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Forbidden - Part 5

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE SEDUCTION OF EMPIRE

Luke's POV

Luke watched the icy smile cross his father's full lips as he promised Palpatine they would return to Coruscant for a "discussion." The com switched back to the Bridge and Admiral Piett.

"Admiral, set a course for Coruscant," Vader ordered.

"Yes, Lord Vader. We should be there in three standard days … unless we have engine trouble?" The last was phrased as a question.

A more genuine smile played over Vader's lips. "No, Admiral, I think the Executor should make good time in getting back to Coruscant."

"Understood, sir."

The com switched off. Vader was silent, staring at the ruin of Black Heart through the plastiglas viewport. Their bond, which had been so open since they made love, was now shut down to its smallest trickle. Luke knew Vader was deep inside himself. He wanted to reach for his father, comfort him somehow, bring him back from whatever dark place he went to after hearing his former master's voice. But Vader seemed so distant like an isolated mountain peak, unreachable at that moment, so Luke's hands remained at his sides, opening and closing with the desire to touch, but uncertain he should.

Vader's voice was low, almost inflectionless, as he said, "I told you before how Palpatine had the mask and suit for me … all perfectly prepared and ready to be worn … after the battle with Obi-Wan on Mustaphar, didn't I?"

"Yes," Luke said softly.

"Do you understand the significance of that?" Before Luke could answer, Vader added, "It took me so long to see it. Even though it's obvious really. I suppose I didn't want to admit it. I had … admired him once. Thought he cared for me, but …"

"What did you figure out, Father?"

"That he knew."

Luke felt a trickle of fear and dismay run up his spine. Whatever Vader was going to tell him was going to be awful. "Knew?"

"Palpatine knew all along I was going to be burned, destroyed physically and mentally, my family gone from me … and he never warned me. Instead … he urged me towards that fate."

Luke felt horror rise up in him. How could someone send another to such a fate as his father had endured? And why? Luke's hands moved of their own accord and he gripped his father's waist as if Palpatine had the power to come and hurt him again.

"You see, my son, he sent me to Mustaphar. A planet where the ground is more liquid rock than solid. Volcanoes, superheated steam vents … lava everywhere. He insisted I go down to the planet's surface even though he must have had visions of me being roasted alive … visions strong enough for him to prepare for that eventuality."

Vader's amber eyes finally left the viewport and turned to look at Luke. He ran his hands through Luke's hair so gently as if the boy were made of the most fragile glass.

Vader continued, "I went down to Mustaphar's surface eagerly. Wanting to kill the Jedi there with my own hands."

Luke stifled the gasp that wanted to break from his lips. "But why?"

"Because with each one of their deaths I grew stronger in the Dark Side … or so I believed. Each one of their deaths meant I was that much closer to being able to save my family … save you … from the fate I foresaw."

Vader's fingers stroked down Luke's cheeks. The boy could feel the softness of the new flesh on his father's fingertips and the gentleness Vader still used thinking it was his heavy metal prosthetics that could do harm with the slightest miscalculation.

"I had visions for months prior to that time of Padme's death and … yours. It was just like the visions I'd had of my mother dying … the ones that I had ignored until it was too late for her. That vision had come true so I thought … this one would as well."

Luke shook his head. "You thought that the Dark Side could save us?"

"Yes. Remember that Palpatine told me that a practitioner of the Dark Side had been able to stop death, to even bring those long dead back to life." Vader's hands slid down to Luke's shoulders and stilled. "Now that I see your abilities … well, as I've said before, I now know that no Dark Side user could do what you do. Yet I was grasping at straws back then. The visions gave me no rest … no peace. And the Jedi … they were no help. I could not tell them about my fears for you specifically, but … even when I spoke of my fears in general terms, they merely lectured me on how fear and attachment led to the Dark Side."

Vader smiled, but it was a forlorn thing, bitter. His lips twisted. He sat down on the edge of the bed, drawing Luke between his legs. He rested his ear against Luke's heart as if drawing comfort from hearing it beating. The boy slipped his arms around Vader's neck.

Vader's words though soft seemed to fill the whole room. "It really came down to a simple choice: do I save my family and follow Palpatine and the Dark Side … or do I continue with the Jedi and accept that all those I truly care for will die?"

Luke squeezed his eyes shut and tightened his grip on his father. So much pain and anger. The fury was still there at the Jedi twenty years later and fresher rage bloomed towards Palpatine. `But do I really blame him for the anger or turning to the Dark Side? Faced with the choice of losing him or … destroying others, wouldn't I make the same decision?' Just for a moment, Luke had a flash of the figure on the sand that had shown on the Archive. He quickly thrust it aside. It made him feel sick.

"Then everything went wrong," Vader said, his lips brushing against Luke's chest as he spoke. "I hurt Padme … hurt you and … lost a battle with Obi-Wan I should have easily won. I was the cause of the horrible future I tried so hard to avoid."

Part of Luke wanted to just drowned in the sensation of having Vader so close, ignore the horrors he spoke of. But the sweet caress of Vader's breath, the touch of his hands, the shifting of his silken hair against Luke's skin was not enough to distract the boy from his father's words.

Vader continued, "I am responsible for what I did, for my part in the fate that befell me, your mother … and you. But behind me, like a malignant spider, Palpatine prodded, pushed, insinuated … moved me about like I was a chess piece. He wanted me a ruin: unable to breathe without his leave, no family, no friends, nothing but him and the Dark Side."

Luke shivered. For a moment, he saw the Emperor as his father knew him to be: whitish yellow skin, a hooded brow, too deeply set eyes, and spindly, cancerous frame, more skeleton than flesh underneath his robes. The man was a walking example of physical corruption. Vader stroked the soft skin of Luke's sides to still his trembling.

Vader's voice became more certain though softer as he said, "I am telling you this … not to excuse what I did. But to explain … to help you understand … what I intend to do in the future."

Luke pulled back so that he could see his father's beautiful face. The amber eyes were glowing softly with the otherworldly light of the Dark Side. `The color is like the heart of a fire. Why did I never notice that before?'

"What are you trying to say, Father?"

Vader grasped the folds of Luke's towel and slipped it off of him. The cool air caressed his flesh like Vader's hands did as they framed Luke's slim waist and stroked the tender skin that covered his hipbones. Luke's breathing sped up. He felt the first stirrings of arousal even as internally he shouted at himself to focus on what his father was about to tell him. He feared he already knew what it was.

Vader gave emphasis to each and every word as he said, "I am going to destroy him, Luke. Utterly. Completely. Without mercy."

And as if to distract Luke from that pronouncement, Vader kissed Luke's sex tenderly going from tip to root. Luke tried to squirm his hips away so he could think.

"Father, please, we have to t-talk about t-this …"

Vader's eyes blazed up at his son with such desire and darkness that Luke found himself speechless.

"It is not up for discussion, my son. It is what is going to happen. I am just trying to … prepare you. I urge you to accept it, because it will be no matter what."

Vader then went back to nuzzling Luke's stomach, kissing and licking the valleys of his abdominal muscles. The boy felt those muscles tremble under the sensual assault. The Dark Lord stood up slowly and as he did he brushed his lips and hands all the way up Luke's chest, over the hollow at the base of Luke's throat, and along the curve of his neck, until he pressed his mouth in a soft kiss against Luke's ear.

"I am going to take the Empire from him, my son."

Vader sucked on Luke's right ear lobe causing the boy to gasp.

"You and I will … rule together."

A lick along the cusp of that ear and Luke trembled.

"Bringing order … peace … and prosperity to the Universe."

Vader fisted his hands in Luke's hair, holding the boy's head in place. Then he leaned in so that their lips were a mere half inch apart.

"And that is only the beginning, Luke. There is no limit to what we can accomplish together."

Vader closed the distance between them and began devouring Luke's mouth until the boy felt lightheaded from lack of air. Vader pulled back only to rest his forehead against Luke's. The boy's eyes fluttered shut as his father's breath caressed his face.

Vader sent Luke images over their bond: the roar of the crowd calling to them as they brought peace and justice to the Universe – the Rebellion ended and institutions put in place to consider their concerns, but a strong ruling hand to keep order and the governmental process moving; the cheers of the throng as they wiped out slavery and corruption – people like Joran and his mother freed of the oppressive yoke of slavers and scavengers like the Hutts; and the cries of pure joy that eliminating the ravages that disease and desolation brought – no world being too poor to afford precious bacta due to exorbitant tariffs by unscrupulous merchants.

And then there was a final image: his father's face in his mind's eye, glowing with love and need, extending his hand to Luke as he once had on the towers of Cloud City … `rule with me … let me show you what can be … this is our Destiny …'

Luke trembled under the onslaught of images. But it was the last that undid him. `I made a mistake in leaving him on Bespin. Letting my fear and denial get in the way. Maybe if we are together … we can keep each other from letting power corrupt us.'

"Luke, are you with me?" His father's voice was whispery and sounded so painfully uncertain.

"Yes, I'm with you … always."

There was a muffled sound from Vader, almost like a cry cut short, and Luke felt his father open their bond wide again. An old hurt in Vader flared across their bond; a hurt caused by Padme's inability to trust his father, to share his father's vision, to even consider his father's way before she betrayed him to Obi-Wan. Luke watched as some of that red-black rage and pain inside his father was healed by Luke's acceptance.

"I know that you're still concerned, but Luke … I will show you in time that those things are possible. They are not just fairy tales, but things we can accomplish together." Vader sounded so eager … so young to Luke's ears as if this was something he had been saving up to say to someone for a very long time. Had no one believed in his father?

Luke only nodded, unsure of his voice at that moment. His father's happiness spread over him like warm honey. Vader peppered his face with small kisses that tickled and finally made him laugh out loud as his father placed the last one on his nose.

