings. Innocent and terrified and looking to him for protection as Order 66 rained down around them. He had done it to save Padme, hadn't he? For what little good that did. They were sacrificed and she died anyway, but even at risk of putting them both in danger her son had spared a child. He'd made a choice different than his father, and Vader only felt conflicted in that knowledge.

"Where did the child go?" he asked at last.

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. Better that way."

"Then the Organa girl helped you in this. She knows."

"And doing anything to her would just raise questions as to why," Luke pointed out and his father snorted.

"You are protecting her."

"I suppose I am."

"Why?"

Luke seemed to think on that for a long moment before turning to gaze at the passing stars. "I don't know yet," he answered honestly, a weight pressing against him that caused a strange tightness in his father's own chest. Blue eyes turned back on him. They were softer this time. "I don't want to lie to you, Father. I don't…"

"There will be no more lies between us," Vader said softly. "Now go. You will remain in the medical bay until we reach Coruscant."

"We're going back?"

"We have been recalled. Pray that news of your trick has not reached the Emperor."

Luke nodded solemnly and started towards the door.

—

Bail felt sick as he thought about the body that Darth Vader had ordered the destruction of before returning to his ship as if he hadn't just upended their lives by his appearance. The Jedi they'd pursued had been young enough to have still been considered a Youngling in the Jedi Temple when Order 66 had been enacted. And just like that, his life had been snuffed out by Padme's son. The boy hadn't even bothered to return with the Commander, nor had he seemed to care about Leia who was missing from the group. No one could give him an answer that was both straightforward and believable, so after the Imperials had departed, he and Breha were left with only the fear that they'd failed their daughter as company.

The search teams were scouring the woods, looking for signs of where their clever princess could have disappeared to, and at his side, his wife clutched his hand. "You don't think he knows who she is, do you? That he would have taken her?"

"Which one?"

"Does it matter?"

No. Luke Skywalker certainly seemed to be gone, leaving the much darker Natus behind. Padme would be sickened by it. Obi-Wan would be saddened, and Bail…. Bail had done everything he could to protect Leia and yet she'd still been put in danger. She was still nowhere to be found. He had failed her.

There was no warning as the doors to the private room opened, emptying Leia Organa into it. The guards that had escorted her in took their leave immediately as Breha leapt to her feet and nearly took Leia off of hers. Bail watched as his wife pressed a kiss to dark hair, her arms wrapped around the teen as if she might never let go. He let himself soak the moment in so that it could set permanently in reality.

"Are they gone?" Leia demanded around her mother's grip. "I didn't see the Star Destroyer orbiting."

"They're gone," Bail breathed and finally gave himself permission to join. He came up on Leia's other side, pulling his family into an embrace.

"And the man that Natus brought in?"

Despite the relief, another wave of sadness hit him. "The Jedi is dead. Natus killed him."

The colour slowly drained from his daughter's face as she stared at him. "He said he'd be treated fairly."

In that moment, Bail saw how young she was. Despite everything, how naive. "Leia," he breathed, "I'm afraid he said what needed to be said to get to the end that he wanted."

She shook her head. "No… he let the little one go. Why would he -?"

"The little one?" Breha asked, drawing Leia out of her spiral.

"The man wasn't the Jedi. He was just protecting the Force-sensitive child. He was so tiny, so young…. Natus let me take him to get him to safety."

It was Bail's turn to stare now. The Skywalker boy had let a Force-sensitive child go, sacrificing the elder. Why, he wasn't sure. If it was a hint of his mother left in him - and even then, corrupted by his father - or some long game that would come back to destroy them, there was no way to know yet. Instead, he pulled them both closer. Whatever had happened was done, and for now - even if just for that moment - she was safe.

—-

The Red Guard moved out of Vader's way as he strode into the Emperor's throne room. He didn't want to be there, not with Luke being seen to by the medics. But when the Master summoned, the Apprentice appeared. It was the way of things.

Sidious sat on his throne, yellow gaze fixed on Vader as the younger man made his way in and took a heavy knee with his head bent. "What is thy bidding, my Master?"

"I understand that young Natus was useful in capturing and killing a Jedi."

"He was," Vader answered, shoving the fear he felt in the lie deep.

"Yet you are troubled, my old friend. Why is that?"

Vader weighed his response carefully before speaking. "He was injured in the battle."

Palpatine waved one bony hand in the air dismissively. "So I had heard. Difficult lessons are learned through strife, are they not? Your own have all been that way."

"He is strong."

"Yes. And he has learned well. Soon it will be time for him to move to the next phase of his training."

Despite the lack of permission, Vader found himself looking up, surprise weighing on him. "He is still young, my Master."

"As were you. War makes men of us all, and you have taught him well. Rise, Lord Vader, and take pride in it. You have taught him to hone his strength and he has made himself invaluable to our cause."

Vader stood slowly, as commanded, and Palpatine also rose. He moved down the steps slowly until he came to stand in front of his apprentice. So small, and he appeared so frail. It was not yet time to end him though.

"Soon he will be awarded a flagship of his own and these sparks of rebellion will have no choice but to smother under your boots. You have done well."

For all the praise, Vader hated the idea of being separated from Luke again. Just another chance for Palpatine to find a way to force a wedge between them. He had no choice though, and despite Sidious having vastly different motives than his own, this was the next step of his training. This would lead them to victory. "As you wish, my Master."

---

It was becoming more and more rare that Mara returned to Coruscant at all these days, much less at the same time that the Executioner could be found orbiting the planet. It wasn't until after what felt like a longer-than-usual debrief that she found out that Luke had been brought back for medical attention.

She found him in the medical wing, well on his way to health. He was out of the bacta tank and even out of bed by the time she was able to sneak away long enough to see him. His back was to her when she entered the private room, slipping a black tunic over his head and shoulders. He didn't turn, and while she would have liked confirmation that she'd been able to hide her presence even from him, the sliding door would have given her away. No, he knew exactly who was there.

"Enjoying the view?" he teased, finally turning just enough that she could see him watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"Been a while since I've seen it."

He chuckled softly as he reached over to where his belt lay, fasting it into place to hold the dark layers in check. "We've both been busy."

"Really, because I thought your father was intentionally keeping you away." She took a step towards him, her smirk playful, and she caught him as he turned. Luke flashed a grin as she wrapped her fingers in the fabric of his shirt, tugging him closer and he bent to meet her there. She could feel that broad smile through the kiss - a little longer in the wake of so much time apart and the exploration of what this new chapter meant for them both - before he pulled back.

He held her gaze for a long moment. "Walk with me?"

Mara's small smile didn't fade as he breezed past her and she followed, wondering what he had up his sleeve. They moved through the medical wing without conflict and out into the outer halls. Instead of taking a right towards where they might find a quieter room, he took a left, leading Mara out into the garden. All theories were quickly dissipating as Luke came to a stop in front of the old Jedi Uneti tree. "What —?"

He turned to face her, all playful teasing gone from his expression. "I need a favour."

"Okay…"

"I need you to research someone for me and I need it done quietly."

Mara frowned at that. "You have the same access I do."

"Yes, but if I look, Father will know."

A ginger eyebrow quirked upward. "You're lying to your father now?"

"No…. I'm just…" Luke looked away, stress pulling at every muscle. "He'll think I'm unfocused. I'd rather have the answers before he catches wind."

"Answers to what?"

"I can't tell you either."

The frown deepened. "I'm not sure I'm interested in helping if you don't trust me."

"I do, but I'm not even entirely sure what I'm looking for. It's just… a feeling. Like the Force is leading me somewhere. It's vague… clouded."

Mara pulled in a deep breath and loosed it in the form of a sigh. "What would I be looking for?"

Blue eyes snapped to meet her own green. "You can't tell anyone but me."

"I won't tell your father," she promised.

"Or the Emperor. Or anyone."

Slowly, Mara nodded her agreement. "What am I looking for?"

"A woman. A senator from the old Republic. I need to know what she looks like."

"Do I get a name?"

He paused, the conflict pulling at him, and when he spoke again his voice was almost too quiet to hear. "Padme Amidala."

---

Chapter Text

When Luke was young, he'd wanted nothing more than to see the stars. One of his first clear memories was the flight to Coruscant from Mustafar. Looking back on it now, he knew Father must have been afraid for what was to come, but at six years old he had been utterly fascinated by the control panels and every sound that the ship made. He wanted to fly. He wanted to be like Father. The fact that he'd been tucked away in the Palace on Coruscant when he wanted nothing more than to be on board the Executor had been torture. Even his time with Mara jetting around the galaxy on their covert missions hadn't quite matched the splendor of the Executor I-Class Super Star Destroyer. It had become his home as he shadowed his father and studied under him.

And while he was fairly certain no ship could match his father's own, the Aeres came close. Smaller than the Executor, it the the II-Class was still an imposing sight as it glided through open space or down towards a planet's surface. Luke had gotten his pick of crew and had done his best not to feel too bad plucking Renz from his father's own. It left Marrow to fend for himself, which would likely end in the captain's demise. That would be on his own head, the teen had to remind himself. No one took a position on the Executor without understanding that failure was not an option. Without Renz there to pick up the pieces, it would only be a matter of time until the captain's complacency became obvious, and Luke wouldn't let Renz go down with him.

He'd only taken a handful of stormtroopers from the 501st, and only ones he knew would come with him. Barrix had joined, along with Alton and Flash, but few gave up such a prestigious position of their own accord. Anyway, Luke needed to earn the same loyalty in a new set of troops as his father had in the 501st. When the time came, not all of them would choose the Dark Lord and his son's side, but some would, and some was better than none if Palpatine forced their hand. He knew that his father thought he'd been given command of his own Star Destroyer too quickly, but it could work in their advantage. Luke would make sure it would.

A flicker of warning through the Force pulled him out of his thoughts half a moment before an alarm sounded on the bridge. He tore his gaze away from the streaking stars to where Renz was already at the crew pit, awaiting the alert. Luke stood still, reminding himself that as the commander of the ship, it was the crew's job to speak up, not for him to follow his usual habit to crouch down to get a better look. He was in command now.

"I'm not certain, sir," the crewmember answered stiffly, fumbling with his computer. "It's as if something's throwing the equipment off."

Luke stretched out in the Force, following the flicker he'd felt toward its source as the conversation over faulty equipment became muddled in the background. It was strange. Hollow. No, not hollow. More like a pit, a black hole sucking in anything and everything around it.

"Pull us out of hyperspace," Luke snapped, cutting his new captain and the crewmember off.

"My Lord, I -"

"Now!"

The ship jolted, slamming everyone forward as they shifted hard out of the hyperspace lane and into the stillness of what should have been empty space. Instead they were facing a planet directly in their path. Dark, as if drenched in shadows, all Luke could tell was it was the source of the utter void he'd felt in the Force, much like the ysalamiri had done all those years ago when he and Mara had landed on Myrkr.

But this wasn't Myrkr. This planet wasn't even on any starmap that Luke had ever seen.

"My Lord Natus," Renz called softly, motioning to what appeared to be a stalled, damaged ship to the right of their own nose. There were signs of an attack, pieces of the frigate free floating in space and sparks still lighting up the darkened sky around it. There were signs of life, meaning that they must have sealed themselves off from the gaping wound in the side of their ship.

"Hail them," Luke answered, hating how tight his voice sounded. He didn't like this. Something was terribly wrong.

There were several long and brutally tense moments as they waited on a response.

"They provided old codes, sir," the Nav officer finally replied. "Altered, but they appear to be from a set of stolen codes we flagged recently."

"Rebels."

Renz gave a sharp nod. "It would seem so, sir. Your orders?"

They hadn't attacked and there was a fair chance they cutouts to, at least not from the frigate itself. Likely they were hoping the Star Destroyer would just pass them by. Luke could. These men would follow whatever order came down, but they wouldn't respect him like they did his father. This was his first real test and even though everything in him screamed to get far away from the shadow planet, he knew he couldn't. "Tell them to prepaid for boarding and ready the TIEs. If they are who we think they are, they'll have fighters out immediately." He turned, starting for the door.

"Sir?" Renz called, clearly confused.

The corner of Luke's lips quirked up at the corner. "What, Captain? You expect me to send my men in where I won't go?" Luke offered a wave over his shoulder. "You have the bridge, Captain. See what information you can find on that planet."

They needed to finish this quickly and leave as soon as they could and find a way to get out of there.

Just as predicted, it didn't take long for a collection of X-Wings to come swooping out of the damaged Pelta-Class frigate once they knew they were going to be boarded. Luke was already strapped into his TIE fighter, barking orders and grateful that, at least for the moment, the Force was with him.

He zipped out of the hanger, immediately engaging in the dogfight. The frigate might have been damaged, but it had been carrying a fair number of fighters on it, all coming to the same conclusion that he had if the distance they kept from the planet was anything to go by, which left them fighting in a tight space between what appeared to be the ring around the planet and the Ares.

Blaster fire flew by in every direction along with pieces of the crafts that it hit. Luke dodged in and out, taking out a number of fighters and feeling the rise in frustration from others. He punched the comm system. "What have you found, Captain?"

"Most of our readings are still jammed, Lord Natus, but I can confirm that none of our systems have any information about a planet in this location. It… shouldn't be here, sir."

"No it shouldn't," Luke answered lowly, rolling his fighter to dodge a close call. He swung around and his thumbs found the triggers, clipping the X-Wing before hitting the power pack and sending it exploding in several directions. "Anything on the frigate itself? They've got some talented pilots out here."

"Should I send another wave?"

"No, we're in close quarters as it is. Hold tight and we'll finish them off." Luke cut transmission, centering himself and reaching out. He flew between two fighters, bringing them in to crash into each other and flipped up and back to catch a third from behind. He took the shot, but the pilot rolled, leading him towards the planet. Luke smirked to himself. Alright. If he wanted to play it that way, he'd play.

The TIE followed closely on the X-Wing's tail, both crafts cutting in and around the other fighters like a dance. Twice the X-Wing pulled away, but instead of putting distance between them he took Luke head on. It was fun, even if he'd never admit it out loud. Serious as the situation was, it had been a long while since Luke had come across a pilot other than his father or Mara that could keep up with him. This guy had talent. Too bad he was going to have to blast him out of the sky.

And then it hit. There was no warning, only the suffocating void. It felt like a simultaneous blow to the head along with a kick to the gut, driving the air out of him. Luke struggled to keep his eyes open against, but somewhere along the way the X-Wing had spun around to face him. On instinct, Luke fired, the canon fire striking the X-Wing's attack, resulting in an explosion that sent both crafts plummeting towards the mystery planet's gravity field.

Luke could only assume that though. Between the bright light from the explosion, the sudden drop towards the planet, and his inability to access the Force, he could only hope he'd taken the bastard down with him as the shadow planet's atmosphere swallowed his TIE fighter up.

TIE fighters were not designed for durability. Instead they chose maneuverability and speed, supposedly leaving it to the pilot's skill to never take a hit in the first place. If they were struck, the lack of life support encouraged the pilot to use their craft as one last contribution to the battle rather than risk a more painful death in the vacuum of space. Even with Luke's own modifications he had made to his fighter over the years, it shouldn't have been able to survive a free fall through a planet's atmosphere to crash on the surprisingly hard surface, but there it was: set down as if he'd landed it himself, but he had no recollection of doing so. Nor of stumbling from the cockpit to wake up a handful of yards away flat on his back and staring up at the swirling, dark clouds above him.

A groan escaped him as he sat up slowly, making special note of each twinge and ache, the most notable starting at the base of his skull and radiating upward. Carefully he rolled to his knees and then to his feet. So far, so good, not that it helped him gain his bearings at all. Instead he realized that his TIE fighter was the limit of his vision, the dark clouds that had appeared to make up the bizarrely uncharted, Mid-Rim planet cover the ground and sky like a deep, black fog.

Luke touched his fighter, finding it cold beneath his fingertips. There was no way to tell how long he'd been there or if Renz had even had time to send a search party for him. Dank farrik. That was humiliating. His first solo battle in command of the Aeres and he'd crash landed. If Mara heard about it - and she would - he'd never live it down. If Father did, then -

There was a rush of movement that he heard rather than felt, his connection to the Force still impossible to grasp. Luke tugged his lightsaber free of its clip and the crimson blade snap-hissed into existence as he swung around, finding the space behind him void of anything other than the thick, foggy shadows. Another sound came from behind, then another from his left, and the young Sith-in-training gave a frustrated scream as he slashed at nothingness. "Show yourself!" he shouted and for the briefest of moments, he thought he saw orange skin between the wisps of fog and sharp blue eyes that he hadn't seen in nearly two years now. "Tano…?"

"Don't move," a voice said from behind. Decisively not Ahsoka Tano. The voice was male and young, or at the very least not too much older than him. Whoever he was, he had a blaster to Luke's back.

Luke tightened his grip on his lightsaber, feeling a strange ache make its way through his fingers as he reached out again and - again - failed to find a connection to the Force. "You clearly don't know who you're threatening," he snarled, bluffing his way through confidence in that moment.

"You're too young to be Vader and they say he never takes his helmet off, so you must be Natus."

"Then you're just a fool."

"If I am, I'm a fool with a blaster. Toss your weapon."

Luke snorted at that, but the muzzle of the blaster dug into his back. He weighed his options for a long moment before his thumb nudged the trigger and the red blade snapped out of existence. He held it out loosely, away from himself so that the man behind him had to reach for it.

And he did. Luke jumped into action, pivoting around and catching his attacker by surprise. He wrenched his arm upward, sending the blaster shot wild before the fog behind the man stirred to reveal another face. This one was distantly familiar, but he caught a clear view of him as he crossed his arms over his chest, frowning deeply beneath his thick, blond beard as he gave a long suffering sigh to someone beyond Luke's line of sight. "Your thoughts betray you," he directed at the unseen person, but the words struck an old memory.

There was a sudden, sharp crack as the man he'd been fighting slammed the blaster around so that it struck Luke along the side of the face, sending him crashing to the ground. Blackness spotted his vision and he did his best to shake it off as he rolled, surprised to find his opponent with his blaster trained towards the fog. A flash of green light and the hum of a lightsaber drew the other man's fire before he whirled back around to aim at Luke once more. "How many of you are there?"

His lightsaber had fallen out of his reach and Luke slowly raised his hands to show that. He'd have to bide his time. "Just me." He watched the X-Wing pilot. Helmet discarded, he could see the man's long face and dark eyes focused on him. There was a gash over his left eye and another across the bridge of his nose. He favoured his left leg ever so slightly. His bright orange flight suit stood out against the swirling shadows behind him. He readjusted his blaster, tightening his grip on it, and took a threatening step forward as if to remind the downed Imperial to stay that way.

"Then who the hells are they?"

Luke's gaze snapped behind the pilot to another hint of motion. "Locals, maybe." Not that he really believed that, but the last thing he needed at the moment was for the pilot to get trigger happy when he couldn't reach the Force to defend himself.

"Sure," the other huffed. They waited for a long, tense moment as the winds stirred around them, smokey tendrils licking at Luke's black boots and covering his lightsaber up like a maw opening up and swallowing it down. He watched it from his place on the ground, wondering if it would do the same to him.

The pilot risked another quick glance around, his dark gaze coming to rest on the TIE fighter still barely visible through the smog. Luke didn't need the Force to piece together what he was thinking. He was going to take the fighter and leave him there. He started to shift, if only to pull his feet away from the fog, and the pilot instantly spun, the blaster aimed at him again. "Don't move."

Luke watched as the dark, wispy tendril touched his boot, snaking a little further up. He wondered if he was imagining how cold it felt through the thick material.

The Rebel pilot looked the fighter up and down, clearly trying to find his best angle inside without the equipment typically used.

"Unless you're planning to shimmy your way to the top…." Luke drawled, finally pulling his legs in and sitting up, crossing them so that he could put some space between himself and what he could only suspect was cutting him off from the Force.

"Afraid of a little fog?" the other pilot asked with a snort.

"There's something not right about this planet. I imagine it pulled your ship straight out of the hyperspace lane, didn't it? A lane charted without a planet anywhere near here, but here it is."

"How come you were able to pull out before your ship was damaged?"

Luke tilted his head a little, studying the other and thinking about how much information it was prudent to share. "I listen."

"To what? There was no warning from hyperspace or even that the gravity field would just kill the engines on the fighters. Catching one of the currents was the only thing that gave me a fighting chance at a landing, but a TIE couldn't have done that. And your fighter doesn't have a scratch?"

The blond swallowed the truth before it could escape. "I guess I'm just a better pilot than you." His lips twitched upward as he received a frustrated snort for a response.

But then dark brows tugged upward as if their owner had realized something. "You must have damaged it in the fall, even if it doesn't look like it. Why else would you still be here?" He grimaced and lowered the blaster that remained mostly trained on Luke, swearing softly. "We're going to die here."

"Not likely. One side or the other will come for us."

"What part of hitting the atmosphere sending the fighters into a free fall didn't you get?"

Luke didn't have a chance to respond as a loud whistling sound drew both of their attentions, a blur of a yellow fighter of some kind swooping low enough to make the other pilot duck. The craft sped forward into the fog, disappearing.

"Where's the crash?"

Luke shook his head. They should have heard it, but there was nothing. Only eerie silence.

"Get up."

Luke quirked an eyebrow at that. "What happened to stay down?"

"I'm going to go check, and I'm not willing to leave you to attack me from behind."

Or kill him outright, which would have been much easier. Interesting that that didn't seem to be an option when the pilot would have happily done it from his own functioning cockpit.

Luke unfolded himself, feeling a stronger pull on his muscles than he expected. He was tired - exhausted - but he didn't know why.

"Move," the other growled, failing to look all that intimidating now that Luke knew his first instinct wasn't going to be to gun him down. At least for now.

—

By the time that Oldus Renz had been promoted to commander on Lord Vader's flagship, he had had every expectation of eventually coming into the rank of Captain. No ranking officer lasted forever on the Executor. No, he had fully expected another promotion that would have, of course, been his last, because Lord Vader's ranking officers always met the same fate.

When Lord Natus had extended the offer to serve him on the newly christened Aeres, it has been a relief that no self respecting Imperial would ever admit to. While he was Lord Vader's son, Natus had always shown more restraint than his father in his years on the Executor. No one would dare call it mercy, but the teen balanced a strange and thin line between the brutal tactics he had been taught and a respect for those around him. Even - and perhaps especially - those under him. By accepting the commission as Captain of Lord Natus' new flagship, Renz had found himself contemplating a longer career for the first time since he'd been promoted to a rank in which Vader had known his name.

Well, that hope for the future had been short-lived. At fifty-six years old, having fought in two galactic wars now, it was still going to be Lord Vader that cut his life short the moment he found out that his son had died on the captain's watch.

Renz pulled in a steadying breath. No. They didn't know anything yet. Not why Lord Natus' TIE fighter had been sent spinning towards the planet's surface or even what the planet was. They still couldn't get a reading on the damned thing. All they had was the Rebel frigate they had taken and a handful of prisoners that he prayed had answers that might lead them to Natus, because as it stood, his men couldn't break through the atmosphere.

Shoulders squared, back straight, Renz nodded at the stormtrooper who opened the doors to the brig. His boots clicked against the permasteel in a steady pattern and he turned sharply at the holding area that his captive was waiting in and the door slid open.

The Rebel was sitting hunched forward, staring at his clasped hands. The captain of the frigate. He was one of the few ranking officers that they had brought over. "Captain Orikan," he greeted, his voice steadier than he felt. "I am—"

"Renz," Orikan answered. "I know. We met on Ryloth during the Clone Wars."

Renz didn't acknowledge the familiarity. This wasn't an ally. Not anymore. "The planet —"

"Shouldn't be there," the Rebel captain answered with a shrug. "Found it out the hard way, but it looks like you had some warning. Was that Vader's TIE fighter I saw out there?"

Renz pursed his lips, not daring to confirm or deny. Clearly Orikan thought he had nothing to either lose or gain by speaking. Better to let him speak.

Orikan gave an empty smirk. "If it had to happen, at least Antilles took the bastard down with him."

And there it was. The name of the pilot that had somehow gotten through the atmosphere with Natus. "Thank you, Captain."

Orikan gave him a startled look. "For what?"

"My starting point." He turned on heel and waited until the cell door closed behind him before turning to the waiting stormtrooper. "The other pilot's name is Antilles. Find out everything you can about him, the X-Wing he was flying, and if any others like it survived the battle."

The stormtrooper acknowledged his orders and was off, leaving Renz to start back to the bridge. He didn't know if Natus was alive or dead on the surface below, but he didn't exhaust every effort to find him.

Chapter Text

He didn't know how long it had been, only that it all blurred together so that, if nothing else, it felt like everything had happened very fast. From being woken up from a deep sleep in his bunk by the simultaneous alarms and violent jolt of the ship to the mad rush to get to safety as the damaged portions were ripped off of the frigate to leave a gaping wound in her side that sent their much-needed supplies drifting out into the stillness of space. Then it had been all-hands-on-deck as the Dreadnought had pulled out of the hyperspace lane just in time to avoid the same severe damage their Rebel frigate had sustained.

I listen. That was the only explanation that Wedge's Imperial captive had given when he'd asked how the Dreadnought had avoided the same fate. To what, he still wasn't sure. Just as he wasn't sure how his X-Wing had only barely held together long enough for him to bring it into the hardest landing this side of a fiery crash he'd ever been in while Natus had set his TIE fighter down like a cup of caf on a saucer. He was right about one thing, though: something strange was happening on this planet. It'd be nice if the fighter that had come whistling through the fog would provide answers rather than more questions. Wedge wasn't counting on it.

He had heard of Natus while he was at the Imperial Academy, but he was different from what Wedge had imagined. Sandy blond hair, blue eyes that watched everything around him with wary curiosity, and much shorter than Wedge would have guessed. He would have been less intimidating too, he wagered, if the two young men had met off the battlefield. Instead Wedge had had a first row seat to more talent on display in one pilot than the Rebellion had in many of their squads. But he'd lived through it, and if he played his cards right he might even come out of it with Vader's son as a prisoner.

Natus stopped abruptly in front of him, jarring Wedge out of his thoughts. "Keep moving."

That blond head tilted a little to the side. "We should have found it by now. We should have heard it hit the ground."

"Maybe the fog made it harder to hear," Wedge offered, a steady sense of unease tightening in the pit of his stomach.

"I think it's more than that."

There was a long moment and Wedge pushed a frustrated breath out of his nose. "Care to share?"

"With a blaster to my back?"

He snorted at that. "If you think I'm going to lower my weapon on you, you're crazy."

"I'm unarmed."

"You're a walking weapon."

The blond's shoulders slumped a little at that, but only for a moment before the mask of indifference fell back into place. He turned, looking like he was ready to pop off at Wedge, but his eyes widened at something beyond him. "Tano," he breathed. "It is…." And then he was darting past Wedge as if the blaster meant nothing. Maybe it didn't. It wasn't like the man holding it pulled the trigger as Vader's son took off after whatever he'd seen, shouting at it. "Tano! Wait!"

Wedge loosed a growl of frustration, torn between the search for the downed craft and the now-fleeing Imperial. "Hey!" he shouted at Natus, his mind made up as he raced after him through the dense fog with only the other's shouts as a way to follow.

"Tano, I'm not going to —"

Whatever he was going to say was lost and Wedge found himself slamming into Natus, whoever he'd been chasing now out of sight. The Imperial stumbled, a strangely haunted look in his eyes. "She ran right through me."

"Say what?" Wedge managed, his voice catching painfully in his throat.

"Tano. It was…. I thought she'd died."

Wedge shifted uncomfortably. "Are you saying there are ghosts here?"

"Maybe." He shook his head, appearing rattled by the encounter. "We should—"

"Ahsoka!" a voice called out of the fog and Wedge spun, finding a tall, bearded man stumbling through it and coughing.

He didn't have a chance to tell the man to stay where he was as a Togruta teen came from the opposite direction, neither newcomer seeming to notice either him or Natus. "Master Kenobi!" she greeted, a bit breathlessly. "Are you alright?"

"Mostly," the other replied. "Communications are out and I can't —"

The Togruta - Ahsoka, if this Kenobi had been shouting at her - shook her head. "Neither can I. I thought I saw Anakin's starfighter crash that way, but with the fog —"

"I did as well. If I know my former Padawan, he's already found trouble."

Ahsoka gave a sharp nod and, for the first time since the two appeared, Wedge risked a glance at Natus. He was gone, dark wisps of fog swirling where he'd stood. "Dammit," he growled and whipped back around to see the two supposed ghosts disappearing. Well, he wasn't going to lose them too.

—

"Wedge Antilles, former Imperial Flight Academy cadet turned Rebel," the Stormtrooper that Natus insisted on calling Barrix read off of the tablet. "Corellian."

Renz set his jaw against the uncharacteristic frustration at the lack of useful knowledge. "And the fighter he was able to push through the atmosphere?"

If Barrix noticed or even cared about the shift in the captain's tone, he didn't show it. "He was flying a standard X-Wing T-65, same as the rest of his squad."

A soft curse rode out on a breath as Renz turned to look back out of the bridge's viewport. They had had a front row seat to the outlying fighters - both X-Wing and TIE - that had gotten too close to the mystery planet's surface. Every last one of them had been spun back out in pieces like they'd run into an unyielding wall. All except for Lord Natus' TIE fighter and this Wedge Antilles' X-Wing. With Lord Natus' upgrades to his own fighter, Renz had hung his hopes on there being something that set the X-Wing apart that they could replicate to get to the surface, but that seemed to be yet another dead end.

Barrix cleared his throat, the sound awkward and uncomfortable, as was the Stormtrooper's rarely-seen expression as his fingers curled around the lip of his helmet that was tucked under his left arm. Renz motioned, giving him the go-ahead. Whatever protocol was keeping his lips sealed was also wasting time. He was one of the very few Stormtroopers that Lord Natus had personally requested out of the 501st, so there must have been a reason. If Natus trusted him, Renz would choose to as well.

"There was an explosion just before both crafts were pulled through the atmosphere. If we can pinpoint the exact location that they fell through -"

"We may find a hole in whatever is protecting the planet," Renz agreed. "Yes."

He turned to look down into the crew pit, but the crewman was already nodding, "Looking for it now, sir."

"We'll find him, Captain," Barrix said, his voice quiet but sure. "If anyone could have survived that crash, it's Lord Natus."

It was interesting. Despite being brought over by Natus, Barrix likely wouldn't receive any direct repercussions from Lord Vader for his son's death as Renz would, which meant the other man's worry came out of a sense of loyalty rather than fear. It had been a long time since he'd seen that level of loyalty, and certainly not from anyone since the Republic had become the Empire. These days, every man was out for himself, be it his career or his life. If another's death didn't have a direct effect, it was hardly noticed. He might not have believed it if Barrix hadn't been speaking directly to him. "Yes we will," he answered at last, and he wanted to believe it.

"Captain Renz?" the pit officer called, pulling Renz's attention over to him. "As far as I can tell, Stormtrooper LS-002 was correct, sir. There appears to be a fluctuation in the atmosphere at these coordinates -" he motioned at his screen - "which is near or perhaps exactly where Lord Natus' TIE went through the atmosphere."

"As far as you can tell?" Renz pressed.

"My apologies, Captain. The planet is still playing havoc on our instruments."

"Sir," Barrix said, straightening to attention as he did, "I have some flight experience. With your permission, I'd like to test the theory and take a shuttle to the planet's surface if I can. I'll go alone."

In case it doesn't work. The unspoken words hung between them and Renz shook his head. "You'll need more than just some flight experience to have even a chance to get through there, Lieutenant." Renz motioned across the bridge. "Commander Iblis?"

"Sir?"

"You have the bridge."

She blinked, her grey eyes growing wider. "Sir, I don't -"

"You have the bridge, Commander," Renz pressed before turning towards the exit to find Barrix waiting. Any offer for him to stay died on his lips at the set of the stormtrooper's chin. No, he wouldn't take the out. The two of them would go together and they would either get to the planet's surface and confirm Lord Natus' fate or they would die trying.

Anakin. The name had sent a jolt of long-instilled terror through him. A dangerous name, like his own, that was meant to be lost. The Skywalkers were gone and no one but the barest few knew what truly had become of them. He didn't know what sort of trick this planet was playing on them, but Luke needed to find out and he couldn't have that Rebel pilot with him when he did.

He still couldn't reach the Force to aid in the search, but the sound of a humming lightsaber cut through the fog. He moved quickly, hand reaching reflexively for his own before remembering how the fog had swallowed it up. How could he have forgotten it? It felt like the longer he stayed here, the more of the thick fog he dragged into his body with each breath, the harder it was to think. It was like he hadn't slept in days and his mind would only focus on a single goal at a time. Right now, that was confirming what the ghosts had said. That was finding Anakin Skywalker.

The toe of his boot snagged on something beneath the fog and he found himself pitching forward, the fall turning into a roll as a bright blue blade swung out from the thick darkness, barely missing him as he somersaulted out of its path.

Luke rolled easily to his feet, ready to fight even as the lightsaber's owner appeared. His breath caught at the sight of the man emerging: tall and lean with hair darkened from a life traveling aboard spacecrafts and out of the sunlight. His Jedi garb was dark, though not as dark as his father's suit, and he knew those eyes. They weren't the same colour as the ones he caught glimpses of through his father's mask, but they were almost identical to his own. "Father," he breathed, and just for a moment, he thought perhaps Anakin had heard him.

The young Jedi turned to search the fog, the hilt of his lightsaber gripped in his mechanical hand. "Show yourself!" he snarled into the darkness and Luke felt a chill run up his spine, even if he was unsure why.

Anakin lowered his blade, but didn't retract it, instead looking deeply into the fog as if he thought he could see through it. Then he stopped, pulled in a breath, and closed his eyes. The focus was absolute for what felt like an eternity of moments and Luke wondered if he were trying to break through whatever barrier this planet had to keep the Force out. If anyone could, it was his father.

Blue eyes snapped open at the sound of a few pebbles being kicked and he swung around hard, his blade crashing with another blue one. The fog cleared just enough to see Uncle Ben's - No. Obi-Wan Kenobi's - surprised expression and both men instantly lowered their weapons. The flicker of worry that had flashed across Anakin's face was quickly covered up by irritation. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

A strained smile tugged at Kenobi's lips. "You would never hurt me, Anakin," he said, a fondness in his tone before a little mischief made it into his expression. "Get me killed by crashing us on a strange planet that has cut us off from the Force, maybe."

Anakin rolled his eyes at that, shaking his head. "This is not my fault."

"You were the one that demanded we all pull out of hyperspace."

"Good thing, too. We would have run into a planet that wasn't supposed to be here."

"And instead we were pulled in…" Kenobi shook his head. He sighed heavily, fingers moving to massage the bridge of his nose in a sign of stress Luke vaguely remembered from the earliest days of his childhood.

"Where's Ahsoka?" Anakin asked as he glanced around warily.

"I found her, then as we looked for you she was simply… gone," Kenobi answered slowly, sounding as if he were trying to make sense of his own statement. "It's like moving through a dream."

"Or a nightmare," Anakin countered.

"There must be something in this fog."

Anakin straightened at that as if he'd just remembered something, and there was a sense of urgency in his voice as he spoke. "There is. We have to find Ahsoka."

—

Kenobi had been there and then he was gone- much like Natus - leaving the Togruta teen alone. Well, sort of alone. Wedge felt a little like he was stalking her as he raced to keep up with her through the fog. He wished she could see him. At least then he could ask her what the hell was going on. He was really starting to wonder if any of this was real or if he'd died in the crash and the afterlife was weirder than anyone could have predicted.