"I think its time we enjoy that bath together, don't you?" A luminous smile lit Vader's face making him even more beautiful than Luke had ever seen him.

"Yes."

As Vader drew him into the steamy bathroom, his father's skin cool except for where it touched Luke's, the boy thought, `Please let my love and trust keep him warm. Let the power over the Empire be enough to satisfy the Darkness in him.'

Vader's POV

Giddy. Vader could not remember the last time he felt giddy with happiness. Had he ever? But that was what he felt now. Something that was tight and hard and icy in his soul had melted when Luke had agreed to his plans. Even though Luke knew of the blackness within him, the boy was willing to trust in his vision. No one had ever done that before, not Obi-Wan, certainly not the Council, and not even Padme in the end. Palpatine had pretended to, but only so he could maneuver Vader into participating in his own plans; always promising that Vader's ideas would be put in place … later.

The Dark Lord lightly clasped the boy's hand and guided him into the bathroom. The room was dimly lit by light crystals in troughs that lined the ceiling. The walls and floor were covered in earthy colored stone slabs with no visible joints. To their right was a pool of steaming, frothing water big enough for two. To their left was an encased plastiglas shower with multiple jets to hit every part of their bodies. It was to the last that Vader took Luke.

When the boy sent a questioning glance towards the bath, Vader explained. "Let's wash off first then we can … soak."

Vader's hands went to the belt at the waist of his robe. He felt Luke's admiring eyes on his back as he undid the sash and let the robe slide off of him, to puddle on the floor. An unaccustomed blush heated his cheeks as he heard his son take in a harsher breath as his nakedness was revealed. `To be so desired by him. To be thought … beautiful … how strangely wonderful.'

He turned around so that Luke could see his front: the heavy sex that was already beginning to harden, the tightly defined pectoral and abdominal muscles, and the sweep of moon-pale skin that covered it all. Luke's eyes seemed to devour him. Vader's did the same for Luke's lithe muscular form. The boy was perfect. Golden skin stretched taut across rigid muscle, the sweet cock already filling and rising up towards his belly and the whole, beautiful package surrounded by dark blonde curls that Vader longed to touch.

"It seems we are both pleased with each other's appearance," Vader said softly with a smile curving his lips as he opened the shower door for them. "Or are you just admiring your handiwork?"

Luke's head jerked up from where he was fixated on Vader's cock, a blush blooming on his cheeks and trailing down his neck, having been caught staring.

"You are … lovely, amazing, take my breath away," Luke said with a swallow.

"I was going to say the same thing about you," Vader said and offered his hand to Luke again.

Somehow it felt right to guide and protect Luke in every aspect of their lovemaking, to teach the boy the joys of their bodies, and erase the shame of desire that Luke carried due to Owen's provincial and destruction beliefs. He shoved away the anger that even thinking of Owen brought and the sense of frustration that he had not been there to protect his son. He wanted nothing to distract him from worshipping the boy's body.

He reached for the knobs to adjust the temperature and spray for the shower heads. Once satisfied, he turned them on fully. Warm gushes of water rushed over his shoulders, while other jets massaged his thighs and calves. Vader closed his eyes and tilted his head back to just enjoy the sensation of water running over his naked body. He smoothed his wet curls back from his face and wiped water from his eyes. When he looked down at Luke, he saw that the boy was watching him, a look of quiet happiness on his face. Vader lifted one eyebrow up.

"It's so wonderful to see your joy at the small things," Luke said in answer to Vader's unasked question.

"Believe me, Luke, what you've given me … this freedom … is not small."

Vader slid his arms around Luke's shoulders and held the boy close for a moment. The water ran over and between them in hot torrents, relaxing muscles, soothing nerves. He reached for a loofa and the scented cleansing gel he'd particularly had his droid acquire that had reminded him of his son.

"Now, we will wash each other," Vader instructed as he handed Luke the loofa and squeezed some of the pearly green gel on it.

Luke delicately sniffed the gel and a broad smile lit his face. "It smells of Kilmarian apples. I love this scent. Am I … to wash you first?"

"I thought you might enjoy getting a chance to explore my body," Vader said and stood with his arms loosely at his sides and his legs slightly parted, giving Luke full access to him.

The heightened flush on Luke's cheeks and the pleasure Vader felt from his son over their bond told him he'd guessed right to let Luke do this act. Though the boy had a chance to touch him during their lovemaking, he hadn't really gotten the opportunity to get to know Vader's body, to touch, taste and feel whatever he liked. He wanted Luke to feel absolutely comfortable with his form. It would help as they went further in their pleasure lessons.

Luke tentatively began making soft strokes with the loofa over Vader's pectoral muscles. The touches were so gentle that they tickled and Vader was biting his lower lip to stop from laughing. Luke noticed and grew flustered. Vader caught Luke's wrist as his child was about to stop washing him.

"I'm sorry, young one, I'm not laughing at you. It's just that your touches are tickling me. Make them a little stronger … I am not made of glass," Vader said and demonstrated.

His hand covered Luke's and he moved Luke's hand and the loofa over his chest with slightly more pressure. He only reluctantly let go as he realized he was leading Luke's towards his hard, aching sex. This was to be Luke's show, not his. The boy grew bolder on his own though. Luke reached up with his free hand and ran the palm down Vader's soap-slick chest, gliding a thumb over one of Vader's coffee-colored nipples. Vader hissed appreciatively and his eyes hooded.

Luke reached up and framed Vader's throat with his hands. The Dark Lord arched his head back. Luke's fingers carded through his wet locks at the base of his neck and the sensitive skin the hair covered. Vader groaned as the slightly scratchy surface of the loofa was followed by the silkiness of his son's flesh with each pass. The boy washed and massaged his shoulders and arms. Vader's breathing sped up with each tantalizing touch. His sex was hot and dripping precum. He watched as a pearly drop left the tip and hit the shower stall's floor only to mix with the water and swirl down the drain.

Even over the scent of the gel and the clean rush of water, he could smell both his and Luke's musky arousals. His nostrils flared as he looked down at his son's cock. It was curved up high and tight against his belly. Luke's irises were blown wide and he licked his lips as he began to wash Vader's sides. Vader couldn't help but cant his hips forward to try and encourage the boy to touch his needy sex.

Then Luke dropped to his knees.

Vader groaned at the sight. He could hardly breathe as he remembered fucking his son's mouth in the lift the other day. How the boy had just yielded to him and looked up at him with adoring eyes as his sweet pink mouth took his father's cock down to the hilt. Would his son let him do it again, here, with the water running all over them? There was an impish smile on his son's face and Vader knew he wasn't the only one thinking of that experience. So when Luke began to massage and wash his thighs and calves, not even looking at his cock, Vader growled. The boy's smile grew.

"Turn around, Father," Luke said as he sat back on his haunches looking up at Vader, a coy expression lighting his face.

"Why?"

"I have to wash your back."

"You haven't finished washing my front, Luke," Vader mock snarled and thrust his hips forward.

Luke's eyes flicked to Vader's dripping, aching sex. The boy's lips opened and he licked them unconsciously. Dragging his gaze from his father's cock, Luke answered, "I'm saving that for last."

"You are driving me to distraction on purpose, child of my heart. Teasing me is dangerous," Vader said and turned his back on his impish boy.

He braced himself against the wall with his hands and spread his legs wide. The child was making him crazy with lust. `Does he want to make me so in need that I grab him and take him over the side of the tub?' He couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips then. The boy probably did want that or at least would after Vader showed him the pleasure of it.

Luke began washing the back of him down by his feet and slowly inching up his legs. Vader shivered slightly as he felt the delicate brush of his son's soapy hands along his inner thighs. Then they reached higher and massaged the place right behind his balls. Vader knees shook and he gritted his teeth.

Luke said, "Your skin is so soft here. So supple."

He pushed up against the perineum again and Vader let out a gasp. Luke's fingers glided back to his ass and began to massage his powerful buttocks. Though Luke drew the loofa down the crease and cleaned him rather thoroughly, the boy made no attempt to breach him with his fingers.

Vader wondered if Luke would want to take him as well. He had been breached for the first time when he was fifteen. For a moment he frowned as that age didn't sound right and yet he was sure it had to be. He shook the sensation off. Vader had discovered from that experience … whenever it had happened … that he preferred to be the one taking rather than taken, but Luke deserved to have a chance to experience both, too. And Vader wasn't willing to let the child go elsewhere to discover it. The boy either didn't know he was allowed or was more interested in other activities, because his hands slid up to Vader's lower back.

Luke ran his hands along Vader's spine. He rubbed and caressed the broad planes of Vader's muscled back. The child placed tender kisses at the base of his skull. Vader felt his shoulders drop down in appreciation as Luke grabbed the shampoo and began massaging his head as he washed his hair. He hissed as his hot sex brushed against the cooler shower walls when Luke moved his head into the spray to rinse out the suds from his hair. Luke grasped his shoulder and turned him around again. `Finally! He will touch me.'

Vader's anticipation turned to surprise when Luke took Vader's right hand and turned it face up. He squirted some of the gel into Vader's palm. The boy's breathing and heart rate sped up as he did this and Vader wondered what it was that his son was planning. Oddly, the boy was able to block his thoughts over their bond. Luke sank down to his haunches again in front of him. The boy licked his lips and placed his hands on his thighs, gripping the lean muscles there. Vader watched with hungry eyes as his son's cock bobbed slightly with every movement. Luke's eyes never left Vader's face.

"Father … would you … would you pleasure yourself for me?"

Vader's eyes widened. The request so softly made seemed to reverberate around him. His sex quivered at the sound of his child's voice. His mind conjured up the image of jacking himself off while his son knelt in front of him, watching every moment, practically worshipping the act.

Vader gripped his sex firmly by the root as he asked, "Do you have any other requests while I masturbate for you, my son?"

Luke closed his eyes and swallowed deeply. When he opened them, his pupils were so expanded with desire that almost all the blue was lost except for a narrow ring of iris.

"Speak … speak to me. I want to hear your voice as you … touch yourself."

"What should I say? Perhaps how you look to me right now? On your knees … thighs spread … cock hard and sweet …" Vader stroked his own aching cock just once and brushed his thumb over the leaking head.

Luke blushed, but his eyes remained riveted on Vader's hand as he glided it up and down his plump, long cock. The gel, water and his precum make his hand slide easily along his length.

"You are the picture of … pure, unadulterated desire, young one. You make me imagine thrusting my cock in your mouth … your mouth that's meant to be stretched around my cock and only mine."

Luke gave out a breathy moan and rubbed his hands on his thighs, just barely brushing the sides of his erect sex. Vader slowed down his strokes, squeezing at the root to stop himself from coming first. He wanted the boy to be unable to resist touching himself. He wanted Luke to cum first.

"But thinking of being in your mouth, my beautiful boy … makes me think how much better it would be to be in your ass … so small … so hot … it clenched around my cock like a scabbard fit for my blade …"

"Oh, Father …"

Luke took in deep shuddery breaths. He grasped his own cock and began to stroke. A smile curled the Dark Lord's lips. The boy's movements were frantic, his mouth parted, lips wet with saliva, a flash of pink tongue as the boy stroked even faster. Vader heard his son's harsh pants over the patter of the spray hitting the floor.

"I'm going to spread you open on the side of the tub, Luke … and I'm going to slide right inside of you in … one sweet push … till I'm in you balls deep."

"Oh!"

"I'm going to pound into your sweet hole … and I'm going to cum deep, deep inside you. And you'll be mine."

"YES!"

His son began to shake as his orgasm hit. Long ropes of cum spurted up from Luke's sex and coated his stomach and thighs. The vision Luke presented, his knees spread wide, his spent cock still twitching in his half-closed hand, the creamy liquid splashed against that golden skin, sent Vader over the edge. He felt his balls tighten and heat shoot through them.

Just as his cum began to pour from him, Luke moved and let Vader's seed spill on his arched throat. Luke shifted closer, opening his mouth to catch as much of his father's semen as he could. As the last spurt left Vader, Luke grasped his father's quivering cock. He began suckling the now spent sex. Vader actually whimpered as Luke tongued the slit, devouring every last bit of cum from his father's body. Finally, he had to push the child gently off the sensitive organ. Luke helped Vader slide down to the floor, utterly spent from the orgasm.

The shower's spray washed both clean of their mixed semen all too soon. Vader grabbed the bottle of gel and spread some on Luke's back. With slow, careful strokes, he began to wash his boy. His hands glided over his child's tender flesh. Luke was still so gone from his orgasm that he was almost limp under Vader's touches. But he made soft mews as Vader cleaned his cock, balls and his sweet opening. Vader drew Luke between his legs and against his chest to wash his hair. As he rinsed Luke's hair under the spray, the boy perked up more. He started to pet Vader's thighs with gentle touches.

"Let's continue this in the bath," Vader murmured in Luke's ear and the boy nodded eagerly.

He helped Luke to his feet and turned off the shower spray. Luke was already sitting on the edge of the steaming tub, playing with the jets that lined the large tub's sides, waiting for him when he turned around.

"It seems so decadent … to have so much water," Luke said with a smile.

"That's the desert child in you coming out. I admit I still feel the same way sometimes. Old habits die hard," Vader said as he slid into the tub.

The heat of the water and the pumping of the underwater jets against his skin made him let out a soft groan of pleasure. He spread his legs wide and offered a hand to help Luke into the tub. With the boy securely ensconced between his thighs, Vader began nuzzling the back of Luke's head. He sucked on the soft skin at the base of his skull, but not hard enough to leave a mark. He didn't want anything to mar that lovely flesh. Luke maneuvered himself so that Vader's hardening cock was positioned between his ass cheeks. He moaned softly as Vader grasped his hips and lifted Luke up and down slightly, so his cock was sliding along that welcome crevice.

"Are you going to … to do what you said earlier?" Luke gasped out.

Vader pressed his lips to Luke's ear and asked, "Which part?"

He felt Luke's blush heat the boy's cheeks. "The … the over the side of the tub … thing … taking me … like that."

"You want that, do you? You want me inside of you so soon?"

"Yes," Luke said and squirmed backwards against Vader's rigid staff.

"Are you sure you aren't too sore for that? I took you fairly gently before, but … my cock is not small … nor is your opening so large, Luke."

Luke turned around in his arms, looking up at his through golden lashes almost demurely. "I … I healed myself … earlier. So I don't hurt. Do you think that's … that's an abuse of the Force?" The last burst out of Luke's mouth in a breathy whisper.

Vader couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. "No, or if it is a minor one … one that would always be forgiven. I didn't … you weren't too hurt were you?"

Luke shook his head. "Just sore. Normally sore, I think, nothing major. I just wanted to … to be ready to make love again with you … soon."

Vader framed Luke's face with his hands. "It'll be like taking you as a virgin all over again … each time."

He covered Luke's mouth with his own drawing the boy's tongue out to suck upon it. Luke moaned into his mouth. Vader enclosed him in a tight embrace, loving the feel of all that naked warm skin pressed against his own. The boy rubbed hungrily against him.

"I think I have unleashed a monster," Vader chuckled.

"Can't help it … want you so badly."

The boy's eyes were dilated and his lips were wet and swollen. He was a picture of debauched innocence. Vader captured Luke's mouth again in a searing kiss.

"Then I won't make you wait any longer."

Luke turned around fully and straddled Vader's thighs. Vader grasped both their hardening members in one hand and stroked gently while his other hand slipped underneath Luke's ass. He lifted the boy up slightly and slid one finger into the tight hole. Luke mewled and pushed down onto his hand.

"Gently, my son, I do not wish to hurt you."

"I know. You won't." Luke covered his father's face with soft kisses. "I want you inside me, Father. I want to be a part of you again.'

"Yes, Luke, you shall have all you want. Even though you were very … naughty … earlier."

Vader slid his finger deeper into Luke, crooking it to find Luke's pleasure spot. He knew he hit it when the boy shuddered in his arms.

"Father … what … what do you mean?"

"When you were in here … touching … what is mine. And then … disobeying … me when I ordered you to cease and desist such … trespass."

Luke's breathing became deeper as he studied Vader's perfectly impassive face. He lowered his head slightly and pushed his swollen cock against Vader's belly.

"I … I did not mean to disobey you, Father."

"But you did, my little wanton, and I think that requires some … punishment," Vader said.

"Oh … Father … please … no." Luke trembled against him.

Vader checked their bond to make sure it wasn't real fear and was only excitement. Satisfied that Luke understood he was completely safe, Vader proceeded.

"I promise after your … punishment … I will take you like you want me to," he breathed into Luke's ear and the boy gasped. "Will you submit to my will in this? Accept your punishment?"

Luke turned his head so that they were looking eye to eye. He said so softly, "Make me."

Vader grinned. "As you wish."

The Dark Lord's Force powers leapt to life at the challenge. He bound his son's hands behind his back with Force tendrils. Luke moaned and tightened his thighs over his father's legs.

"What … what are you going to … to do to me, Father?"

Vader didn't answer him. Instead he pushed Luke backwards so that the boy's chest and peaked pink nipples were exposed to his view. Vader leaned down and bit gently the right nipple. Luke hissed through his teeth. Vader felt the boy's cock twitch against his stomach. He licked the tasty nub and blew cool air over it. He moved over to the other nipple. Luke tensed. Vader's tongue traced the areola but did not touch the peaked bit of flesh that jutted out from Luke's smooth flesh.

"Please, Father …"

"Please, what, child?"

Luke shook his head and pressed his sweet lips together as if to keep the words inside of him from slipping out again. Vader traced Luke's hipbones with his fingertips as he contemplated what to do next. Using the Force, Vader turned Luke around and laid him half over the side of the tub, his pert buttocks up in the air. The boy yelped as his hot sex was pressed against the cooler marble of the tub's side. Luke looked over his shoulder at Vader, his eyes wide and confused, but shaded with desire. Vader rubbed soothing circles over the small of Luke's back.

Then he pulled his hand back and smacked Luke's left buttock.

The boy's body jerked forward more in surprise than pain. Vader knew he would feel a sting, but little more from his touch. A gasp exited Luke's mouth. Luke's wide blue eyes looked back at him.

"That was for being such a bad child … touching your sweet cock without my permission."

Vader went back to rubbing Luke's back. The boy's buttocks clenched together at his touch. A trace of pink tinged the left buttock. Luke saw him pull his arm back again and tried to squirm away. But Vader used the Force to keep him still.

"Don't, Daddy!"

The `Daddy' made Vader shut his eyes. His raised hand trembled. Desire and something more … primal shook him. Just for a moment, he could see Luke as a small child, running towards him on stubby little legs, small chubby arms stretched out in front of him, calling out for Vader, wanting to be picked up in his arms and swung around. `My son … never hurt you. Don't want you to fear me ever again.'

"Do you really want me to stop, little one?" Vader asked as he opened his eyes, fully ready to release his son and sooth any hurt he'd caused. "This is only a game. We can end it right now and never do it again. I won't be angry. I thought it would please you."

Luke shook his head, a smile lighting his eyes. "Don't stop. This is … so good, Father. We need a word … something that I can say and you'll know I really mean to stop."

The tension in Vader eased. "A safe word … yes, of course. It must be something that you wouldn't ordinarily say."