Ahsoka came to a sudden stop and Wedge tried to put the breaks on. Instead he stumbled, flailing through the ghost and landing hard on his knees on the other side. He cringed hard, a chill rolling through him, but any thought of just how strange the last few hours had been were shoved aside as he saw what had initiated such an abrupt halt from the teen. Wedge gaped up at a shadowy figure who had stepped into the small clearing. Feminine and vaguely Human, but it was as if she were made up of the dark fog that covered the planet. Wisps of fog rolled down like hair along a thin neck, though her eyes and mouth were only barely defined. Bare feet moved silently along the rough ground and shadows flowed around her ankles like the fabric of a long garment. She stopped, attention focused on Ahsoka, and Wedge wondered if she was yet another ghost.

"Who are you?" the Togruta teen asked carefully, her blue eyes narrowed at the figure. Wedge saw one hand hovering near what looked like a lightsaber hooked onto her belt.

There was a moment where the figure only watched, the fog rolling across the ground and playing at the teen's feet. It swirled upward, but didn't seem to hurt her, though she looked inclined to pull away just as Natus had done. Finally, those shadowy lips tilted up in what seemed to be a smile. "I do not have a name as you do, Ahsoka Tano. I am the only one here and it has been so for a long time."

The discomfort in her expression only deepened. "How do you know my name?"

"I know everything that happens here. Every breath, every movement, every thought."

Ahsoka pulled back at that. "Are you the one that brought us here?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"To find your Master."

"What…" Ahsoka shook her head, one hand moving to her temple. "What do you want with Anakin?"

"He can give me what I need. And you will lead me to him."

There was a gust of wind that whipped the fog up and around the teen like a whirlwind. She reached for her weapon, but the lightsaber did nothing against the swirling fog as it swallowed her up, leaving Wedge with no other choice but to watch in helpless horror.

—-

A scream tore through the never ending fog. Anakin and Kenobi turned to each other instantly, something unspoken between them before they jolted forward into a full sprint. Luke followed, desperate to keep up. It was strange. He'd hardly believed Tano when she spoke of how close they had been. How Obi-Wan would never have hurt his father. As he watched them work together, he could almost believe it. They moved together, somehow not losing each other as Kenobi and Tano had, and both drew their lightsabers as Tano became visible through the thick fog. She was limp, held up only by the shadowy tendrils around her, and Anakin's worry showed freely in his expression. "Ahsoka!"

He rushed forward, a figure emerging from the fog that appeared to be the source of the attack on Tano.

"Natus!"

Luke turned to see the Rebel pilot moving towards him. "You. What are you—?"

The pilot didn't stop, but instead grabbed Luke by the flight suit sleeve and started dragging him away. "We gotta go."

"What do you mean?" Nothing made sense. Not how they'd gotten there, not how the others were there, and not why the pilot seemed to be ready to run for the hills and take Luke with him.

The Rebel turned, dark gaze holding Luke's. "You use the Force, right? Like a Jedi?"

"I'm not a—

"But you use it?"

"Yes."

"Then we have to go!" There was more than a sense of urgency there. It was terror, and it was driving the other man.

Luke risked a glance back to the battle that was clearly about to unfold and blinked in confusion. It had stopped. Not only stopped, but it was as if someone had hit the freeze command on a holovid in the middle of the action. Anakin stood mid-swing, Kenobi ducking an attack from the shadows, but the figure was gone.

A sharp curse drew his attention back around as the pilot raised his blaster at the figure, but she lifted one hand, the same dark tendrils that had Tano up wrapping around him. "You have nothing I desire, Wedge Antilles," she said as she snapped him into the air hard enough that his weapon fell from his hand. "And you will not take from me what I have come for."

She turned back to Luke and he felt like every inhale of that fog was making it more difficult to breathe. He choked on it, widening his stance to stay on his feet. "But you… the Chosen One's son. I could feel your ship's approach. I learned my lesson with him. I won't make the same mistakes with you."

"And what lesson was that?" Luke managed, his voice painfully small against what still felt like a lung-full of her mist.

Those shadowy lips turned upward again and she shifted, wisps of smoke moving like a cape to reveal his lightsaber hooked as if onto a belt. Luke felt a surge of fear mixed with anger and he focused on the latter. Use it. That's what Father had always taught him. That was the only way he might make it out of this.

"You cannot reach the Force here," she warned him.

Luke's gaze flickered behind her, noting that as she hyper-focused on him that Antilles had begun to sag in the air a bit. She was powerful, but there were limits.

"Who are you?" Luke croaked out. "What are you?"

"Did your father not tell you the story of his time here? Long before he became what your mind's eye sees."

"I guess you just didn't make that big of an impact."

Her mocking laugh seemed to echo through the fog. "You share his arrogance."

"You'll find I share his determination too."

"You do not need to fight. There is no point. You will not leave my world. I will not make the same mistake and you will not be released, little Jedi."

"I'm not a Jedi," Luke gasped out. He felt like he was drowning. His knees finally gave way, but he didn't hit the ground. Instead he found a shadowy hand against either side of his face. Shadowy pits rather than eyes bore into his.

"Jedi or Sith does not matter to me. You have access to what I want and you will give it to me."

And then he felt it: his connection to the Force restored, but he had no control. Instead it was as if it were merely passing through him and to her. He watched as her features began to solidify and, even as dark spots danced across his vision, he saw eyes the same shade of blue as his own staring back at him.

—

The battle had come to a standstill and all fighters - both Imperial and Rebel - had been returned to their ships. That left Renz and Barrix with a clear path to the coordinates that they hoped would provide them with a passageway through to the planet's surface. If the coordinates were right. If they weren't, they'd be tossed back out into space with little hope that the shuttle's shields were strong enough to protect them. The Rebel frigate's hadn't been.

"Captain?"

Renz looked over, finding the black lenses of the stormtrooper helmet that Barrix had put back into place staring back at him. He pulled in a breath, loosening his deathgrip on the navigation just a fraction, and nodded. Barrix gave the signal and the shields opened. Time to test the theory.

They flew silently through the opening and into space, the shadowy planet looming in the distance. "They never did find it on a map," Renz murmured.

"Something tells me we won't, sir," Barrix answered.

The Aeres had stopped a good distance from the gravity field, leaving them more space than Renz was comfortable with to second guess what might be a fool's errand. He closed his eyes for a moment, pulling in a calming breath that had always helped him focus while serving under Lord Vader.

In. Out. In. Out. In. Ou —

An alarm sounded.

Renz's eyes popped open and Barrix was already checking the readings. "Incoming Rebel ship."

"A rescue party," Renz huffed. He reached over for the controls as Barrix moved to the weapons system. "Commander…." There was no point in finishing when only static let his call. They were on their own and so was the Aeres.

"We have company, sir," Barrix warned and Renz spotted the incoming X-Wings. A pair of them for their one shuttle. Fantastic.

"It's now or never," he acknowledged and kicked on the thrusters, propelling them forward. A shot ricocheted off the back shield and he shifted, aligning with the supposed entrance a bit better. He could hear their return fire, but it was pushed to the back of his mind. It couldn't matter. If he missed, they were dead anyway.

"Hold on," Renz warned as his system alarms began to scream. He shifted power to the front shields, pushing the shuttle forward. Every last reading he had indicated there was no way in. No hope of breaching it.

"He'd come for us, sir," Barrix yelled out above the roar as if he could sense the conflict.

And he was right. If there was anyone that would have, it was Natus, and he deserved the same from them. With that, Renz ignored the scrambled signals and aimed for what he hoped was a hole in the planet's defenses.

—-

Everything had locked up all at once and he had practically felt her searching his mind for what she wanted or needed. Apparently he didn't have it, but Natus did. With her focus on Vader's son, Wedge had noticed a loosening on his own bonds. He didn't dare squirm in case he gave it away, but slowly he felt himself being dropped to the ground as she zeroed in on her prey.

He could go. Run for the TIE fighter to try his luck there, but he found himself staring at the horrific sight in front of him. Natus wasn't suspended by tendrils, but instead the shadowy woman had a grip on either side of his face as if she were holding him up in that way. Maybe she was with the way his knees had buckled and his eyes rolled. It looked like she was draining the life out of him, and despite the stories, despite knowing who and what he was, Wedge couldn't bring himself to run.

Ahsoka had tried to slash at the fog with her lightsaber and it had done nothing, but the creature looked more solid now. As Wedge glanced around to find his fallen blaster, he figured it was worth a try.

He dove for it, fingers wrapping around the hilt and he leveled it, the shadow woman only just breaking enough concentration to notice. The shot went wider than he intended in his haste, but it clipped her shoulder. If the howl of pain she gave was any indication, she felt it. She dropped Natus unceremoniously to the ground and whirled on the pilot. Where she'd stared at them through hollow shadow-eyes before, blue eyes narrowed dangerously. Wedge stumbled back, desperately trying not to panic and feeling that losing battle as he shot once, twice… His hands were trembling as she loomed closer.

There was movement from the Imperial behind her and Natus struggled to his feet. Once he made it, it happened so fast that Wedge's terror-stricken brain could barely follow. Natus let out an angry snarl as his hand snapped out, the stolen saber at her side finally flying to his fingers. The blood red blade erupted from the hilt, casting its light against the shadows and illuminating Natus's drawn face, his own eyes looking more gold than blue in the light. He lashed out, the blade slicing cleanly through the creature. Power exploded outward as her two halves fell, racing upward towards the sky and arced like fireworks as it hit the atmosphere. Wedge saw spots where whatever protection the creature had been put into place appeared to be burned through. At their level, the fog retreated and dissipated without its mistress to hold it together. The ground began to tremble and Wedge looked to Natus and he wasn't sure dealing with the Dark Lord's son was going to be any better of a gamble.

It hadn't just been the light of his blade. Blue eyes had definitely shifted to gold, the dark shadows against pale skin giving him an eerie and dangerous look. The pilot didn't need access to the Force to see the immense power that the teen seemed to have harnessed to break through the hold. He didn't move towards him though, but stood dragging breaths in and forcing them out until he finally closed his eyes. Slowly, he started to relax even as the violent reaction of the world around them escalated. Wedge watched as a crack split the ground and the Imperial's eyes popped open, finally returning to their natural colour. "We have to go," he said, voice calmer than it should have been, even if raspy.

"The TIE?"

Natus nodded and the two pilots darted in that direction, their line of vision clear from the fog now. It was the path that wasn't. The ground cracked and split again, chunks of it falling down while others shifted upward. Natus seemed to anticipate it, his footing relatively sure even as Wedge stumbled and tripped his way. They were too far away. There was no way they were going to make it.

A roar drew both of their attentions and Wedge didn't know if he should feel relief or dread at the sight of the Imperial Lambda-class shuttle descending. Natus looked back at him. "You'll be treated fairly," he swore and Wedge thought he might even believe it. Well, at least he'd have a fighting chance, even if not a good one.

The shuttle landed and a stormtrooper appeared as the back opened up. "Lord Natus!"

"Barrix!" Natus shouted back. "My TIE—"

"We don't have time, sir," the stormtrooper called over the sound of shattering earth. "We've got Rebels here for their pilots and the planet is —"

"That much I knew," Natus grumbled as he raced up the ramp, throwing a look behind him at Wedge who had stopped at the entrance as soon as he had heard that backup had finally arrived. "They don't know you're here, Antilles."

Wedge frowned deeply. He wasn't wrong. Even if he stayed - even if the Imperials let him stay - the likelihood that the Rebel forces would even know where to look, much less have the manpower, was minuscule. He growled a frustrated curse as he boarded the shuttle of his own free will. It was likely the last free decision he would make for a while.

—-

The adrenaline pushed him through the battle with a handful of X-Wings that were already in the retreat from the dying planet and to the Aeres where Luke took command to get them out of there. Once they were safely in hyperspace, it seemed to dissipate, leaving him exhausted and worn. Renz had done everything but order him to his quarters. He went, but on the conditions that Antilles would not be treated poorly and that Renz wouldn't send a medical team. What had happened wasn't something they could help with, and the only one that could wouldn't dare speak over anything but the most secure line with no one around to hear.

"You are certain she is dead?" Father asked and Luke could feel the weight of the question. She had known that Luke was Anakin Skywalker's son, therefore she had known that Anakin Skywalker lived. No one that knew lived to tell another soul, and even though Luke was relatively sure that Antilles hadn't pieces that together, it was the reason he'd kept the Rebel's part of the story small.

"Yes, Father," Luke answered dutifully. "Everything was destroyed." He waited a moment before clearing his throat and bolstering his courage. "Father, she did know you and I saw… Kenobi and Tano and you before… I know you don't like to speak about that time, but please… It couldn't have just been an illusion from my own mind. Not with you appearing like…" He swallowed hard, his father's hidden face impossible to read. "What happened there?"

There was a beat of silence, then another, before an alarm signaled a call from the bridge. "You have done well, my son. Return to your duties," Darth Vader said, his tone cold and professional.

Luke heaved a sigh before switching the comm over. "Yes?"

Renz appeared. "Forgive the intrusion, my lord. She would not take no for an answer."

"She?" Luke asked, but he could sense her even as Renz answered.

"The Emperor's Hand, my lord."

Despite his wariness, a smile crept into place. "That's fine, Renz. Thank you." He ended the transmission and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes, exhaustion bearing down on him. It was Mara, though. He would never turn her away.

The brief knock preceded the door sliding open and he stood from the small desk he'd been seated at with the holocomm attached. She frowned at him. "Having fun without me, flyboy?" she greeted.

That finally killed the smile and he gave a tired sigh. "Don't bring up flying. I just lost my fighter."

"Crash and burn?"

"More like a planet imploded and I couldn't get back to it in time."

She flashed him a playful grin as she crossed the room, reaching up to tuck a loose curl behind his ear. "That explains the look."

"That bad, huh?"

"Like death slightly warmed over. You okay?"

"I will be," he murmured and leaned in. His forehead rested against hers and he felt her arms wrap around his middle. He stood there for a long moment, breathing her in. "You have amazing timing."

"I've been looking for you for a while now," she answered and pulled away just enough to meet his gaze. If she'd meant to say more, Luke didn't give her a chance. Instead he leaned back in, his lips pressed against hers and he pulled her even closer. She didn't pull back, but her fingers tightened at the fabric of his tunic at his back even as his own found the side of her face. They brushed red strands of hair back as he deepened the kiss. Whatever she'd come for could wait. He wanted this. He needed this, and by the way she pulled him back until they tumbled against the bed together, he thought maybe she did too.

His palms pressed against the mattress beneath them, one of Mara's hands moving to the back of his neck to pull him closer. She rolled, flipping him into his back and he found himself staring up into those beautiful green eyes. "I love you," he managed, his voice raspy and low.

"Are Siths allowed to do that?" she teased softly.

"I don't care what's allowed." He wasn't a Sith yet, but when he was - when he served as his father's apprentice - he wouldn't let him stop it from loving her. He could do that: keep one little flicker of light in a darkened soul. After today, he needed to know he wouldn't drown in the shadows.

She stopped and watched him carefully. "What happened, Luke?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

Mara studied him for a long moment before she leaned down. Her answer was in the gentler kiss, and in it, everything else could be forgotten.

Chapter Text

When she first woke up, she didn't know where she was. A different bed wasn't all that abnormal, but this was a different ship as well. Different sounds, different smells, but a familiar presence, even if it was one that she wasn't accustomed to waking up to. Mara Jade cracked an eye open to see Luke asleep next to her, his cheek pressed against the pillow beneath it and his back rising slowly up and down in deep sleep. He looked better than he had when she'd arrived. The colour had returned to his face, the shadows under his eyes less pronounced. She still didn't know what had happened, but it had shaken him to the point that he hadn't wanted to talk about it. He'd wanted a distraction in someone he trusted.

I love you.

The confession flitted through her mind as she watched him sleep. It had seemed sweet, even if a little naive the night before, but she wondered if it was more than that. His father already hated everything about their friendship, and while it had moved into something more in recent years, she hadn't expected love.

He stirred in the bed next to her, burrowing down a little deeper even as blue eyes slid slowly open. He watched her watching him for a long moment, his lips stretching into what looked like a real smile. "Hey there," he greeted.

"Hey," she answered softly, doing her best to bury her thoughts so that he wouldn't pick up on them. "How're you feeling?"

Luke shifted as if he were checking out all of the potential aches and pains from whatever had happened just prior to her arrival. He winced once before finally settling on his side so that he could look at her. "Mostly better," he acknowledged.

"Good, because while I'm not complaining -"

His smile stretched into a grin and she rolled her eyes.

"- there was a reason I've been looking for you. Is it safe here?"

The grin slowly faded into a more serious expression. "Yes."

"Good." Mara shifted under the sheets and took a quick survey of the room for her clothes before reaching for the top blanket and giving it a quick tug, leaving Luke with the sheet beneath. "I found a lead on your Senator Amidala."

Luke blinked in surprise, sitting up at that and she purposefully started gathering up her discarded clothing rather than allowing her eyes to linger on him. "You did? Really?"

She wrinkled her nose as she bent for her trousers. "I'm sorry, who did you think you asked to help?" She could practically feel him blush, even without turning to look at him.

"Of course. What'd you find?"

Subtly, she glanced back out of the corner of her eye. Luke still hadn't budged, instead he seemed content to merely bend forward, elbows braced against bent knees, and wait for her to answer. She tried not to be too irritated at the unrelenting attention as she pulled her shirt over her head. "She was a difficult woman to track down. Even with my access the files were spotty."

"Erased?"

"Or lost." She grabbed his pants, tossing them his way in a not-so-subtle hint. "The Jedi destroyed a lot before they were neutralized." He heaved a heavy breath and swung his legs over the side of the bed, starting to get dressed as Mara continued. "She was born on Naboo, served as queen then senator, but there was no data on how long." She moved to her jacket and snagged a data cylinder from the inner pocket and handed it over.

At least halfway clothed now, Luke took it and slid the cylinder into a small datapad that lay next to the bed. Those clear blue eyes of his latched onto the scrolling information, sparse as it was. "There's no photo."

"There's none to be found."

"Are you sure?" She glared at him and he waved a hand. "Okay, sorry. I just… had hoped, you know."

Mara circled the bed and came to stand in front of him. He looked up at her from where he sat and she held his gaze. "Why?"

The conflict was almost tangible and he broke eye contact for a moment, frowning in thought. After a long moment, he looked back up at her. His lips parted as if he were going to speak, then closed, then parted again, and he flinched, shaking his head. "Sorry."

"Listen, I get there are things that we can't always share, but if you're going to bring me into something -" She turned, ready to call the conversation complete, but he caught her wrist.

"She's my mother. Was…I assume. Father told me she was dead. I don't think he was lying, but -"

"Everything I found leads me to believe she died when the Jedi betrayed the Empire," Mara said as gently as she knew how.

"The Republic."

"What?"

"It would have been the Republic then."

"Still."

He made a small, noncommittal sound. "I just wanted to know what she looked like. I guess I never will."

Mara pulled in a breath, working through all of her training to find something that would genuinely be helpful in consoling him. So much of it was manipulation, and the one thing she thought would bring him as close to closure as possible with this was not something she had a particularly good feeling about, especially knowing now that this was Luke's mother. Vader's lover. They were already walking into dangerous territory after the night before, but if she let herself move against her instincts to help him in this….

Blast it all.

"Sola Naberrie."

He tilted his head in question, still staring up at her. "Who?"

"Padme Amidala was born Padme Naberrie," Mara said, taking a seat next to him so that he didn't have to crane his head back to see her. "Her sister still lives with her two children on Naboo."

"Have you been there?"

"I wasn't going to go that far without knowing why I was looking. It's a good way to get yourself and innocent people killed."

"But now you know."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Stubborn," she grumbled. "If your father found out…"

"Since when have you been afraid of my father?"

Irritation flashed through her and she found a hint of mischief in his eyes at the words. He knew exactly what kind of chord his question would strike and he'd plucked it on purpose.

His smile turned more real and he leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to her lips, but lingered close even as he broke it. "I'll protect you."

"Yeah, but who will protect you?"

"You will. We'll protect each other like we have since we were kids."

She knew she shouldn't have even put the option in front of him. Of course he'd want it. She would have taken it if the tables had been turned. "You're not going alone."

"I can handle myself."

"What are you going to do? Fly your pretty Dreadnought over Naboo and land a shuttle in their gardens? This needs to be handled subtly. Quietly. No one can find out."

"Does that include your Master as well?"

Even after so long, that question of loyalty still sat between them. She supposed that was fair. It was a question without a clear answer and had been for many years now. "No one," she repeated forcefully. She plucked the tablet out of his hand. "Which means that I need to go handle my business. In four days, I need you to meet me at these coordinates. Not a day sooner or later. Make up an excuse for your crew. A believable one."

"I think I can manage that."

"You better, or Palpatine and Vader will keep us both so busy that we'll never see the same quadrant, much less the same room."

"Understood," Luke promised her. He glanced away for a moment, looking like he was mulling something over. "Speaking of subtly…"

"Oh stars," she sighed.

"I need a favour."

"This is a favour," she grumbled, motioning at the datapad with the coordinates she'd given him. "One following on the heels of the last one you asked that led to it."

"This one is small. It'll take a day, tops. Probably less. I need you to make a prisoner disappear, but not in the usual way."

"I don't like where this is going."

"I just need to make sure there's not a data trail. He's a Rebel pilot that saved my life. If I drop him off somewhere, it makes my men look bad because he doesn't reach the detention ship -"

"But if the Emperor's Hand takes him, no one expects to know where the body's buried?" she offered and he nodded.

"Yeah, but just… don't kill him?"

"You're going soft." Luke's lips twitched downward and Mara couldn't help the tiniest smile that tugged at her own. "Alright," she finally agreed and tapped the data pad. "Five days then. And you owe me."

Saying I love you was dangerous enough coming from Vader's son, but when the Emperor's Hand was willing to start handing out any favour he asked for, the words should be the least of her worries.

---

Often it felt like his life was split into two parts: before he lost Padme and after, the events on Coruscant and Mustafar leaving the redhot bifurcation in time not unlike a limb severed by a lightsaber. And in a way, it had been. He had lost everyone that anchored him to the Light back then, either through death or betrayal. The only remnants he had of that life were distant memories that often felt like they belonged to another man entirely. Memories that could have - should have - been forgotten by now if not for Luke. It had been painful early on as he looked at the boy with a dangerously kind soul so like his mothers, but over the years he had grown and his father had taught him to be strong enough to survive. Luke had joined Darth Vader in his world rather than harkening back to Anakin Skywalker's.

Most of the time, at least.

It had been nearly two decades since Vader had given the shadowy creature that had nearly killed Ahsoka a moment of thought, but he found the memories bombarding him after his conversation with his son. Skywalker's teenage Padawan that had been caught up in it and his former Master that had fought along his side to help free her. They had nearly lost the battle too, none of them able to connect to the Force on her planet, and if Rex and the 501st hadn't shown up when they had it would have been their end. The planet had been gone after that and had supposed that no one found it again until Luke's ship had stumbled across it.

It had been a harrowing adventure, as had his son's. Of course Luke wanted to know more.

The summons had broken through the spiraling thoughts. The Dark Lord did his best to secure the conflict behind mental barriers as he took a knee in his private chambers, the motion connecting the holocomm and the Emperor's face appeared. "What is thy bidding, my Master?"

There was a long moment of silence in which Vader did not dare speak. He could feel Palpatine probing his mind, but if he found what he was looking for or not, there was no way to know. He spoke without warning. "There has been an uprising on my home planet of Naboo."

The name of the planet sent a chill through Vader. Hadn't he had enough reminders of the life he'd left behind?

"In my affection for them, I have been lenient, but their betrayal persists," Palpatine continued. "I can be merciful no longer. I am sending you, my Apprentice. Extinguish this spark of rebellion."

He thought of his late wife's homeworld with its towering statues and round-topped buildings and of Padme's laugh echoing out across grassy plains. Of the music and the culture and a promise that they could raise their child there. Of her love for that world and its people.

"You are distracted, my friend. Tell me."

And just as quickly, the image vanished, the warmth that threatened him driven out of the moment. The direct order could not be ignored, though he hardly could trust Sideous with the whole truth. "There have been many memories, my Master."

"And many more, though I would trust no one but you to handle such a delicate situation. You will go."

Vader bowed a little deeper. "As you command, my Master."

The communication flickered out of existence, leaving Vader alone to wonder what deeper meaning there might be that Palpatine would send him to Padme's homeworld.

---

Secrecy ran rampant in the Empire. Individuals and sometimes entire factions were in constant competition, scraping and clawing and backstabbing their way up through the ranks with every win on their scorecard inching them a little closer to the top. That furocity often worked in the Empire's advantage, but that same unrelenting drive to get ahead at all cost also made relying on those people to put egos aside long enough to get certain jobs done very difficult. That's why intelligence was so closely guarded. That was why his crew didn't blink twice when Luke said that he would be taking a shuttle alone to the coordinates that Mara had left for him. They didn't need an elaborate excuse. Sometimes the layers of secrecy worked in his advantage.

Luke landed on a dusty planet with two suns in the Outer Rim that he'd never heard of before, much less had seen with his own eyes. He wasn't missing much, he decided as he exited his shuttle and was immediately accosted by a dirt devil kicking up handfuls of sand and throwing it all around the spaceport. He frowned, tugging the hood of his black poncho up to help shield his face from the dry, hot wind as much as to shield it from any onlookers. He paid the docking fee and a little extra to ensure his shuttle would be there when he got back and started into town.

He was early, but Mara was already waiting for him at a cantina. She sat at the bar, her talents in the Force keeping her from being surprised by anyone that might approach her from behind. She motioned at the bartender as Luke slid into the seat next to her, finally letting the hood drop back. As dark as they kept it, he wasn't worried about being recognized.

"How'd it go?" he asked as the drink was set down in front of him.

"He was chatty."

"I find that hard to believe. Threaten to throw him out an airlock?"

She shrugged and took a sip from her own drink. "I may have implied it. Heavily."

Luke snorted a laugh and shook his head. Well, at least she wouldn't keep pressing him for what had happened on the shadow planet. She'd gotten what she wanted from Antilles and let him go, likely with a threat for good measure. "You going to tell me why we're here?"

"Because we need a way to get to Naboo without the Empire knowing we've been," Mara said quietly.

"So we're picking up another ship?"

"And a pilot."

"We're both pilots. We don't need a third."

"What we need is someone who has no ties to us that can get us there undetected."

Luke frowned at that. "A smuggler."

"Now you're catching up, flyboy," Mara said with a smirk countering his expression.

"That's too risky."

"How about some faith?" She stood, knocking back the rest of her drink and handing over the credits to cover them both. Luke watched as she turned and started towards the back of the cantina.

He followed, dodging around patrons that didn't know or care who he was. He caught up with Mara as she approached a table in the back corner where a man sat lounging back in the chair, a smug expression resting on his face. Across from him sat another man with several empty liquor glasses next to him who was eyeing his sabacc cards carefully. Finally he dropped them on the table, looking rather proud of his hand.

"Well," the lounging man drawled, slowly dropping his own set of cards so that his opponent could see, "guess your luck was bound to change sooner or later, eh, Prod?"

That proud expression shifted instantly to anger. "You cheated!"

"No need to be a sore loser. Unless you want to go another round?"

The card player drew a blaster. "Listen here, Solo —" he started to threaten, but a loud roar shook the establishment. Luke turned to see a large, hairy beast at the table next to Solo who had been the source of the sound. No one had batted an eye at the drawn weapon, but the sound of an angry Wookie stopped even the band mid-tune. Prod raised his hands in surrender, muttering a curse as he scurried off before he lost a limb to the approaching creature.

"I had it covered, Chewie," Solo directed at the Wookie, but as the rest of the cantina went back to minding their own business, he seemed to notice that neither Luke nor Mara had budged. Okay, he seemed to notice that Mara hadn't as he fixed an amused look on her. "If Jabba sent you, I have to say you're an improvement."

Mara quirked an eyebrow. "Han Solo," she greeted, sliding into the recently vacated chair.

"You have me at a bit of a disadvantage. You know who I am, but I don't know you." His hazel gaze followed Luke as he pulled an empty chair up next to Mara. "Or you."

Mara smiled, the expression more dangerous than the smuggler likely knew. "You can call me Jade."

"And your friend here?"

She acted as if she were thinking about it for a moment. "Luke," she said, her tone indicating that she'd plucked the name out of thin air. It still left him feeling more exposed than he was accustomed to. They'd had aliases during their time traveling the galaxy when they were younger and he knew she had plenty stored away. He wasn't sure why those were the names she gave.

Solo snorted. "Alright then. I don't care about names, just that you can pay. What's the cargo?"

"Us. We need to go to Naboo, but we need to bypass the Imperial checkpoints."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, that's gonna cost you more, sweetheart. Seven thousand."

Luke snorted. "We're a system over."

"You're paying for my discretion, kid."

"And what about ours?" Mara asked, her tone deceptively sweet, but Luke knew it well. This wasn't just a random smuggler she'd picked out of a spaceport full of them. She'd come in with a fully designed plan.

The Wookie rumbled and Solo glanced over to him. "I think you may be right, Chewie," he said, letting his gaze lull lazily back to Mara and he shrugged. "Looks like you'll have to find yourself a different ride. My first mate says you're more trouble than you're worth."

Luke settled a little deeper in his chair. It was always amusing to watch Mara run circles around someone, especially when they underestimated her. Which most did.

"Han Solo is a common enough name to get you through most ports -" she locked eyes with him - "but it'd be a shame if your Corellian Light Freighter was linked with the cadet that defected during the Mimban Campaign. I hear you're attached to it."

Her tone was friendly enough, but there was something satisfying about the shock that settled into Solo's features. Behind him, the Wookie growled dangerously.

"You can try it, but I guarantee I'm faster," Mara answered what was clearly a threat from the smuggler's first mate. She shrugged. "Six thousand, and our discretion," she offered. "It's easy money."

"Nothing about this is easy," Solo grumbled and stood. "Fine. Dock twelve in an hour. And that's six up front. We don't leave without it."

"Fine by me."

They waited, both watching as the Human and Wookie retreated. Luke turned to look at her. "You really spooked him."

"My guess is the Empire aren't the only people that he's running from. Makes him useful."

Luke shook his head, chuckling as he stood. "Remind me never to get on your bad side?"

—

The first warning that Vader's men sent down to the planet's surface was just before they had begun their descent. While the Executor would return to orbit, the Dark Lord had directed the ship's captain to bring the Dreadnaught in low enough to cast an intimidating and dangerous shadow along the capital city of Theed. Vader steeled himself against the memories the city evoked even as the ramp of his shuttle extended to show a young Human Queen dressed in all of her royal finery and her face painted in a strikingly similar fashion to the way Padme had always worn it when she'd served in the office.

Naboo's Queen, surrounded by her guards and her handmaidens, tilted her face down in a gesture of respect. "Lord Vader, I am Queen Ceelle Bol and this —"

"I do not require an introduction to your entourage," Vader cut her off. She was young, as every one of Naboo's queens seemed to be. He'd never stopped to ask why when Padme had lived, and even now he wouldn't go as far as to call it a curiosity. Merely an observation. "Only the names of those responsible for the riots held in the streets."

Queen Ceelle's eyes widened at that and she stood impossibly still. Almost as if she were terrified to move as she rattled off her scripted reply. "Forgive me, my lord. We have had no riots."

Behind his immovable black mask, Vader's brow raised where his eyebrow had been once. "And what would you call the people flooding the street?"

"Our charter allows for —" she swallowed hard as if her throat had gone suddenly dry — "allows for peaceful protesting by the citizens of our planet. It has been this way since the days of the Galactic Republic."

"Naboo serves the Empire," Vader growled out and the darkness he drew power from reveled in the way the girl flinched.

A woman from the entourage - older than the Queen by at least half a decade - stepped forward. "My lord, though we are part of the Galactic Empire, Naboo is still self-governed. Any regulation on demonstrations is left to our elected representatives."

"Senator Ryoo Naberrie," Queen Ceelle introduced.

Vader turned to the girl-turned-woman. He'd met her only once and never would have known her without her mother's family name. "You have been granted leniency here at the Emperor's discretion," Vader boomed, more emphasis added to his voice modulator to hide his tumultuous emotions. "That leniency has come to an end and he has sent me. If you will not cooperate…."

"Of course we will, my lord," the Queen mewed and Padme's niece snapped her attention towards her and then back to Vader.

"These are our people."

"No. They are Imperial subjects. Do not mistake the Emperor's patience for approval, Senator. These uprisings will be crushed here as they are in any other corner of the galaxy." He blew past her, feeling her dark gaze latched onto his black cloak even as the Queen and her guards scurried to keep up.

—

He'd given Mara the room she needed for all of her sleights of hand until he'd seen the freighter that she'd clearly known about. The hunk of junk looked like it was barely held together by a few cleverly welded pieces that Luke wouldn't have put credits on making it through a hyperspace lane, much less withstand any assault if they ran into trouble. Sure, it was clear that upgrades had been done, but it looked like Solo prioritized speed over hull integrity.

Still, Mara was convinced that they needed to be smuggled in and out if they were to fly under the rest of the Empire's radar and Solo and his Millenium Falcon was the best choice.

It was a surprisingly smooth takeoff and jump to hyperspace, the stars streaking around them as Luke had joined Mara in the galley. Solo and his first mate left them alone and Luke could feel Mara weighing a question she wasn't sure she wanted to ask. He flicked his hand in the air in an impatient motion. "Just go ahead and ask."

"Ask what?"

"Whatever it is that you're thinking so hard about."

She pursed her lips together thoughtfully before a sigh escaped her. "It's less a question and more of a concern." He shot her a withering look and she shrugged. "I understand the… draw," she said carefully. "I understand wanting to know more about where you came from. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to know more if I was in your position, but does it really change if you see her face or not?"

"That's a question," he tried for a tease that felt flat under the weight of the meaning behind the words. They were going to great lengths to hide everything about this search from everyone that could make them regret the decision. When he'd pulled her into this, he'd thought she'd find an old holo or something like that so that he could see his mother's face and confirm or put to rest that nagging suspicion that had hung on tight since he and his father had gone to Alderaan. If he were wrong, only Father would be irked at digging up old memories, but if he was right…. Luke did everything he could to suppress the shudder at the thought of what Palpatine would do with that information.

Luke found Mara staring at him, waiting. He offered her an attempt at a smile. "I just need to know."

She nodded slowly and the freighter gave a stuttering jolt as it shifted out of hyperspace and Luke was struck with a presence he would have known anywhere. A presence that should have been far away from them.

"Luke?" he heard Mara call, but he was already on his feet and racing down the corridor, hoping his mental barriers were strong enough as he skidded to a stop at the cockpit, Mara at his heels.

"Hey," Solo greeted. "You're gonna want to —"

"Get us out of here," Luke snapped, pulling confused looks from three different directions.

"What?"

"Vader is on Naboo. Get us out of here now!"

Even as he barked the order, it was too late. They were being hailed by the orbiting Executor. There was no running now, only the unsubstantiated hope that Solo was as good as he claimed to be.