"Wookie!" Luke supplied then shrugged at Vader's confused smile. "It's unlikely that I'll shout it out in a moment of passion."

"Quite," Vader said. "Now where were we? Ah, yes … punishing you."

The boy tried to move his bound hands down to cover his buttocks Vader tightened the Force tendrils around his wrists and slid more around his thighs. He used those tendrils to spread Luke's legs wide so that his pucker was just barely exposed. The boy hissed at the stretch, but did not say the safe word.

Vader raised his hand and slapped the right buttock this time, letting his fingers linger and slide down the crease, passing over the pink pucker. The boy moaned and pushed his sex against the side of the tub. Vader could feel arousal coming off of his son in waves. Luke's sex painted the side of the tub with precum. Vader didn't want their play to end prematurely. He wound a Force tendril around the base of Luke's cock.

"Are you beginning to see how wrong you were to disobey me, my child?"

"I can touch myself if I wish to," Luke said, tossing his head slightly, trying to look haughty. "You have no right to punish me for it."

"Oh? We will see if you still believe that after I'm done," Vader growled.

He gave several sharp slaps to each butt cheek, leaving them slightly rosy. The boy at first gritted his jaw and refused to cry out. Only when Vader aimed one blow against his opening did he let out a stuttered shout. Blue eyes, slightly misty with tears, turned to look at him. Vader checked and saw that Luke's cock was like an iron rod. The blows had continued to arouse him, only the Force tendril was keeping him from cumming during the play punishment.

"I'm sorry … Daddy." The boy's head lowered, his lashes wet.

Vader jerked at Luke using that title again. It was so perverse, but so loving as well for what they were doing. No one else would ever see this submissive side of his beautiful son. Only he would. This would be something only between them. He couldn't help but press his own rigid cock between the hot cheeks of Luke's buttocks and rub the tip over Luke's opening. The boy pushed back and Vader was tempted to just thrust inside, but that would truly hurt his beloved child. He leaned forward and kissed Luke's mouth and then the salty tears that fell as the boy shut his eyes.

"Are you … repentant … for your trespass and disobedience now, Luke?"

"Yes, Daddy." Luke's eyes were still downcast.

He placed his fingers under Luke's chin and tipped the boy's head up. "Then it is time for … pleasure, child of my heart."

Vader used the Force to draw over some lube he had left on the vanity's top. Luke's eyes hungrily followed the tube. Vader popped it open and slicked his fingers.

"Do you want me to release you, my little wanton, when I take you?"

Luke shook his head. "Just if you would let my hands be in front of me."

Vader did as requested, rebinding his boy's hands in front of him over the side of the tub. As Vader pressed two fingers inside and began to scissor them, he looked at his son's thighs. They were spread apart for him. The long muscles in those powerful legs, quivered in pleasure with each thrust and twist of his fingers.

"You are so beautiful like this, Luke. Spread open for me … trembling … submitting your body to whatever use I wish to make of it."

"Only for you, Daddy. All for you."

"Yes … all and only for me will you be like this."

Vader slicked his cock. It felt like a firebrand in his hands. Luke looked over his shoulder at his father.

"One thrust, Father, all the way in. Just like you promised me."

Vader didn't trust himself to speak. Desire clawed up his throat. He needed to be inside Luke. Needed it so badly he couldn't stop himself from grasping Luke's hips firmly, centering the tip of his blood-flushed cock against the still tiny opening, and plunging inside. Luke's back arched, a thin wail exiting his lush mouth. Vader cried out as well as the heat and tightness of his son's passage gripped his cock almost in a vise. He remained still, his balls pressed tight against Luke's opening, willing his son's spasming hole to relax.

"Listen to my voice, Luke," Vader whispered.

The boy was breathing heavily, his cock had wilted slightly, but when Vader reached around and grasped it, the member perked up.

"Relax your muscles, my son. Relax … so I can move and give you pleasure."

Luke nodded and let out a gasping moan. Vader felt the muscles in Luke's passage release slightly. He rocked forward, hoping to brush against the boy's prostate. He was rewarded when Luke moaned in pleasure, and pushed his pert bottom back against Vader.

"Oh, yes, little one … open for me … receive me … let me love you …"

"Daddy … yes! Ooooh …"

Vader was able to slide out several inches and thrust back in. With each successive thrust, he was able to pull farther back until only the head of his plump cock was in Luke's passage and then he was slamming back in until his balls were slapping against Luke's buttocks. Luke met his every inward push. They were both panting and crying out with each movement. The water rushed around their legs. The heat of it nothing though compared to the heat between them.

Vader buried his face in Luke's still damp hair. He moved his lips through the curling strands until they were resting on the sweet flesh of his neck. The boy mewled as Vader bit down lightly on the sensitive skin. He released the Force tendril that restrained Luke's cock. The boy gasped and arched against him. Musky seed exploded from his son's sex as Vader purposefully hit Luke's prostate again and again with short quick thrusts of his cock. The clenching of Luke's passage around his cock was too much and Vader orgasmed. His cum flooded against the boy's prostate and Luke was literally shaking at the sensation. Luke's passage milked every last drop of semen from Vader's sex.

Vader came to lying over Luke's back, having lost his senses for a moment. That had never happened to him before. Vader smiled. He removed the Force tendrils from around Luke's tender limbs. He carefully got up, pulling his cock out of his son's passage. The boy moaned softly as Vader's cock popped out of his anus. Vader watched as his cum trickled out of the pucker and down Luke's thighs. There was no sign of blood. Vader slid back down into the frothing water, drawing Luke down with him. The boy lay limply against his chest, his head pillowed against Vader's shoulder. Vader carefully trickled water over Luke's chest and arms, keeping that flesh wet and warm. The boy smiled sleepily.

"Love you so, Luke."

"Love you, Father."

Luke was quiet for a minute then shifted around in Vader's arms to face him. The Dark Lord saw a question in Luke's eyes and the way Luke bit his lower lip worried him.

"It was all right what we did, Luke. There was nothing wrong with it. Nothing wrong with enjoying it or wanting it."

"I … I really liked it … I … you don't mind that I wanted that?"

"No, child of my heart. I really liked it myself … in case you didn't notice."

Luke smiled, but still continued to worry his lower lip with his teeth. Vader pressed a fatherly kiss to Luke's temple.

"You were right," Luke said suddenly.

"Hmmm?"

"Uncle Owen's voice … it's fading. I'm hearing yours instead in my mind."

"I'm glad, Luke. You're safe with me. We can do anything together and there is no shame in it." He would repeat those words as often as Luke needed to hear them.

The boy leaned up and kissed Vader chastely on the mouth. There was a mischievous smile on Luke's face.

"When you say anything … you really mean it?"

"Yes, why? What are you thinking, my little wanton?"

Luke's cheeks blushed a becoming rose color and the boy's bright blue eyes dropped down to study Vader's chest.

"I've had this … fantasy, I guess you could say … about … well, playing a Rebel prisoner that you've captured and … you … you taking me in a Detention cell."

His son's eyes flickered up to his face when Vader said nothing. Uncertainty was spiking through those blue depths and Vader realized he had to speak.

"I think I can arrange that fantasy to come true, my child."

Luke's expression immediately brightened and he kissed Vader eagerly again. The truth behind Vader's immediate speechlessness was that the very thought of taking his son in one of the cells sent arousal pumping through his system. He was already planning which cell they could use. `It cannot be one that has been occupied for some time or that someone was hurt in. He'll sense that. I think I know just the one.'

"How long have you had this fantasy, Luke?"

The boy shifted in his arms slightly. "Since … since I saw you in person on the Death Star for the first time. Force … that sounds so awful, doesn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Vader kissed the top of his son's head not putting together what meeting Luke was referring to.

"I'd just seen you strike down Ben and … yet the strength you exuded … the sight of you … all black against the white of the walls ..." Luke shivered. "I felt … desire. Like nothing I'd ever felt before."

Vader caressed his son's back, not speaking. He wished there were not so many bad memories attached to all his meetings with his child in the past. He had been so angry at Obi-Wan at that meeting that he had not realized the Jedi Master was causing him to star in some revenge show for his impressionable young son. He had almost entirely missed the Force presence of the boy until it was too late and the blast doors were closing. Cutting him off from the bewitching child he saw screaming and firing a blaster at him.

Luke continued, "Then you were striding towards me and … as angry and frightened of you as I was … part of me wanted to stay near you. To surrender and experience that strength. To know what it would be like to be in your arms … to be made to … submit."

And Vader knew he would have made the child submit back then. Probably brought him to his quarters and taken him again and again. But it would not have been with love … not at first.

"It does not sound awful or strange to me, Luke. It sounds … honest." Vader tightened his embrace around his child. One confession deserved another. "The sight of you that day … haunted me for months until I discovered who you were. Then I was haunted even more. So close and yet … you slipped through my fingers like a phantom. I feared you would be killed in some useless firefight for the Rebellion before I could get to you. I was frantic trying to think of ways to find you, lure you to me again. That is when I thought up Bespin."

"Did you … care for me then? Or was I just someone you thought could help you take over the Empire?"

The way Luke was so still against him told Vader how much this answer meant to the boy. It was tempting to give him an easy excuse, but he knew the truth was what Luke needed to hear, what he deserved to hear.

Vader tried to clarify his thoughts. It was hard to know at what moment he had finally acknowledged his love and desire for his son.

"When I saw you on Bespin, I … I didn't know what I wanted."

"But you seemed so … sure. So certain."

"Seemed being the operative word. I played my role of Dark Lord of the Sith to the hilt. I hid behind it."

"But why?"

Vader let out a harsh breath. He wasn't keen on self-analyzing, but sometimes it needed to be done and perhaps this was one of those times.

"Seeing you … unnerved me. I could glimpse my former self in you. Old dreams. Bitter memories. Things that … hurt. Which made me angry. And so I struck out at you. Told both you and myself at the same time that your importance to me was only to destroy the Emperor and take my rightful place on the throne. Not for any other reason."

"When did it change for you? When did you feel … more than that?"

Vader concentrated on listening to Luke's heartbeat. He had to remind himself that these things they spoke of were in the past. His child was safe in his arms. The cold, clear air of Cloud City wasn't around them, the steamy warmth of the bathroom was.

Vader answered, "I always did feel more. I just didn't want to admit it. But the moment when I realized that I was … ruining everything and desperately did not want that to happen … was also on Bespin."

Luke opened and closed his sweet mouth, clearly trying to ascertain when it happened.

"It was when you let go and … fell." Vader closed his eyes for a moment and asked a question he feared the answer of, "Did you let go on purpose, Luke? Did you think death was preferable to being with me?"

Luke touched his father's cheek, which made Vader open his eyes. Their gazes met. Vader could almost hear an echo of Luke screaming `no' when the Dark Lord told him that he was his father. The denial, the pain and rage … and deepest loss. The dream image of a perfect father shattered.

"I was afraid."

Vader's shoulders slumped. "Yes, of course, you were. I took your hand and—"

Luke shook his head. "Not of you. Well, not only of you. I was afraid of how much I … I wanted to be with you."

"I don't understand, Luke."

Luke linked one of his hands with Vader's. He stared at their bound hands for some time before answering Vader.

"I knew that if I took your hand … that eventually I would … give in to you, do whatever you wanted me to. And it seemed like all you wanted was for me to … fall to the Dark Side. I believed all hope would be lost for the Universe if I did that. Like Ben and Yoda had told me. I was the only hope. The last hope."

Vader cupped Luke's chin. The Jedi could not leave the Skywalkers to tread their own fate it seemed. He grieved that his son had felt such despair, that he had not recognized and stopped himself from pushing the boy into a corner, that he had not lured Luke to him by some other way.

Luke's voice was soft, quiet, as he said, "So … I did the only thing I could. I let go. But then you saved me … and it was like my heart was … something in me broke. For a moment on the Falcon … when the hyperdrive was disconnected … I thought I heard your voice …"

"You did. I was calling to you. Telling you not to run from me. That I was coming."

Luke's brow furrowed. His eyes were unfocused as he remembered. "I … part of me … hoped we wouldn't escape. And then … the engines kicked on and … I couldn't feel you anymore. And I couldn't bear that."

"That moment when we were parted … I knew I had to find you. I knew I had … to be different. I wasn't going to lose you again."

"And you didn't. You tracked me to Black Heart." Luke smiled suddenly, the sadness retreating as he realized that Bespin was in the past. "When did you know you … desired me as I desired you?"

Vader chuckled. "I kept having visions of you … naked against black silk sheets … after Bespin. That was my first clue."

Luke laughed softly. "Then when you saw my dream … and I thought everything was lost because of it!"

Vader brushed his lips against Luke's temple. "Your dream made me realize my love could be reciprocated. And everything changed." He kissed Luke long and hard.

Everything had changed. Yet it felt so familiar. So meant. Vader had an almost disturbing sense of having done this before, but it faded away like morning mist dissipating under a rising sun. Luke sank against him again. Vader shut his eyes and concentrated on enjoying the sensation of the water supporting their bodies. He could think of nothing better than spending the rest of the day in the bath or in their bed with Luke, but there was much to be done before they arrived on Coruscant.

He had to test his renewed body. Vader was loathe to trust his new powers. They were not reliable. He could still remember the frustration of not having been able to access them at the most inconvenient times on Black Heart and then … `losing control' altogether. If such a thing happened on Coruscant … millions could die. The image of burning durasteel and clouds of black smoke with the backdrop of people screaming made something tighten in Vader's chest. He would not be ruled by these new powers, he was the Master, he would control them. Which meant practice.

With a regretful sigh, Vader said, "I'm afraid duty is calling again, Luke, and I must get up."

"You're thinking of your confrontation with Palpatine," Luke intuited. "That you have to prepare."

Vader sensed no distress from Luke about this for which he was grateful. Perhaps the boy had accepted that Palpatine would be destroyed by his father's hand.

"Yes, there is much to do."

Luke shifted up out of his arms to stand in the bath. The water cascaded down his naked form and Vader couldn't help but admire the wet curves of his son's body. The boy offered him a hand up, which he accepted, now knowing that Luke was more than strong enough to lift him. Vader couldn't help but slide his arms around his son's shoulders and hold that beloved naked body against his. Luke made a murmured sound of happiness.

He smoothed Luke's damp locks back from his forehead. Looking into his son's impossibly blue eyes, Vader had a sense of peace and permanence. Facing Palpatine suddenly seemed very easy.

Vader's POV

Vader smoothed down the front of the black Silresian silk shirt he had slipped on. He tucked it neatly into his tight black pants, which were themselves tucked into calf-high black boots. The shirt was open at the neck, showing the hollow of his throat and just the tops of his pectoral muscles. `Not too revealing but … attractive.' He laughed at himself as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. The mirror also showed Luke, twinly dressed in all sleek black, coming up behind him and sliding his arms around Vader's slim waist.

"What are you laughing at?" Luke asked.

"My own vanity. That is all, young one," he said, covering Luke's hands with his own.

"You look beautiful, Father." The boy nuzzled his open throat. "You have every right to be vain."

"My little wanton."

The boy grinned at the pet name. `Speaking of names …' Vader was glad that Luke called him by the more formal `father' out of the bedroom … `or bathroom as the case may be' … because he would forever associate `daddy' with making love to his son. And getting an erection while on the Bridge or in the hallway when his son merely called for him would be inconvenient.

"I was thinking that I would go see Joran and his mother," Luke said. "I know have much to do … but do you want to come?"

"I might be able to join you later. I would like to see them both again."

Luke's nodded happily then his brow puckered and he frowned.

"What is it, Luke?"

"Just that I promised Joran to bring my lightsaber, but I gave the only hilt we had to Qui-Gon when we got off Black Heart and he's off on some business for you. I just have our crystals," Luke said, taking their crystals out of his pants' pockets.

"Well, we can't disappoint the child, now can we?"

Vader grasped Luke's hand. Luke cocked an eyebrow up at him. Vader smiled and was about to lead the boy from their quarters to the sparring room that had a workbench where sabers could be created, when a flash of crimson caught his eye. The long red coat he had envisioned, made out of the material Luke had chosen, was lying on their bed next to all his other completed clothing. He had not had a chance to tell C-704 the design before the droid had left to see to having the rest of his clothes made. Yet here was the coat, just as he had imagined it.

"Father?"

"It is … nothing, my son," Vader answered, but he knew it was hardly nothing.

His thoughts though were interrupted by a scratching at the back of his mind. He recognized it as Qui-Gon trying to signal him. He opened their training bond.

`Anakin."

His old name spoken in such familiarity had none of its sting this time.

`Any progress on the spy, Qui-Gon?'

`Yes, some disturbing news. I have been tracking a Force signature.'

`A Force signature? The spy is Force sensitive?'

`Yes, I … think so.'

`What do you mean `think so'?'

`It fades in and out. Very faint then flares to life. I experienced something like it while on a planet called Taultan. A group of assassins were using the Force in an unfamiliar way to mask their actions and intentions.'

`That would fit with what this spy has been doing. And perhaps …' Vader mused on his discovery about C-704. `I just had an interesting experience with my protocol droid …'

Vader explained about the coat.

`So it responded to something you were thinking? As if it could pick up on your thoughts?'

`Yes. If this spy is also a Force user of some sort this must be how he was getting into my room and taking my filters and other actions. He had my droid do it and then … then took the memory from it somehow without leaving a trace.'

`Hmmm, maybe tracking the droid may lead me to the spy. I'll look into that angle.'

`Contact me the moment you discover anything.'

`Understood.'

The bond closed down between them. Vader could not think of anyone who was so mechanically skilled or had access to his droid on a regular basis that could be a suspect. He had thought of C-704 being compromised before and had ripped the droid apart, but he had found nothing.

"Some news from Qui-Gon?" Luke asked, having sensed the contact from the other Force user though not what was said.

"Yes, I have him out tracking the spy that was destroying my filters. He has found a strange Force signature."

"Another Force user?" Luke's eyebrows went up.

"Palpatine has often broken the `rule' of one master and one apprentice. He trains those he feels will serve him best then … destroys them when they are of no further use." Vader's voice darkened then he shook himself. Now was not the time. "But enough about him. Come with me."

He led Luke out of their quarters, down a short hallway, and through a double-wide door. Luke gave a gasp of surprise and awe as they entered the sparring room. It was almost identical to one of the Executor's hangar bays, even its size, except for two particular differences. A hundred battle droids lined the walls, ready to fight at a moment's notice, and there were catwalks spanning the ceiling at different heights, which would be perfect for practicing Force jumps and mid-air fighting.

"What is this place?" Luke asked.

"The training room."

Luke grinned, clearly imagining the joy of sparring in there with Vader. The Dark Lord was also looking forward to taking his son on in a friendly contest. `To teach him the katas … to see his liquid grace … his muscles flexing and glistening …' Vader consciously turned off that line of thought. If he continued on in that way, he would be throwing Luke down on the training room floor.

He took Luke to the workbench that was situated in a little alcove off the main room. There were plenty of parts to create new lightsabers. He offered Luke the use of the bench, but the boy shook his head.

"Father," Luke's head ducked down for a moment, "would you make my lightsaber for me?"

There was an unaccustomed feeling of tightness in Vader's chest at the request. To be trusted with such a thing meant more than Vader was willing to admit. He would not fail this trust; he would create a perfect weapon to protect his son when he was not near. But there was something else he wished to do in order to share this feeling with his son.