---

Chapter Text

She couldn't clearly recall a time before she had come into the Emperor's service. She must have been young when she had been delivered to him. Four, five… she only had the vaguest, fractured and scattered handful of memories that she wasn't even entirely sure were hers. They could have been stories from some of her earliest training. Different personas crafted so that she could rattle off the details as if she'd lived them. In the end it didn't matter. She wouldn't trade any of her training to know for sure. It had saved her life countless times. It had taught her to be ice cold under pressure, to shift and flow with whatever situation was thrown at her. Even in the most dangerous of situations, Mara Jade did not panic. One of her first lessons had been that there was no such thing as being cornered. She should be able to work her way around and out of any situation, and she had. Time and time again.

Granted, it had never gone particularly well when trying to work her way around Darth Vader.

Mara crushed the building anxiety that was buzzing in her chest and pushed herself into action. The Wookie indicated that there were storage compartments under the flooring that were designed to shield against most Imperial scanning equipment. She and Luke ducked into the pitch black space and he was close enough that she could feel his warm breath against her skin. Then it struck her: it was his anxiety she was picking up on. Even as he closed his mental barriers tight against any Force-sensitive in the area, she could feel the worry and the stress building up inside of him. If they were caught, it wouldn't be pleasant, but there was something more about all of this than just a curiosity about his mother.

She reached a hand out in the darkness, finding his and her fingers curled around it. Mara didn't say a word, but instead worked through her own calming exercises. Bit by bit, just as his anxiety had crept into her mind, her calm seemed to take hold in his. By the time the ramp was lowered and the sound of stormtroopers boarding could be heard, both of them sat utterly still and calm, their hands clasped together as a physical link.

Solo could be heard in a muffled sort of way above as he chatted with the stormtroopers and showed them around his ship. She strained to catch and make sense of the words, but the further away he moved, the more difficult that became.

Finally the footsteps returned and she could hear Solo thank them as if they'd done him a favour. The steps retreated back down the ramp and they waited. One minute, two, three… Mara lost count by the time the slab of permasteel was pulled away and light flooded into the hidden compartment. The Wookie roared and Solo looked pleased with himself. He lifted an amused eyebrow and Mara realized she and Luke were still holding hands. She released his and he flushed ever so slightly, scrambling out to regain his composure.

"He can put it back if ya need a few minutes," Solo offered and Luke stood, the dark poncho he wore falling back into place over his hidden lightsaber. It seemed to catch Solo's eye and the flustered expression Luke wore was instantly hidden behind a mask of icy calm and Solo held his hands up in mock surrender. "Or not. Listen… whatever's going on here is your business. Mine is getting you two in safe and I've done that." He waited a moment as if sizing up the situation and his focus fell on Mara. "So that makes us even, sweetheart."

She held his gaze for a long moment, letting him squirm just a little in his uncertainty. "That makes us even."

Luke fell into step with her as they exited the ship, the pathway remarkably clear of nosy Imperials. He moved closer and his voice was low as he spoke. "What is it that makes you think that he won't turn around and give one of the units stationed here our description?"

"Because it's my job to read people, and that man wants to get as far away from us as quickly as he can."

"Hope you're right." He started towards the spaceport exit that would lead them into the capital city of Theed and Mara caught his wrist. He turned a questioning look on her.

"Just because we were able to slip past a boarding crew doesn't mean anything's changed. Your father's still here. It'll be a lot easier to get out than it was getting in, but not if something tips him off."

They both knew the underlying meaning: If Vader sensed Luke's presence just as Luke and sensed Vader's.

Luke pulled in a deep, calming breath and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment. She let him search for whatever he was searching for, the crowds parting in either direction around them. Finally, blue eyes opened and there was a calmness of his own that settled in to push out the remaining anxiety. "This is the time," he said firmly and she nodded.

"Alright. Let's pay Sola Naberrie a visit."

—

It was no wonder there had been riots on Naboo. The planet was ripe for rebels to worm their way in and stoke malcontent. The Queen was a quivering mouse while the Imperial officer in charge of overseeing their presence on the planet was far more interested in his own career trajectory than anything else. Colonel Bardok practically groveled at Vader's feet upon arrival, wasting precious time by listing off what he must have believed were the highlights of a successful career. Somehow the fact that he'd been chasing down these rebels for over a year now was a point in his favour, at least in his mind. He had made a handful of arrests that hadn't led anywhere useful, and when pressed on them, Vader instantly saw the common factor in each case.

"Tell me," Vader drawled out, "what power does the Senator hold over your men here?"

Bardok stuttered to a stop in the middle of an increasingly useless tangent. "My lord?"

"In each case you failed to glean any information due to the senator's intervention."

"They have a constitution, my lord. Their representatives—"

"Serve at the Emperor's pleasure," Vader said lowly. "And they are no longer part of this investigation. Nor will you be, should you continue to fail me."

He waited until Bardok - finally seeming to understand the weight of the situation he was facing - swallowed hard and nodded.

"You will detain those you previously released on the senator's command."

"Naberrie," the colonel said quietly.

Vader turned to face the insufferable man, pulling himself up to his full height to tower over him.

"I thought perhaps you'd forgotten her name… since you didn't use it?" the smaller man managed.

"Her name does not matter," Vader snarled, more intensity than he'd really intended to add to the words. "Only that she does not interfere. Now go. I expect the arrests to be made by sundown."

He turned, cape whipping out and curling around his boots as he strode forward, allowing himself to sink a little further into his darkness to drive away the ghosts that threatened in every corner of the palace.

He didn't know what to expect. Not from his mother's homeworld or from her family. All Luke knew was that he needed to be there. He needed to see her face and he couldn't put it off any longer. Mara clearly wasn't thrilled with the decision, but she was with him still as they moved through the city of Theed with their hoods shadowing their faces.

Mara had found more concrete information on Sola than she had on Padme from Imperial records. She had a home address and a separate address for a small clothing design business that she ran. She and her daughters had moved to Theed several years before from the Lake Country when Sola's father's health had declined. The move had brought them closer to Sola's older daughter who served in the Imperial Senate.

Luke didn't know what to expect, but as they entered the small shop called House of Naboo, he was relatively sure he hadn't expected to see a holoprojection on display for all to see at the counter to the side of the shop. He moved towards it, Mara hissing his name behind him, but it was like he was on autopilot. He couldn't stop the forward motion. Instead, step by step, he was drawn to the projection, his gaze fixed on it. A petite woman dressed in the flowing, seemingly traditional Naboo garb he'd seen so many women wear on their walk from the spaceport. The colours were soft - pastel - and the sleeves seemed to ripple in the wind as she appeared to wave whoever had recorded the projection off. But there was no real irritation in her expression. Her smile appeared genuine and it reached her dark eyes. As Luke stood watching the brief clip of his long-dead mother, she ducked down in a laugh that he could almost hear and turned to look directly at him.

For just a moment, he could have sworn he was looking at Leia Organa.

"She was my sister," a voice said from behind him, startling Luke out of staring. He turned and found Sola Naberrie standing behind him with the same kind smile - albeit a bit more subdued - as Padme wore in the holoprojection.

"Oh," Luke managed, his voice small and choked by emotion. "She was beautiful."

"She was," Sola answered, a hint of sadness in her voice. "This was taken by a dear friend of hers a few years before we lost her."

Luke looked back, the projection having looped back around to where she was waving someone off as if to say she didn't want the image captured. "How'd she die?"

"I didn't say that she died."

"Didn't she? You mentioned her in past tense ..."

Sola huffed a small laugh as if she'd been testing him and, despite a reasonable response, he'd still felt like he had failed. "She died in the Jedi Purge."

"After the Jedi betrayed the Emperor?"

"Yes," Sola answered in a way that made Luke wonder if she might be one of those conspiracy theorists that always had a different story when it came to that day. Somehow, no matter how different each theory might be, the common factor was a love for the traitors. "My sister was a senator of the Republic and was…. close with one of the Jedi. I've always wondered if she was caught in the crosshairs. He actually recorded that holo." She tilted her head, her tone strange. "I'll admit, when I saw you standing there I thought perhaps he'd survived after all."

Luke's fingers touched the hem of his poncho, regretting the decision as it was clearly closer to old Jedi garb than the dress of the locals of Naboo.

"Oh no. You look so much like him. You could have been related."

The young Imperial looked back to the holo, his mother's image laughing at Anakin Skywalker on the other side of the recorder. Padme had been happy there. She'd laughed with his father. Loved him. Despite the chill it pulled from him, he tried to imagine the face of the memory on the Shadow Planet on the other side of the looped image, laughing and teasing her. Happy. At peace. There must have been a time, right? Surely his father hadn't always been in pain that he unleashed on the galaxy around him.

"Forgive me," Sola said, what Luke had to assume was a false cheer in her voice. "You didn't come in here to hear old stories. I assume you're shopping for your redheaded friend over there?"

Luke glanced to where Mara had busied herself in his distraction, appearing to look at a dress that he wished she would purchase. Maybe she could wear it next time their missions crossed and they had to blend in.

"She has good taste. That colour matches her eyes."

"How much?" Luke asked.

"Usually it's one thousand credits, but I'll give you a deal. Eight fifty."

The front door to the shop burst open, gaining everyone inside's attention. A man rushed in, his face flushed, and he looked around the shop before his dark eyes came to rest on Sola. "Where is she?"

Even when he risked reaching out through the Force, Sola was calm. "On a fabric run for her mother."

The man turned to look at Luke. "You need to go. The shop's closed."

"My shop is not closed," Sola countered and offered Luke a smile. "Please, take your time. Kelan, this way?"

Luke watched, ready to find a new position in the store to eavesdrop on the conversation, but Mara's hand came to rest on his arm. "You got what you came for. Let's go."

He looked back to where Sola and Kelan had stepped back to a small alcove in the shop, Kelan explaining something in a flustered and frustrated manner. For her part, Sola simply listened. She didn't appear worried or ruffled, only nodding every few words as if to placate him.

"Luke," Mara urged quietly and he sighed, turning to leave with her.

The door to the shop popped open as they started for the exit, three stormtroopers and an Imperial officer blocking their exit. Luke froze, staring at an officer he didn't know and wondering if he'd be recognized as Vader's son who had no reasonable excuse to be on Naboo at the moment without his father's knowledge. His answer came quickly enough in the way the officer flicked his hand and a stormtrooper moved between him and Mara, aggressively pulling them further back into the shop. "No one leaves until Kelan Marrisser is found," the officer drawled. "Where is he?"

Luke and Mara both gave innocent shrugs, making themselves as small and insignificant as they could. They both outranked him, so he clearly didn't have a clue who they were.

"Excuse me," Sola greeted sternly as she rounded back into the main shop room alone. "May I help you, Colonel?"

The colonel signaled another stormtrooper and he brushed past her in the direction she'd come from.

Sola turned a furious look on the Imperial. "You have no right! When the senator hears about this —"

"Your daughter can't save you now," the colonel said. "Not if you're harboring a fugitive. Your younger daughter's friend, isn't he? We'll be taking a closer look at her as well."

Shouts could be heard from the back and Luke felt Mara tense at his side. It was a warning to stay still and let things play out. To interfere would be to shine a light on them that he wouldn't be able to snuff out, and it wasn't just him. She had come with him without her Master's knowledge or approval. She'd taken that risk for him.

The stormtrooper returned with Kelan slung unconscious over his shoulder.

"Mom, we got the colours you —" a voice called out as the front door opened again, revealing a young woman with her arms full of fabrics. She looked a great deal like the image of Padme. Like Leia. This must have been the younger daughter, and with her was an elderly man that looked just as startled as the girl. For her, though, the shock hardened into anger when she saw Kelan. "What did you do to him?"

"We have a few questions for him. And you. Resist and you'll get the same treatment," the colonel said.

"Pooja," Sola managed, sounding frightened for the first time. "Come here. Dad —" she directed at the older man, but his eyes were fixed on Luke. A fact that he became acutely aware of as soon as he glanced his way. It was like he'd seen a ghost.

And then all of a sudden, tears filled his eyes and he smiled, taking a step forward. "Anakin," he laughed. "Anakin Skywalker. You've brought my girl home to us? You've brought Padme home? Where is she?"

The shop was silent for a moment, confusion hanging heavy in the air with a name spoken aloud that had long since been silenced. Luke looked around him. They'd heard. They'd all heard.

"What is this?" the colonel huffed and Sola shook her head.

"Nothing. My father is not well."

The colonel turned back to Sola's father. "And who is this Skywalker? A member of the Rebels here in Theed?"

"He's the Jedi who is protecting my daughter. Jedi Skywalker, is she —"

"Anakin Skywalker is dead," Luke said firmly and he could practically feel Mara willing him not to do anything. She didn't understand. Not yet, but she would. She would piece it together and if Father had even an inkling that she knew who he really was he'd kill her without hesitation. The Force may have led him there, but it had all gone wrong faster than he could have predicted.

One of the stormtroopers took a step towards them and Luke's hand flicked out from under the poncho. There was a resounding crack and he fell dead to the ground, his neck bent awkwardly. The next few seconds were a blur as his lightsaber snap hissed to life and he swung, deflecting one shot towards the stormtrooper that shot at him and the other to the colonel, dropping them both.

Another shot went off at his back - the stormtrooper carrying Kelan slower to react than his companions with his load - and Mara's magenta blade sent the bolt back into his chest.

They stood there and Luke could feel his father's presence. He'd dropped his barriers during the brief fight and now he knew. He took a steadying breath. "You need to go. All of you. More will be here soon."

Sola stared at him for a moment, but wisely pressed her lips together against the truth that had gotten the Imperials killed. Finally she nodded, turning to take the holoprojector from the counter. She pressed it into his hands and held his gaze for a long moment.

Luke finally took it, switching it off and slipping it into his poncho. "You can't breathe a word of this. No one can save you if you do."

"My older daughter is in the Palace."

"She'll have to find you. Go."

He waited until she nodded, she and her daughter rousing the half-conscious Kelan and guided her senile father to what was hopefully a back exit. He stopped, looking at Luke again. "You'll protect her?"

If he meant his granddaughter or if he was still trapped in the delusion and thought he was begging Anakin Skywalker to protect his long-dead daughter, Luke wasn't sure. Either way, he was wasting time that they desperately needed to slip away. Luke nodded silently and watched the family he'd never known rush for their escape.

Mara sighed heavily. "We won't have much time, but I can —"

"He knows I'm here," Luke cut her off, "but he doesn't know about you. He can't."

"Luke… there's no way to explain this. I know you wanted to protect them, but he won't accept that."

"Let me deal with my father. Just… don't speak about anything that happened here. Please."

She studied him for a moment. She would piece it together. He'd told her his mother's name and Anakin Skywalker's had been thrown about since Sola's father had walked into the shop. Once she had a moment to herself, she'd know, and all he could do was pray she'd understand the danger of that knowledge and keep it to herself.

"Luke."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put you in danger."

There was a long moment of indecision. Finally, Mara nodded, accepting his request for discretion. She tipped up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Be careful."

"You too."

And then she was gone, leaving Luke in an empty shop surrounded by dead Imperials, his father's presence hanging heavy in his mind.

—-

She kept her mind carefully and intentionally calm as she slipped through the streets of Naboo's capital city. She couldn't linger on what had happened. Not the fool's errand she never should have agreed to or the battle against fellow Imperials that she had joined him in to save the life of a few Rebels. His mother's family. Luke's family. She didn't dare focus on it yet.

Nor the name that had sparked the violence. Anakin Skywalker. A name that Mara didn't readily know, but one that Luke had been willing to kill to keep away from an Imperial officer and a small handful of stormtroopers. And what if he'd told her to keep this trip and all that had happened less to protect himself from his father's wrath and more to shield them both from her Master? From Vader's Master. From the Galactic Emperor.

A shudder tore through Mara. No. She didn't have the full picture yet. Better to track down answers to outstanding questions first, and then - once she had all the puzzle pieces laid out - she would know which move to make.

You are troubled, my child.

The words echoed in her mind and she slammed to a stop in the middle of the busy street.

Do not be troubled, my dear girl, Palpatine's command echoed. You have played the part you were meant to play this day.

"Watch it!" a man yelled at her and she scurried off the road, a careful breath calming her.

What part is that, my Master? Mara asked carefully.

A reminder that I see all. That I know all.

She pursed her lips together thoughtfully. Cryptic, but she couldn't be sure if it was a gloating statement or fishing for more information.

Do you think it a coincidence that Lord Vader was sent to Naboo at the same time that you took young Natus on a journey to discover a past that no longer has claim to?

Gloating then. Of course not, my Emperor.

As you have, so he shall learn that these ties are meaningless. The past is done and the future is in flux. There was a pause. Searching. You care for him.

The mental tone wasn't quite accusatory, but Mara couldn't help but feel accused. I have known him a long time.

Do not fear, child. Your loyalty is not in question.

And his? Her question slipped through her mind before she had a chance to banish it. She stepped even further off the road, pressing her back against the outer wall of a building.

I have faith in you, my girl, that you will help guide him down the correct path.

And then her Master was gone from her mind, leaving Mara alone on the busy street of Theed with only her own warring thoughts for company.

—

Luke had served as an enforcer of Imperial justice long enough to know that rebellion was always snuffed out, no matter where it took root. Again and again it happened. A handful of individuals would get it into their mind that they could do it better. They didn't understand what went into maintaining order over an entire galaxy or what it would cost them to try to change it. They would push and they'd be reprimanded. If they continued, they'd be put down. It was the way that it had to be. If leniency were given or favourites were played, it'd be chaos in the end. It was the way things were. It was the way things had to be.

Yet he'd let them go. Sola and her father and daughter and her daughter's clearly guilty friend. Perhaps Sola's daughter had been guilty as well. Perhaps they all had been and that was why his father's name was so dangerous. They'd known it and he'd let them live, which was more than Luke could say about his fellow Imperials that had heard the name Anakin Skywalker dropped into the open air. The whole thing was a mess, even if his father hadn't been sent to Naboo to quell a rebellion and if Mara hadn't heard the name. Luke had chosen to let enemies of the Empire that knew a dangerous secret live. Everything he'd ever been taught told him he shouldn't have, but somehow he couldn't find it in himself to regret it.

All necessary questions had been answered through their bond before Darth Vader ever strode onto the scene.

What had happened? Luke had been looking for answers.

What had he found? Padme Amidala's family.

What had sealed Bardok and his men's fate? They had heard the name Anakin Skywalker.

There was no reaction - either over their bond or when Vader himself strode through the front door of his sister-in-law's shop - to the answers received. Questions asked, answers given, and presumably they were filed away. Vader commanded the scene as he always did. Bodies were cleared, and Luke didn't have a chance to ask about his older cousin when he stepped outside to see the palace up on the hill burning. Rebellions always were snuffed out by Imperial justice. It was the way things had to be, even if it left him feeling hollow inside.

"The Aeres is -"

"You will be provided with a shuttle to return to your ship when we arrive at our destination," his father answered coldly. Luke swallowed the obvious question on why he couldn't simply take one of the many shuttles on the Executor rather than going to whatever destination his father had been ordered to next.

The Dark Lord and his son left Naboo in shambles behind them and, as Luke sat in his old quarters on the Executor with the stars streaking outside the viewport, he held the looping holoprojector in his hands and watched his mother smile back at the recorder. At his father on the other side.

Somehow, despite accomplishing what he'd set out to do and confirming his suspicions, he couldn't help but feel like his mother would be disappointed in him that day.

The door behind him swished open and Luke immediately deactivated the projection. He heard his father push a breath out through the mask, even if his true feelings were still carefully hidden behind his mental walls. He moved into the room, the door shutting behind him, and Luke looked over from his place at the small desk. He opened his mouth, fully intent on speaking, but the words stuck in his throat. Finally he frowned, thumb moving over the deactivated projector as the Executor shifted out of hyperspace.

The mass out of the viewport caught Luke's attention. He turned, head tilted as he took in the crescent construction orbiting the planet. Even unfinished, it was large. Once completed it would dwarf any Star Destroyer that the Empire had its navy several times over, though it didn't look like any ship he'd ever seen. It was something else. Something new. "What is that?"

"That," his father breathed, "is a warning to all that may defy the Empire."

Luke stood, his feet carrying him to the window and he stared out through the thick panes. "It's a weapon."

"Yes. When completed, it will bring entire planets to their knees."

"Or destroy them," Luke managed, a chill sweeping through him that he could not push aside.

"Yes." His father's hand came to rest on his shoulder. "We must remain focused, my son."

"On what? That is -" Luke shook his head. It was death. Massive, spiraling death to anyone that dared cross Palpatine. When completed, the Emperor would be able to destroy entire planets. What could he do to the likes of them? They'd always known their days were numbered serving the Emperor, but Luke had always thought that with their combined strength, they could overthrow him. Now, looking at Palpatine's new weapon, that seemed impossible.

"On survival," Darth Vader said quietly.

And that was why he hadn't lashed out at Luke's arrival on Naboo. It wasn't that he wasn't angry, it was that he couldn't afford to be. He couldn't afford to alienate his only true aly.

"You have answered your questions," his father said, his hand slipping from Luke's shoulder, "and now you must bury them. There is no room for weakness now."

Luke frowned at that. "Is she a weakness?"

"Everything is a weakness. Everything but you and I." He turned towards the door. "A shuttle is ready to take you to your ship. I trust that you will maintain focused."

"Yes, father," Luke breathed, but even as the words escaped, it felt like he was drowning.

Chapter Text

Boots tapped softly on the permasteel below them while the corridor seemed to stretch on indefinitely in front of him. His pace quickened and he risked a glance behind him. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was there, but there was nothing. No officers. No stormtroopers. Nothing. It was eerily quiet with even the sounds that always accompanied a spacecraft muted.

Luke turned back and found an old, familiar door, though its usual red guards were lacking. He pushed through it and was emptied into the Emperor's throne room. The Sith Lord was standing at a window and inclined his head ever so slightly. "Come, my boy, and see the might of my empire."

A chill swept through him at the words, but Luke didn't dare deny the direct command. Dread settled in as he approached the window, and though the room looked just the same as it did on Coruscant, stars filled the viewport. There was a planet there as well. Naboo. His mother's home planet.

Then the muted noise roared back into existence, the floor beneath his boots trembling under the strain, and power buzzed through the air. Luke watched in horror as it gathered, the tributary laser-stream gathering and flashing out through space straight at the planet. He'd heard stories of the early days of Imperial rule when multiple Star Destroyer were brought together to lay waste the the surface of a planet, but as the beam ate through the atmosphere and then the layers of bedrock as if the planet were nothing, those old attack methods that had terrified so many into submission were put to shame. He could hear them screaming in the split second they had to see the fire racing towards them and then nothing.

Nothing but Luke's own uneven breathing and a soft, terrible chuckle as Palpatine focused his golden gaze on what was now little more than an asteroid field where a planet had been. "This is my Empire. Did you think you could hide anything from me?"

He'd killed them all. He'd kept a secret from him, and Sidious had killed them all for it.

The anger flashed as hot and bright as the Death Star's weaponry and Luke's lightsaber flew to his waiting hand. He swung, every inch of him ready to cut his father's Master down, but he never made it. Sidious' fingers flicked at his side - barely visible for his long robes - and every muscle in Luke's body froze at his command. He struggled against it, but he could barely drag air down into his lungs, much less take his intended killing swing at the man that had just destroyed his mother's homeworld.

"Foolish boy. And now, do you understand? There is no choice you can make. There is only destiny. And yours -" Palpatine tilted his head and Luke was driven to the floor, his knees hitting the unrelenting surface hard enough that he would have cried out if he'd had any breath left in his lungs - "is on your knees before me."

The words echoed even as Luke jolted back to wakefulness. He lay there for a long moment, gaze fixed on the ceiling of his Coruscant apartment he rarely used as he tried to gain some control over his breathing. Even as he gulped in breaths, he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't alone in the room. His hand flashed out, triggering the switch and all the lights flooded on at once to illuminate the empty apartment.

A shiver ran up his spine and he could still feel the nightmare clinging to him. It wasn't the first since he'd chosen to let his mother's family go on Naboo, though at least this time Mara wasn't curled up next to him to awkwardly try her hand at comforting him. For all the time they'd spent apart over the years, she'd been close the last couple of months. If she was worried about his emotional state or his loyalty following the event, there was no way to know, but he trusted her. She wouldn't betray him.

Luke fell back against the pillows on the bed, his gaze fixed on the ceiling again as he let the nightmare creep back into his thoughts. As far as he knew, he hadn't inherited his father's somewhat unreliable gift of foresight, but every breath - or lack thereof - had felt so real. It was the same chill Palpatine's presence always brought with him and the same ache that accompanied an attack of that caliber. He could have sworn his father's Master had been in his mind, emphasizing the lesson.

You are mine.

He flew up, crouched on the bed and staring at the still-empty room with no enemy to fight, even if his lightsaber had come when subconsciously called. He was alone. There was no one there. He had met with the Emperor the evening before and would leave as soon as the Aeres finished some minor repairs. No one but he, Mara, and his father were the wiser, and the latter had been right. He needed to focus.

Luke drew in a steadying breath, then another. He let the intake of air calm his tattered nerves as he reached under the pillow to retrieve the disk Sola had left to him. He flicked it on and Padme Amidala seemed to smile right at him. He watched the looped image play through, his thumb caressing the disk, and he pushed one more breath out.

Focus.

Smiles and laughter. Joy and peace.

Focus.

A different time. Before the betrayal. Before the purge.

Focus.

A time he didn't know. A time that couldn't help them achieve their goal and it certainly wouldn't help him protect those closest to him.

"I'm sorry," Luke murmured to the smiling image. "This is the only choice I have."

And then he shut it down, not bothering to turn off the lights as he curled up on his side and squeezed his eyes shut against his raging thoughts.

—-

The throne room was eerily quiet as Mara entered, the Red Guard silently opening the doors for her so that she could make her way in. Her Master sat on his throne, eyes closed and chin tilted down. He seemed to be deep in a meditative state that left a physical chill in the air around them. She stood back, waiting and watching for what felt like an eternity before his golden eyes slipped open and she saw a smile that was hardly comforting stretch across his thin lips. "My child," he greeted. "Tell me, what news do you have for me?"

"I've met with Colonel Yularen to verify the adjustments to the ISB's security protocols. Former Agent Kallus' intel is officially outdated. Yularen believes he'll be of little use to the Rebels now."

"And you?"

Mara considered that for a beat longer than she really needed to. "If Kallus was clever enough to be able to defect under Grand Admiral Thrawn's command and siphon intel to them, he will have predicted what adjustments would be made after his escape."

"If given leeway, what would you recommend?"

"Yularen took all but one of my recommendations, my Lord."

"And the one he did not?"

"Prison transfers. While the ISB does not necessarily oversee transfers, they have access to the information."

"And is there any sign that the former agent accessed the information?"

"Not directly, but he has been known to use other's credentials to cover his tracks."

She heard his sigh, a strange sound coming from the one that raised her. "Yes yes. And tracking him down has clearly been beyond the scope of those it was tasked to."

"If it pleases you, my Emperor—"

"No. I have use of your skills elsewhere."

There was something about the statement that didn't sit well with her. "I'm at your command," she said anyway.

"Conflict still eats away at our young Lord Natus after Naboo. I know how you feel about the boy. I know that if given the choice, you'd see him at my side rather than his father."

Mara ducked her head at that. "They both serve you, my lord."

"And yet only one will in the end. Surely you understand this as clearly as they do. There are only two, after all." There was a long moment as the meaning hung heavy between them.

"Natus will not betray his father, even if it means he would serve as your Apprentice."

"No, but if given the proper incentive, he will be able to surpass Lord Vader."

If something unfortunate were to happen to his father. If the man who'd raised him - who Luke loved - were to die, it would be the final push into darkness that would forge him into a true Sith Apprentice. Mara wondered what Palpatinevhad taken from Vader to push him over the edge.

"It is what he longs for, even if youth has clouded his vision. You can help guide him and I will allow it."

Mara opened her mouth to voice a question she knew the answer to: but what if Luke chose a different path? She swallowed that question. There was no choice to be had in it. Palpatine had made up his mind. He wanted Luke. His father's son with all the power and none of the limitations put on Vader by injuries.

Gold eyes slid closed. "He will come to you. Seeking guidance. You must lead him to me." Those same eyes slid back open and Mara felt like she'd been run through by a lightsaber with the way he looked at her. "If you do not, it will be his doom. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my Master," she answered, ducking her head low again.

This is what Luke had always feared. This is what caused him to hesitate and to always keep his loyalties carefully cultivated.

"Go, child," her Master breathed as he settled back into his throne a little more. "Your time runs thin."

—-

When he'd earned his command of the Aeres, Luke had assumed that meant that it would run on his schedule. And it did. For the most part. The Dreadnaught had been docked for what they had thought was fairly routine maintenance when its commanding officer had been summoned by the Emperor, but the mechanics had discovered an underlying issue with the shields that could, eventually, amount to a serious issue in battle. That left the young Lord Natus with a rare day with nothing on his schedule. He wasn't sure he could remember the last free day he'd had that hadn't involved some sort of injury or travel.

He had no idea what to do with himself.

A night interrupted by nightmares left him with anxious energy that he couldn't work off his though training, so instead he'd taken to the streets and followed wherever his feet led him.

Coruscant never truly slept. At night the neon signs lit the sky and during the day the sun never ceased to beat down on the permacrete and buildings. With trillions of beings packed in together, it was never particularly cool in the city, but as the sun crept up, its rays peeking through the stretch of tall buildings, it was pleasant enough for the brisk walk through the city streets with his whirling thoughts to keep him company.

He'd always known that he and his father had walked a dangerously thin line when it came to their loyalty to Palpatine. It was rarely spoken, but the understanding had hung over them as far back as Luke could remember: there were only two Siths, and if once his training was complete, Palpatine would have his pick of apprentices between two of the most powerful Force wielders left in the galaxy. It wasn't a promising future for the one left behind and, despite assumptions made, father and son had little interest in facing off with each other.

But with Palpatine's new weapon, fewer would be willing to cross him. The loyalty that he'd worked so hard to build in the last few years would be less than worthless next to the survival of home planets and every last being on them. For the first time in a long while, Luke felt like he and his father stood alone. Worse, separated and alone. For now, the only viable option they had was to press forward as they had been doing and keep their heads down. He'd have to be careful, even around those he hoped he could trust. He couldn't risk it when loyalties remained as tangled as they were.

A spark of awareness danced through the air and Luke slammed to a stop on instinct, just managing to avoid colliding with a petite figure with her dark gaze fixed on a datapad. Those same dark eyes darted up, blinking in surprise, and Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan, looked up in surprise. "Oh. Natus."

"Leia," Luke greeted, her name riding out on a breath as stared at her. A couple years older, she'd grown up as he had, though she'd grown to look even more like Padme Amidala. From her rounded face to the colour of her eyes, and Luke struggled to remember if her smile was the same. He thought it should be. He shook himself out of the dangerous thought. "What are you doing here?"

"The Senate is in session," she answered as if that were something he should know. Maybe he should have.

"So you're here with your father?" Adopted father.

"Yes. And you?" She glanced around. "Are you here with yours?"

"Just me this time. I was summoned by the Emperor and now I'm waiting on repairs on my ship."

Her lips twitched upward in a small, hesitant smile. "The Emperor? There are a few of us in the Senate that would love some time to discuss the state of his Empire with him."

Luke snorted a laugh. "Does he even go to the Senate floor anymore?"

"He hasn't been there once since I started attending with my father," Leia huffed and her expression fell. "Not that anyone would be there if he showed up."

"So how do all of the judiciary decisions get made?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, but if you ever hear of some back room where the other planets are getting heard, let me, won't you?"

"Or you could just ask Vader's son to relay a message," Luke answered, matching the levity she'd had in her own voice.

Leia stared at him, her brows drawing together. "I don't think I should owe you anything," she said, her voice suddenly deadly calm.

Luke pushed a breath out through his nose. "You won't. I have a pretty good idea from a military standpoint what would make sense to pitch to him and I have time to kill. Let me buy you a cup of caf."

"I don't drink caf."

"Now I know that's a lie. C'mon. You'll be working for the betterment of Alderaan."

She glanced down at her datapad, up and around, and her gaze finally landed on him again. "Out of the goodness of your heart?" she deadpanned and he laughed again.

"Let's not take it past the realm of believability, Princess. You get my ear and maybe an idea or two that can be taken up the chain and I don't have to wander aimlessly around the city I grew up in waiting for the mechanics to give us the all clear."

Leia quirked a single dark eyebrow. "So I'm just here to keep you from being bored?"

"Anyone ever tell you that you have severe trust issues?"

"Only with Siths."

He flashed her a wide grin. "I'm not a Sith yet. Shall we?" He motioned across and down a street, waiting for her agreement. Finally she sighed and nodded, letting him lead the way.

—-

It had been over two years since she and the young Lord Natus had found themselves faced with the moral crossroads that had left them with one tiny Youngling being shuffled off to his next port of safety and his protector dead at Vader's son's hand. Leia hadn't slept well for weeks following the incident. Between the thoughts of the Youngling's protector being cut down under her protection and the possibility of Natus double crossing her and arresting her - and possibly her whole family - for her part in whisking the child away…. Leia had known little peace following the incident. But days had passed, then weeks, and then years. The Empire had never come for them. Her father had continued to serve even after his only true ally had been forced to flee for her life. Now, as Mon Mothma built up her own Rebel faction, the brunt of the judicial heavy lifting fell on Bail Organa. Gone were the days of the Riyo Chuchi or Padme Amadala of the Old Republic. Even voices like Naboo's Ryoo Naberrie had gone quiet in the wake of her homeworld's unrest. Leia's father never gave in though. Even as he'd been training her as his replacement in the Imperial Senate, he was hardly retiring. It would give him the mobility he needed to aid Mon Mothma and bring factions together.

And here she was, sitting at a little cafe with Darth Vader's son, desperately trying to sell him on trade routes.

Natus' eyes squeezed shut, his face wrinkling up in a silent laugh and he tilted his head back as he gulped in a lung full of air. Leia crossed her arms irritably at the reaction. "Exactly what is so funny?"

"If this is what you people talk about all day, it's no wonder Palpatine directed my father into the military rather than politics. He'd have thrown a ruplseorpod across the room at someone the second time it came up."

"You asked what was important to Alderaan and I told you," Leia huffed.

Natus' amused look subsided only a little and with what looked like with a great deal of effort. "I'm sure it's an important point, but it's not one Palpatine will listen to."

"I'm sorry, but we don't have any rebellions for him to come crush," Leia groused, slouching a little in her seat. "We're a peaceful planet. And wealthy. It's what has kept us in his good graces over the years."

"I know quite a bit about your planet," Natus said, taking a sip of his caf. "Renz - the captain of my ship - is Alderaanian."

Leia perked up just a little at that. "Is he?"

"He accompanied my father when we visited. He was the Commander on the Executor. Now he's the Captain of the Aeres."

She shot him a withering look. "I can't help but think you want me to ask you about your ship with as many times as you've mentioned it."

Was he blushing? She thought she saw a tinge of red on his cheeks as he ducked his chin to his chest. "Sorry. It's just… I've always loved flying, and now I get to command my own Star Destroyer."

"Do you get to fly it?"

"One man can't fly a Star Destroyer."

"Not even a Sith?"

"I'm not —" He stopped and stared at her. "You're teasing me."

Leia flashed him a bright smile. "Just a little. And a Jedi could."

He quirked an eyebrow. "You've clearly never been on the bridge of one. There are dozens of people that—"

"My father told me the story of a Jedi named Anakin Skywalker once. He was trying to break a blockade and save an entire planet of people. It was hopeless, but he didn't give up. Instead he kicked everyone off the damaged ship and rammed into the blockade. He flew it all by himself, so it is possible."