"I will make your lightsaber, but … only if you make mine, Luke."

One of those dawn-like smiles crossed Luke's face as he answered, "Of course. I'd be honored to."

Both men carefully reached for the materials they needed and began to work quickly and efficiently. The hilts came together with ease. Vader felt he had truly done his best work ever on his son's hilt. He reached for Luke's crystal next to his on the workbench. He slid it in until it clicked in place. He ignited the white-blue blade. It was an icy beautiful thing. He performed a few slashes with it.

At that moment he heard the thrum and hiss of another blade being ignited. It was the first time he would see his new crystal lit. He turned to look at Luke moving his blade in fluid, graceful swings. The blade was mostly black with a heart of purple and just a hint of amber at the very base. It would be almost invisible in the darkness.

The blade drew him to it.

Luke and he exchanged weapons. As soon as Vader's hand closed on the hilt, he knew that this was the blade he was meant to wield all his life.

"Father … my hilt … its flawless!" Luke's eyes sparkled as he hefted the hilt Vader had made for him and took a few practice swings with the blade.

"And so is mine. Luke, you did an amazing job," Vader said as he laid the hilt on his palm with the blade lit. Not even a flicker of movement. Perfectly balanced.

The sound of the battle droids shifting down from their slots drew Vader's attention. Luke gave a laugh and at first Vader thought the boy was controlling the droids, setting up an impromptu sparring session. One hundred pairs of red electronic eyes glowed at them. Metal maws opened and a terrible sound emerged from those throats: like the groans of the earth itself.

Luke's smile faded and he took a few steps forward to be at Vader's side, taking a defensive stance. His voice was low as he asked, "You didn't turn them on, did you?"

"And neither did you, I take it." Vader's hand tightened on the hilt of his saber. "I think we're going to get our chance to test out our blades, Luke."

With another battle cry, the droids began their attack.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: MASTER AND SPY

Luke's POV

When the droids began to move, Luke laughed, believing his father was setting up some kind of sparring match. But then a hundred pairs of red glowing eyes swung towards them and a terrible electronic howl burst from the droids' mouths and he knew Vader had nothing to do with this. Droids had never given off any type of Force aura before that he'd noticed, but these … things … did. They dripped malice and corruption.

Vader hit a button on the far wall with a Force push, but nothing happened. The droids continued to advance. He scowled. "It's as I feared, the failsafe to deactivate them isn't working."

As the battle droids leapt from their slots on the walls to the floor below on the far side of the hanger, their metal feet causing a cacophony of clanks, both Force users raised their sabers into defensive positions. Luke felt doubly protected to have Vader there by his side and to be holding the saber his father had made for him.

`I feel the same way, young one,' Vader sent over their bond as he tightened his grip on the saber Luke had made for him. `The droids' power supplies are on their backs identified by a green light. Hit those to take them down quickly.'

Luke nodded. The hiss and thrum of hundreds of lightsabers igniting made his mouth go dry. These droids were not armed with blasters or even durasteel survival swords. Instead each of them had a lightsaber. Some wielded more than one. Luke had never faced this many foes, let alone this many armed with sabers, before. And he feared the droids would be good at wielding them. Vader would have programmed them to be challenging.

`Who is controlling them, Father?'

`It feels like … Palpatine.' Vader reached over and gripped Luke's shoulder. `I know I hardly need say this … but be careful, Luke. They are not meant to be easy opponents.'

Luke gave him a rueful smile. `I feared that was so. I'll be fine.'

Vader gave him a brilliant grin in return. `I know. Your skills are remarkable. Together there is no doubt that we will defeat them.'

Luke glowed slightly at his father's praise, but this was no time to be distracted. He took a deep breath as he centered himself within the Force. He felt his father do the same beside him.

Then they sprang into battle.

Vader sent out a wave of power that sent droids tumbling backwards, some impacting the walls or the ground so hard their inner casings shattered and the glow of their power supplies winked out. Even though the wave Vader sent was potent, Luke realized his father wasn't using his new powers. `It would be good to have that strength, but if what happened on Black Heart happened here …' He pushed the thought aside. It was too terrible to contemplate.

Luke used Force levitate to gather dozens small durasteel boxes that lined one corner of the room and sent them spinning through the air, crushing some droids' power supplies and decapitating others. Those without heads still continued to advance as if they used the eyes of their companions to see. `Like a hive mind.'

Then the battle became a blur for Luke of slashing, ducking and throwing droids against the walls or floor to smash them into pieces. In order to avoid a blow that would have cut him in half, he Force jumped up to one of the catwalks above only to have droids follow after him, swarming up the walls like ants. His Force jump had separated him from his father and left him open to attack on all sides. Having no time to curse his own lack of foresight, Luke continued to jump upwards to higher catwalks to keep away from the horde of droids that hardly seemed to have lessened from the beginning of the battle.

He was backed into the far corner of the highest catwalk as dozens of droids advanced upon him. He sent wave after wave of Force pushes out. Even as droids fell off the catwalk in droves and plummeted to the floor, more clambered up to attack him in a seemingly unending stream. Panic began to eat at the edges of Luke's mind, especially when he met the eyes of the biggest droid he had seen so far.

The droid's jaw jutted forward and its eyes glowed like sulfurous pits. The thing was so large it spanned the entire width of the catwalk and it wielded not one or two lightsabers, but eight. When it let out a metallic shriek of challenge, Luke was almost deafened.

He tried to Force push it away, but the droid did not budge, seemingly immune to the attack. A black wave of energy rushed out of it like pus. Luke's whole being wanted to cringe back from it, but he held firm. He took up a defensive stance as two of its eight blades raced across the short distance between them. The strength behind the blows was stunning. They forced Luke down to his knees, his own blade pressed back until it was inches from his eyes.

The smell of ozone from the sparking sabers filled Luke's nostrils. He was holding off the two blades, but the droid had six more that were flying towards him. Luke used a burst of Force energy to supplement his strength and shoved the two blades away then did a back flip to gain some distance from the thing. He retreated until he was flush with the wall. Luke glanced down to either side of the catwalk. More droids were scaling the walls and would surround him in moments. He was trapped.

Suddenly, a black clad figure was between him and the foul thing. It was his father.

"Stay back, Luke!" Vader said, sending a wave of protectiveness over their bond. "This one is mine."

"It's immune to Force manipulation!"

Vader gave him a grim smile. "Then my saber will have to do."

Vader advanced towards the droid, his saber held deceptively loosely in his right hand, his legs slightly bent. The droid let out what sounded like a cackle and its eyes glowed like witchfire in its sockets.

"You find the thought of battling me amusing, do you?" Vader challenged the droid, a cold smile crossing his full lips. "Well … it will be entertaining for me certainly … as I take you apart."

The droid stretched out all eight arms to its sides. The lightsabers it held were all blood red in color. They cast a crimson glow over the droid's body. It made the droid appear to be made of molten metal. Luke's awe of the droid was nothing compared to his awe of his father as Vader suddenly moved. The Dark Lord darted in to attack so fast he was more almost a blur. Sparks flew as his father's and the droid's two main sabers clashed and sprang apart. Vader ruthlessly parried a blow from another of the arms. The acrid smell of ozone again filled the air. The amber in Vader's blade flared brighter with each strike.

`It's too strong for one person … even father! I have to help him.'

But just as Luke went to follow after Vader, the boy himself was locked in battle with half a dozen droids that foamed over the side of the catwalk and blocked his path. His only consolation at that moment was that at least he could keep these others off his father's back while he handled the large droid.

Luke heard the hum and clash of another lightsaber: Qui-Gon had joined the fight. The Jedi Master's robes billowed around him as he spun and slashed and parried against twenty droids who attacked him near the door.

Through snatched glances over at Vader, as Luke ruthlessly parried, slashed and ducked his own opponents, Luke saw his father slice off two of the droid's arms. The thing actually hissed at the Dark Lord, its red eyes flaring brightly. Luke's attention was snatched away again as he was attacked by five more droids that clambered up onto the catwalk on either side of him.

Luke used his saber to send the droids flying to the ground like metallic rain, their bodies shattering and parts skittering across the slick floor. He kept trying to break away to help his father, but try as he might, he couldn't get near him. More and more droids boiled up from below to surround him and pin him in the corner.

The huge droid Vader fought slashed at an overhanging light, sending it crashing down towards Vader's head. Then it immediately sliced through the sides of the catwalk in front of it with two of its sabers, cutting through the support ties. Even as Vader dealt with the falling light by using the Force to shove it away, the section of catwalk beneath his feet was suddenly tilting downwards.

Luke watched in horror as Vader was suddenly tumbling forwards towards the droid's four remaining spinning blades. It looked as if the Dark Lord wouldn't be able to avoid them. His father would be pierced through the chest, maybe even through the heart. Luke parried blows from three remaining droids even as he tried to grab his father with the Force, but Vader's body seemed to just slip through his grasp.

Luke screamed, "NO!"

Without thought, he reached with the Force towards the large droid instead and light gushed out of it. All the power that animated the huge droid, even that which generated the lightsabers it wielded bled out of it into the air in a storm of light. The droid's body sagged, completely inert.

The remaining droids also stuttered and then stopped as if their power supplies were abruptly cut all at once as the storm of light from the larger droid passed over them and grew brighter and bigger. Then the light rushed towards Luke. It impacted his chest like a river of energy pouring. His body jerked and flailed under the strain. Finally, the onslaught stopped. Luke stumbled and fell to his knees. Vader was suddenly at Luke's side. His face was flushed and his eyes were bright with battle and awe.

"Are you injured?" Vader's hands skimmed over his back, but found no wounds other than a few saber burns that were already healing. Vader gripped him by the shoulders and forced Luke to look up at him. His amber eyes glowed with worry. "Child, please answer me!"

"I'm … not injured. I'm all right, Father."

Vader's shoulders sagged in relief then he looked at Luke's face closely. "How did you do that, my son? Stop the droids without … touching them."

Luke shook his head. He knew, but the words wouldn't come. It had been the same way he had brought back Qui-Gon and disintegrated the dragon's body. He had taken the droids' power into himself. And if the droids had been living things, he would have taken their lives inside instead. The same ability that let him bring back the dead and heal limbs … was a terrible weapon as well.

Luke wanted to curl in on himself as he realized the exhaustion he should feel after this battle was not there, because the droids' energy had fed him and then some. He felt swollen with power, suffused with it. Vader's arms were comfortingly around his shoulders. He petted Luke's hair. Luke shook under his father's hands.

"It's all right, Luke, it's all right."

Luke pressed his face into his father's shoulder, inhaling Vader's scent of leather and spice and clean sweat. His father was alive and that was all that mattered. The way he had saved him was immaterial. It had to be. Luke couldn't … wouldn't imagine his life again without his father by his side.

"I'm sorry, Father."

He didn't know what he was sorry for: jumping when he shouldn't have, putting his father in danger, taking the energy from other beings, even if they were droids? Or all of the above? He gripped Vader tightly against him almost as if he believed a giant hand could appear and snatch his father from his grasp.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. Whatever this new ability is … we'll deal with it together."

Luke pulled his head back, his face felt tight and hot. "No, not that or … not just that. It's my fault you almost got killed!"

"Luke?" Vader's brows were knit together, his lips opened slightly, showing concern and confusion.

"That droid … you had to fight him alone on the catwalk … its blades would have thrust into your heart and … you could have … you would have died, because I made a mistake … jumped when I shouldn't have! And then I wasn't strong enough to get to you and … what if there wasn't enough energy to bring you back—"

Vader pressed two fingers against Luke's lips, stilling the boy's self-flagellation. "No, Luke. Stop right there." Vader's eyes bored into his as if to burn his words on Luke's mind. "In a battle, things … happen. You had to make a split-second decision and jumping was the correct one. Plus if you hadn't kept the other droids away from me … well, it would have been a very different battle."

Luke opened his mouth to protest, but Vader waved him silent.

"My child, trust me. I have been in more battles than I care to remember. And I know certain things … this is one of them. You made the right choices."

Luke thought to himself, `Next time … I should use the power at the beginning to just drain our enemies away into nothingness so Father will not be at risk.' He internally shrunk from that idea … and the disturbing sense of familiarity he felt about the sentiment.

Luke reached up and threaded his fingers through Vader's thick hair at the base of his skull and, using that leverage, he pulled his father down for an almost frenzied kiss. He knew Qui-Gon was there but he didn't care. He had to do this, had to physically connect with his father. Vader groaned into his mouth. His father's powerful hands slid around Luke's back, cupping his buttocks and pulling him close.

The kiss wasn't about desire for Luke, but it quickly rose in him like a wave. He eagerly rode one of his father's thighs, his sex filling at the contact. The hardness of that leg underneath him, the heat of Vader's body as it cooled from battle, the hint of moisture from sweat at the back of his neck was all evidence to Luke that his father lived. `I cannot be without him. Oh, Force … when he dies, if it is not possible to bring him back, let me die, too.'

"I can't lose you … not again …" Luke murmured.

"Child? Lose me … again?" Vader's eyes were huge with worry.

Luke shook his head. He wasn't sure what he meant. "I … I just can't … can't be without you."

"Luke … I'm right here. I'm never going to leave you," Vader breathed the words into his ear.

Vader captured his mouth again. This time it was a long, slow kiss. Vader's tongue tangled with his own until all he could taste was their combined flavor of citrus and spice. Luke's arousal burned hotter. His father's sweet breath against his lips as they broke apart inflamed him more. He wanted that breath against every part of his skin, delving inside of him again. He wanted Vader to hold him down and enter him. Wanted to feel the hot splash of his father's cum inside him, marking him, claiming him, making them one again.

Now that Luke knew what lovemaking was between them, he wanted to forget all their responsibilities. `Just locate that beach and … hide there forever. Let Palpatine and Obi-Wan never find us …' But Luke knew that was a selfish thing to wish for and nothing either he or his father would want forever. Both had responsibilities and ambitions, which couldn't be satisfied in hiding. Luke fanned his hands on either side of Vader's face, his gaze memorizing every inch of that beloved visage.

Vader's eyes were heavy-lidded with pleasure and a slow, sensual smile spread across his face, "Much as I am enjoying this … and would like to pursue it …"

"We have to figure out how the droids are being controlled," Luke finished the thought. For the first time since the battle, he smiled genuinely and his heart eased. Luke winced then. "Poor Qui-Gon. I'm sure this … didn't make him exactly comfortable." Luke gestured down at their entwined limbs.

Vader laughed softly. "He's probably thinking that it's a good thing as it enhances the Balance in some way."

"Actually, I was thinking you look quite beautiful together, which is offering me quite a lovely view," Qui-Gon's rich voice rang out from below with evident amusement.

Luke went scarlet and even a hint of pink appeared on Vader's cheekbones. Then Luke couldn't help his laughter. Vader smirked and brushed his lips against Luke's temple. Without further discussion, father and son broke apart. Vader helped Luke jump down to the floor of the sparring chamber. Qui-Gon joined them.

Luke could tell that his father and the Jedi Master were talking over their training bond, though he could not hear their words. When the Jedi Master's eyes turned towards him with a kindly yet concerned expression Luke was sure they had been discussing what had happened with the droids. His body tensed again.

"The power … the power I used to stop the droids. It's the same as the one I used to bring you back," Luke explained quickly as though getting the words out faster would lessen their impact.

Vader frowned. "You drew in their energy …"

"Yes. And I … convert it somehow in order to heal. In this case … I've just kept it inside me." That gave Luke an idea. "Let me show you. I can … share it."

He concentrated on the excess pulsing energy flowing through him. He sent that energy towards his father and Qui-Gon. Both men sighed as the energy surged into their bodies. Vader's eyes slipped half-shut as if the power exchange had given him pleasure. A soft smile appeared on Qui-Gon's lips. Any wounds on the men vanished and all their energy was replaced so that they were as fresh as when they began the battle. Luke felt relieved to be rid of the excess power. He only wished the guilt could be sent away so easily.

"I wonder why your enhanced powers have appeared now? Was it coming so close to death that triggered them or something about Black Heart itself?" Qui-Gon mused as his gaze cleared of the pleasure from the power exchange and became serious and hawk-like again. Luke sensed the Jedi Master missed little with those insightful eyes.

"There is an … Archive that we have discovered," Vader said. "On Black Heart itself. We made a copy of it. I have downloaded it onto the holonet in our quarters. The Dark Side … informs me that the material in this Archive is crucial in understanding our roles."

Qui-Gon's eyes blazed with interest. "Truly? And you have not examined it yet? Or …"

Luke shuffled his feet. "That's my fault."

"Luke …" Vader started but Luke waved him silent.

"I … have a strange reaction to the Archive. I feel … terribly ill and … uncomfortable when it's played. So Father has held off on investigating it. But he shouldn't anymore. Obviously, we need to know whatever's on there and my … minor discomfort must not stand in the way."

"It is more than minor discomfort, Luke," Vader said softly.

"You and Qui-Gon should view it. I might not be able to stay in the room while you do. But we need to know that information. Who knows what new abilities will come up. We shouldn't be in the dark about this," Luke said earnestly.

"I am agreeable to that … if you are, Anakin."

The Dark Lord looked on at Luke with undisguised concern. But the boy refused to show just how afraid of the Archive he was. He smiled confidently. He wished to give the impression that he was completely at ease with the prospect of them viewing the Archive while inside he really wanted was to smash the thing.

"I am … agreeable," Vader said after long minutes of considering his son.

"Perhaps when I go see Joran and his mother later … you can view the Archive then," Luke suggested.

Vader nodded and Luke relaxed slightly. If he was with Joran at the third level cantina, perhaps it would be far enough away for him to escape the Archive's effects.

They were all silent a moment. Luke found he didn't want to think of the Archive or his new powers anymore. The powers themselves felt so alien to him, like another person rising up in his body. He shook himself and studied the wreckage of the droids around them instead. The ground could hardly be seen underneath the glittering metal parts. Would these be the only droids they had to fear? Could others on the Executor suddenly turn on them? `Could Artoo?' The last thought was terrible to Luke. Artoo had been his closest friend before his father. To have the little droid suddenly attack him would be horrific.

Vader suddenly started laughing, breaking Luke's morbid thoughts. When Qui-Gon lifted one expressive eyebrow up at him, the Dark Lord explained, "I was worried that it would be difficult for me to fight at first with my new limbs. Luckily, I was wrong."

Qui-Gon smiled and even Luke found the corners of his lips twitching. His father had been amazing to watch, so lithe and light, yet strong. There had been no hesitation in his movements, only liquid grace. His beautiful new shirt and pants though were rather scorched in places, showing a lot more skin than they had before. Luke had the desire to run his fingers along those cuts to trace the bare flesh. `My mind is jumping all over the place. First guilt then dread then desire. I must focus on the present.'

With that thought in the forefront, Luke turned to the older Jedi and asked, "How did you get here so fast, Master Jinn?"

Qui-Gon explained, "I was following the spy's Force presence and it led me here."

"That's not possible. No one has entered this room besides us," Vader said. "I have sensors in place and would have felt it. And even if they had somehow eluded my traps … there is no where to hide." He gestured at the completely open space. There was not even a closet in which a person could secret themselves.

"You're right, Anakin, no physical Force user has."