Her smile faltered when she found him staring at her. After a long moment he seemed to gather himself. "It sounds like your father is a really good man."

"Oh, that wasn't him. I mean, yes he is, without a doubt, but it was a Jedi in the story."

"Yeah," he breathed. When he met her gaze again, she felt her own breath catch at the intensity. "Something real, Princess. Something meaningful. Not trade routes or something any low-level bureaucrat could put together for you if you're willing to give him what he wants. If you could have anything for Alderaan, what would it be?"

"Freedom." The word escaped Leia before she dared give herself permission.

"You have your own electorate, your own rulers. Isn't Alderaan free?" Natus asked quietly, his expression genuinely confused.

Leia thought on it a long moment, her better sense giving way to her intuition. "Are you free when those you elect are forced to give up their choice to a single man?"

To his credit, he considered her words for a moment. "Do you think the illusion of freedom is better than no freedom at all?"

"No," Leia answered automatically. She couldn't help herself. His expression was so open and raw. Searching. She couldn't imagine how it could be put on. "It only lures you deeper into slavery than you might have been able to tolerate otherwise."

"I'm not a slave."

The statement was so abrupt, so forceful, that Leia sat back a little in her seat. She contemplated it a moment before answering. "Can you walk away?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can you leave? Would he let you, if that were your choice?"

A moment ticked by. Then another. Leia didn't flinch and Natus stared deeply into his mostly empty cup of calf. She could almost feel the whirlwind in his mind, as if someone had broached the question of freedom for the first time. He looked torn. He looked terrified.

A comm buzzed in his pocket and he startled out of his trance to look at it. "I have to go."

"Of course."

He stood, dropping several credits on the table to cover both cups, and looked at her again. "I'll see what I can do about your trade routes."

And then he was gone.

Of course that was all he could do. Emperor Palpatine didn't just set people free. Not Alderaan, and perhaps not even Vader's son.

—-

There was a typical flurry of action in the hangar bay as Luke made his way to the shuttle that would be waiting for him to take him out to the bay that housed the Aeres. He didn't stop to chat with the mechanics or any of the pilots that were coming and going. Instead, every ounce of his focus was on not thinking about the unexpected turn in his conversation with Leia. But what was the old saying? If you tell someone not to think of a pink rancor, that's all they'll be able to think about. So, instead, he had to settle for shoving his thoughts as deep as he could beneath the layers of mental protections that he'd developed over the years. No one could know, and thank the Force he was about to put some distance between himself and Sidious.

"Going to leave without saying goodbye?"

Luke slammed to a stop at the sound of the familiar voice and Mara flashed him a teasing smirk from where she was leaned against a cargo ship. "I didn't know you were still on planet."

The smirk faded and she tilted her head a little bit. "I've been at ISB headquarters trying to help them staunch the bleeding of intel with the whole Kallus debacle. I never could figure out how he couldn't shut down one Rebel faction that kept coming back to the same base. I guess now we know."

"So it's taken care of?" Luke asked, hoping that wasn't another piece of information he should have known.

"As taken care of as it can be without the man in custody," she answered with a shrug. "You get the all clear on the Aeres?"

"They'll be wrapping up in the next few hours. I'm just going to get things ready to go as soon as we're released."

"Where're you heading?"

He tried for a small smile, her familiar presence helping to unwind some of the tension he felt. "Why? Need a ride?"

"Depends on where you're heading."

"The Mustafar System."

She flashed him a grin and a quick wink. "Then I need a ride."

Luke pulled in a deep breath, letting a smile curl his lips. "Good."

And he meant it. There were a lot of choices that weren't his to make. He wasn't sure if Leia was right or not, and at least for a few moments it didn't have to matter. One thing he could choose was Mara. Everything else - everything he didn't want to think about - could wait for another day.

Chapter Text

While sleep was a necessity, restful sleep was often a luxury in her line of work. Mara jumped from one side of the galaxy to the other, investigating rumours and dispensing the Emperor's justice as his personal Hand. Small shuttles and tight turnaround times didn't leave her with leisure time, so Luke's cabin on the Aeres should have been a welcome change with the oversized bed and the soft sounds of the engine room below them. Should have.

Mara sighed, turning over in the bed to look at Luke who was sound asleep next to her. I sleep better when you're here, he'd said once, and she wished it went both ways. Usually it did, but lying next to him with only his quiet breathing and the engines to fill the room around them, her own thoughts were deafening.

He hadn't asked her for guidance as the Emperor said he would. Not yet, at any rate, and despite all her training, she wasn't sure she knew how to guide him away from his father. She had to, she truly understood that now. Luke was clever and determined, but he had a blind spot when it came to Vader. Despite the loyalty that he'd gained from his own men, none of them could or even would be able to protect him from that blind spot, but perhaps Mara could. She had to. He trusted her and she couldn't lose him.

Luke shifted a little in his sleep and Mara inched closer, reaching out under the sheets. Her fingers found his arm, elbow bent with his hand tucked under his pillow. She kept her touch light as she traced up to his shoulder and he stirred again, arm straightening to wrap around her waist as he pulled her closer. She let him and her fingers traced scars life had left behind.

"Morning," came the drowsy voice and Mara looked up to see those clear blue eyes watching her.

"Morning. I think."

"Haven't looked?"

"No."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. He lingered there a moment and she could feel the light probing of her mind. "Stop."

"Something bothering you?"

"No."

"Liar."

She snorted. "I could ask you the same thing. You were pretty determined not to think about something last night."

Luke's lips curled in a wry smile. "Or maybe I was just focused on you."

Mara hummed softly and he chuckled.

"Okay. Fair enough."

There was a long moment of silence from him and Mara's fingers continued to dance along his back. "You know you can tell me anything, don't you?"

"You're on my side," he acknowledged the old promise softly, almost as if reminding himself.

And she was. More than he knew. "And you're on mine."

He nodded, pursing his lips together softly, and she could feel the struggle before he decided to speak. "Have you ever thought of what life would be like if we left?"

"Left what?"

"The Empire."

Her fingers stilled. "To do what?"

He shrugged a little. "It doesn't matter. Just…. Find a planet and live."

"Sounds boring."

"Nothing could be boring with you," he murmured. "Do you think he'd let us?"

"Your father?"

"Palpatine."

That hadn't been the answer she'd expected. It would solve the question of apprenticeship. Vader might not be his first choice between father and son, but he'd done the job for what? Eighteen years? All of her and Luke's lives. Maybe….

A soft, mirthless chuckle escaped Luke even as she knew the maybe was futile. "No, I didn't think so."

"We're vital to the Empire."

"We serve it, if we want to or not."

She shifted, propping herself up on her elbow so she could look down at him. "Do you not want to?"

"I want to freely choose."

He held her gaze and she leaned down, her lips pressed against his. "We are free," she murmured. "Free to move about, free to be together. We pledged our loyalty to the Emperor. That was a choice."

"We were children. Do you even remember your life before?"

"My life before doesn't matter," Mara stressed. "I chose this. This life, this loyalty. We are the Empire. Yes, we serve it, but we are it." She stopped, searching for the right word that also felt true. "We're making the galaxy better. Safer. I know it doesn't seem like it sometimes, but we are making a difference."

Luke's fingers skimmed her cheek as he tucked a stray strand of red hair behind her ear. His fingers crept lower, hand going to the base of her neck and guiding her back down into a kiss. With each passing second it grew a little more desperate and she wasn't sure of it was him or if it was her. All she knew is that she felt like they were standing on the edge of something dangerous and that she couldn't let him fall over the edge. She wouldn't let him. She had to protect him.

Mara shifted, never breaking the kiss and she leaned over him, her hair falling loose and both of his hands settled against her face as if he were afraid she'd pull back at any moment. But it was her breathless voice that begged, "Don't go."

"I'm not."

She broke, looking down at him and her voice was raw as she spoke. "No. I mean… don't go somewhere I can't follow. Promise me that?"

His lips quirked up a little. "Never," he swore, and she believed him. She really believed him.

—

Something told him that Mara needed to go to the Mustafar system less than she wanted to catch a ride on the Aeres as an excuse to steal some extra time. She'd been focused on his mood, as if she were looking for something in particular. Probing and searching, but for what exactly, she hadn't said.

We're making the galaxy better.

Her words battered around his mind the rest of the trip and even through his inspection of Fortress Inquisatorious that had been the goal of his trip. She believed the sentiment, that much he knew, but as he searched his own feelings through the Force, he found that he didn't believe them. He wasn't sure she would either if she had seen what he had. Mara was capable of taking out an enemy of the Empire's with dangerous precision, but she didn't believe in harming innocents. It was the reason she'd helped him on Naboo and the reason he doubted that she even knew of the Death Star's existence. Sure, it would deter Palpatine's enemies of all sorts, but if used, it had the potential to wipe out everyone with them. If even he couldn't shake that from his mind, he couldn't imagine a galaxy where Mara would blindly accept that.

The fortress was secluded and was a relatively safe place to conduct an investigation if one didn't want to set off alarm bells. Luke would have preferred having someone else dig into it and report back, adding a layer of protection from Palpatine's dangerous foresight, but unknown variables weren't an option. He needed to control the situation closely or he'd put more than himself at risk. For that reason, the research was slow-going, gathering pieces where he could between his various missions and building his own secret file on what he found.

There was little direct information about the Death Star itself, which didn't come as a surprise. If the Imperial Senate were to discover that the Emperor was building his own planet-killing weapon, it wouldn't go over well. Not that Luke really thought they'd be able to do much about it, but it would be a hassle that Palpatine wouldn't put up with. Secrecy was his way. It always had been.

There was one name that crept up in his research: Orson Krennic. A ranking science officer that worked in advanced weaponry research. He had quite the resume, starting his career as so many did in the Old Republic. He studied in an advanced placement program before being recruited into the military. He shifted seamlessly as the Republic became the Empire, but that's where the data trail ran thin. He was working, clearly being funded, but it wasn't until Luke pinpointed his last base of operations as Geonosis that he felt the shift that signaled he was following the correct path. This was the man heading up the Death Star project. He was the one that could get him the information he needed. Maybe things wouldn't be as bad as they appeared.

Luke had never dealt with him directly, but he answered to Moff Tarkin who has filed some scathing reports on the man over the years. He would be looking for someone to take up his side. Someone with power. So, months after seeing the Death Star for the first time, Luke summoned Krennic to his father's castle on Mustafar. He felt the shuttle's approach. Rather, he felt the fear, the anticipation from inside the shuttle. Good. He could use that.

Luke unfolded himself from the seat he'd taken on the hard fortress floor, intentionally pulling the image of the monstrous battle station to his mind's eye. He focused on it, on the nightmares that followed in which he'd been driven to his knees, sharpening his own fear to use it rather than be used by it. A chill settled in around him as he moved through the halls and, instead of pushing it away as he so often wished to do, he took hold of it. He used it to help nudge at and grow the seeds of fear and anxiety emanating from the shuttle. The Force obeyed his command, and by the time he made his way onto the landing pad, Krennic was antsy with nerves.

"My Lord…. Natus," he greeted, choking a bit on his own surprise.

"Director Krennic," Luke answered, his tone even and he tilted his head slightly, studying him.

The older man stood straightened just a little more, but Luke could feel the fear festering in him. "Forgive me, my lord. When the summons came, I anticipated speaking with Lord Vader."

"You have been trying to reach him for some time now," Luke acknowledged.

"Yes, I'd hoped —"

"To go above your superior's head and set a meet with the Emperor."

The seed of fear blossomed into barely contained terror and the director took a physical step back. "I only wish to speak to the Emperor, to show him that I…" He trailed off, clearly uncertain if Luke was privy to the details of his project.

"That his faith placed in you in the construction of his Death Star isn't in vain. And that's what I'm here for: confirmation." Without releasing his influence through the Force, Luke let a knowing smile touch his lips. "I've worked with Tarkin before, Director. He has his own goals in mind. His own endgame, and he'll use you and throw you away once he thinks he has a hold on the project. I believe - if your battle station does what you say it does - the Empire will need you for additional projects after this one is complete."

And then he released the hold, allowing for a more natural relief to flood Krennic's mind with more intensity than it might have otherwise. He saw the trust being built. The lifeline the director was looking for.

"Of course, my lord. I look forward to proving to you that our Emperor's time and faith has not been wasted."

He had him.

Luke gave a small nod of acknowledgment. "Then let's not waste any of both yours and my valuable time."

—-

The closest thing he had found to peace was when he was working with his hands. Nimble fingers fitting pieces together, mind focused on the mechanics, and, in the end, a finished piece. He'd started with droids, then he'd built a lightsaber. As he grew up he'd learned all the intricate details of Lambda shuttles and TIE fighters to be able to make adjustments where he saw fit. The Force guided him in battle, but knowing every bolt and every piece of weaponry helped. There weren't any surprises when blaster bolts flew in every direction and he didn't have to second guess his own firepower. Knowledge and preparedness instilled confidence. In the same way, Luke had hoped learning more about the Death Star would quell some of his nerves about the unknown.

And it had. It had taken time, but Luke had gained enough leeway with Krennic that he had gotten pieces of technical information. Like so much within the Empire, the details were kept siloed to prevent them from being leaked out to anyone who might try to stop the project. The Senate, individual people, the Rebellion… the more he learned, the more he was relatively sure that Palpatine himself was the only person that could truly benefit from the weapon. Still, a weapon of this magnitude was only for show if it didn't have the power needed behind it, and the more he learned, the more he failed to see just where that power was coming from.

"As a battle station, we've never seen anything like it," Luke admitted as he walked along the decking of the partially completed structure, "but as a weapon, I've yet to see anything that convinced me of the firepower you've predicted." He glanced back at Krennic. "Even half a dozen Star Destroyers can't decimate a planet down to its core."

"It's the power behind it that governs the destructive capability," the director agreed. "The Emperor is… aware of the research that is backing the power structure. He has been since the beginning."

The hint of hesitation pulled at the corners of Luke's lips. He was walking a fine line and, if he wasn't careful, he'd tip his hand that he was acting outside of his actual authority. "Of course, but there's been no proof that the research is sound in it's execution on this scale."

"The stability of a kyber crystal of this magnitude certainly requires care, but…." He tapered off, his discomfort saturating the deck they'd paused on. He cleared his throat. "While I'm certain we'll have the weaponry online by the deadline the Emperor has set, perhaps a small scale demonstration of what a kyber crystal can do when used in this way would help alleviate concerns?"

"It'd go a long way," Luke managed, squaring his shoulders intentionally and pulling on the Force to help him stoke the rising fear in the science officer. "You have two standard weeks. Make sure you don't disappoint." He turned on his heel and left Krennic with the unreasonable expectation hanging on her his head. He needed him focused on that, otherwise he might realize that Luke was struggling to keep his own composure. Of all of the possible power sources he'd considered, the same crystals that powered his and his father's lightsabers had never crossed his mind. As far as he knew they were small, which limited what they could power. If Krennic had found a way to combine crystals or found one naturally large enough for his purposes, Luke's original fear became very real: the new battle station could turn an entire planet into a meteor field.

Fear welled up within him and he shoved it down hard, even as he boarded the shuttle that he had intended to take him back to the Aeres. That would have to wait. For better or worse, he'd learned the secrets he'd sought there, and if he wanted to make sure he and the people he cared for came out on the other side of it, he had to make sure that the Death Star never saw completion.

—

It was hard to say if business was just slow, or if there was a certain reason for it to be slow. Han Solo didn't think he was a particularly paranoid man, but he was skeptical when life called for it. Skeptical of the fact that old clients were steering clear, that new clients were few and far between, and that the timing of it all lined right up with that girl and her friend that had put him in the Empire's crosshairs on Naboo. The Falcon had got away, sure, but the repercussions seemed to follow behind like shadows on a planet with three suns barreling down, and he was living in borrowed credits.

Han let his dark blue gaze sweep the crowded cantina, falling on where Chewie was negotiating with a Bith that was trying to get his hands on some kind of tech that the Empire had limited. Supposedly he had the coordinates for pickup, but it had turned into a hard sale.

"You're not going to get that job."

The voice sent chills up Han's spine and he turned to find the kid that had helped cause all of this trouble. He frowned deeply. "Listen, I did what you and your friend paid me to do. We're even."

"Sure, but I'd like to pay you to do more. Possibly a lot more."

"I don't think you get it, kid. I don't want anything to do with you."

Chewie lumbered back over to the table Han was waiting at, casting a brief look at the kid before rumbling the bad news in Han's direction.

The Human's frown deepened. "What'dya mean he's 'goin' in a different direction'? What the hell did you say?" he snapped and Chewbacca howled in his own defense.

"Looks like you're free then," the kid said, leaning against the wall the table backed up to.

Han glared at him. He looked a little older, a little more determined than last time, but even if they'd paid well before it was more trouble than it was worth in the long run.

Chewie grumbled a counterpoint to what must have been clearly displayed across Han's face and the Human rolled his eyes. "Yeah, me too," he answered gruffly and looked back. "What are you looking for?"

"Passage to Alderaan."

"Avoiding Imperials?"

"Yes, but there's no reason to believe Vader will be there this time."

"Didn't see him last time, just a bunch of stormtroopers that boarded my ship." He looked the kid up and down. "Just to Alderaan?"

"To and from. I'll pay each way at the time we leave. Keeps us both honest."

"And your friend? Jade?"

"It's just me this time." He tilted his head a little, almost like he was studying him. Maybe he was. "You can say no and I'll find another ride, but you looked like you could use the work."

"And you would know anything about that, huh?"

"Not a thing."

Han snorted and pushed himself to his feet. "Dock fifty-six. Two standard hours."

"One."

He quirked an eyebrow at the kid. "Gotta get her ready."

"Something tells me there's a price that'll have her ready in an hour."

Chewie rumbled lowly and Han snorted. "An hour then."

The kid gave a sharp nod and then was gone. Chewie growled and Han glanced back. "I don't trust him either, but we're backed into a corner, pal."

They really didn't have any other choice.

—-

Leia had promised herself that when she became Senator - well, if, because even if all the polls showed her ahead in the race by more than the competition likely could make up, she knew that her birthright to the crown didn't guarantee her the senatorial seat - that she wouldn't spend more time than was absolutely needed on Coruscant. She would attend the meetings when the Senate was in session, but unlike many of her father's - and soon to be her - colleagues, she had no interest in making a full life for herself there. The other Senators made homes of their government apartments and raised families far away from the people that they supposedly represented, but her father had set a new tone even as far back as the Republic that she intended to follow. She would listen to her people directly and fight for them in the Senate. Someone had to.

And, as much as she enjoyed her adventures across the galaxy, Alderaan was home, and she loved it here. The people and the culture. They had made her who she was.

The day had been non stop appointments, as had the one before and likely the one that would follow. She'd spoken to two groups already and would speak over the holonet to her people that evening. The few hours between certainly weren't free, but had been slated to take care of other duties pushed aside for the campaign. "I don't want to lose track of our humanitarian mission planned for the people on Lothal," Leia reminded Winter, her childhood friend-turned-aid as they made their way through the halls of the palace.

"Even with the newly opened shipping routes, the government has that planet locked out."

"It appears as if the Grand Admiral would prefer to see the people starve than give them even a sliver of hope," the princess said with a deep frown. "There has to be something we can do. Reach out to Governor Pryce directly. Let her know that if she doesn't allow for aid to the people that my first point of order will be against her in the Senate."

"In those exact words?" Winter asked, but the hint of amusement was clear.

"Those words exactly. They rely on routes through our lanes to ship Force-knows-what kind of weaponry they're building there. We have the leverage, and I intend to use it." Her dark gaze flickered down the hall, catching sight of a robed figure speaking to a guard. She watched as one hand extended from the dark robe, waving in front of the other slightly, and the guard's stance eased.

"My lady?"

Leia startled, turning to find Winter following her gaze. "Just lost in thought for a second. I'll catch up with you in a few minutes."

Winter nodded slowly, but accepted the clear dismissal, leaving Leia to turn back to the robed figure that had spotted her. He moved forward, and once Winter was around the corner and away, he reached up to pull back his hood. Leia lifted a dark eyebrow. "Natus, this is a surprise."

The smile he gave her was small and strained. "Princess. I hear your trade routes have opened up."

"They have. I suppose I have you to thank for that."

He shrugged and she let her gaze sweep him up and down. He looked tired and tense.

"This isn't the first time you've come here without warning, but something tells me you don't want anyone to know you're here."

"You have good instincts." He took a step closer, his blue gaze locking with her own darker one and she could feel it. Whispers in her mind that we're nudging. Directing. Influencing. "Go about your business, Leia. I was never here."

She pulled in a shaky breath. He told her once that he didn't think this trick would work on her, but something was making him desperate enough to try. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear the fog from her mind. "Natus, I can't —"

"It's okay," he promised. "I'm not here to hurt your family."

She believed him, but that didn't mean she was going to willingly let him manipulate her memories like he was trying to do. If she kept visibly fighting him, though, he was going to double down, and maybe he would succeed. No, there were other ways to get answers.

"Go about your business," he instructed.

"I will go about my business," she repeated, letting her eyelids hang heavy.

It seemed to do the trick. He gave her one more almost apologetic look and swept past her towards her father's offices. She started forward, but instead of hanging a left towards her own temporary nook she'd been conducting business out of, she followed her instincts right towards the hangar bay.

—

Unlike the trip before with the redhead that had called her Jade and the teen she'd called Luke, the visit to Alderaan had been smooth sailing. The kid had spent most of the journey in the back of the Falcon on the floor with his legs crossed and his eyes closed in some sort of attempted meditation. Han had his theories about the two of them, especially after this one's announcement of the infamous Darth Vader's presence on Naboo with no proof whatsoever. While the man himself hadn't shown, they'd gotten boarded and Luke had seen it coming. Between that and the weapon Han had caught glimpses of on his belt, he wondered if the kid fancied himself some kind of Jedi. Not that Han believed in the Force or any other part of that hokey old religion, but he'd heard stories. Enough to know he didn't want to get mixed up too deeply in all of this. He'd been paid well to bring him to Alderaan and he'd be paid equally as well to get him off planet, but that was it. It had to be. No reason to put even more of a target on his and Chewie's back than was already there.

The kid had said he'd be gone for several hours, so Han and his co-pilot had gone into the market to grab a bite to eat. Chewie had gotten distracted by a vendor and left Han to saunter back by himself in case whatever Luke was doing was cut short.

The spaceport was nice. Clean and safe. He hadn't even had to pay a protection fee for the ground crews to keep scavengers away, but as he approached the Millennium Falcon, he spotted a slim, feminine figure in a white dress and dark hair piled up on her head in an intricate fashion staring up at his ship. "Can I help you?"

She turned, all big brown eyes and round, porcelain face. She blinked in surprise and Han felt the corner of his lips stretch up without permission. Apparently his charming smile wasn't to her liking. "Are you the owner of this….ship?"

Despite her frown, Han's own smile broadened. "Sure am. If you're looking for a fast ship, she made the Kessel Run in less than —"

The young woman held up her hand. Small and dainty and uncalloused. High class. "I'll stop you right there. I don't want to know about illicit dealings —"

"Illicit dealings?" Han echoed, feigning offense.

"— or your junky ship."

"Hey!" Now he really was offended. "Listen, sweetheart. I —

"But I do want to know about your passenger."

Han snorted. "I don't know who you think you are, but we're done here." He turned to stalk back into the Falcon, but a voice that wasn't directed at him stopped him in his tracks.

"Princess, everything alright here?"

Princess? Han spun to see what looked like the platform director making his way over to the petite, pushy woman.

"Thank you, Erroll," she answered him with a sharp look back at Han. "I was just speaking to Captain —"

"Solo," he grumbled. No reason to lie. They had his name.

"Captain Solo here about his cargo. What did he say it was, Erroll?"

Han pushed a long breath out that was half grunt, half sigh. "I'd be happy to discuss anything you'd like to know about my cargo, your highness. No need to get your director involved." And cause him to take a closer look at the credentials provided. No, Han thought the safer bet was the princess, but not by much.

"Perfect," she answered in a falsely sweet tone and started forward as if she fully intended to board his ship.

Apparently she did. Han scurried after her and slipped in front of her. "Let's save both of us some time, huh? I don't think I brought in whatever you're looking for."

"Natus."

Han shrugged. "What's a Natus?"

"A young man around nineteen. Average build, slim, sandy hair and blue eyes. He usually wears dark clothes and he likely would have left your ship in a hooded robe that hid his face."

Han schooled his expression. "What makes you think I brought him in?"

The princess sighed impatiently. "Yours is the only ship that didn't give notice prior to coming out of hyperspace today. I didn't have to ask Erroll about the cargo, because I checked myself. A delivery of carpentry droids. Cargo that wouldn't cause question in our region which would lower the chance that they'd scan your ship or board it."

"You're questioning it."

"Because someone smuggled him in."

"Sorry to disappoint, your eminence, but I didn't bring a Nagus in."

"Natus," she corrected.

"Not that either."

"And the description?"

She was determined, wasn't she? Han gave a noncommittal shrug. "Could describe a trillion Humans in the galaxy."

"What name did he give you?"

Han rolled his eyes. She wasn't going to let this go. "Luke."

Surprise flickered across her pretty face, but she didn't seem to feel the need to tell him why. Instead she stormed back down the ramp, flagging down the lingering director. "Erroll, hold this ship here. It doesn't leave, nor does any of its crew or passengers until you hear from me directly."

"Of course, my lady."

Han balked for a moment before chasing her down the ramp. "Exactly what do you think you're doing?"

"Getting to the bottom of this."

"And what am I supposed to do?"

She turned, fixing her dark gaze on him in a way that made him stop in his tracks. "You're coming with me, Captain Solo. If you can see Natus and convince me he's not this Luke you brought in, you're free to go."

"All I gotta do is convince you?" Sounded easy enough, but there was something in her confidence that didn't set well with those predicted odds. "Okay, your eminence. Lead the way."

"Stop calling me that," she groused as she started forward.

Despite the situation, Han couldn't stop the smirk that touched his lips. "Whatever you say, Princess."

—

One would think an outgoing Senator who had trained his replacement for the past five years would have less paperwork on his way out than he had on his way in, but that certainly wasn't proving to be the case. Bail Organa found himself swamped these days, but when the transition of power was complete, he still wouldn't have time to stop to breathe. No. That's when the real work would truly begin. Up until now he'd had to walk a delicate line between the Empire and the Rebellion so as not to tip the former off to the latter. He'd still be under scrutiny, but far less than he had been for the last several years. Perhaps he would be able to find a few moments to breathe.

The door to his office opened without warning and Bail's head jerked up from his notes. "Kier," he greeted his personal guard. "What's wrong?"

The young man wore a vague expression, his eyes slightly glassed over even as he mumbled something unintelligible and bowed his way out of the office. In his place stood a familiar figure and the door slid shut behind him. He held up a hand, signaling silence, and Darth Vader's son pulled a small device from his robes, flipped it on, and a soft humming noise emanated from it. He set it on Bail's desk.

"What…?"

"It blocks outgoing transmission, including listening devices."

The Senator's brows drew together. "Forgive me, Lord Natus… you startled me. I was not made aware of your visit to Alderaan."

"No one was. No one will be. We don't have time to waste. The Emperor is constructing a weapon like nothing we've ever seen. They refer to it as the Death Star. I believe that, once completed, it will have the ability to wipe out an entire planet."

Bail took a heavy seat in his chair, shock washing over him. Unannounced visits from Imperial officers was nothing new, even Siths. That he could wrap his mind around with ease, but not the fact that Natus had barged in, indicated that there were listening devices planted in his home office, and dropped something that - if true - was likely a treasonous offense to share. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because if it's completed, there'll be no stopping him. No one can tell him no."

"You serve him," Bail managed, confusion refusing to dissipate.

Anakin Skywalker's son bristled at that. "I'm not his slave. I'm making my own choice."

This could be a trap. A way to catch him and subjugate Alderaan further, but there was something so raw in the young man's expression that he couldn't help but let in the hope that he was being honest. "Okay. Let's say this is true," he said carefully, "why are you coming to me with it?"

Natus seemed to think on that for a moment. "I would have taken this to Tano, but I think she may really be dead."

Bail tried not to startle visibly at Ashoka's name. "I don't know —"

"Yes you do. There are too many links between you and my mother and…." He shook his head and squeezed his eyes closed. When he reopened them, Bail could have sworn he was looking at Anakin Skywalker when he was still the celebrated hero of the Clone Wars. Young, brash, and utterly determined. "My mother trusted you."

"We worked together is all."

"It's more than that. I didn't tell you who she was, but you know anyway. You were her friend. Close enough that she trusted you with her."

Dread crept in. "I don't know—"

"Leia," the young Imperial bit out desperately. "She trusted you with my sister."

---

Chapter Text

Luke had played the scenario over and over again in his mind on the flight to Alderaan, all the while hoping to spark some kind of glimpse into the future. He had imagined what he had thought was every different angle this conversation could play out. Best case - far fetched as it was - Organa would accept the intel and the two of them would settle on the terms of the arrangement. The absolute worst case - equally as far fetched, he thought - was that the Senator would turn him over to Palpatine for treason. There was a whole range of possibilities between those two, but in every scenario he'd assumed Organa would say something. This utter silence was deafening. And nerve wracking. It was grating on already dangerously frayed nerves.

He pushed a quick breath out through his nose. "Did you hear when I said this is time sensitive?"

"Does he know?"

Luke set his jaw, willing the calm into his voice. "You're going to have to be more specific."

"Your father. About my daughter."

"You're focusing on the wrong thing. Palpatine has —"

"Does your father know about my daughter?" Bail Organa ground out as he stood, using his desk to leverage himself. "If you've put her in danger…"

"He wouldn't hurt her."

It was Organa's turn to give a dismissive snort, but he looked to swallow the immediate response before it tumbled into the open where it couldn't be taken back. He still stood stiffly, leaning slightly on the massive desk between them, and his dark gaze bore into Luke. "You may believe that, but nothing else - no matter what it is - will be discussed until you answer my question."

Luke pulled in a breath. This was a waste of time, but he didn't have a choice. Organa was balanced perfectly in a place of access and - at least as far as his mother had believed - trustworthiness. Without him, Luke had no way to reach anyone that could help him destroy the monstrosity Sidious was building. Everything had a cost, and as absurd and petty as Organa's fear was, the truth seemed to be the price of being heard out on this.

Slowly, Luke released the breath. "It's not my secret to tell, and there's no reason for him to think I'm anything but an only child."

Organa's tense stance eased ever so slightly. "You knew."

The younger man shrugged. "I felt it when I met her, but it was just a hunch. I didn't know for sure until I saw this." He reached into his robes and pulled the disk he'd taken to carrying around with him. Organa's eyes widened as Padmé Amadala's smiling face appeared. "No one but me knows why I went looking. I won't be the one to tell anybody."

"Not even Leia?"

Luke flicked his thumb across the switch, the image disappearing. "It's not my secret to tell," he repeated carefully. Though he imagined Leia would find out someday. The Force was strong with her. It would lead her where she needed to go.

A long moment passed before Organa finally nodded, accepting the statement as truth.

"I'm coming here as much for her as I am for us," Luke said firmly, trying to steer the conversation back on topic. "The ISB has never been able to prove that your diplomatic missions are a cover to provide aid to the Rebellion and your seat in the Senate has protected you, but if the Death Star is completed, there'll be no need for the Senate. Palpatine will rule by pure, brutal force."

"Something that destructive, how could it even be powered?"

"Kyber crystals. The same that power a lightsaber. Just…. Bigger, I imagine. I've gotten ahold of the director of the project and he thinks Palpatine sent me to confirm everything is on schedule. I gave him two standard weeks to prove to me he's even capable of scaling the power source."

The colour washed out of Organa's face. "You're going to destroy a planet?"

"No. That'd bring all eyes on it. It'll be subtle. But my point is I have his ear and he's desperate to prove himself. I can get you information on it."

"And what do you expect me to do with that?"

"Don't play games. The ISB can't prove it, but we all know you have links to the Rebellion. They have firepower. Maybe not enough to overthrow the Empire, but if I can find a weakness in the design —"

"And what do you want in return?"

And this is where things got tricky. It was the only way he survived this. That his father survived. The problem was that voicing it in any other way than a vague dream to Mara left him terrified. This was treason. Active, intentional treason.

"A way out. For me, for my father, and a… friend, if she'll come. We'd all be able to bring in more intelligence than a hundred of your Fulcrum agents could ever dream of."

Organa's brows drew together, his tone skeptical as he spoke. "And your father wants this?"

"Father knows the two of us don't survive if Palpatine does. He's always known that. This may not be… how he planned to deal with it, but we have to do something. If he has to choose - really has to choose - he'll choose me."

A sigh escaped the older man and he shook his head. "Natus —"

"Luke," he corrected, "but you already knew that."

"It's the name your mother gave you."

"I'll handle Father and get you the intel. I need your word that when this comes out - because Sidious sees everything eventually - we have a place to go."

"I can't unilaterally make that decision," Organa said softly.

Luke stood in the room, his sister's adopted father refusing to meet his eyes now. He felt exposed, even more than he had been before, but as he searched for the right path forward, dark eyes met his. "But I've been told I'm very persuasive. Get the intel, Luke, and I give you my word that you won't be standing alone in this. I'll make sure you're all protected."

The young Imperial loosed a surprisingly shaky breath and nodded. But then a flicker through the Foce caught his attention. The only warning he felt before the door burst open.

—-

Luke. The name was bizarrely familiar, even if it wasn't a common name on Alderaan or any name that stood out from her travels. Even so, the name had come crashing down into place, fitting in ways Natus never did. While Leia was relatively certain that Natus and Vader were not the son and father's given names, logic reminded her that Natus wouldn't have given his real name to a scruffy looking smuggler that would sell it to the highest bidder once he'd parted ways with the younger man. Even so…. the name clicked into place like a missing piece on a droid undergoing repairs. She couldn't explain it, but she knew it, and in her experience her instincts on matters like this were rarely wrong.

"You know you're going to get me in a lot of trouble," Solo said from a few steps behind her, his gait slower despite his height. Where Leia moved with urgency, her steps quick and precise, Solo seemed to be trying to buy time with his hands in his pockets, his slower steps, and the way he kept hanging back.

"I'll handle Natus."

"You seem real sure the guy I brought in is this Natus friend of yours."

"We're not friends," Leia countered and she could practically feel him quirk an eyebrow at her.

Suddenly - and irritatingly smoothly - he'd picked up the pace and had appeared at her side, confirming the quirked eyebrow and a lopsided smirk to accompany it. "Boyfriend then?"

"Certainly not."

Solo hummed softly at that, the smirk only broadening as if he were somehow invested in the answer. She huffed and turned her attention back to the office door they were approaching, channeling all of her irritation with the smug pilot into the quick shove she gave to them, barreling in without warning.

And there he was. Vader's own son standing with her father and she could feel the last tendrils of his attempted mind control burning away with her anger as his blue eyes met her own brown. "Leia," he breathed. "What are you—"

"You want to play Sith mind games with me, this is what you get," she snapped. "I found why there was no record of you coming to Alderaan. A smuggler? What could possibly be so —"

"Solo?" Natus demanded, gaze snapping behind her like he'd just realized the pilot was there.

Solo, for his part, raised his hands in mock surrender. "Don't look at me. Her eminence over here -"

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

"— came barging in, throwing threats around, and —"

"Enough," Father cut in, almost forgotten from where he'd been standing with Natus. "Leia, what do you mean by Sith mind games?"

Leia saw Natus tense a little at that and she had to struggle to keep her expression even. "He can manipulate some people to do what he wants. He tried it on me, but it didn't work."

"And you couldn't just tell me that at the time?" Natus groused.

"Usually you can find more information if you dig a little deeper rather than just relying on a liar's word."

"I didn't lie to you. I was trying to protect you."

"I don't need your protection, Luke."

It had been an impulse decision to see how he reacted to the name, and Vader's son certainly reacted. Something shifted in the air, almost like a chill had settled over them. His eyes - usually light and amused when he spoke with her - turned hard and the door slammed shut behind her without anyone touching it. Every one of his muscles must have been tensed.

But, strangely enough, it was her father that spoke. "Where did you hear that name?"

Leia blinked in confusion. Why would he know it?

"Kriff it all, Mara," Natus - or perhaps Luke - snarled under his breath and he turned that dangerous look on Solo. "She should never have used it with you."

Solo took a step back, real fear creeping into his expression. "Listen, I don't know what's going on. I just gave her the fake name your friend gave me. It's fake, right? Don't know, don't care. I'm just here to fly you in and out and get paid. No need to—" Solo choked to a stop, eyes widening and Leia saw Luke's head tilt ever so slightly, his fingers twitching at his side, and Solo couldn't seem to catch his breath.

"No!" Leia shouted, realizing what he was doing. "I brought him into this. I —"

"Luke, stop," her father said as he reached a hand out, clasping the younger man's shoulder. "You dragged him into this. He's an innocent bystander."

"That could now get us all killed."

Solo choked again and Leia looked between the three men frantically. She couldn't stop it. She had only wanted answers and now something that had been said had set Natus off.

"Then we make sure that his loyalty is with us. I imagine it can be bought, can't it, Captain?"

Solo nodded emphatically, but Natus didn't seem convinced just yet.

Leia's father loosed a shaky breath. "Luke, I know you don't remember your mother, but I do. You're right that she was my friend and that we trusted each other. I can tell you she wouldn't want you to hurt an innocent man."

There was a beat of quiet, save for Solo's desperate attempt to breathe, but then something changed in those blue eyes and Luke released the captain. Solo sucked in a lungful of air and dropped to his knees. Leia knelt with him, a hand on his back and coaxing him through it.

"You have two options, Solo," Natus said, his voice strained and raw. "You can continue to help me get to where I need to go when the Empire can't know and be paid handsomely for it or you can betray me. Neither the Senator or his daughter can save you if it's the latter."

"There an option in there where I just walk away?" Solo coughed out.

"No."

There was a long moment, but there really wasn't a. Voice to be made. Solo cleared his throat and gave a small nod, a forced nonchalance in his tone. "It's gonna be a hefty fee."

"You'll be paid. Regularly and in full each time."

Slowly - and steadier than Leia might have anticipated - the smuggler got to his feet and rubbed at his throat. "You got yourself a deal then."

The chill dissipated and Leia saw her father sigh heavily. "Alright. You should know what you're getting into —"

"No. Absolutely not," Solo countered with raised hands and a step back. "I'm just the pilot. I'm here to get paid, not get into the middle of whatever this is. Less I know the better."

Leia's gaze shifted between each of the men, but she was the one who spoke. "You better be there when he needs to leave."

"I like my head attached to my neck. Not crossing him, sweetheart."

He pivoted towards the door, leaving the three remaining. Leia turned back to them. "He may want to be kept out of the loop, but I don't. I won't be kept out. Start talking."

"Take a seat," her father instructed in that tone that said he knew he didn't have another choice. "We'll get you caught up."

—-

It was dangerous to have the Aeres orbiting the planet, but it added a sense of authority to the demands Luke had made. He hadn't told his crew anything but to remain steady over the north-western hemisphere, which would keep them on the opposite side of the planet that Krennic planned to use for the experiment, and to shut down the sensors that might pick up on said experiment.

The planet had been inhabited once, but after nearly twenty years of being used for various Imperial experiments, all that remained was a desolate wasteland in the Outer Rim that no longer even had a name. Only a number was left: EX1003, and along with the name and its former inhabitants, the history of the world had been wiped from existence as well. It was strange and it was eerie, but in a way that Luke didn't think would have bothered him before. It wouldn't have bothered him now if they weren't there to test a weapon that could erase the existence of any planet that Darth Sidious chose on his whim.

Luke rarely wore a military uniform, opting instead for dark robes that allowed him to move easier when an inevitable battle erupted around him, but he'd pulled the crisp white uniform from the back of his closet. It was stiff and limited his stride. The uniform boots were louder and his shuttle was met with an irritating number of crewmen.

"My Lord Natus," Krennic greeted, giving a small bow so that his cape swept out. "Welcome."

"All this wasn't needed," Luke answered with a sharp wave towards the men and women in Impirial Navy uniforms lined up along the sides of the walkway. "I'm sure they have duties they could be seeing to."

"Of course, my lord. It's just…. protocol, of course, when a ranking member such as your father or yourself or -"

"And what rank is that?"

That stopped him and he cleared his throat, seemingly desperate to hide his discomfort. He was nervous, which either meant that he expected this to go poorly, that Tarkin had been pushing down on him again, or both.

Luke met his gaze. "I'm not Tarkin. There's no need for some grand gesture, Director. Only results." From the way Krennic's tenseness eased just a little, it looked like Tarkin was the culprit.

"Of course, my lord. Your time is valuable, and I shouldn't want to waste any of it."

They moved together and the crewmen dispersed behind them, eager to get back to whatever work they had to do rather than stand at full attention to welcome Vader's son for a minute longer. Luke glanced out of the corner of his eye, watching Krennic. "You've said nothing of this to Tarkin."

The director appeared startled by the question given as a statement, but recovered relatively quickly. "No, my lord. You had mentioned that he might -"

"Try to step in? You and I both know he would. He's here for the glory. I'm here to further the Empire and make sure that our enemies are dealt with in the most efficient way possible."

Krennic nodded eagerly to that. "Of course. You'll see today that this weapon will have the capacity to bring any Rebellion to its knees before it ever gains footing."

"And the lead scientists on this? I'd like to meet them today. If things go well, congratulations will be in order." And if not, the whole Empire knew what his father would have done to them. The threat was certainly easy to hear in the unspoken words.

"I'm…. afraid he's still on Eadu. With the construction near completion, the refining of the additional crystals needed to bring the Death Star to full power has their focus."

Which made sense, of course, but Luke had hoped this would be his in to find out exactly who was working beneath Krennic. The whole program was a blackhole of information and he didn't want to find a way to destroy the damned thing just to have another one pop up in its place. Well, at least he had a location. He could track down information from there.

They moved through the station, the halls quieter than they would be once it was fully operational. They were running on a skeleton crew for security's sake at this point, which left Luke to wonder what essential work his welcoming crew had been pulled from. Krennic was nothing if not ambitious, and while Vader likely would have been his preference, Luke represented a chance to make sure that Palpatine praised the director for all of his accomplishments rather than Tarkin.

Doors slid open to allow them access to the battle station's bridge. A few men and women scurried - likely having taken a different route back to their stations so that they didn't appear to rush past their director and Lord Natus - but Luke's gaze was fixed on the viewport. He recognized the upgraded window that could be toggled between an unencumbered view of outside space, visuals piped in from the computer system, and the typical screen that blacked out the view when needed. In this case, they seemed to be following a droid on the ground that was feeding images back to them.

"I trust this test won't set off any alarms," Luke said as he watched the video sweep the desolate land below. "The Senate can't know about this yet."

"All precautions have been taken, my lord," Krennic assured him.

"And the target?"

"There's an old temple left standing in this hemisphere. We should get the exact coordinates… there we are."

Luke watched as the image flickered onto the screen. Standing tall against the ravished land around it was what he instinctively knew had been a Jedi temple. Ancient and forgotten, the decades had marched on as it had been left to neglect without the old Order to maintain it. Now, just as they had been, it would be wiped away until even the memory of it faded from the galaxy.

"My lord?" Krennic prompted.

"When you're ready, director," Luke answered, his voice smaller than it should have been. He listened to Krennic order a single reactor ignition to target the temple, and his voice might as well have been heard from down a long corridor as the younger Imperial turned to force himself to watch.

The entire base buzzed with power, gathering as the view shifted back to the planet from above, the droid that had been left to provide the coordinates not long for its existence. A chill swept through Luke as the shot went off, a single beam barreling down towards the temple and he squared his shoulders to keep himself still. It struck the planet, and even if he could no longer see the temple itself, he could feel it. The chill settled deep in his chest and spread through him as the planet exploded upward where the structure had been. It wasn't fear, but understanding. This was wrong.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Krennic asked, his voice filled with wonder as chunks of rock and plumes of fire reached up towards the atmosphere. "When completed, this base will be capable of fracturing a planet to its core and destroying it. No one will dare stand against the Empire."

"No one will be able to," Luke breathed, gathering himself. "You've done… well, director."

"Then you'll speak to the Emperor?"

Luke turned, finding the older man's eager gaze fixed on him. "I have good things to report to him, but it's not completed. I want to be kept up to date as things progress."

"Of course, my lord," Krennic answered, barely containing himself. It was what the director wanted to hear and what would keep Luke in the loop moving forward.

—

He hadn't lived a sheltered life. Violence and death had surrounded him from an early age and, just as Father had taught him, he'd learned to use it to his advantage. Very little phased him quite like each new piece of the dangerous puzzle that was Sidious' Death Star. With its completion the Emperor would have no use for both father and son to play the role of visible enforcers. The planet killer could do that work for him with no threat of pushback. The future that both Luke and Vader had known was coming for some time was rapidly becoming their present, and Luke could only hope he had time to destroy it.

No. He had to make time. The only way to do that would be to throw a wrench into the Krennic's process. He was gathering Kyber crystals from somewhere and sending them to Eadu for refinement to power the battle station's main weapon. Going directly to Eadu was risky, but he might be able to track down the mining operation and slow the process there.

Captain Renz greeted him in the hangar bay upon his return to the Aeres, putting a momentary pause to Luke's swirling thoughts as he picked through the reasons Renz wouldn't have simply waited for him on the bridge, as was their habit. The Imperial captain looked strained as he stood waiting at the bottom of the shuttle's ramp, and Luke forced himself to focus. "Captain."

"My lord," Renz greeted back, his back straight and shoulders squared.

Luke nodded and Renz fell into step with him. He didn't like the way the hesitation other man seemed unable to get around. Luke was many things, but he'd never been one to go after the messenger without cause. The only thing that sprang to mind was that Renz had overlooked a sensor that he'd been instructed to turn off to keep the Aeres from catching a signal from the Death Star, thought that wasn't probable either after all the years Renz had successfully cleaned up behind the Executor's former captain when he'd served as Commander for Luke's father. Renz was nothing if not thorough in his duties. "Whatever it is, Captain, out with it."

"We've been called away, sir."

Dread settled in. "By the Emperor?"

"No, my lord. By his Hand. She was… quite insistent. And quite perturbed by the fact that you were unreachable."

Ah. That explained the nervousness then. Mara never did like being told to wait.

"She said she would come to us and I know how sensitive you said this mission was —"

"You gave her our location?"

All at once the strain was replaced by offense. "My lord, I would never betray your confidence."

"Brave man standing up to the Emperor's Hand," Luke chuckled and his smirk broadened nearly to a smile. "Don't worry. You're under my protection. Even from her."

"Thank you, Lord Natus."

"I'll take her transmission in my quarters. Did she leave coordinates?"

"She did."

"Then let's get going." Everything else would have to wait. He didn't dare give Mara a reason to start asking questions just yet.

--

Chapter Text

There was a desperate attempt to quiet his own fears that resulted in the opposite effect. It looked like hardened resolve to the untrained eye, but she could see the way his jaw clenched to keep his teeth from chattering and how his nails dug into his own palms to avoid obviously trembling hands. The traitor sat forward on the hard bench in his cell, shoulders hunched and the soles of his boots planted firmly as if he were ready to rock forward to stand at any given minute. He still wore the Imperial Navy uniform, even if his insignia had been stripped from it. What it must have taken for a man of his rank to be willing to betray his Empire… Well, it was time she found out. She couldn't wait any longer. Luke would get there when he got there.

Mara turned on her heel from the viewing window and moved to the cell door. The stormtrooper opened the door without a word and she paced herself as she made her way down the steps. One. Two. Three. Four. Each step solid, her boots clanking against the permasteel, and she stopped at the bottom, her green gaze focused on him.

"Arrick Los, do you know why you're here?"

The traitor looked up at her, the black eye he'd received during his arrest evident. He took a moment and Mara watched him gather himself, seemingly desperate not to allow his teeth to chatter when he released the pressure in his jaw so he could speak. Finally, the muscles eased. "The ISB seems to think I handed intel over to the enemy."

Mara tried not to roll her eyes. The ISB had once been a truly formidable arm of Imperial justice. They were unmatched in the way they drained every drop of intelligence out and crushed those that wished to do harm to the Empire. They had been impressive once, but even with only a fraction of her attention on this case Mara had brought Los in. The Imperial Security Bureau had had nothing to do with it other than allowing one of their own to defect and open up a cataclysmic security breach. Perhaps her recommendation should have included Colonel Yularen's retirement if he was willing to allow his organization to grow so lax.

"In the last three standard months you have accessed Imperial prison databases. Narkina 5, Jendorn, Maw, and even Dathomir. You've made regular checks to the prison barges."

"I'm a Transport Officer. It's my job to know where the prisoners are going and ensure they get there without mishap," the traitor snapped.

"A thirty-five percent increase from the average coming from your station."

"I'm thorough."

"Perhaps," Mara acknowledged as her gaze swept him up and down, taking in every twitch and every darting glance. "And if that's true, then you will have backup reports submitted to your superior officers that will show what case those unaccounted searches were attached to."

Los' eyes widened a fraction at that and he shifted back to put some distance between them or, possibly, to have a better view of his surroundings. There was a long moment of silence, but she could feel the shift in his emotions. "You're not ISB. This isn't an ISB holding…" He blinked, his gaze flickering to the lightsaber hanging from her belt. "You're her, aren't you?"

Mara held his increasingly nervous gaze. "I dispense the Emperor's justice. You're only a pawn, Los. Provide me with actionable intel that leads to the source of this security breach and I will ensure you have a fair trial."

The Rebel's gaze hardened at that. "There are no fair trials in Palpatine's Empire."

Behind her, the door slid open to reveal a Naval Officer. She hid her frustration behind a bland expression as she met him at the steps to keep the conversation private. "You can tell him that he can wait for me now."

A jolt of surprise flashed across the man's face. "Forgive me, but Lord Vader —"

"Natus," Mara corrected and the officer shook his head.

"No sir. We just received word that we should expect the Executor."

Dank farrik. The ISB certainly hadn't called him in, so either Vader had received word of Los' capture and was taking it on himself to try to extract the intel from the traitor or Palpatine had assigned his Apprentice to the situation. It really didn't matter. Either was a problem. Vader had the same discretion as she had - perhaps more - when no direct assignment had been given. The issue was that she'd received her assignment and she was yet to find a way to fulfill it. If Vader had chosen to interrogate Los or if the Emperor had directed him to do so really didn't matter. An argument between them would only be settled by their Master and she knew what he wanted.

Mara's raging thoughts stilled for just a moment on that. She knew exactly what Palpatine wanted from her.

No clear and subtle path had presented itself to drive a wedge between father and son and - despite that nagging little voice in her mind that told her that she'd been avoiding it to push the pain it would cause him down the line just a bit further - the security breach left behind by former Agent Kallus was dangerous. Vader would shatter the traitor before he broke him, leaving the Rebels to scatter and their Fulcrum agent the freedom to continue making fools of the Empire. But while she'd sent word to Luke to join her to buy some time to focus on this issue, this could be an opportunity. If nothing else, it gave her leverage if it had to be taken to the Emperor.

"When are you expecting them?"

"Six standard hours, sir."

"And the Aeres?"

"Has not commed us since the call was routed to you."

She pulled in a breath. Typical. That could still work. She had six hours to get actionable intel from Los. Even if Vader beat Luke there, she could send new coordinates. If Luke won the race he didn't know he was participating in, even better. Luke enjoyed competition. It was Vader that always chose to make a war of it.

---

He'd learned loyalty at an early age. His father had never called it that, but Luke had known what it was, even if he hadn't always understood the words associated with it. Loyalty was dedication, even when there was strain. Loyalty was trust, even when the other wasn't always forthcoming. Loyalty was devotion, even when it put his own life in jeopardy. Loyalty was love.

And Luke loved Mara Jade.

Time was limited and with what he'd learned about the Death Star, he needed to go to Alderaan and speak with Bail Organa, but Mara had called. She wanted his help. She needed his help. He couldn't tell her no, even if the more rational side of his brain screamed at him that he should. What good would offering Organa what he'd offered the man do if Palpatine used the Death Star to wipe the Rebellion out? With them gone the Emperor would have even more power than he had now and he could force a decision. Either Luke or his father would meet his end. It was the nightmare that stayed with him long after he woke and bubbled into a fear that he was desperately trying to use steady his own resolve. They lived in dangerous times and every step counted, but what good would it be to stop Sidious from destroying part of his family if he pushed the women he loved away in the process?

So Luke had gone. Of course he'd gone. And he would help her with whatever assignment she wanted his help with and then jet over to wherever he found Han Solo to hitch a ride to Alderaan. Simple. He hoped it would be, at any rate.

He didn't recognise the ship that he'd received coordinates to, but he didn't have any trouble boarding. The Empire recognized the Aeres, even if it was hit and miss if Imperials recognized Lord Natus himself. He strode in with every confidence and made his way back to the prisoner block where she'd told him that she'd meet him. What she needed, he wasn't quite sure of. Presumably he'd find out when he got there.

"Wait here," he instructed Barrix - the single stormtrooper he'd chosen to bring with him - when they came to the cell.

Luke was reaching for the panel as the door slid open, Mara appearing there. Her gaze was sharp, as if she were coming out of an intense interrogation. It took a moment for that gaze to fix on him with any recognition, but once it did it softened a fraction - only a fraction - and she tilted her head to the side. "Good of you to join us."

"I'm a talented pilot, but even I haven't cracked how to push a ship faster than the hyperspace lanes'll allow," he offered with a shrug and risked a glance past her. Deep in the cell was a single man, cuffed and his chin rested against his chest in utter defeat. He wore an Imperial Navy uniform that had been stripped of its ranking badges and his feet were bare against the cold permasteel. He turned back to Mara. "Defector?"

"Traitor," she specified. "He's working for Fulcrum."

The name struck a different chord than it might have only a couple months prior. "What did you get from him?"

"A location."

"Their base?"

"The drop. We'll intercept the intel that he left there prior to being captured. Kallus will come looking for it."

"You seem confident on that one."

"They've just lost a major asset and they'll be desperate for the last scrap of intel they can gain from him. We can use that. You're good with taking the Aeres, right?"

Luke studied her for a long moment, working to discern just how much she knew about the situation and how much she was relying on the way people so often worked. It could be that Los had given her everything from the location to his procedure to an expectation on how their Fulcrum agent would react. They would have contingencies in place, certainly. And if the intelligence that Los had left for them was important enough, perhaps Mara was right. Kallus would come to get it, despite the risk. Not that she was giving him anymore than she had, it would seem.

But loyalty was trust and someday, perhaps very soon, Luke would desperately need Mara to trust him, even when she didn't understand. For now, he'd choose to trust her and hope that it didn't put him at odds with his unconfirmed alliance with Bail Organa.

---

Imperial officers scurried to the walls of the corridors as Vader stalked through, each man and woman standing with their spine straight and eyes forward, a bit of sweat gathering as he passed them. They didn't matter. Only the prisoner that he'd received word that they held on their ship was of any importance to him. They had him. He wanted him. It should have been a simple demand.

And it would have been, even with Mara Jade slipping in from the shadows and trying to steal the intel away. She had no immediate exit, at least as far as his own intelligence had provided him. He cared little for if she knew what the traitor had to say or not. What mattered was what she was capable of doing with that information. Nothing. That had been the aim, at any rate, but between the time that the intelligence had reached him and when the Executor had come out of hyperspace, Jade had secured a ship. And not just any ship. She'd left out on the Aeres.

Darth Vader felt his temper boil as the officer relayed what he knew, his anxiety showing in the way that he stammered and twitched. It was irritating. It was a waste of time.

"And did you not think I wished to speak to her directly?"

"My lord?" the young officer managed.

He too was a waste of time. Vader's fingers twitched and the officer's nick twisted until it snapped. The Dark Lord loosed a frustrated sigh that sounded like a typical release of breath through his mask. He turned to the officer - higher or lower rank mattered little - that had been standing behind the now-dead-man. "Where is the prisoner?"

Fear permeated the room, giving him the answer without words: not only had Jade taken the intelligence with her on his son's ship, but she'd taken the source of the intelligence as well. The girl had overstepped herself this time. Emperor's Hand or not, this had not been her assignment. Los had not been hers to take and, if she managed to use him to get to their traitorous ISB agent, Vader would make sure that he was there to retake control of the situation. If she had gone to Luke out of sentiment or in an attempt to use son against father, she'd sealed her own fate on this one.

The Dark Lord moved past the sniveling officer and he fell to the floor, writhing as he struggled to breathe. He would find them. He could always find his son.

----

The change had happened gradually over the last nearly two decades. The rebellion had started with just a handful of people, and certainly fewer than they had needed. Bit by bit it grew. In fragments and in fits and starts, often with every sign pointing to destruction over victory. At discovery before they were strong enough to survive the attack that would swiftly follow.

But then, somewhere along the way, it had started to pull together. There were still outliers like Saw Gerarra's group, but there had been a shift in the rebellion that Bail had almost given up on. The Alliance was still new and it often felt like it rested on shifting ground, but it was there. If they just had a little more time, they could gain the footing they needed. Padme's son could give them that, especially if what he'd told Bail was true. They needed him. Bail just had to convince them of that.

There was a buzz of activity at the base on Yavin IV to the point that Bail almost hadn't received clearance to land. When he finally set down he found himself dodging pilots and foot soldiers alike. Something was happening, but no one stopped long enough to fill him in on what.

He made his way into the temple where the faces began to look familiar. It wasn't until he reached the inner chambers that he found the person he was looking for. Mon Mothma stood speaking with an ISB defector that had become one of their leading Fulcrum agents. With them stood a dark haired agent that Luthen Rael had brought into the fold before his untimely demise. The smaller nodded in agreement before turning on hee, melting into the crowds of people as Bail moved towards the remaining two.

"Senator Organa," Kallus greeted, his topside Coruscanti accent standing out amongst the collection of beings from all around the galaxy.

"Captain," the former senator greeted after a quick glance at the insignia on his jacket. "Mon, when you have a moment?"

"Keep me apprised," Mon directed at the Fulcrum agent and he gave her a particularly sharp nod born out of years of Imperial training.

"Yessir." He took the dismissal, leaving Bail and Mon standing in a pocket amongst the chaos.

She loosed a soft sigh. "One of our Fulcrum assets has been compromised. Arrick Los."

"The Imperial officer with access to the prison systems?"

"One in the same."

"Is this a rescue mission then?"

"Precaution. Los knows the location of this base. If he's broken, we won't have much time before the Empire comes for us." Discomfort lay under each word, but rather than explain she shook her head. "I hope you've brought better news."

Bail pushed a breath out through his nose, glancing around. "Yes and no. Luke Skywalker paid me a visit at my home."

He watched her reaction, curious if Ashoka had let anyone but him in on the secret about Anakin Skywalker's fate and Padme's son. From the sadness that pulled at her, it appeared she knew. "Is there anything left of the boy after this long?"

"More than I would have suspected, if he was telling me the truth."

"About what?"

"A weapon. He called it a Death Star. Aptly named in that, when completed, it's expected to be able to destroy an entire planet."

Mon Mothma took in the information with the same measured grace that he'd known for years in the Senate. "That explains the rumours."

"Rumours?"

Mon Mothma glanced around the room. "No one knows for sure. We've only heard pieces about a defecting pilot with information. Saw caught hold of him before we could."

Bail sighed heavily. "He won't see the light of day again."

"Likely not."

"Luke may be able to help with that. He said he has an in with the director of the project. He's convinced him to conduct an experiment, see how far it's come along."

"And he just gave you this information?" Mom asked skeptically.

"He wants out."

His old friend pursed her lips together. "Vader's son… a lot of risk with that."

"He is Padme's son as well."

"Even so…"

He had banked on her affection for the late senator from Naboo to carry enough weight. What he hadn't been ready for was the Alliance facing a security breach that could send them scurrying off to all corners of the galaxy. It hadn't been that long since some of them had fought the Battle of Atallon. Another setback would delay all the progress they'd made.

"I understand the risk. Even more so in this moment —"

"If we take it to the council now, they'll never agree to it. Sealing the breach Los' capture has opened up is paramount."

"Even with this Death Star looming?"

Mon Mothma's auburn brows drew together at that and Bail watched the subtle lines in her face deepen. "Even with that," she acknowledged softly, the strain making it into her voice as well. "I'm not saying no. Only patience."

"Something tells me he doesn't have a lot of that, but… I'll make it work."

She reached a hand out, her fingers light against his arm. "Good. Give Breha and Leia my best."

"Of course." He watched her turn to leave, but didn't move himself, even as others scurried around him. They were standing on a precipice, and one wrong step would send them crashing down. Promises made that couldn't be kept might make an enemy of a friend, but for his part, he'd fight to make sure the promises he made to Luke were honoured.

He just had to make sure Luke was willing to fight for the same.

---

Anger followed them as the Aeres sped through hyperspace, the sharp and bitter echoes through the Force familiar. It wasn't aimed at him, though, at least not directly, which left Luke with the more likely possibility that Mara and his father were competing for the same bit of intel and Mara had gotten to it first. It certainly wasn't the first time the two had clashed over an assignment, but with his own position precarious enough, he didn't think he wanted any surprises coming from either of them.

He found Mara standing alone in a large, empty room with a viewing window that took up the majority of the space-side wall. She didn't turn to look at him as he entered, but instead her gaze was fixed on the streaks of stars, a muted conflict all he was getting when he reached out through the Force.

"Everything's set with Los in the brig. You still want to take him down with us?"

Mara didn't look over at the question, but her own unsteadiness seemed to even out as she focused on the task at hand. "Yes."

"He's a liability."

"He's a guarantee. If I know anything about how the ISB trains their agents, Kallus will have eyes and ears all over the town next to the base. If he knows we have Los there, it'll put the pressure on him to move."

Luke considered the strategy for a moment. She'd spent far more time around the ISB than he had, even with his time stationed on Lothal when Kallus had been working for his father. It was one of the reasons that Palpatine had tasked her to help plug the security leaks created by Kallus' defection. If the Empire was good at one thing, it was drilling the same exact training into each and every member of a particular group. Stormtroopers, pilots, Imperial Security Bureau… It was rare that an Imperial soldier stepped outside of the carefully constructed box, and even when they did - even when they went as far as Kallus had - there was always going to be a trace of that training pulling on them and giving someone like Mara a weakness to exploit.

"Still doesn't explain why I'm here."

"What do you mean?"

"In my experience, you have no trouble finding a ride when you need to hop systems," Luke answered.

"I wanted this one."

"You do get what you want."

That pulled the tiniest of smiles from her. "And you don't?"

"So you're telling me that I'm just the ride?" He waited and her mental walls solidified a little bit more as if she wanted to make doubly sure that her private thoughts were her own. "Or did you steal this out from under my father and you're hoping he'll be in a more generous mood if I'm along?"

Finally she broke her staring contest with the stars and turned to look at him. "What did he say?"

"Nothing," Luke chuckled. "I can just feel it two systems away. He's not happy."

"He's never happy."

He loosed a breath, willing the frustration that was bubbling up inside of him away. "I'm not a tool in your weapons depot, Mara. I get that you've been wrapped up in trying to plug the intel leaks with Kallus' defection, but I don't like being used against my father. You know that."

There was a long moment and he felt that subtle conflict just under the surface again before she pursed her lips together. "That's not why you're here. I called you before I knew he was on his way. I didn't want some faceless, nameless troopers with me on this one. I wanted someone that I could trust. That I know has my back if something goes wrong. That's why I called you. That's why you're here."

Luke let the words sink in and swirl around his mind for a moment. They felt true, even if she wasn't saying everything. She never said everything.

"Are we good?"

He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Of course. Just… don't ask me to play mediator between the two of you. That never goes well."

Mara snorted and Luke tilted his head towards the door. "It's a great view from here, but even better from the bridge when we come out of hyperspace."

He watched her smile break through, small and real, and he couldn't help but echo it.

----

They made it to the Jendorn system without mishap and left the Aeres in orbit as they took a shuttle down to the planet below, choosing to land at the small spaceport in town rather than the larger one inside of the Imperial prison compound, Los in tow. It was busy, crowded with both locals and a heavy Imperial presence alike. Mara scanned the crowd as Luke handled their docking fee, trying to calm her mind enough to allow her feelings to pick up on anything that her eyes might miss.

"None of us are walking away from this," Los said from her side, the first words he'd spoken since they'd left out on the Aeres.

"I promised you a trial. I didn't bring you here to execute you."

"I didn't say you'd be the one to kill me."

Mara risked a glance at the man, resolve set firmly into the lines on his face. Behind them, Luke approached and whatever hesitation or questions he'd had previously had been put away. He was focused. Good. Something deep inside of her said they'd need every bit of that.

His blue gaze slid over to latch onto Los. "What are we walking into?"

The captured defector swallowed hard. "Down the main street, off to the right there's a building with a market in the alley. Three flights up and at the far end there's a room. That's where the communication system is hidden. I told her all that already."

"That's not what I mean," Luke answered lowly.

"Then what do you mean?"

Blue eyes flickered to meet green and Mara didn't like the sudden shift in his mood. Something was wrong - something that she'd missed between the search for intel and Vader and her Master's directive all warring for a place at the forefront of all of this - but even Luke didn't know what.

Nothing appeared to be out of place, and if they gave the Rebels any more time they would take off with the intel and Vader would find a way to steal Los from her. She'd walk away with nothing save for the Emperor's disapproval in her distraction. "Let's go."

They moved through the streets on high alert, the buildings made up of the yellow and orange clay native to the planet on either side. Chatter echoed from the market Los had spoken of as they rounded down the way.

They were five steps away from the entrance when the shots rang out, a fraction of a second's warning through the Force barely giving them enough time to draw their lightsabers. One blaster bolt ricocheted off of Luke's crimson blade, searing the outer wall of the building. The second hit its mark.

A sharp curse left Mara as their prisoner dropped hard and she followed the trajectory of the shot to see a figure on the rooftops. "There!" she shouted, motioning.

Luke didn't say a word, but leapt into action as the figure took a running leap from his perch to the building they'd been about to enter. The building the intel was stored in.

Los coughed hard from where he'd crimped and Mara took a knee next to him, civilians running and screaming all around. "You knew Kallus would take you out."

The dying man choked on a mirthless chuckle. "It's not Kallus you should be worried 'bout."

Shouts from stormtroopers on their way into the middle of the chaos drew her attention as Los slipped away. Let them deal with the body. She'd dragged Luke into this. While he could likely handle whatever was up there, he shouldn't have to do it alone. She wouldn't let him fight it alone.

---

Chapter Text

He hadn't expected this detour to turn out quite as troublesome as it was panning out to be. Their prisoner was dead and if it had been Kallus or a third party, he didn't know. Best they could tell there were factions of the Rebellion. Some large, some small sects that banded together to push back against the Empire. Against Palpatine. While Luke had a hard time picturing someone like Organa giving an order to permanently silence an asset, that didn't mean someone else wasn't ready and willing to do what was necessary to protect their fledgling rebellion.

The same rebellion Luke was trying to make use of to destroy Palpatine's new war machine. If he was found to be at the center of two Rebel deaths and the stunting of intel, it wouldn't help his case. No… this detour had become much more complicated than he'd anticipated.

Three flights up. Far end. Locals scattered as Luke burst into the building, still brandishing his crimson lightsaber. He had no interest being caught unaware by the sniper.

He took the steps three at a time, the Force steadying his feet and giving him the added balance coupled with speed. The hard sole of his boot ground at the permacrete as he pivoted around to take the final flight and he reached ahead. Foresight wasn't a gift he could use on demand, but he could certainly get an idea of what he was rushing into.

And what was around him.

The sniper above. Mara below, but moving towards him as best she could amongst fleeing locals. And, not unexpectedly, the Executor barrelling through the hyperspace lane after them. That wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation.

The door had already been forced open - even if pushed shut again behind the sniper - and Luke focused, finding a steady and determined presence on the other side, but it didn't feel like Kallus. One of his people from the Rebellion then. Either way, he had to work fast to find a way to find a balance that wouldn't tip his hand to the Empire, but also wouldn't put him at odds with his begrudging would-be allies. He pulled in a deep breath, lowered but didn't extinguish his lightsaber, and used his left hand to direct the Force against the door, opening it the rest of the way.

The room appeared empty. A few scattered furnishings and a window that was sealed shut. He'd felt the presence though. He could still feel him. Blue eyes slipped closer and he pulled in a breath, letting the Force guide him rather than directing it and he found his gaze focused when he opened his eyes again. There. A panel in the wall that had been quickly put back into place. A secret path.

Luke moved quickly, finally shutting his lightsaber off and slipping the panel back to reveal a small passageway that required him to hunch to move through it. The panel slipped back snugly with his help and he inched forward, acutely aware of his feelings and what lay beyond.

There was a flicker just beyond the panel on the other end as it slammed open, a blaster instantly visible. The shot went off and Luke reached up, the bolt freezing in the air between him and his attacker. The dark haired man stared, surprise etched into every line on his face, with the red glowing beam hanging inches in front of Luke.

Luke's fingers twitched, giving direction, and the bolt crashed through the ceiling of the passageway. He moved quickly, pulling the sniper's blaster from his grasp and sending the weapon skidding to the side, holding the older man frozen where he was so that he couldn't access the rifle slung over his shoulder. "Who do you answer to?"

The other man's dark eyes narrowed, a forced mask of calm falling into place. "You might as well kill me," the Rebel said, his accent one that Luke couldn't readily place. "I'm not going to tell you anything."

No, he wouldn't. That was fine. Luke didn't really need him to. He just needed to listen. To feel. The Force would tell him what he needed to know.

"Do you know who I am?"

The Rebel's stony expression hardened a little more and Luke's lips twitched up.

"Good. You can tell them then."

"Tell them what?"

"That the Emperor's new weapon will be powered by Kyber Crystals." Luke ignored the shocked expression and reached forward pulling a data cylinder from the Rebel's pocket. It hung in the air, his open and consistent use of the Force leaving the other man with no question with whom he was dealing with. The disk began to fold in on itself, crumbling and sparking until it was useless, the intel in it lost. "I can't let you keep this and leave here. I'm assuming you have some sort of failsafe for this room?"

"Why would you let me go? You're —"

"I won't if the red headed woman makes her way up here before you get away."

There was a flash of hesitation - perhaps trying to figure out exactly what Luke's angle was - before he nodded towards the wall. "It's set to blow."

"You were going to take us all out, huh?" The barest of nod could be seen and Luke released his hold on the Rebel. "Then I'd go if I were you."

He didn't hesitate this time and jumped for the window, the glass shattering around him. Luke didn't bother to see how he planned to find his way three stories below as every alarm went off in his mind. The failsafe countdown was nearing dangerous levels. He heard Mara call his name through the Force and he gave her only one instruction in return: run.

And he took his own advice, tossing the destroyed disk further into the room to let the fire melt away the evidence before he ripped the passage open again and darted through. He hit the other side as the alarm screamed, the explosion rocking the whole building, and Luke swung around, both hands outstretched as if to catch the plume of fire raging towards him. And he did. For just a moment, much like the blaster bolt, the explosion held where it was as if it were frozen in time. It pushed, though, and Luke felt his muscles ache just to hold it. The energy could be contained forever.

Luke shifted hard, bracing himself even as the flames were redirected to the outer wall, ripping at the structure and taking out everything in its path. There was enough left over to pick the young Imperial fully off his feet and throw him against the interior wall. It didn't give, and as unconsciousness swallowed him up, Luke hated to think that this was how his only personal grab for freedom might end.

—-

The Executor was one of the fastest ships in the galaxy. Vader had seen to that. While he no longer personally tinkered with his own crafts, he provided instructions on every detail of the Star Destroyer. So detailed that his lead engineer traveled with the Sith Lord and his 501st in order to take care of any needed repairs or upgrades along the way. He hadn't intended for it to be that way, but after moving through a number of incompetent engineers, he'd finally had to settle on a man who had overseen the main repairs on the Resolute during the Clone Wars. Vader had no interest in positioning anyone that had known Anakin Skywalker so close to him, much less on such a consistent basis, but Dash Hennis was a rare talent.

A rare talent that had been capable of upgrading the hyperdrive engines to the specifications that was allowing the Executor to gain on the Aeres in record time. Perhaps even close enough on the smaller Destroyer's tail that Jade would not be able to steal the intelligence out from under him. Good. Dash Hennis would live to see another rotation.

Vader pushed a breath out at the thought, opening himself up to touch lightly on the bond he shared with his son to see if they should push the drives a little harder. If he hadn't been actively reaching out, it might not have hit him quite as hard. As it was, in that moment, he might as well have been burning himself.

There was a white-hot flash, flames licking at exposed skin, and a flash of frustration mixed with pain.

Then nothing. Silence. Weighty, suffocating silence, and even though his suite forced air in and out of his damaged lungs, he couldn't breathe.

"My Lord?" Admiral Ozzel's tentative voice cut through the raging quiet, ripping Darth Vader out of the vision to find himself knelt on the bridge, his son's pain driving him to his knees in front of an entire crew desperate to pretend that they hadn't noticed. An entire crew save one perpetually stupid admiral.

Vader dragged himself back to his feet as a sputtering Ozzel fell to the floor. He wanted to gawk? Fine. Let him suffer what the Dark Lord had felt and see if he could survive the weight of it. Unlikely.

Once the older man had stilled from where he'd been writhing, Vader turned to the newest captain aboard the Executor. "Admiral Piett," Vader boomed and watched as it dawned on Piett that he'd found himself promoted.

"My lord?" came the trembling reply.

"How far are we?"

"Half an hour till we drop from light speed, my lord."

"Push the engines. Speak to Hennis if you must. We will arrive in a fraction of that time."

Then he turned to stalk off the bridge. No excuse followed him. Piett wouldn't dare.

—

He was floating. Drifting. It was strangely peaceful, even if there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that it shouldn't be. He just couldn't remember why or even how he'd gotten to wherever he was. There was just.. the same nothingness that stretched out like water around him. But he couldn't swim.

Luke jolted up and his feet touched something that felt solid beneath them, some of the inkyness giving way to dots of light that might have been distant stars. Behind him was a flicker and he turned, the presence strangely familiar, but all he saw was the hem of a robe as its owner moved away from him. For just a moment, Luke thought he might have been back on the planet from years before where he'd seen his father and Tano and….

He knew that presence.

"Kenobi?" Luke's voice echoed, bouncing off the nothingness and beyond. When no answer came, he took a tentative step forward, finding the flooring - or lack there of - seemingly solid beneath his boots, and tried a different approach. "Uncle Ben?"

There was a stirring around him. A whisper he couldn't quite catch, but he was certain it was coming from just beyond. He took off towards it, the first two or three steps the same as the last, until he felt himself pitch forward and back into darkness.

—

The explosion shook the entire building, the throngs of people trying to escape what they must have assumed was an inevitable end to an Imperial raid screaming and crying as dustings from the ceiling crumbled around them. They slammed into her, jolting and tossing her smaller frame around in the mayhem fueled by fear, and her green gaze flickered up just in time to see the crack forming in the plaster above. It was coming down. Strange that it hadn't simply broken the building in half. They must have had Luke to thank for that.

Mara's hand shot up on instinct as a loud CRACK broke through the panicked screams. The Force obeyed her command, the dangerously large chunk of the ceiling held suspended over them as the last of the fleeing crowds shoved their way out of the single entrance and exit. Once clear, she let it fall, the dust kicking up around her and choking her. She didn't have time to waste though. Luke hadn't been in the midst of the fleeing crowd.

She'd only been a floor below the room when Luke's demand of run had slammed into her mind and it didn't take her long to race up the mostly-intact stairs now that they were empty. There was a large chunk of the far wall that had been blown to pieces from the bomb and Mara stumbled over debris to get a look. Nothing had survived. Even the floor below was a wreck and the outer wall was decimated. If Kallus had been in there, there was nothing left. If Luke….

The jolt of fear threatened to overwhelm her and she took a breath. No. She was pretty sure she'd know if he was dead. Wouldn't she? She pulled in a breath and focused. There. Faint and muted, but she felt him.

Mara followed that feeling to the door that must have led into the apartment before it had been blown to pieces. The front end wasn't in much better shape. The sliding door panels crackled and sparked, hanging at an awkward angle that forced her to pry them open. The outside wall was gone in this room too, as was part of the ceiling. It left pipes and wires and other materials used to put the building together hanging at a precarious angle. Pieces of furniture were splintered and scattered, and slouched against one of only two intact walls was a familiar form. He was covered in dust and soot and far, far to still.

She could feel the heat under her boots as she picked her way over to him, taking a knee and focusing on her training to keep the useless fear at bay. First was a pulse. He had one. Good. Next were injuries. First glance showed a deep gash over his right brow, blood mixing with grime down the side of his face. Her hands traveled, searching by physical touch mixed with Force-enhanced exploration. His tunic was ripped in several places, and a careful tug of the fabric revealed debris-turned-projectiles had caused what she hoped was superficial damage. Nothing seemed lodged deeper than a night in a bacta tank couldn't fix. Then there was the way his left leg was bent. And his right hand, though the latter also showed significant burns. He had tried to stop it, but he must have known that energy couldn't be indefinitely contained. No. He had redirected it.

A soft moan caught her attention and she saw a pair of sky-blue eyes slide sluggishly open, the right squinting against the blood caked to the side of his face. "Mara?"

"Hey, flyboy," she greeted softly. "Find some trouble?"

"Usually," he croaked, shifting as if he were testing out what would move and what wouldn't. Or shouldn't, but the immediate look of regret that flashed across his face. He groaned and seemed to decide to stay where he was.

That wasn't going to work. "We need to get out of this place. I don't think the structure was great to begin with, but there are deep cracks all along the ground floor's ceiling. If it collapses, it could all go from there."

He frowned at what Mara would have argued was sound logic, but she hadn't just gotten blown up either. She gave him another half a moment to prepare before bending down, wrapping his left arm around her shoulders and instructing him to lean. For once, he listened, and they started their slow hobble around debris and out the door. He was quiet, and she tried to be as subtle as possible when she gently probed to find out if it was injury-induced or not.

"I'm okay," he huffed as they turned to start very slowly down the damaged stairs.

"Then we need to look at your definition of that word."

A small snort of laughter escaped him and Mara's lips twitched up. He stumbled and they stopped, both adjusting their grips before they started again. "I just mean that I will be," he corrected the earlier statement, though his voice was softer now and a little more strained.

"You do have full medical on the Aeres, don't you?"

"Yes, but it can wait."

"For what exactly?"

"Won't you want to see if there's anything left?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "There's not a floor left. If Kallus was standing there, there's nothing left."

They hit the landing between the second and third floors and Mara spotted the cracks in the floor that reached all the way through to what became the ceiling below. The pressure from the explosion might not have taken out large chunks of this part of the building, but it had done damage that could become very dangerous very quickly. Especially with only one good leg that Luke could put weight on at the moment.

"It wasn't Kallus." There was something strange in his words, almost like he wasn't sure of them, but as he coughed Mara brushed it off.

"Anyone we have in our sights?"

"No. I didn't recognise him. My guess is I'll have a day or two I can look through the database. See if I can put a name to the face."

"You're going to have more than a day or two if you actually listen to the medics," Mara groused and they hit the bottom level. He tensed. "What?"

His eyes were closed and he breathed out, "My father is here."

"On planet?"

"Just came of hyperspace."

She nodded, even if his eyes were still closed. "How angry is he?"

"Not thrilled, but he seems more focused on me." Those blue eyes slid back open and turned to focus on Mara. "I'll protect you."

"You're not a tool in my weapons depot," Mara reminded him softly and pulled a strained smile from him.

"I'll protect you, just like I'll protect him. From each other…. From everything. Even from the Emperor himself." He sagged a little bit and Mara frowned, letting the last statement go.

"Let's get you to medical."

He gave the smallest sound of acknowledgement and Mara reached to the Force to help support him as they made their way back towards the hangars, chaos in their wake.

—

He was in and out from the moment he woke up in the crumbling building through his and Mara's trek back to the Aeres. His father arrived. Like had felt it, but his father had gone to the planet's surface before he came up to the Aeres. Good thing too. Luke had had to drag himself out of bed - fighting the medication struggling to sedate him the whole way - to make good on his promise to Mara. Father hadn't laid a hand on her or even moved so that he didn't have to, but he was on a dangerous edge. Just not so far that he was more focused on Mara's supposed betrayal than his bruised and bandaged son fresh out of the bacta tank and leaning heavily on the doorframe leading back to the med bay. So Mara had relented - something that seemed to take a good bit of her will to do - and the medical bay cleared as Darth Vader led an exhausted Natus back to his bed.

"It's not her fault," Luke murmured as he settled back.

He could practically feel his father's disagreeable look through the opaque mask. He caught a glimmer of confirmation as light shifted and gave him a glance through the lenses. "You were there as a shield against me."

"She called before you showed up."

"You trust her too quickly."

Luke forced his eyes open from where they were growing heavy and he looked to his father. "I do trust her. I understand why you don't, but we have different experiences with her. Different ties. I'm not asking you to trust her yourself, but to trust me."

There was a long moment and Luke could feel his father weighing something. "Tell me what you saw."

Good. He was dropping it. At least for now. "We had the traitor Los with us. A sniper took him out and went for the intel. I chased him upstairs, Mara got delayed by the crowds, and I found him. It wasn't Kallus. Some dark haired man with an accent I didn't recognise. The bomb went off and I was thrown. From what I saw of the destruction, no one could have survived that direct blast. It would have incinerated him."

"You were fortunate," Father murmured, old memories tugging at him. Luke didn't know the whole story, just that Kenobi - Uncle Ben - had nearly burned him alive. Funny. He thought he'd heard his voice, though he couldn't recall where now.

Suddenly a piece of bent metal was cradled in a black glove in front of his face. "Do you know what this is?"

Luke didn't try to taper his surprise. Father would pick up on that. "A data disk. How did it survive?"

"Reinforced materials," his father answered. The bend is not from the explosion."

"How can you be sure?"

He held it closer for examination. "No fire or human hand did this."

For a moment, Luke could have sworn he was being accused of it, but then his father continued. "Jade did not wish for me to obtain this information."

And there it was. The hyper fixation. "Mara didn't come upstairs until after the blast. Look. There are scorch marks too."

There was a soft sound from his father's mask that few would have picked up on. "Then there are few options left."

"Which are?"

"That the Rebel is Force-sensitive."

Okay. There were worse directions he could go than that one. "Didn't do him much good if he was." Luke loosed a breath and reached out with his uninjured hand. He closed his father's fingers around the severely damaged data disk and let it linger there. The next words tumbled unbidden from his mouth. "Stay, Father, and I'll help you see if there's anything to recover tomorrow."

Death Vader tensed, but then seemed to remember that Luke had demanded even the droids to clear the area. He returned the disk to a fold in his suit and his gloves hand came to rest against the side of his son's face. Luke couldn't recall ever being wrapped up in an embrace by his father, but this was as close as the Sith Apprentice dared to come. As he slipped into sleep, Luke reached up, wrapping his fingers around mechanical ones and held on.

—-

Mara took a knee, waiting for the comm system to connect. There was a long, drawn out moment before her Master's image flickered into place. It was large, focused in on his sunken eyes shrouded by his dark cloak and he raised a bony finger as if he might stroke her cheek. "My child, what troubles you?"

She had known what she would say until the moment the comm connected, but now her throat ran dry. Her green gaze shifted up, looking into her Emperor's face. She owed him everything. Her life, her devotion. And she gave it with only one reservation. One she hadn't truly admitted until that day. I love you had wedged an opening that had made her uncomfortable, but only because she knew what came with that. Because she knew I'll protect you was right on its heels. Mara had thought she was ready, but she'd been wrong.

"I failed in my attempt to drive them apart today," she admitted a truth softly.

"And does one failure dictate your future success, child?"

I'll protect you. Even from the Emperor himself.

The truth was that he couldn't. Luke didn't know Palpatine like Mara did. No one did. Perhaps not even Vader. But she had his ear. His trust. Because of that, she decided what happened here. She decided if destroying the only other person he loved was truly protecting the man she didn't want to lose.

"No, my lord," she breathed, ducking her head a little lower.

She wasn't sure what success looked like, but there was no doubt that failure looked like, and she'd caught a glimpse of that when she'd seen Luke crumpled on the filthy floor that day, death surrounding him.

And she'd be damned if she let his death become a reality.

—-

Cassian Andor moved like a shadow through the Yavin base. He'd done his duty. The threat had been terminated and they were safe. For now. It wouldn't last long if the little Sith Apprentice had told him anything remotely true.

But what would have been the point of the lie? That's what he'd wrestled with the whole flight back. Confirmation of the new weapon they'd only heard whispers of and the power source behind it. It made no sense, but there was also no faking who he was. Darth Natus had made certain of that.

"Lord Natus," Kallus corrected in his upper level Coriscanti accent that made Andor want to twitch at times. He managed to keep a straight face as he stood in front of his fellow Fulcrum Agent, two generals, and three members of thecouncil. "No one refers to him by the same title as his father."

"Regardless," Andor grumbled, his dark gaze sweeping across the small cluster of Alliance members that were privy to the report.

Senator Mon Mothma sighed. "Were you able to recover the data disk?"

"No. He destroyed it."

"So it's a total loss, despite going out of our way to assassinate an asset," Kallus said pointedly, his gaze fixed accusingly on General Draven.

"Not entirely." All eyes returned to the dark haired Fulcrum Agent. "I caught a name. It might lead somewhere."

"And that was?" former Senator Organa prompted.

"Jyn Erso."

----

Chapter Text

Medical leave was going to drive him mad. The first few days hadn't been that bad. He'd been aboard the Aeres with his own medical staff that knew better than to bother him unless it was necessary. His father had stayed onboard and had even behaved relatively well considering his close proximity and lingering hatred for Mara. For a few days, Luke had had a little peace and quiet, the two people that meant the most to him near. He was even able to enjoy it. The Rebel would take the message back to Organa's people and it bought Luke time to relax and breathe for just a moment.

Then they'd arrived at Coruscant.

He'd been feeling better by that point. Treatment and bacta therapy had stitched up the holes that shrapnel had left in him when the bomb had detonated. Burns and broken bones were also well into the healing process, urged along by the medical staff. He'd wanted to stay on the Aeres. It made no sense why he had been shuffled off to the capital's medical personnel that checked in on him far too often for the lesser treatment he received. The only fragment of an answer that they had given him as to the why had been that the orders had come down from the Emperor himself. It was meant to appear as if he'd taken a special interest in young Natus' care. As far as Luke had ever seen, Sidious did nothing that didn't benefit him personally on a variety of levels.

So he'd been put on leave until he recovered, which was taking longer there than it ever would have on the Aeres. Father had been sent away. Mara had been sent away. Luke remained a prisoner in his own apartments within the palace and he was ready to snap the neck of the next medic that was just checking on him.

He had to get out of there. It was a good thing he had perfected the art of sneaking out when he was young.

Soft-soled boots that made for quieter footsteps as he hit the permacrete beneath the window of his apartment and Luke swallowed a grunt of pain at the twinge that radiated up his left leg. He flexed his foot at the ankle, still feeling it, but was more confident as he set it down and rocked forward, relying on his dark robes and awareness through the Force to get him past the guards that patrolled the palace grounds.

In his youth, he and Mara went deep down into the bowels of the city-planet, but that had been because he had been forbidden to leave. No such explicit orders had come down this time - though the implication had been strong - so he started for the city center. He didn't have a destination in mind, but his feet seemed to be aimed in a specific direction.

As he walked, his leg ached, and he used the pain as fuel for his own stubborn determination to get… somewhere. It was strange. There was an overwhelming feeling that he should be moving. That much he was sure of. He followed that feeling down streets and through crowds. It was late, but not so late that people had returned home. Instead they were out in droves. Dinners and parties and productions. Politicians and government officials mingled with military brass to make sure that enough palms were greased that their particular locals were taken care of.

Then he felt it. A familiar presence. He turned to see her on the steps of the opera house. Leia Organa was dressed in white, her dress simpler than her companions', though no less elegant. Her smile looked genuine, her laugh unreserved. Then, without him taking a step forward, she seemed to sense him as well, even if he'd wager she had no idea that she had. A real smile of his own tugged at the corners of Luke's mouth as she excused herself, stepping away so that he could make his way over without being bombarded by the crowd. "Senator."

"Lord Natus," she greeted, thankfully using the name the rest of the galaxy knew him by. "We do seem to stumble across each other when we're both on planet."

"It sounds like there may be an accusation in there somewhere," he teased lightly and her smile grew.

"I imagine you're well enough acquainted with accusations that you know when you're at the receiving end of one." Her brown gaze traveled up and down, the smile fading a little as she took him in. Interesting. Standing still as they were there was nothing that should give away that he'd been injured.

Leia pursed her lips together and, instead of addressing what was on her mind, she turned back to the gaggle of feminine faces that likely made up a chunk of the sporadically-active senate. "If you'll excuse me," she offered to the gaping onlookers. "There are some trade routes that Lord Natus keeps promising me he'll speak to the Emperor about."

Giggles followed from the crowd as she turned, looping her arm through Luke's own, and it was her momentum that started them forward.

He quirked an eyebrow. "You know they don't think we're going to discuss trade routes, don't you?"

"They don't think much at all," the princess huffed. "Not that the men of the senate are any better on whole. They're all here for wealth and power, but it's helpful to know who is looking for what and where the rare alliance might come into play."

"Look at you. Already running circles around them."

"I'm not here for my own entertainment. I'm here for Alderaan." He could feel that gaze fix on him again, even if neither of them turned to fully face each other as they walked. "And the betterment of the galaxy. Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

"No you're not. You're limping."

She looked genuinely concerned by that and Luke couldn't help the twinge of guilt. "Come on. Let's get out of the crowd." No reason to risk saying something that would land both of them in front of an execution squad.

They moved off the street and he led her back a ways. She followed, never questioning until they reached the lift that would take them to the lower levels. She shot him a look before motioning at a dress fit more for the show she'd just taken in than the lower levels.

Okay. She had a point. Luke shrugged off his dark cloak and handed it over to her before unclipping his newly-visible lightsaber from his belt and moving it to a secondary clip under the flaps of his tunic. No reason either of them should draw attention.

"Do you carry that everywhere?" Leia asked, as she pulled the cloak around her shoulders, the garment swallowing up her petite frame.

"Yes."

"I guess it didn't help you in whatever fight you found yourself in," she murmured as they stepped into the newly opened lift.

Luke punched a button to signify the level and, once the doors shut, they were sent plummeting to the bowels beneath the city. "It didn't do much against an explosion," he offered with a shrug. "We'll be able to talk more freely down here. Palpatine has eyes and ears above, but they're fewer below."

"You sound like you've spent time down here."

"Mara and I used to sneak out and come here, yes."

That got her attention. "Mara?"

He caught her watching out of the corner of his eye. "A friend."

"The friend you told my father about?"

The unmaintenanced chime signaled their arrival and the doors split open. Luke ducked his head a little, willing the truthful "Yes," from his lips as he stepped out and into a very different crowd. Where everyone topside was watching every move, folks down there were desperate to mind their own business.

Leia followed. "She must be more than a friend if you're willing to risk asking her to come with you." He offered only a grunt in response and the petite woman at his side picked up her pace. "It's strange. Somehow I feel like I've known you forever, but then I realize that I know very little about you. It's good to know you have someone that you care about and that cares." There was a beat as they moved forward and he could feel her studying him. "Do you love her? I mean, are you able to?"

Luke turned a surprised look on her. "Why would I not be able to?"

"Isn't the whole thing about Siths that they only use the Dark Side?" He opened his mouth and she waved him off. "I know, I know. You're not a Sith yet. The question still stands. Can they?"

"Of course." The words tumbled out with such confidence that they left little room for argument from someone who knew little about the ancient order that drew their power from the Dark Side. It was more complicated, of course, but he didn't know how to explain it. His father loved him, Luke knew that much. He would burn the galaxy for him if it would protect him, but that love came tinged with jealousy and paranoia. He had never let himself linger on what becoming a Sith might do to the love he felt for Mara. He supposed that didn't matter a lot now.

"Were you hurt because you let Andor go? "Leia asked softly, the question cutting through his thoughts.

"Was that his name?"

"You didn't get his name? How did you know he was with us?"

Luke gave an amused snort. He wasn't used to people questioning where his hunches came from. Especially when they were accurate. "I just knew."

Her expression darkened, fear ringing the edges. "Do they know about him? Should —"

He threw his hands up in mock surrender. "No. No one does. It's fine."

"But that's where you were hurt?"

He stopped midstep and turned to look at her. "You think I didn't do anything between then and now?"

"Depends how badly you were injured. A few days of travel and to Coruscant after it? That either means you're here on whatever constitutes medical leave for someone like you or someone suspects something. Though you wouldn't exactly be out and about if it was the latter, would you?"

Luke swallowed down the thought of his late night sneak out and offered her a half smile instead. "So he did make it back with the information I sent?"

His mother's daughter nodded. "He did. We're following down some leads and comparing them with other intel that's come in."

"Good to know it was helpful," Luke murmured. "I want them to know I'm serious about this. My price may be steep, but I can deliver equal value."

Leia pursed her lips. "You do have a vantage that few do," she acknowledged softly. "Speaking of… I'm glad we connected tonight."

Luke felt his spirits rise. He wanted to know her. This woman he didn't dare refer to as his sister. Bright, driven, and unwavering. He wondered if their mother had been the same.

"If you will, I'd like you to put me in touch with Captain Solo."

And just like that they plummeted. "Solo?"

They turned down a new path and dark eyes peered up from under his own cloak. "That's his name, isn't it? Your smuggler?"

"Why?"

"Because I'd like to see Jedha for myself."

Dark blond brows shot up at that. "You want to see the crystals?"

"And the mining of them. And the state of the people. Aid may be needed, and Alderaan is always ready to help those in need."

"It's an Imperial dig site for a mineral fueling a top secret 'll never get in."

"That's why I need your smuggler."

"He can only get you to port. Then what?"

Offense worked its way into every muscle in her face. "I can handle a few stormtroopers once I'm there."

"There are protocols for these kinds of sites. Protocols that were never provided to the Senate."

She stopped and put her hands on her hips. His aching leg thanked him as he halted his own forward motion to meet her glare with crossed arms and a quirked brow. They stood there for a long moment, squared off and neither giving way, before she rolled her eyes at him. "Fine. Then come with me."

Luke blinked at her, startled by what she seemed to think was a compromise. "To Jedha?" he managed. "I can't go with you to Jedha. I'm being watched too closely as it is."

"So that is why you're here?"

He opened his mouth, shut it, and repeated the action as he tried to find a way to explain it. "I don't know," he finally admitted softly.

"My father always said the Force led the Jedi, not fear."

"I'm not a Jedi."

"But you're not a Sith either," she pointed out with a shrug. "I'm just saying…. I imagine the Emperor keeps you busy, but you seem to have the time. Maybe if you listen, the Force will tell you if you're supposed to go or not."

He quirked an eyebrow. "You think I should."

"You're the one that pointed out all of the issues I might run into. I'm willing to face them with or without you."

Her voice was so certain. So sure. In that moment, Luke wondered if she heard the Force without realizing it. And if she did… maybe he should listen a little closer.

The crowd broke around where the two stood and Luke sighed, letting his eyes flutter closed. He pulled in a breath through his nose, letting his senses reach out as he released it out his mouth, and the steady buzz of the market around him faded.

And for just a moment he could have sworn he was standing in front of a temple. Larger and more ornate than the one that had been destroyed by the Death Star's test. It too lay in ruins from decades of neglect, but from beyond the doors that had been shut perhaps longer than he'd been alive, he heard a ghostly whisper.

Luke.

Luke's eyes flashed open and he found Leia staring at him, her brows knit and the corners of her mouth pulled taught. Her hand was resting on his biceps, more tentatively than he'd seen her approach anything.

"I'm okay," he breathed.

"Who's Ben?"

"What?"

"You said a name: Ben."

He had, hadn't he? It had been his voice, same as it had been after the explosion. He'd reached out the the Force and, somehow, it had been Kenobi that had reached back.

"We should go."

There was a beat of silence before she nodded, her shoulders slumped ever so slightly. "Of course. Do you know where Solo is or will you just let me know when you make contact."

"I'll give him a place. Do you have a transport you can fly? It's a lot easier if we leave separately."

Dark eyes blinked at him. "You're coming?"

"Looks like I am."

—

The comm came in over a secure channel halfway through the Kessel run with a full cargo hold. Chewie had warned him not to take it, but no. Han hadn't bothered to listen. He'd had reason enough not to. If it had been Jabba looking for an update and Han hadn't answered, it would only be so long before the Hutt assumed the worst and put a bounty on him. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd done that to a smuggler and likely not the last either. The gangster paid exceptionally well, but a missed delivery simply wasn't an option.

But the comm wasn't Jabba. It wasn't one of his minions either. Instead Han found himself staring at a hooded figure that he'd hoped had somehow forgotten he existed. So much for hope.

"Captain Solo," Luke greeted, sharp and direct. "I'm in need of your ship."

Chewie let out a loud roar from the co-pilot seat and Han snorted a laugh. The only thing that left him bold enough to say it was the near-certain chance that an Imperial didn't speak Wookie.

"It'll be a few days."

"No, you'll need to meet me at the coordinates I'm sending you in two standard days' time."

"I'll be in the Outer Rim by then." He glanced down at the coordinates scrawled across his computer screen. "Give me four days. Maybe three and a half, depending on how chatty my current employer turns out to be while I'm dropping his shipment off."

"I'm your only current employer," the younger man answered darkly.

"You don't get it. This guy doesn't accept delays."

"Neither do I."

Han swallowed hard, the clear threat looming. He glanced at the coordinates and back to Luke, avoiding his grumbling companion's gaze like his life depended on it. "Okay. Alright. I get it. Just you or —?"

He didn't get an answer as the communication ended and Chewie bellowed in his ear.

"Hey, you weren't the one nearly choked to death on Alderaan," he snapped back. "That kid's tougher than he looks. Just…. Send a message to Pyr at the cantina. He's slow, but it'll get back to Jabba eventually. Hopefully buy us some time."

Chewie growled out a demand.

"I don't know! Something vague. If we're lucky, we'll come out of this with two deliveries instead of just one. A whole lot richer too."

His co-pilot huffed.

"Let's hope not," Han answered, keying in the new coordinates. "Dead is what we're trying to avoid."

—

Mara stood in the hidden hallway of an escape tunnel, the soft purple glow of her lightsaber illuminating the bodies of her mark's guards at her feet. They had tried to stop her or, at the very least, give him time to escape through the far door that he'd never made it to. Now the bureaucrat-turned-traitor stood with his back pressed against the wall and Mara's humming lightsaber close enough to his throat to strike quickly if he so much as twitched a muscle.

"I was coerced," he managed to squeak out. "I would never betray the Emperor willingly!"

"Is that why you sent your guards to kill me?" Mara deadpanned. "Little good it did you."

"I didn't know who you were."

"Clearly." He was lying about his lack of betrayal at the very least. She could feel it. "You'll stand trial for your crimes."

The bureaucrat paled several shades at that and Mara was reminded of Los' declaration: There are no fair trials in Palpatine's Empire. Well, she'd have to make sure this one actually made it and wasn't gunned down by a Rebel sniper.

A familiar spark in the Force gave her a fraction of a second's warning before her Master's voice followed.

My child, your skills are needed.

She frowned, green eyes flickering to her trembling captive. I will deliver Moff Tantum to your authorities shortly, My Emperor.

He will be dealt with. Time is of the essence.

There was a beat as she studied him, then another, before she finally withdrew her blade just enough so that when his shaking knees gave out that he didn't lose half his face. Behind her, a small platoon of stormtroopers finally caught up and she withdrew entirely.

Who is the target, my lord? she asked over her bond with the Sith Master.

There was a flicker of dark delight that accompanied the name: Senator Leia Organa. I trust you will unravel any lies she is weaving.

Mara's blade snapped back to the hilt as the troopers took their traitorous Moff into custody. Of course, my Master, she answered and turned, leaving them to it. Any intel she required would be waiting on her shuttle, and if Palpatine felt it was urgent enough to pull her away before she'd fully wrapped the Tantum case up, time must truly be limited on this one.

--

Chapter Text

Dust kicked up as she stepped out into the bright sun, the winds causing street merchants to grab for the tarps shielding a few goods from the tiny grains determined to lodge their way in. Leia hadn't known exactly what to expect from the Imperial-occupied city that was exporting crystals that had once been used to power Jedi lightsabers, but now that she was there, she could practically feel the beaten down and desperate spirit of the people. Just like so many others across the galaxy that suffered under Palpatine's reign.

"… once considered a sacred city for a variety of different religions spanning back to the High Republic and perhaps —"

"Fascinating," Solo grumbled, effectively cutting C-3PO's history lesson short as he and her family's protocol droid followed Leia and Luke out into the surprisingly chilly open air. Chewbacca had remained on the ship, opting to stay out of the Imperials' line of sight so that they didn't risk closer scrutiny on a rarely-free Wookie roaming about. Luke had encouraged Threepio to stay as well, but that particular wish had been lost to another sharp squabble between the two men on if Solo would be leaving during their search. He'd lost that one, and while Leia hadn't approved of the Sith's son's methods, she had agreed with the reasoning. All intention was to get in, snoop around, and leave again undetected, but if they found themselves in any other scenario outside of the best of them, they would need a quick exit.

Leia turned to Luke who stood in earth tones rather than his usual blacks, blue eyes scanning from beneath his hood that shadowed his face.

"Remind me why you needed to come along?" Solo snapped at something Threepio said, but it was Luke that cut in.

"We'll take the long way around to the old temple's entrance. The majority of the mining is happening in the northern sector, so we'll aim for the southern entrance to avoid as many prying eyes as we can."

"And stormtroopers," Leia said quietly.

"That too."

"If I may," Threepio interjected, "according to my archives the temple was destroyed two standard years ago."

Solo balked at that. "You couldn't have said that before?"

"It's fine," Luke answered, waving the worry off. "We're here to see the site. The temple doesn't matter."

There was something in his tone that caught Leia's attention. He was lying. Why or about what exactly, she wasn't sure, but he was lying.

He rocked forward, starting into the crowd, and she joined him, not letting him take a full lead of their little band as he was likely accustomed to doing. "These people think it mattered," she said quietly. "The pilgrims that used to travel here for a central location of their faith likely think it matters too."

"Most of them are dead," Luke ground out, his voice tight and controlled. "You may be here to get a feel for the people, but I need to understand exactly what we're up against. The temple doesn't matter to me. Only stopping the flow of crystals out of the ruins."

His pace quickened and Leia's lips twitched down. He was still lying.

—-

There were planets under Imperial control and then there were Imperial-occupied planets. The difference could be seen in the number of troopers filling the cities and in the very visible Star Destroyers that hovered close enough to the surface at times to kick up windstorms below. If a planet were to be occupied, the goal wasn't loyalty. No, it was well past that point. The goal was subjugated.

Jedha was an occupied planet in every sense of the word. Jedha City was a step further. It was strange. Just a year before, Luke was sure he would have had an excuse for the violent reaction in the streets and the beaten down spirit of the people. Peace came at a cost, after all, and a firm hand secured peace for the ages. Now, though, he kept his thoughts carefully tucked away as they wound their way through markets filled with beggars and desperate people of every kind. Strangely enough, he had to fight the urge to do something seeing a stormtrooper extract a tax - legitimate or not - from a trembling old woman with a basket full of hardened fruit. All interfering would cause the woman was more heartache.

And then another variable was added. A boy. He was small but nimble, and he moved with accurate speed as he slipped passed the trooper and plucked the payment directly from his gloved hand with no subtlety to cover his tracks. He picked up speed, the white clad stormtrooper followed with a shout, and Luke firmly and deliberately planted his feet, fighting the strange sensation that was only growing.

Leia did not.

"Princess—!" her protocol droid squeaked, his voice half cut off as if he remembered the word of the day was discretion.

Luke and Solo were already on her heels though as she darted after the child being pursued by stormtroopers and rounded into an alley after them.

"Blast it," Solo swore softly at the scene. The kid hadn't quite made it to the small hole in the wall that he would have been small enough to scoot through. Instead one of the stormtroopers had caught hold of him, hauling him back roughly by his dirty hair. The stolen credits lay scattered on the alley floor.

Leia stalked right past the trooper bent over for the fallen money with purpose and authority that she didn't actually have there. "Let him go!"

The trooper turned what was likely a startled expression hidden behind his mask, but it was quickly boiling over into irritation. "Move along, Lady. This doesn't concern you."

The Alderaanian princess stood firm and Luke glanced at Solo. "Stay here," he ordered softly, and though a flicker of confusion followed him the smuggler did as instructed as he started into the alley.

"He's a child," Leia countered, motioning to the boy that was still squirming despite the hold the stormtrooper had on his dark hair. "Clearly hungry and desperate. You have your credits. There's no reason to —"

Luke was steps away as the second trooper came up behind her, taking her roughly by her arm. "Looks like a co-conspirator," he offered and his partner nodded. "You'll both face the Emperor's justice."

Leia fought and Luke pulled in a steadying breath, the Force flowing through him and back out to touch the bullish minds beneath the helmets and both fell silent and still, as if frozen in place. "Release them."

Gloved hands dropped immediately, the boy tumbling to the ground in surprise. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Luke registered that he made it to his feet and was scurrying off, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Not without releasing his hold on the two real threats. So he held on, coming to stand in front of them and speaking firmly with the smallest wave of his hand. "The boy escaped, but you recovered the credits. He wasn't worth chasing. You saw no one else."

"No one else," they agreed sluggishly.

"Go."

And like the good little soldiers they were, the two stormtroopers turned, passing by a gaping Solo like he wasn't there at all.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded, but Luke turned on Leia, and the rage must have made it through his calm mask if her expression was anything to go by.

"You wanted me here to get you through the protocols. That —" he motioned to where the boy had run — "could have gotten us all killed or worse, discovered. Do you know what the Empire does to defectors?"

Her expression hardened and she squared her shoulders, unwilling to back down. "Did you see what the Empire was doing to that child? I couldn't just —"

"Yes you could. You chose not to," he said tightly. "You need to learn, Senator, you can't save everyone. Sometimes to reach a goal you have to make difficult decisions."

"Like striking down a youngling's guardian?" she snapped back.

The blow struck harder than he expected it to and he hardened his expression.

"I hate to break this up, but shouldn't we get moving?" Solo called from the side.

Luke nodded and turned, feeling Leia's stubborn irritation join them as a fifth companion as they moved back into the crowd.

—-

Han had seen his share of oddities in the galaxy. Cultures and faiths and old stories whispered across planets. But every time, they were just that: stories. They might be told to children to instill a set of values or to a dying being that was desperate for a scrap of hope, but they were never true. Even those that claimed to hold powers eventually showed themselves simply to be talented at a slight of hand. It was never real.

The old Jedi religion about an all-powerful Force that governed the galaxy wasn't any different. Or at least he thought it wasn't until the day a kid that stood a good head shorter than him had hauled him off his feet by his throat without ever laying a hand on him. He'd been trying to piece together since that day just how he'd done it, and Han had almost convinced himself that it had been some kind of incredibly clever trick until he'd watched what must have been what the Princess had referred to as a Sith Mind Trick. The kid had bent those stormtroopers' wills in the direction of the exit they hadn't been at all interested in. If Han were honest, he'd probably saved their lives. A shootout wouldn't have been pretty when all their white-clad buddies had come running to find them cornered in an alleyway.

Han wasn't ready to admit he believed in the Force, but he thought he'd inched a little further from blatant disbelief.

They were halfway through the city - avoiding the kid and the Princess' private feud as best he could - when he saw the boy that had them to thank for not being in an Imperial holding cell for the stunt he'd pulled. All dark hair and large, brown eyes, his clothes were tattered and his feet were bare. Han remembered those days.

The boy was watching them, only briefly caught in Han's line of vision, but he knew how this worked. Small and agile, he was ducking into places that kept him out of their line of sight, but they were in his. Why was the question. Typically even a child knew better than to turn over his saviors, but maybe that had just been on Corellia. Han had no idea what loyalty looked like on Jedha.

Without warning, Luke slammed to a stop. Han couldn't see his expression from under the hood that shadowed his face, but Threepio did call out for Leia - a handful of steps ahead - to stop. She whirled, ready to lay into someone for something, but her burning irritation lowered to a simmer when her dark gaze fell on the kid. Despite whatever had been stirred up by Luke's response to her actions, there was something there that caused her to pause. "What?"

The head beneath the cloak tilted a little. "Not sure yet."

"Anything to do with the kid you saved?" Han asked, nodding towards the edge of the crowd where he saw a flash of the boy's dirty tunic as he ducked out of sight.

Luke's back straightened and his shoulders squared at that, but the boy was gone.

Instead, a voice from Han's back sounded in his ear. "Do you wish to have a glimpse into your future?"

The smuggler spun, cursing as he did, and nearly tumbled into the Princess' protocol droid. Leia startled a litte, but Luke remained still, his sharp eyes fixed on the pale ones of a man with dark hair and a walking stick. The man offered him a friendly smile, though his gaze was fixed unseeingly past the kid who was studying him closely.

"Or, perhaps, you see your own," the blind man said and Luke tensed just a little. His head tilted again as he studied the newcomer intently.

Well, whatever powers the kid might or might not have, he'd been taken on this one. Han snorted. "Good try, pal. I clocked your pint sized friend that's feeding you information in the crowd. You're not fooling anyone."

It was like he hadn't said a damned thing. The charlatan took a step closer to Luke and he pursed his lips. "Someone called you here."

And just like that, the spell broke. Curiosity was replaced with that same cold expression Han was quickly getting used to. "You know nothing."

"I know only what the Force reveals to me," the dark haired man said, unworried by the change in stance.

Leia perked up at that. "You're a Jedi?"

"Much more likely a Guardian of the Whills," Threepio piped up. "An ancient order that was tasked with protecting the temple and those that traveled to it."

"There are still those that seek the old ways," their newcomer answered. "Those that seek the will of the Force."

"Chirrut!" a voice called out and Han's gaze darted towards it. Where their visitor was small in stature and pleasantly unimposing, the other that had called his name was a bulk of a man with wild hair and dressed in partial armor. A monk and a warrior. Great. Just what they needed.

The monk waved his companion over and somehow Luke managed to look even more irritated at that. His jaw dropped a bit like he was ready to give an order, but the princess stepped forward.

"I understand your temple was destroyed," she said softly, her tone holding more empathy than Han would have immediately attributed to a royal. Funny thing, he didn't think she was faking it either. He prided himself on being able to spot a tell, and the spitfire seemed genuinely saddened.

"Much of it was," the monk - Chirrut - answered as his friend came to loom protectively at his side. "Not all of it though. Not for those that are meant to enter."

"For a price, though," Han groused, drawing the bodyguard's attention. His frown was pronounced.

"Let's go."

"Baze here used to listen to the Force too," Chirrut said, "but claims he can no longer hear it." He shot his friend a knowing look and received a glare that the other had to know he couldn't see. He turned his pale gaze somewhere between Leia and Luke. "Only because he stopped listening."

There was something strange in the princess' expression. "Will you show us?"

"Leia," Luke snapped at the same time Han managed a small sound of protest.

Even the droid chimed in. "Prin— Mistress, I must protest! The odds that these two are charlatans looking for a way to exploit you are —"

"They're not," she cut him off with more confidence than she likely had a right to have. She turned to Luke, some sort of strange, silent conversation seeming to happen between them. One that he did not look like he wanted to give to. "You know I'm right," she pressed. "I may not be like you, I know people. I'm not wrong here."

With that, the kid's shoulders slumped, and Han knew that once Luke gave to her, it wasn't like any of the rest of them had a snowball's chance on Mustafar.

—

Senator Organa was a clever woman. The adopted - and only - daughter of Bail and Breha Organa, she was royalty on her mother's side, but had decided to follow in her father's political footsteps that were often borderline treasonous. The ISB had watched Bail Organa for years, but had never found the kind of evidence damning enough to go after him. The man was beloved both on and off his home planet, as was his daughter. Mara would need to approach this with care to ensure it did not come back on the Emperor.

The young princess traveled more than most of her colleagues in the Senate, at least according to the records. Most of that travel took place between her home planet of Alderaan and Coruscant on a CR90 corvette that was filed under the Organa royal family's ownership with the occasional trip that was always marked as humanitarian aid in the flight logs. Notes from her father's time in the Senate had shown a similar pattern, and while it was possible that a family full of royals and diplomats cared deeply for the suffering of others that would never have an affect one way or the other on the power they retained, Mara doubted it. There was usually more in her experience, and it usually came down to personal gain at the expense of the Empire.

The CR90 corvette was missing from the docking bay, as was a small transport ship also owned by the Alderaanian royal family. Both had submitted travel logs that put them in route to their homeworld rather suddenly. That had been two and a half standard days prior, giving them more than enough time to reach their destination. Though the Alderaanian logs declared both ships' arrival, a trustworthy contact Mara had on planet could find no sight of the smaller transport. If it had landed, it had left immediately after.

Confirming if the princess had been the one that took the transport was near to impossible without going to Alderaan herself. She simply didn't have enough eyes and ears there to provide that kind of high confidence intel, but if she searched out the transport and it was the distraction, she would waste valuable time in the other direction. That was the job, though, and her hunches were often right.

Mara reached forward, keying in a comm code and the transport details. Unless the princess knew how to scramble her signal, the port she'd actually landed in should have some record of her arrival.

With the time it took for her contact to get back to her, she thought maybe she'd underestimated Organa. The transport had finally turned up on a planet that they didn't have nearly as heavy a presence on. There was no reason to. Jakku was a dust ball that had never proven useful or problematic to the Empire. Perhaps it was time to take a closer look if the Senator had taken interest in it.

There were no sources she could pull from on the planet, so it looked like she would be making a trip there herself to see exactly what was so interesting on Jakku.

—-

He didn't like it. This Guardian Chirrut and his companion Baze were impossible to get a good read on from his vantage. The blind monk was cheerful and played well at being open while simultaneously tucking every real thought and feeling behind a carefully constructed wall. Luke would have required brute force of a manner that typically only the Inquisitors used to get through to those thoughts. His friend didn't bother with the façade, content to glare every chance he had. It didn't matter if one hid and one didn't though. The results were the same: he would give too much of himself away if he were to force the situation. Which meant he had to wait. And be patient. The Force had led him here, he had to trust it to continue that path forward, no matter how much he preferred to do otherwise.

"You're really good with this?" Solo asked from his side as they followed the two Guardians.

"I don't like it," he admitted softly, "but I trust Leia."

"Aren't you supposed to be the one with all the —" his hands danced in a theatrical manner that Luke could only assume was supposed to represent the Force. He quirked an eyebrow and Solo frowned. "You know what I mean."

"Do I?"

Solo snorted at that and Luke's lips twitched up ever so slightly at the corners. The smuggler's eyes narrowed and his lips parted as if he were ready to go off on a grumbling fit when suddenly he seemed to clue in that Luke was toying with him. He weighed that for a fraction of a moment before snorting a laugh.

"No, he's not a Jedi," Leia's voice broke through from a few paces ahead where she walked with Chirrut, his friend Baze on the other side of him, and Threepio just behind her. Luke took a few extra steps to catch up as casually as he could manage.

"Not everyone the Force speaks to is a Jedi," Chirrut answered her. "There are many that still hear it."

Baze huffed, his head on a swivel and his guard up. "Exactly what do you hope to find at the temple ruins?" If the question was directed at Leia or any of the others - or perhaps whoever decided to answer first - it was impossible to say, but it was his own friend's voice that chimed back in.

"They will find what they are meant to find."

"Real sure of that, aren'tcha?" Solo asked, but if Chirrut answered, Luke didn't hear him. In fact, the buzz of the crowds had faded to the back of his mind, moved aside by a stronger hum that reminded him vaguely of a lightsaber on low power. It reverberated through the ground and up through the soles of his boots. He could feel it in his chest and down into his fingers. It left him feeling like he was floating. Untethered either by gravity or anything else. He was simply drifting towards —

A large hang on his shoulder snapped him out of it and Luke moved on instinct, the Force leaping to his command and slamming into the mountainous Baze, but thankfully not hard enough to cause a stir. He hadn't realized his eyes had been closed, but as they snapped open and their surroundings came crashing back into focus, he saw the stormtroopers moving around them. They weren't paying them any mind yet, but if he'd kept moving in the direction his feet had wanted to go, he would have gotten a fair amount of attention. Just past a glaring Baze was a cordoned off entrance to what Luke thought might have once been the temple. Now, it was more of a mining shaft at the edge of the city.

"This way," Chirrut murmured, shuffling his way down a side street, seemingly further away from what must have been an excavation site for the Kyber crystals. Even though they moved in the opposite direction, Luke could still feel the reverberations under his feet.

No one spoke as they made their way to the city's edge and passed through a crack in the wall. The desert winds kicked up around them and Luke pulled his cloak closer to his face. A quick glance placed his companions and verified that they were not only there, but they hadn't been led into a trap.

"Where are you taking them?" Baze grumbled, the winds catching it so that it was difficult to hear.

Chirrut didn't miss a step. "Where they need to go."

"I don't like this," Solo grumbled almost directly into Luke's ear. "No telling who they have out here. A brown cloak and a few minutes laying flat and you could get a jump on someone easy enough."

"We're not going that far," Luke answered automatically, but he couldn't have told him anymore. All he knew was that he still felt it, and as they walked, the trembling beneath his boots grew stronger to the point that he was surprised no one else was reacting. Finally he stopped, dropping into a squat and tugged his gloves off to lay bare palms against the ground.

"What do you feel?" Chirrut called, the wind picking up around him.

Luke's fingers touched something hard. A rock… no. A slab. He began pushing sand aside to find the stone reverberating beneath his fingertips and, somewhere in the wind, he could have sworn he heard his name.

Eyes fluttering closed he pressed his palms flat again and stretched out with the Force. A flicker of warning was all he received as the ground cracked beneath them, splintering out and opening up to swallow them up into the darkness below.

---

Chapter Text

A sudden jolt and the feeling of falling coupled with a startled cry that turned out to be her own was what Leia's adrenaline-spiked mind had to work with to piece together that the ground had opened up beneath them and sent them crashing down and down and down. There wasn't time to piece the how it had happened - or even the why - only that they were falling too far for even a rough landing. The only hope they had was an underground aquifer, but it was more likely that they were falling towards the bottom of an underground cavern. A very rocky bottom.

But then it felt like something wrapped around her. The free fall slowed, even if it didn't stop, and Leia's mind worked to make sense of it even as she landed. Her back hit uneven ground, knocking the breath out of her, and she heard similar thuds accompanied by various sounds from her companions.

Threepio's somehow managing to be the loudest, almost simultaneous with a popping sound. "Ah! My leg!"

A pained grunt that sounded vaguely like Luke drew her attention to her left and she squinted against the darkness to try to verify the hunch. "Next time I'll just let gravity do what it wants with you," the young Imperial snarled, sounding out of breath as well.

"What the… was that you?" Solo demanded and Leia could hear him scrambling to find his footing in the dim light beneath the planet's surface.

Slowly her eyes began to adjust. Silhouettes became more defined as she watched Luke pull himself up gingerly to his feet - favouring the leg that he had been limping on back in Coruscant - and pointedly ignore the captain's question as he dusted himself off.

A snort drew her attention to his to the her left to where a mass that could have only been Baze stood. "Your Jedi just about got us killed," he snarled at his blind friend.

Leia could practically feel Luke biting off his usual retort about not being a Jedi. Chirrut seemed unfazed as he turned his attention to the irritable Imperial. "What did you feel?"

"A sudden drop, same as everyone else," Luke snapped. "Leia, you alright?"

It was only then that she realized she'd been the only one that hadn't spoken up yet. "Intact, thanks to you."

He made a noncommittal sound that was swallowed halfway through, his attention captured by something in the distance. It was strange, the longer she listened, the more she was certain she heard it. Whispers. Quiet and undefined, but unless she'd struck her head and was sharing a delusion with Vader's son, most certainly there.

"You hear it?" Chirrut asked softly, suddenly at her side and it was everything Leia could do not to jump at it.

"I hear something," she confirmed. "What is it?"

"A direction to follow," Luke answered for the monk, and he was already moving. She looked between the others. Baze offered a short shake of his head while Solo shrugged. Luke didn't seem inclined to offer more though, so she scooped up Threepio's detached leg and Baze hauled the rest of him up so that they could scurry to catch up.

—-

Jakku turned out to be just as desolate as Mara had heard. The tiny spaceport seemed only to be used by those with less than reputable goals. The princess' ship would stand out amongst the old and junky spacecraft docked there, so it was no surprise that it took a bit of searching to find where they had tucked it away. Not that there appeared to be anyone monitoring the hangar to wheedle a few answers from.

After a bit of searching, Mara found a small, Alderaanian transport that had been taxied back and away from immediate view. If Organa had paid anyone to watch the craft for her, they weren't reliable. It sat unguarded, which in and of itself gave Mara pause. She reached into a small bag hanging off her shoulder and pulled out a scanner. No one inside. That was a start.

The ramp was put away and the ship closed up tight, so Mara pulled a small ladder over - sending a pit droid scurrying as she did - and worked her fingernails under the paneling to pry it off. Under it was a hidden access panel and she dug again in her bag to retrieve a code breaker.

"Hey! You don't have clearance to be in here!" a sharp voice shouted and Mara turned to find a tiny alien woman with purple skin and what appeared to be a second set of eyes positioned at her temples. The ones directed at Mara were narrowed and her frog-like mouth was tilted deeply in a frown.

Mara offered a charming smile, pulling on the Force to ease the tension surrounding what she had to assume was the overseer. She waited half a beat until she saw the small mind trick take effect before she risked a lie. "A work order came in for the control panel to be fixed before the pilot returns. Everything's good here."

She waited. A moment passed. Then another. Luke was better at this than she was. As Mara waited to see if this would escalate, she couldn't help but wish he was along for this one.

The alien woman finally tilted her head and then nodded. "Get it done," she grumbled before turning around and shuffling off, leaving Mara to wonder if the trick had worked or she'd just decided that Mara hadn't been worth the trouble. It didn't matter in the end. She was gone and Mara got back to the task at hand.

Her code breaker made quick work of the Alderaanian security, granting her access as the door slid open and the ramp extended to her left. Mara stepped off the ladder and onto the ramp, slowly entering the seemingly empty ship.

A flash of warning was all that she had and she just barely sidestepped as energy zapped the air where she'd stepped inside. She pivoted around, blaster flying to her hand, and she aimed it at a small astromech droid with its electric pike still sparking. The blue adorned dome spun and it chattered angrily at her, darting forward like it was just looking for an opening.

She didn't give it one. One shot sent the droid screaming and the second powered it down, the dome smoking and the sparking electricity dimmed with the power outage. Great. There was no telling if it had signaled an alarm to its master and Mara wasn't ready to tip her hand. She needed to work fast.

—-

They followed the whispering, ghostly voices that only a portion of their party could hear all the way to what appeared to be the underground entrance of the temple that the Empire was ransacking above ground. There was something in the architecture - the large, ornate doors that seemed to have no immediately obvious way to open them - that set it apart from the rest. Luke looked them up and down, the whispers somehow immenating from the other side of them even if they were sealed tightly shut.

"Now what?" Solo huffed from the side and Luke could practically hear the glare Leia shot the pilot's way that drew out a defensive: "What?" from him.

"The Force has led us this far," Chirrut said. "It will lead us in."

He wasn't wrong, exactly, but it wasn't becoming clear to Luke. He reached forward, fingers ghosting along the stone's grooves, and he felt a tremble beneath his touch. It wasn't quite as strong as it had been before the ground had opened up above, but power resonated beyond where they stood, and it reacted to him. He flattened his palm against it, hoping he didn't bring the whole thing down, and there was a faint glow from the grooves that only grew brighter.

Luke zeroed in his focus on the doors in front of him. He envisioned them sliding open, stone scraping against stone, and his mind's eye provided the image of a long corridor. The more he focused, the further he could see, and the world around him - Leia and Solo, Chirrut and Baze, and the finally-quieted chattering of Leia's droid fading to the background as his path became more pronounced. One step and then another took him forward down the path, whispers and tendrils of fog guiding him. The fog snaked around his boots and his hands, pulling and murmuring, until he found himself standing alone in a chamber.

It was dark. The outside light didn't reach the room, but he could feel what surrounded him, and as he tilted his eyes upward, he thought he saw water collecting above, the droplets highlighted in starlight and leaving dots of blue-white scattered across the ceiling. He drew in a breath, eyes slipping closed for a moment until he heard a voice echoing through the endless room.

"Luke."

Blue eyes snapped open and Luke turned, finding an old yet somehow still familiar figure standing within arm's reach. "Uncle Ben," he breathed, taking a hesitant step forward.

He was almost exactly how he remembered him. Kind eyes somehow softened the worry lines for those around him; his clothing was worn and his cloak patched. He was older than his phantom had been on the planet made up of memories from a few years before, and while he looked like the man that had faded from Luke's own memory since the day his father had found him, he had remembered him as taller. Though everyone was taller to a five year old boy.

Lines deepened as Kenobi smiled. "You've grown up," he murmured softly.

"That tends to happen," Luke answered, but the words felt hollow. Filler for all the questions raging in his mind. No. He needed to focus. "Where are we?"

"Let's call it between, shall we?" Kenobi offered and motioned for the younger man to follow. With each step his boots left a ripple of light in the dark floor as if a stone had been tossed into still waters.

"It was your voice I heard," Luke said after several steps.

"I was hoping you'd hear me."

"But why? After so long… where have you been?"

He couldn't see if there was any twitch in his expression, the older man's gaze focused ahead, but his shoulders sagged ever so slightly, almost as if there were an immense pressure weighing down against them. Luke wondered briefly if ghosts felt the passing of time as humans did. Had it been mere moments since Darth Vader had cut him down or years from Kenobi's point of view?

"You've not been receptive."

Rage flushed through him, sudden and intense, but he wasn't sure why. He hadn't been. Even as Tano had pleaded with him years before, swearing by the elder Jedi's good intentions, Luke hadn't believed it. He swallowed the sharp retort and instead responded to what somehow felt like an affront. "I'm loyal to my father," the young Imperial stated firmly.

Kenobi turned, the barest of sad smiles tugging at his lips. "I know. You have so much of your mother in you."

And, just like that, the rage subsided like the tide washing back out to sea. "You knew her?"

"I did. She's the reason I took you away. Hid you. I'd hoped to keep you safe."

"My father never would have hurt me."

"Hasn't he?"

"No. He's protected me. He's taught me how to be strong."

"And what will you choose to do with that strength, Luke?"

Protect those I love. That was the immediate answer. That was what all the power was for, wasn't it? Dig in, form alliances, and build power to use as a shield and a saber against the eventual enemy, but even while true, the names on that very short list had expanded. He was the lone name for his father, he knew, but Mara had been added to his own many years before. Leia more recently. And somehow, especially with her, he felt those that aligned himself in their vicinity added. Her adopted father, Solo, and even the monk and his protector.

"Protect people," was all that he could manage as an answer.

Kenobi's smile returned, sad and a little nostalgic. "There are pieces of you that remind me of Padme, but that… that's every bit the Anakin I knew. He wanted so very much to protect those he loved. Palpatine used that and warped it."

A tremor drove its way through the space and Luke saw the starlight ripple out. Kenobi's eyes narrowed as he studied it. "We're running short on time."

"Does that mean you're going to tell me why I'm here?"

"I know you seek answers. A path forward. I… couldn't save your father once. She believes you can, though it may take you both. I fear it will, if he can be saved at all."

"Leia," Luke breathed. "You mean Leia. My sister."

Surprise flashed across Kenobi's face. "No. No, you shouldn't allow your father near her. There's a reason we separated you."

Another tremor shook the ground so hard that Luke had to catch his balance. "Then who?"

"Ahsoka Tano."

Luke felt his chest tighten at that. "She's dead too. Everyone that knows how to help us is dead…. We're alone."

"No. Ahsoka's alive."

A third tremor. This one powerful enough that Luke thought he saw cracks in the star-studded surroundings.

"You must find her again," Kenobi urged. "She'll help you."

"She'll help him?"

"Not alone, but if any two people left alive can, it's the two of you."

The floor cracked beneath him and Luke found himself staring directly at the man who had raised him the first five years of his life. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I shouldn't have run," the age-old confession he thought he'd long since put away bubbled up.

"You are where the Force wants you," Kenobi swore, but before Luke could answer, the floor splintered and shattered beneath him, sending him plummeting into the abyss.

—

The tremor shook the walls of the old temple and it was the first sign that something was wrong. Not that Han had particularly needed that sign. They'd followed a couple of crazies out into the desert and fallen through to a cavern to an underground temple. Things were bound to go wrong, so it wasn't the explosions coming from excavation they shouldn't have been anywhere near… it was that the kid didn't react at all. He stayed absolutely still, palm pressed against the doors that hadn't budged, and - as Han circled him for a better look - eyes closed like he'd fallen into some kind of trance. Great. Just great.

The princess was at his other side, her hand on his shoulder and concern tugging at her expression. She whirled back to the monk. "What's wrong with him?" she demanded as a second tremor rattled the unsteady walls around them.

Han was just about to remind her that the man was blind when his sightless eyes fell on Luke. "He's not here."

The captain snorted. He only looked like he was looking straight at the kid. "He's right in front of you."

"His body is, but his mind is somewhere else."

"Like a meditative state?" Leia asked.

"Could have picked a better time," the monk's bodyguard growled and, as if to prove the already clear point, a third tremor - this one strong enough to send small pieces of the overhead ceiling dusting down towards them - shook the underground cave.

"Oh my!" Threepio howled and Han turned back to the monk.

"Bring him out of it before the whole place comes down on us."

"I cannot."

"Of course you can't," the smuggler groused, turning back to Baze. "Pass Goldenrod over here. I'll take him if you get Luke."

The larger man shot him an irritated look. "If we move his body, he may not find it again," he grumbled, tone sounding as if his irritation was directed at the words he found himself saying rather than Han's perceived ignorance. Yeah. He got it. It was too much for him too.

Before Han had a chance to respond there was another violent tremor and Luke jolted, eyes flying open and Leia made a startled sound at his side. "You're back," she managed.

He stared at the closed door for a long moment before he seemed to piece together what the others already knew: another rough tremor could bring down the whole cave on top of them. His fingers flexed against the door briefly before it dropped. "We have to go."

"What gave you that idea?" Han snapped before he was able to stop himself. Thankfully Luke seemed more interested in their exit than stringing him up by an invisible rope again.

Not that there was an exit to go back to.

In the face of a collapsing cave, not one of them mentioned the fact that they'd fallen through the desert floor to get there. Thankfully Han was used to tight situations with bad odds, not that he liked to know them. No, he preferred to focus on solutions rather than worry about why they'd never work.

The race back to their entry point was coupled with huffing breaths and adrenaline driving them further away from the temple that the Empire seemed to be bringing down on their search. Strange enough, when they came crashing down none of them had seen the entrance they'd landed at, but as they reached the hole in the cave's ceiling Luke turned like he could still see it through the darkness.

"We might be able to scale the walls," Leia said as she moved to one of the walls in question.

"Shouldn't need to," Han answered, looking up at the sky above them. As long as Chewie was paying attention - and what else did he have to do while sitting around a spaceport? - it wouldn't take him very long.

"You signaled the ship," the princess managed.

"Don't sound so surprised, sweetheart."

"Don't call me that."

"Apologies, your worship."

The roar of the Falcon's engines drew their attentions. Well, everyone's except the kid he needed alive to pay for all this effort. Luke was still staring back towards the temple like he'd left something he was thinking about going back for.

Above, Chewie sounded a warning as a ladder unfolded and dropped down. He'd told his co-pilot that it was a waste of credits when he'd purchased it. Now that it was saving their backsides, he was never going to hear the end of it.

"Luke!" Leia shouted over all the noise.

"There are still crystals behind that door, aren't there?" he asked, his question directed at the monk.

"Likely what they're trying to get at with the explosions," Chirrut agreed.

"Go."

Leia blinked in confusion. "Luke, we're —"

"I'm right behind you," he promised her, even as he took a few steps back in the direction they had run from.

Han glanced up at where Chewie was impatiently waiting with the Falcon hovering out in the open. He shook his head, shutting the monk and the body guard up. When the princess stood still, staring after the idiot they'd all followed down there, Han huffed. "Go. I'll get him."

That startled her and he offered a lopsided grin. "What? Kid owes me money."

She snorted, but accepted that explanation and had to jump to catch the lowest rung on the hanging.

Han made his way towards Luke, the young man standing with his eyes heavily lidded and his hand outstretched. "Okay, no amount of money is worth getting buried here. If you're back in one of those trance things…"

"I'm here, but I can't let them have it."

"And by them you mean the people you work for, right?"

Blue eyes snapped over and managed to tear through Han's amused snark with a single look. "You don't know what they're using it for."

"Remember? I don't want to."

"Fine." He turned back, fingers outstretched, and Han didn't think the next tremor came from Imperial explosions. At least not official ones.

"You're using it as a cover," he breathed. Well, at least the kid wasn't stupid. Temperamental and strange as they came, but not stupid.

"Go."

"Your royal friend up there won't forgive me if I show up without you."

There was a loud crashing sound. Rock folded in on rock in the direction of the temple and Han could just barely see the strain on the younger man's face in the dim light. He was taking the whole damn thing down. He hadn't been able to open the door, but he could bring the structure crumbling down. If he hadn't been watching it happen, he never would have believed it.

Chewie roared a warning and Han made a snap decision. He hooked an arm around Luke's middle and dragged him back towards the ladder. If he let himself be pulled or was still caught up in whatever was happening in the darkened distance, Han didn't know. Han didn't care. He just wanted to get out alive.

—

Leia had not lived the same sheltered life as so many royals that came before her. Fate hadn't allowed that. Despite the Imperial propaganda, her mother did not rule in peaceful times. Her father was not given the power to do more than pretend to represent his people in the Senate and Leia perhaps even less when she took the office. The Emperor cared nothing for the people of Alderaan and little else for the galaxy past using them. Why else would he build a weapon with the power to destroy worlds to keep everyone in line?

She'd spent her childhood scraping knees and avoiding palace guards and her teenage years learning to sidestep stormtroopers and lie to Imperials to help the Rebellion, but this had been beyond the adventure she'd really expected. It was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating, though the latter only now that they were out. After the additional crystals the Empire had been after were destroyed. That was all thanks to Luke. For all the ways he'd dragged his feet at the thought of going to Jedha, he'd proven to be all in by the time that the Millennium Falcon shot into hyperspace.

And now the adventure was coming to a close. They didn't dare risk circling back to the spaceport to drop Chirrut and Baze off, nor could Leia take them directly to the Rebel Alliance base, even if Chirrut - and to a lesser extent Baze - was ready to do what they could to topple the Empire. No. After dropping Luke off so that he could return to Coruscant before he was too badly missed from his medical leave, Solo would take Leia to her own ship and she'd work out arrangements to get them to a location in which they could go through a vetting process. Andor would likely be interested in getting them himself so that he could make his way a bit further down the intelligence trail Luke had started him on.

They'd remained on the Falcon, though Captain Solo had offered to help carry C3P0 to Leia's ship for her. She'd be able to coordinate repairs back on Alderaan before making her own way back to Coruscant for the endless barrage of shallow chatter and entitled expectations that came with conversations with her colleagues.

"While I appreciate the help —" Leia offered as they approached her ship and Solo gave her a lopsided smile.

"Door to door service," he chuckled. "What would your pal say if I didn't make sure you got to your transport safely?"

Leia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'll need to make the call without you looming over my shoulder."

The smuggler raised his hands in mock surrender and turned one hand to jab a thumb towards a powered down Threepio that was folded into a carrier strapped to his back. "Just tell me where to put jabber mouth here."

The senator gave into the eye roll finally as she moved to where she'd activated the ramp to allow her access to the ship. It unfolded and she motioned for Solo to follow, but slammed to a stop at the top, a sense of dread burrowing its way deep into her chest.

Solo ran into her from behind. "What?"

"I don't know. Something's wrong. Artoo?" she called out, looking for the little droid she'd left as security.

No answer came and she moved quickly through the small vessel. It didn't take long to find him rolled back and out of the way, scorch marks showing blaster fire had dealt the damage that short circuited him. Leia stared in horror, fear for the personable little droid mixing with the understanding that her ship had been broken into while they were away. Meaning they may have all been compromised. "We need to call Luke," she breathed.

"Not so fast. Let's see what we're dealing with first. You have tools?"

Leia nodded and pointed, and as Solo eased Threepio down she found a small comfort in knowing the two droids wouldn't be worried about each other.

Solo squatted down in front of R2D2 and pried open a panel. Leia watched numbly as he worked, cursing and griping the whole way through. He wasn't as skilled as some might have been, but years of handling the circuit boards on his own ship must have taught him something. Finally, power was restored and Artoo gave a drunken whirble as Solo stood.

"Artoo," she breathed, kneeling down in front of him and gently touching his dome. "Who did this to you?"

The question resulted in an answer as a projection flickered into existence. He'd recorded it, clever little droid. Leia and Solo watched the jittery image as the door opened to reveal a redheaded woman who entered. The scuffle had been brief and Leia pursed her lips together. "Well, that's not an Imperial uniform, at the very least," she murmured, relief finally working its way through her. Or at least until she risked a glance at Solo. He stood gaping and she frowned. "What?"

"That's Jade. She's the woman that was with Luke when I first met him. If he's with the Empire, it's a safe bet she is too."

The relief vanished entirely.

—

Exhaustion had finally caught up with him and his leg was aching by the time Luke had managed to slip back into his quarters in the Imperial palace. He felt worn and a little fuzzy around the edges. Probably for the best. He needed sleep and with the understanding that Tano was alive that he'd chosen to bring down an Imperial dig site to try to delay the Death Star where he could, there was enough to batter around his head to keep him up for weeks.

Perhaps it was all of that that kept him from noticing the presence in his room until he flipped the lights on. At least he managed to school his expression. She'd never let him live it down if she knew she'd startled him. Instead, Luke let an intentionally lazy smile tug his lips. "Hey, Mara."

"Luke," she greeted, her green eyes sharp. "How was Jedha?"

And just like that, his entire world imploded.

---

Chapter Text

She had been moving through a fog of questions whose answers only produced more questions. The Alderaanian security in Organa's ship hadn't taken Mara long to bypass once she'd dealt with the angry little droid. She'd hoped to find communications with known rebel cells or perhaps dealings with other connected individuals that the Empire suspected, but hadn't found proof against yet. What Mara hadn't expected was an encrypted communication with an old Corellian freighter. One that she herself had been on.

She'd followed the threads of information because that was her job. Unravel the senator's lies.

From Jakku she had found that the Millennium Falcon had landed on Jedha. She'd moved carefully from there, only barely talking herself out of physically going to see if she might catch them. She wouldn't. Her instincts told her she wouldn't, so she had to rely on sources on the ground.

There were plenty to choose from, she found, and more secrecy surrounding a project there than she would have expected for yet another dust ball planet. It took her time to track down a contact she could trust - time she spent moving back towards the Core - and she had been just hours away from Coruscant when the vid was transmitted.

Sand kicked up by wind left the images grainier than they would have been otherwise and some angles were entirely useless. She caught sight of a golden protocol droid first, then the petite princess second, a tall figure that she was certain was Solo, and a smaller man next to him. He had a hood pulled up around his face, the sand-coloured cloak leaving her blind at most angles. Then he turned and she caught a glimpse of his face.

For just a moment, Mara Jade had forgotten how to breathe.

It was possible that Luke was simply on a mission for the Empire, though something deep inside of her whispered that wasn't true. The fact that there'd been some kind of accident at a classified dig site on Jedha in the time he'd been there was either a very strange coincidence or he had helped the Rebel princess destroy an Imperial mining facility. As little as she believed in coincidences, she might have tried that day just as she knew she'd been trying for years now. All those moments - the early morning questions about leaving to all of the times he'd spoken as if his father and she were his only true allies within the Empire they all supposedly served - and the actions surrounding them. Padme Amidala's sister and the Rebel pilot he'd asked Mara to release for saving his life. Even the more recent incident of the intelligence they'd been after and that had been lost along with what should have been two high-level prisoners.

There were too many coincidences, and if she'd been tracking down these threads of information linked to anyone else, it wouldn't have taken her nearly this long to come to the truth. Luke had betrayed the Empire.

And Palpatine would kill him for this.

If he knew. Only if he knew.

By the time Mara's boots met the permasteel where she'd landed on Coruscant, a plan had formed. Those same boots carried her into the palace, through winding halls, and to the large doors the Red Guard opened for her. She steeled herself and her resolve, refusing to think of those three dangerous and unspoken - at least on her side - words that might be the death of her if this went wrong.

Mara felt the beckoning even before she heard her master's voice. "Come, child. What news of Leia Organa do you bring?"

I love you, Luke had said. I'll protect you.

It wouldn't be enough to simply look the other way this time, not if she wanted him to live. And Mara couldn't - wouldn't - imagine a galaxy without him. She could protect him.

"My Emperor," she greeted, bowing lowly. "I tracked the Senator's movements to the planet Jedha. The lies you spoke of were more dangerous than we thought."

They spoke, and Mara reported the half-truths as confidently as if it had been the whole. He waved her through points he cared little for until she reached the dig site. Mara admitted to not knowing why the site was important, but the princess' arrival, the timing of explosion, and her exit left her at the right place at just the right time while she'd received high-confidence reports that she'd been seen with Jedi sympathizers while there.

"And where is the Senator now?"

"I put a tracer on her ship. Its trajectory was taking it towards Alderaan."

"You've done well, my child," Palpatine said, those Sith-gold eyes peering out from beneath his hood. "Very well indeed."

With the dismissal she turned, pushing back at the guilt. It wasn't as if the princess was innocent, but she'd never knowingly shifted blame in her time serving as the Emperor's Hand. She'd served with honestly and dealt fairly until it was his life on the line.

There was no fair outcome with the choices Luke had made, and now she'd find out why.

With each step, the rage built. She kept a careful lid on it through the halls and finally to his apartment that he'd slipped out of to go on a treasonous trip with a princess. She waited. And waited. If her calculations were right, it'd be close to morning before he sauntered in there. Going back to her own quarters would have been a waste of time, though. There'd be no sleeping until she had answers.

The sun wasn't quite peeking up at the horizon when the door finally slid open and the lights motion-triggered lights snapped on at his entrance. She felt the briefest flash of surprise for him, even as he covered it with a smile. "Hey, Mara."

She should have played him. Led him down the path and let him hand her the information she needed. It was a tried and true method - one that he knew well as both an observer and a co-interrogated over the years - but that would be as pointless as his attempt to act so utterly nonplussed by her presence when he returned. "Luke," she greeted tightly. "How was Jedha?"

His façade broke with the question, surprise flashing across his features. He didn't deny it. Instead he stood there, blue gaze studying her and she felt the barest probes against her mind. She shut him out. Hard.

Luke raised his hands, palms outward in mock surrender. "I'm just trying to get a feel if I need to be ready for the Red Guard or not."

So much for keeping a cool head. The anger exploded faster than she could keep control of it and it physically pushed Luke back against the door as she burst to her feet. "You bastard," she hissed, her voice low and dangerous, and she gave him an intentional shove for good measure. "I have always been on your side. Through every questionable action and every treasonous murmur, I've kept it to myself. For you. To protect you!" She watched the words slice through him like a lightsaber. Good. He could feel a fraction of what she was feeling right now. "And then you go behind my back with her and you betray everything we've helped build!"

The words hung in the air between them and Luke loosed a soft breath. "I was trying to protect you."

"Look where that's gotten us."

He flinched at that and moved further into the apartment. He was limping, the bad break of his leg in the final stages of healing, but clearly overused on his little adventure. She watched him as he made his way slowly past the couch, shrugging his cloak from his shoulders to toss over the back of it and unclipping his lightsaber from his belt. He set it down on the table and took a heavy seat, toeing his boots off as he did. There was a long and heavy silence, her rage mixing with his indecision. He pursed his lips together and, finally, turned to look at her. The next words rang in her mind rather than out loud.

Is it safe?

"Of course it is. I used a loop on the listening devices."

He nodded, accepting that without further question, though it didn't alleviate the deafening silence as quickly as she would have anticipated.

"I know how you feel about him and about his Empire," he started slowly, his voice soft. "I know how you see him."

Mara crossed her arms where she stood. "He raised me. Trained me."

"I had to be careful. Not just for me, but for you. He's more dangerous than I think even you know, but….he's the closest thing to a father you can remember." It wasn't an accusation or even a simple statement of fact. There was something deeply personal in his words, and as he continued, Mara felt her chest tighten. "I know that asking you to choose isn't fair."

"Then don't." The words escaped her despite the pang of guilt. Wasn't that the task Palpatine had given her: force Luke to choose between his own father and the Empire? Or, perhaps a bit more realistically: between her and his father. She'd pushed it as far as she could because she didn't want him to have to face that pain. Choosing to be Palpatine's apprentice rather than his father's would be the most difficult decision he'd have to make, but what decision was there, really? The Emperor Saw things in a way few others could. Even Luke wasn't capable of seeing the future as Palpatine did. If the Emperor wanted him, he'd Seen it, and that meant it would come to pass. That, or he'd no longer be alive to fulfill that destiny.

"Mara," he breathed her name like his world was ending. "You don't know what I do about him."

She wasn't sure when she'd crossed the space between them, but she was close enough to lean down and press her lips against his. He reached up, finger tracing against her cheek and she didn't move away even as they parted. "If you go, he'll kill you. I can protect you here."

"And where will that get us?" he murmured similar words to her own spoken just a few minutes before. His eyes flickered up and his gaze held hers. "If we can't leave, we're not free."

"You could choose to stay. With me. I believe in the future we're building." She would find a way to help protect Vader if that was the way to keep him there. She could convince Palpatine to let him live.

"And if you didn't?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let me show you what he's built - what he plans to do. If you still believe in what the Empire has become…."

"You'll let this go?"

"Yes."

She nodded, feeling no true relief in it. But there was hope that they could put this behind them. That had to count for something.

—-

If he thought he'd get away with it, he would have taken his time putting a plan together. Quiet, subtle moves that would ensure that he and Mara were the only people of note that would have known they were there.

But Luke knew he didn't have that kind of time. Less than a full rotation later he'd secured a shuttle and hoped that he'd sense the danger in a more concrete way than the anxiety that was quickly taking up residence if any real trouble lay ahead. He had no choice now. No time to wait for the perfect moment. Mara had to understand why he was making the moves he was making and she'd have to see the corner he was backed into. If she didn't… Well, he didn't know what would happen. She wouldn't leave, that was for certain, but he also wasn't certain that she'd turn him in, despite his immediate questions. More likely she'd get caught in the middle and get herself killed. No. That wasn't right either. If she stayed, he would be the one responsible for getting her killed.

Which left him with little time and a lot of urgency.

He'd gathered what he needed and had clipped his lightsaber to his belt as he started out of his apartment. The doors slid open to reveal two red-clad guards. Luke could feel their gazes on him from behind the masks and he forced the surprise firmly behind a mask of irritation. "Yes?" he snapped, even if he knew they wouldn't - perhaps even couldn't - give him a verbal answer. Instead one motioned and they both turned. The message was clear with or without words. The only reason the Red Guard would come unbidden to his rooms was if Palpatine himself had sent for him. Great. Just great.

As they walked silently down the empty halls, Luke pulled on every lesson he'd learned over the years to bury his thoughts and feelings and fears as deep as they would go. By the time they reached the throne room he was the outward picture of calm, and not even the Emperor would know what had been spinning through his mind for the last rotation. The doors swished open and Mara straightened just a little from her place next to Palpatine. Her presence wasn't abnormal, and not necessarily a cause for concern, but seeing his father standing there without even knowing he was on planet was enough for a flicker of surprise to make it through the calm.

And in turn, a satisfied look flashed through Palpatine's shrouded, gold eyes as he turned that strange gaze on Luke. "Ah. Young Lord Natus," he greeted.

Luke wasted no more time dropping to a knee by way of greeting, his own blue eyes focused on the dark permasteel beneath him.

"Rise, my boy. I trust the medical staff has taken good care of you."

"Yes, my emperor," he answered easily, pulling a chuckle from the old husk of a Sith as Luke straightened.

"Your father too holds little regard for them." Interesting. Palpatine wanted him to know that he knew how little the younger Skywalker thought of Coruscant's best. But did he know that Luke had slipped out and where he'd been? Force knew there were layers to every word he uttered. It kept people guessing as to just how far his visions took him, just how much he Saw, and if they could truly get something past him. Just because he hadn't been hauled out for the first public execution didn't mean that he was in the clear. Or Mara. Or his father.

"I fear I don't have the patience for medical staff in general," Luke answered and that seemed to amuse his father's master.

"Or for protocol."

Luke found gold eyes focused on him and he felt his father touch his mind over their bond, looking for what this might all be about.

Palpatine's focus remained solely on Luke though. "Did you not think I would discover that you have been making moves to undermine Grand Moff Tarkin?"

There it was. He had two choices: grovel and beg for forgiveness or stand firmly by his decision, protocol be damned. Not that anyone in his position would have been fool enough to choose the former. Few found forgiveness from the Emperor.

Luke squared his shoulders and tilted his chin a little higher. "Tarkin's own hubris was delaying your weapon, my Emperor." Palpatine motioned for him to continue as he studied him intently. Any word could land him in an early grave and everyone in the room knew it. "He wants the credit for a project that he doesn't have the technical knowledge to scrape the surface of what's been created. Krennec knows that, and knows that once the project is done that Tarkin would toss him away for the glory."

"But not you?"

Luke shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage. "I convinced him that I see his worth. He'll complete the weapon with confidence that he'll receive assignments following its completion."

"And if he does not?"

"The decision is ultimately yours, my Emperor. My intention was simply to move a project that Tarkin had stalled forward."

Palpatine flashed a smile of rotten teeth and nodded. "Good. Very good," he offered. "Come closer, Natus. Lord Vader."

The two men moved closer and Luke caught Mara's gaze very briefly. She didn't seem to have any more insight than he did.

One thin, bony hand reached out and a Red Guard approached, setting a device down for all to see. As the robed figure moved away, Palpatine's fingers twitched and the device whirled, an image leaping up from it to show the bridge of the Death Star. Tarkin stood waiting, Krennec sulking behind him, but it was the scientist that the Emperor spoke to. "Director Krennec, Lord Natus speaks very highly of the weapon you have built for me. Are you prepared to prove its worth?"

A startled expression was shared by both the Moff and Science Director, but the latter stepped forward, bending in reverence as he spoke. "At your command, my Emperor," he answered, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

"You may fire when ready."

The image flickered out to provide the same view the Death Star showed through its own viewing port, giving all four in the throne room a clear view of the planet Alderaan. Luke felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

"You seem ill at ease, Lord Natus," Palpatine said quietly.

Luke clamped down on his emotions with everything he had in him. Not only did his, his father, and possibly Mara's life depend on it, but Leia and her adopted family's too. "Confused, my Emperor," he answered. "Half of the palace is furnished with goods exported in large part from Alderaan and the minerals found in their forests are used to power comms and control panels across the galaxy. Not to mention how much of the trade moves through their ports. Destroying the planet -" he felt Mara tense at the phrase - "would throw entire systems out of balance."

"Adjustments can always be made. They are far from irreplaceable."

"Forgive me. I'm just… trying to understand why Alderaan specifically was chosen." He tried not to cringe as the crew on the Death Star counted off the steps until utter destruction.

"Of course. You have been healing from your injuries," Palpatine murmured in a way that left Luke questioning if the Sith believed that or not. "Their young senator has been discovered as a traitor. An example will be made of her with the very weapon she'd hoped to cripple." He turned to Mara as if she'd spoken to him through their connection. "Billions may die to save trillions more, my child," he answered her out loud.

Luke opened his mouth to argue - to beg, if that's what it came to, but the firing sequence commenced, and if the thought of it had felt like a punch, the act sent him reeling. Billions of voices screamed out through the Force and for a fraction of a moment he could feel all of them. The utter terror ripped through him like lightning, burning through his veins and threatening to shatter his heart. And then nothing. Billions of lives snuffed out on the word of one man.

And now the whole galaxy knew what Palpatine was capable of.

Focus, his fathers voice broke through the all-engulfing silence and Luke swallowed down the bile in his throat. When he looked up, he found those thin lips spread wide to show off rotting teeth while Sith-gold eyes bore in as if their owner was looking to take hold of his very soul.

Luke's fingers twitched at his side, his lightsaber tugging lightly on his belt. He had the element of surprise. If he moved fast enough, he could kill him.

"Good," Sidious murmured, closing his eyes and breathing deeply as if he were inhaling a scent. "Your rage, their fear….. Let their cries fuel you until you no longer hear them. I have Seen how strong they will make you."

Surprise pulled him to the outer edges of his murderous rage. "You Saw this?"

"Of course, my boy. There's nothing I do not See."

And then he lost it. The element of surprise along with the drive to act on it. Instead he felt only pain and he turned, not bothering to wait for a dismissal as he stormed out.

Just before he hit the door he heard Palpatine speak. "Let him go. You've done well in raising him, Lord Vader. He will be…"

What the Emperor Saw him to be didn't matter. Nothing did. His sister was dead and his father or he would be next. There was no stopping Palpatine now. They had lost.

—

There are no fair trials in Palpatine's Empire. That was what Los had said to her. He's been so certain that she'd been fool enough to assume that a Rebel had fed him a plate full of lies to turn him. She'd never dreamed that he could be right.

But Leia Organa hadn't received a trial, only an execution along with billions that had dared to share a planet with her. If she hadn't seen the Death Star's capabilities and hadn't witnessed her master's command, she wouldn't have believed it. She wasn't sure she agreed with the way Luke had gone about this, but she was starting to understand the reason behind it at the very least.

It was everything she could do to remain where she was after Luke left the throne room. The Emperor continued to shower Vader with praise for his son's actions in supposedly pushing his project forward to completion. Both would be rewarded, of course. They would be reassigned to the Death Star to ensure that they had everything that they needed to continue. Whatever Luke and the Organa girl had destroyed on Jedha didn't seem to phase Palpatine's expectations. Everything was moving forward… just as he's foreseen it.

Mara wasn't dismissed with Vader, much to her frustration. She buried it down and didn't dare allow her mind to wander — either to what she'd seen or what that truly meant.

"You have done well, my child," Palpatine said once they were alone. "Young Natus' trust in you grows by the day. The time has come to make use of that." Gold eyes slipped closed for a long moment. "Should he stray, it will surely mean his death."

She took a moment, weighing her words carefully. "You seemed… pleased, my master. With his anger towards you."

"Do you think that Lord Vader always followed my commands without doubt? Such loyalty is forged through trial and fire."

Mara swallowed the questions born out of his answer, nodding instead.

"And until he has reached true loyalty to me, he will have you to guide him. Go."

The sudden dismissal added a bit of surprise to the fear his predictions brought, but she didn't dare linger.

—-

The Senate chamber was empty, just as he'd known it would be. The silence weighed heavy on the large room that had once been the center of galactic democracy. From what he knew - from what Leia had told him - few Senators had attended the sessions in recent years. Luke wagered even fewer would now. Palpatine had never cared to hear the will of the people he ruled over, but until now he'd needed a clever way to keep them in line. For those willing, he bought off their representatives with lavish homes and expensive gifts. For those less willing, well… that's what he, his father, and Mara had been for. To dispense Imperial Justice. But with the Death Star not only operational, but on open display… no one would dare go against him for fear that they'd cost the lives of an entire planet. The Rebellion was essentially over, as was any hope Luke had had to escape with the people he loved.

A familiar flicker in the Force warned him of Mara's approach. Luke didn't bother to look back, but instead ran his fingertips along the dusty permasteel of the pod that hadn't been used in some time now. Anger flashed through him, twisting up with guilt and helplessness that were both much less useful to him, but seemed determined to burrow deep into his chest. His fingers tightened as she stepped closer. "Now's not the time," he bit out.

"Luke…"

He spun, his words clawing up his throat and off his tongue before he could stop them. "What did you think he'd do, Mara? Arrest her? Put her on trial?"

"I didn't think he'd kill an entire planet with her," she murmured. She was still in shock. Still reeling. Luke didn't care.

"She was my sister!"

Green eyes blinked in confusion. "What?"

"My sister," he repeated, his own voice threatening to break. "We were separated when we were born. I don't know the details, but I know who she is. Was." He squeezed his eyes shut, desperately trying to swallow back his emotions.

"I… had no idea."

"Would it have changed anything?"

"It would have made more sense."

He snorted. "What did you think it was, Mara?"

There was a beat before she answered. "I did what I could with the information I had. It was her or both of you, and you're not the only one that gets to protect the people you love."

The confession took a moment to break through the next sharp retort that was piecing together in his mind. She loved him. He'd known it even if she never actually said it, but he couldn't even revel in it now. Instead of joy, all it did was deflate his anger and leave him feeling hollow and exhausted. He caught her gaze and saw fear tangled up with her own flared temper.

Somewhere below, one of the lower chamber doors opened, the sliding door scraping across the permasteel with an unmaintenanced squeak. Luke loosed a breath. "I know," he admitted after a long, tense moment. "But right now I have to go find a way to tell my captain that his family, friends… his entire planet was just destroyed. By us."

He turned to make his way down to the lower levels and Mara caught his wrist, but she couldn't seem to say whatever it was she'd stopped him to say. So he leaned in, pressed a brief kiss to her forehead, and squeezed her hand. "I love you too. I just need time."

Mara nodded and released him to move towards a conversation he wasn't even sure that he knew how to have.

----

Chapter Text

There was a humming that remained constant on any starship. From a small carrier to the vast Death Star, the engines could be felt reverberating through the floors and heard through the walls. For those that spent the better part of their lives on ships, the sound faded to the background. Subtle. Constant. Forgotten. And in the worst cases, taken for granted. When one became complacent surrounded by all the dangers of Imperial space, that was often when danger struck. Whether it was a malfunctioning hyperdrive that would leave them stranded or a whispered rumour of treason, Vader remained on careful watch.

He could feel the steady rumblings of the engines as he made his way towards the bridge, just as he felt the building pressure of the unknown where there should have been certainty. On the other side of the door was the Imperial Navy's finest manning the Emperor's most dangerous and successful weapon. The galaxy was at peace and the Rebellion scattered. There was only certainty, even if his feelings screamed out that he was wrong.

The doors to the bridge slid open and Darth Vader found it empty save one lone, hooded figure in the center of the bridge. The Emperor's back was turned towards him, those sharp yellow eyes fixed on the viewing port. Below them was a planet. Naboo. Palpatine's own home planet. And Padme's.

"How many years has it been, my old friend?" his Master asked without turning, and in that moment Vader could have sworn that his voice was steadier as it had been when he'd been the Chancellor overseeing the Republic's senate.

"My lord?"

"I remember it as if it were yesterday. The day I finally laid eyes on you. There was such pomp and circumstance and celebration following what the council thought was the end to the Sith." The words dripped with contempt as he continued to stare. "Such limited thinking. They couldn't see more than a step or two ahead of them, even with a council of Jedi on their side. Their lack of foresight would have doomed our way of life."

Vader crossed the remaining space as silence stretched. He came to stand next to his Master and the chill he'd lived with since the day he'd taken a knee before him deepened in what was left of his bones. "You called for me, my Master."

"It was only a matter of time," Palpatine answered easily. "You know what he's done."

It took everything in him not to bristle at that. "He is a boy."

"A boy that has been given too long a lead. Control him, Lord Vader, or his shortsightedness will be his undoing." He turned, and in that moment he looked as he had sounded. "His only hope for survival is the path you chose. Any other will lead to this."

Dry eyes blinked behind a mask and the scene shifted to an old nightmare of Luke - young and brash and brandishing a lightsaber not his own - stopped before he could ever strike Sidious. His blue eyes lost their light as Palpatine extinguished the red blade from his middle, Anakin Skywalker's only son crumbling dead at the Sith Lord's feet at the familiar blue saber fell to the ground.

"You understood what was needed then, as you do now," Palpatine murmured. "Anakin Skywalker was brave to the point of foolishness. Do not allow his son to meet the fate you have laboured so long to save him from."

He had known it was a dream long before he found himself floating in the bacta tank, but not only that. It had never been only that. No. Luke had allowed his focus to slip and his father had been fool enough to allow it. If this warning came from his Master or from his own instincts, the Sith couldn't be sure. All he knew was that he wouldn't allow that future that he'd seen play out many times in his dreams come to pass.

—

It had been six standard months since the galaxy had learned just how little hope was left if they chose not to bend the knee to the Emperor. Once, Luke would have seen it as a necessary evil. A weapon that would never be used, but could be leveraged against truly dangerous foes, but not against a whole planet to make a point. A point to the Rebellion, certainly, but also to those in the Empire. No one would dare to lift a word of question if the response was the annihilation of their home world. Not that there were many left that would have.

Once his power was solidified, Palpatine had sent those that dispensed what he called justice to work. Arrests were made - so-assumed dissenters given up to avoid another planet destroyed - and the Senate was disbanded. Palpatine alone sat on top of it all, control held firmly and absolutely.

Just as I have foreseen it.

Luke suppressed a shudder at the words echoing in his mind, the droid that he had been sparring against taking the opportunity to shift and the laser flashed out, catching his arm of his tunic and nicking the skin below it. He loosed a frustrated growl as he pivoted, channeling all of his carefully pent up anger into each step —

His sister was dead.

— each parry —

The Rebellion was finished before it had had time to truly begin, taking with it his hope of escape.

— each swing —

And they were trapped, just as Sidious had always known they would be.

— and a final blow that not only cleaved straight through the droid, but sent the pieces flying in both directions.

There was no way out, no escape, and by assigning he and his father to the Death Star in the wake of Alderaan's destruction, Palpatine had them digging their own graves. As Luke sucked in breath after breath, anger rolling off of him in waves, he knew it was a matter of time. And there wasn't a damn thing either he or his father could do about it.

The doors to the makeshift sparring room opened and Luke turned to see his father stalking in. Great. Looked like their moods matched perfectly.

Darth Vader's helmet tilted towards the sparking droid and his son could imagine his brows creeping up beneath it. Only the sound of machines forcing air in and out of his lungs could be heard in the room, but Luke felt the probing across their bond. Then, without warning, his father's own red blade snapped into existence and was crashing toward him. Luke barely had time to deflect, using the Force to both enhance his speed and help steady him under Vader's powerful blow. The older man did not relent, though, and it took everything Luke had to push back and gain the space he needed to spin out of the way.

Their styles were different - one smaller and fast on his feet while the other's mechanical limbs left him slower but much stronger - but somehow complimented each other. Father and son exchanged blows and parries without words, swinging and dodging. Luke jumped to miss a low swipe and Vader avoided the return by shoving him hard enough with the Force that Luke's feet went out from under him.

"You lack focus," the Sith apprentice boomed, though Luke was fairly certain the words had little to do with their current match.

He rolled as the lightsaber sparked against the floor, coming at him, and he funneled all of that anger and frustration into leaping to his feet and returning the blow, slamming hard enough to drive even Vader back. He didn't give him a moment, but took the offensive. Blow by blow, he didn't give his father a chance to get his balance back. Whatever anger - or fear, if Luke gave himself half a moment to dig through the layers that so often hid Father's true feelings - he'd brought with him gave way under his son's. He'd held it in too long. Luke pushed hard and sent his father to the floor and he stood over him, breath coming in painful gulps. "Focus… is all I've ever had," he snarled and he could see his father's gold eyes narrow behind the lenses of his mask.

The blow didn't come from the lightsaber, but from two gloved fingers flicking up and sending his son flying across the room. Luke barely caught himself before he slammed down hard enough to cause damage, but even as he started to climb to his feet he found every muscle frozen in place. His father's heavy boots echoed as he strode forward, his voice ringing in Luke's head, not his ears. Do you think me a fool?

Blue eyes blinked in genuine surprise. No.

And yet you have flitted around the galaxy with her as if you thought your secrets were kept. You have put everything at risk for an infatuation with a traitor.

He knew. Or at least he knew part of it and had only assumed he knew the rest. If he truly knew who Leia had been the whole station would be in flames already. Or, at the very least, the infamous Lord Vader would be slicing his way through every person who had at least an ounce of responsibility in his daughter's death. But he didn't know. And Luke couldn't tell him. His oath to Bail Organa to keep the secret meant little now that they were all dead and gone, but sooner or later Luke's father would realize Mara had been the one to sacrifice Leia to Palpatine. The fact that it had been for Luke wouldn't matter. Blood was blood, and despite how vehemently Vader denied it, Luke was sure that Anakin Skywalker lurked somewhere deep below the loathing and the rage.

So there he was, just as he started: alone.

He doesn't know, Luke answered, and even speaking through the Force, his voice felt small.

Foolish boy, his father growled over their bond. The galaxy is in flux and you and I are here under his gaze. Where is the Executor? Where is your Aeres and the crew you believe so loyal to you?

The hold on him hadn't relinquished and, as if Vader were driving his points home, Luke felt the pressure increase. It was starting to feel like a bantha was sitting on his chest.

That didn't make him wrong.

Palpatine had assigned them to the Death Star with every indication that it was meant as a reward for their loyalty. Luke had corralled a jittery scientist and Vader had trained him up to that point. It was easy enough to believe from the outside, but between the work load and the fact that both flagships had been 'temporarily' reassigned, it was enough to cause a pause. That, and the nightmares hadn't relented. If they were his own maladjusted conscience reminding him of his failures or Sidious slowly driving him to indulge in his rage, Luke still wasn't sure. It was something he could have asked Mara if she had actually been there. Or if they'd been on speaking terms when she was.

If he knew for sure, I'd be dead, Luke finally answered, meeting his father's eyes through the dark lenses. After a long moment, he lost the mental battle he'd been fighting and winced.

His father saw it, gave it a moment, and then released him. Luke hadn't realized just how tight it had gotten until he could breathe again.

"Pain is a reminder."

Luke looked up, startled by the vocalized statement. He would get no helping hand to his feet. He started the journey slowly. "Of what?"

"That you still have lessons yet to learn." He paused as Luke finally made it to his feet, swaying slightly. Surprisingly, his father reached out a gloved hand, the touch to the side of his face setting a deep unease in him. "And that I will use any lesson, any action necessary to keep you alive."

—-

She was exhausted. While Mara had spent much of her life on the move, most of her investigations wrapped within weeks. This one had been a series of small investigations meant to lead her to the end goal: the Rebels that had been working with or for Bail Organa. Though she thought with was more likely. The traitor Mon Mothma was still at large and the woman was notorious for bringing factions together. That, and she'd been close with Bail Organa during the years of the Republic. While Bail and Leia Organa appeared to be at the center of the larger faction of the Rebellion - an alliance, if Mara's intel was right - that didn't mean that they were the head. If only she'd gotten ahold of Mothma instead of the younger Organa.

A frustrated sigh left her as she slouched down in the pilot's seat of her shuttle. Trading Mothma's life for Leia Organa would have only solved a fraction of the trouble they'd found. Sure, Luke would still have his sister - a story she'd never gotten the whole of - but the Death Star would have simply been used on whatever planet Mothma's rebel faction resided on and they'd be right back where they stood that day. Worse, perhaps, because Luke wouldn't have cut ties with his newly found sister and the princess' backing would be decimated. At least now they could hunker down and ride this out. They could work to make sure that her master's weapon of destruction never had to be used again.

But should it have been used to begin with? That was the question that had been kicking around in her mind for the past six standard months. Yes, there was a kind of peace in the galaxy. No one dared to butt heads with the Empire now, but Mara had once thought the system she served was at least just, even if others swore otherwise. She had shown honour and she had dispensed justices on those found guilty, but she still hadn't found a way to come to terms with destroying a planet of people to get to two. There was no justice to be found in the destruction of Alderaan, but in the same way, there was little she could do about it other than strive to build a galaxy where it never happened again.

A shrill, sudden alarm drew her attention as the shuttle neared the exit of hyperspace. Ginger brows drew together as she leaned over to inspect the screen. Interesting. She was getting readings of heat signatures near a long-abandoned temple. There shouldn't have been any natives in this hemisphere. Maybe the intelligence thread was paying off after all.

Mara set her shuttle down in a clearing far enough from the temple that she shouldn't have been seen, but close enough that she was sure to still have daylight by the time she got there if she traveled light and moved quickly. She took a tablet with her to map the heat signatures, her blaster, and her lightsaber. Halfway through the hot, humid jungle that stretched out from the temple, she was starting to wish she'd brought water as well.

The noisy jungle drowned out her footsteps and almost hid the soft alert from her tablet. She reached for it, fingers flicking over the screen to show that one of the signatures had moved away from the temple, trudging alone through the jungle. Something stirred her toward it and green eyes fluttered closed. She couldn't tell what waited, only that she should follow.

One foot after another, her senses leading her more than the tablet, Mara headed deeper into the jungle. Then she stopped, a subtle shift whispering in her mind, and she was reaching for her blaster when she heard the crunch of the foliage under a boot behind her. She swung, but stopped midway to leveling her weapon as she caught sight of a face she'd only seen in holofiles. In person, though, the petite woman looked very much like the files Mara had seen of Padme Amidala. No wonder Luke had put two and two together.

"Drop it," Leia Organa snapped, motioning to Mara's half-lifted blaster.

"You look surprisingly intact for a dead woman," the Emperor's Hand responded, doing as she was commanded and letting her blaster hang loose from her fingers. There was a time for aggression and a time to let a mark believe they were in control. The latter was more likely to produce answers in a situation like this, and answers was certainly something she needed.

A flash of anger sparked through brown eyes and Leia adjusted her grip on her own blaster. "You work for the Empire then."

Mara tilted her head, studying her without answering the question. She was tiny. Luke certainly hadn't gotten his father's towering height, but clearly neither had Leia. Petite and perhaps even a bit dainty, if life had allowed that. It hadn't, of course. Oh, she had all the marks of a proper upbringing and Mara wagered she was more than capable of holding her own at a dinner party full of senators, but for a princess from a pacifist planet, she'd crept up closer on Mara than she had any right to and at least looked like she knew how to handle the weapon she was brandishing so boldly.

Organa's free hand snapped out and she snagged the blaster, tucking it away. Smart girl. Most would have tossed it, making it easy for Mara to grab later. "You're not part of the Imperial Navy."

"What makes you say that?" Mara asked curiously.

If the question surprised her, Organa kept it to herself. "No uniform, for one. And our sensors would have picked up a Star Destroyer. That means intelligence. You're with the ISB."

"Fair assessment," Mara acknowledged, even if she wasn't quite right. It was a rare soul that heard more than a shadow of a whisper regarding the Emperor's Hand.

Leia Organa's lips thinned out as her brows drew together, a determined look setting deeper into her features. "Then you're coming with me."

In contrast, Mara's perked up. "I'm starting to see it."

The princess without a planet bristled. "What?"

"I'm starting to see why Natus was willing to risk so much to help you."

And just like that, everything changed. The grip she had on her blaster loosened and those brown eyes widened, her mouth dropping open very slightly. "Mara?"

Now that was surprising. Luke hadn't said anything about mentioning her name.

The blaster dropped to her side. "You're Mara, aren't you? Is he alright? Did they hurt him? Do they know?"

Green eyes blinked, their owner resetting and thinking through a variety of paths she could take forward, intent on finding the right one. Instead she found herself saying: "If the Emperor knows, he hasn't said."

A soft sound that bordered on relief escaped the former princess. "If he's alive and free, the Emperor doesn't know. He was willing to wipe out my whole planet. He doesn't have a merciful bone in his body."

Mara weighed the words carefully. From the outside it made sense, but she'd spent the better part of her life serving Palpatine. He put the best strategists in the galaxy to shame, and it wasn't as if Luke were simply running free. No, the Emperor had a tight grip on both Luke and his father, and he'd kept Mara so busy that she wasn't even sure if Luke had forgiven her or not.

She felt something touch her mind, dragging her out of her thoughts to find a pair of inquisitive brown eyes on her. Of course Organa would be Force sensitive, though the clumsy execution either meant that she had no training in it or that she wasn't even aware she was doing it. Interesting. It left Mara wondering just how much the other did actually know.

"I've always been a good judge of character," Organa said by way of explanation for the intensity she had been staring, "but you're not easy to get a read on."

"Comes with my line of work."

The smaller woman hummed thoughtfully. "Luke cares about you. He trusts you."

The twists and turns just kept coming. She knew his real name.

A rustling sound caused Organa's gaze to dart briefly in the direction of the temple as she seemed to weigh her options. Finally, she loosed a breath and brown eyes met Mara's green. "Tell him that the deal stands and that… I hope he still wants it."

"What deal was that?" Mara asked carefully and Organa's thin lips twitched up in a hollow smile.

"You'll have to ask him."

"So I'll deliver your message?"

A mirthless laugh escaped Organa and she shrugged. "He's the one that trusts you."

The rustling came again along with a voice Mara was sure she'd heard before: "Losin' daylight, your worship!"

Organa's smile turned just a fraction more real before she turned back to Mara, reaching for and extending her confiscated blaster out. "You'll tell him?"

Mara didn't risk her voice, but gave a sharp nod as she took it.

Solo came stumbling through the jungle brush, and he blinked at her in surprise, mouth gaping just a little, but Leia turned with all the authority of her former position and started back through the brush without another word. Mara watched them go, the few answers she'd received only producing more questions.

—-

Growing up, Luke had always found places to hide. As a child trapped in the Imperial palace he'd either gone high to the landing pads on the roof or low into the bowels of the planet to fade into the masses. On the Aeres he had found a small nook in the engine room to tuck himself away in if he needed time to think. He was never quite sure if his crew couldn't find him, or if they chose to let him be in those moments.

There was no such place on the Death Star. No such considerations given. It didn't matter where Luke went, if his attention was required, he'd be pulled away from whatever he'd been doing previously. He hated it there. It was a prison if Palpatine said so or not, and in days like this one Luke could almost feel walls closing in.

Mara had been tasked with chasing down the Rebellion. While he'd barely seen her, he had heard that she'd been from one side of the galaxy to the other with the sole goal of tracking the various Rebel cells. Apparently one of her leads had paid off and the order came down to make another example of Dantooine, the inhabitants of the planet that had nothing to do with the Rebellion be damned. She had come to the Death Star to supply any intel needed as the massive battle station made its way to the Outer Rim.

The doors to the bridge slid open, revealing a familiar face framed by fiery hair. Her eyes were sharp, finding him immediately, and she broke from her escort. "Walk with me," she said by way of greeting and Luke felt his temper flare. He felt a sharp tug on the old and mostly-silent bond and shoved the emotions down, willing at least a few moments of patience.

He followed her through the halls, vaguely wondering how she knew where to go or if she was simply pretending that she did. Finally she stopped, looked down the corridor to the left and one to the right, and moved to the first hall. A door slid open, Luke followed her in, and she locked it behind them. He started to demand what her point was when he saw her pull a scrambler from inside her jacket. Okay. Clearly this was a private conversation.

The scrambler activated and Mara met his curious gaze. "I've been playing this through my head the whole trip here. What comes first? Answers that you've been avoiding for months or do I choose to trust you right on this? Because if I choose to trust you…" Her voice caught and she pursed her lips together, her expression tight and strained. "Because if I trust you and you do give me answers, then I have to make a choice."

"Mara…"

"She's not dead."

There was a long moment as the words worked their way through his mind. "Who?" he asked, the question barely more than a whisper.

"Leia Organa."

The name was deafening in the quiet of the room. She was alive. His sister was alive. Maybe there was hope after all.

"I stumbled across her on a planet that I told the Emperor was deserted by the Rebels," Mara continued. "Don't worry. He's too interested in Dantooine to give Yavin IV a thought until they're long gone."

So she was choosing trust, no matter the consequences. Luke felt his own expression soften and he reached out for her, all of the pain and the anger of the last six months feeling so pointless now. She looked up and her expression was harder than he'd anticipated. "Now it's your turn."

"What do you want to know?"

"What deal did you make with Organa?"

Luke stared in surprise, knowing that whatever next step he took could save them, or it could bring them all down with him.

—