"You mean a Force spirit?" Luke asked.

"Not exactly. I have to check something to be sure."

Qui-Gon walked over to an electronics access panel on the wall by the door. He pried open the panel and placed his right palm against the grid of wiring. His eyes shut for a moment. Then he opened them and nodded.

"The Force is being sent through the wiring like an electronic pulse. It explains why it seemed to flare to life then faded as it passed by me in the hallways."

Vader joined Qui-Gon by the panel and touched the same place. His amber eyes narrowed after a moment.

"It is Palpatine. Him alone. I sense no other presence. But how is he sending that much of his Force power over thousands of light years? He is not strong enough to do it. Not without help. Not without …" Vader bit his lower lip, which Luke found rather endearing as his father worked on the question.

Luke went over to the panel himself and brushed his fingers across a different section of the exposed glassine wiring, nearer the door, where the wire looked blackened. A vision sparked in his mind … he saw a cluster of dark crystals wound with the same type of glassine wiring, suspended in a shaft. Knowledge of how they worked seemed to spiral out of the panel to him.

"I know how he's doing it," Luke said softly, though with a certainty only the Force gave him echoing in his words. "Well … I know what he's using to do it."

Two sets of eyes turned towards him.

"He's installed something … some kind of large cluster of black Force crystals in the ship … and connected them to the Executor's internal wiring. Whenever the droids are hooked into the power supply of the ship he can … move into them."

"Describe where you see this cluster, Luke."

"A high shaft. There are blue lines of power running up the sides," Luke answered.

"There is only one place where that can be," Vader said grimly. "The main power shaft in Engineering under Captain Terellian's command."

"I take it that is our next destination?" Qui-Gon asked.

Luke felt something dark and angry roll through his father at the thought of this Captain Terellian. The way his amber eyes narrowed and flared gold boded very ill for the man.

Vader nodded. "Oh, yes, we most certainly have to pay the good captain a visit."

Vader's POV

They walked briskly down the hallways towards Engineering with Vader in front and Qui-Gon and Luke slightly behind him. The Jedi Master was making light small talk to bring the boy out of his deep thoughts. Vader was grateful for that as he could feel Luke's emotions roiling over their bond. Guilt, because of the boy's ill-gotten belief he was responsible for Vader almost being skewered by the droid, and, disgust for the power he wielded.

`Not to mention his disquiet about the Archive. The boy has been stretched to his limit too many times in the past few days, but there is just no time to let him recover and face all the new challenges fresh. I wish I could do something to help him.' Vader settled for sending a wave of love over their bond, which Luke returned eagerly. He wanted to do more, but yet another crisis beyond their control had erupted: they had to deal with the crystal cluster.

As soon as Luke had described the cluster's location, Vader had known not only where it was, but he was also certain Captain Terellian, the head of Engineering, had a hand in it getting there. His desire to crush the overly obsequious blonde-haired officer's neck, coupled with the knowledge that he could not due to his family's standing with Palpatine, caused Vader to avoid Engineering. He spoke to the techs under Terellian's command often, but avoided the captain at all costs. The man seemed to lurk around the engine rooms when he wasn't lurking at the doors to Vader's quarters. Palpatine had obviously taken advantage of this avoidance on his part.

`The old Sith has managed to operate under my nose! While I searched for phantom human spies, he flitted in and out of the bodies of droids.'

Palpatine's ability to enter even Vader's personal battle and protocol droids, bypass all his fail-safes and codes meant that every droid on the ship was suspect and a danger to them. Earlier, Vader had supposed that his protocol droid's exposure to a Force sensitive's commands had enabled it to inadvertently catch his thoughts about the coat he wanted made. But now he feared that Palpatine had actually been in the droid at the time and read his mind.

Had Palpatine then made the coat for him … almost like a taunt or worse … had the old man wanted to see him dressed in it? Like Vader was his doll? After all he had chosen the armor and mask that Vader had to wear for twenty years. At that moment, they passed by a cleaning droid and Vader swore that the thing looked at him funny. He squared his shoulders and managed not to veer away from the metal body.

"I noticed that we've gone into hyperspace," Qui-Gon remarked. "What is our destination?"

"Coruscant," Luke answered.

"Already you wish to face him?" Qui-Gon asked Vader quietly.

"It is best to … eliminate Palpatine now rather than allow him to spin more webs of deceit."

"Not to mention he threatened to send the entire Fleet after us if we didn't," Luke added.

Vader smoothed down his son's hair. "That is actually not a concern, my son. The Fleet is loyal to me."

"He will hardly be unprepared for our arrival. He knows of your powers, I take it?" Qui-Gon asked.

"He does. However, I believe we may surprise him in at least one thing. He will be expecting is for us to arrive on Coruscant on the Executor."

"And we aren't?" Luke asked, his blue eyes widening.

Vader smiled. "No, we aren't."

"You aren't going to tell us yet how this is going to happen, are you?" Luke guessed.

"Quite correct, young one. I must keep some mystery about me. Besides … someone else might be listening."

They passed yet another droid, this one carrying supplies. Its head turned to watch them as it clanked by. Luke crept closer to his side. Vader's arm went protectively around his son's shoulders.

Vader also sensed some unease from Qui-Gon though not about the droid. The Dark Lord reached for the training bond without conscious thought, almost as if he wanted to soothe whatever had disturbed the Jedi Master. He cursed himself for it, but the connection was made and Qui-Gon's thoughts quickly connected to his.

`Something is troubling you, Qui-Gon, what is it?'

`I am not certain. Did you have any difficulties when you were fighting the Droids with the Dark Side?'

`It did not try to overwhelm me if that's what you're asking.'

`I'm afraid that I'm not sure what I am asking. Was there anything out of the ordinary during the battle?'

There had been a second while facing the large droid in the sparring chambers when Palpatine's image had flowed over it and Vader had … hesitated. It was as if he could not strike down his former master. But that made no sense to him. He wanted Palpatine dead and gone. Their bond was severed. He had seen to that when he entered into the Darkness, but … but somehow he still felt connected to the other Sith. These inconsistencies worried him.

He was tempted to say nothing to Qui-Gon, but then he realized how foolish that was. Perhaps the man had some insight into what was happening. Old habits of not trusting anyone were hard to break.

`There was something,' Vader began and sent the information to Qui-Gon about his hesitation.

`That explains what I'm feeling. There is still a connection between you two. But it is strange. Has he ever used Force manipulation on you?'

Vader's shoulders tensed. `No.'

`Are you certain, Anakin?'

Vader scowled. He felt the probing eyes of the Jedi Master against his back and almost hunched his shoulders. It was like being caught by Master Yoda pod-racing when he was a teenager.

`He might have … once in the beginning of my apprenticeship with him. After I … discovered that … after I thought that Padme and Luke were … dead.'

There was almost a tenderness, definitely a gentleness, in Qui-Gon's mind-voice as he asked, `What happened?'

Vader was grateful he was not physically looking at the Jedi Master at this moment. He tightened his hold on Luke. Talking of this was painful enough without watching pity fill another's eyes. `I was … suicidal. He stopped me from … ending myself.'

`I … I see.'

Qui-Gon did not offer platitudes to him for which Vader was grateful. After all, what could the man say? He was the cause of Padme's death at least.

Qui-Gon's mind-voice said, `What I am sensing is almost like … an undercurrent. Not an overt bond, but more a diffuse sense of Palpatine in your mind. It would have allowed him to anticipate your emotional state and control it to some degree.'

Vader felt a prickling of unease. How much could Palpatine pick up over this bond? Vader couldn't even sense it. Could it be used to damage him in some way while they fought? `Is there any way to sever this connection or block him?'

`I don't know. I will work on it.'

Vader shut down the link. His distress though grew, but the lift to Engineering was in front of them and his focus had to be on their present difficulties. He walked into the lift's interior and was grateful for the warm presence of his son suddenly at his side. He brushed one hand through the boy's silken hair. Blue eyes filled with love and trust looked up at him. He pressed a quick kiss to Luke's forehead. The boy let out a small happy sound. Vader resisted the urge to lick the cusp of his son's ear and trail small kisses down to where his skin and collar met.

His hunger for Luke seemed unquenchable even when they had an audience. `It would be better if Luke and I had the time to go on a … honeymoon of sorts. Perhaps that beach Luke dreamt of and just make love until neither of us can move anymore then repeat it again and again until we can go two minutes without reaching for each other.' But even as he thought it, Vader doubted there would ever be a time he would not want to put his hands on his son and love him. He snuck one more kiss on the cheek.

He removed his hands from Luke as the lift opened on the Engineering level. Thoughts of making love to his son had to wait. The blonde head of Captain Jacho Terellian turned with a wide, plastic smile on his face to greet them. All three men in the lift smoothed their faces into expressionless masks.

"Lord Vader, how good of you to come visit us and to bring such other … distinguished personages with you."

`Father, he knew we were coming!' Luke sent over their bond.

`Yes, he most certainly did,' Vader answered as he scanned the room and saw a dozen droids at various work stations. Did one of them turn and leer at him? He shook the thought away. Any one or all of them could have contained Palpatine's presence and whispered to the captain of Vader's progress to Engineering.

`I don't sense Palpatine in any of the droids,' Luke said.

`Not now, but … he could enter them at any moment.'

Qui-Gon nodded an acknowledgment to the officer, but then managed to blend into the background and walk past the man deeper into Engineering. Vader knew he was scanning the droids himself and looking for the cluster while Luke and Vader confronted Terellian directly. He felt a surprising burst of pride at how well the three of them worked together without conscious thought. It was so refreshing compared to the incompetence he was faced with on a day-to-day basis. `And the incompetents who don't have the sense to avoid my notice.' Vader frowned as he turned his attention to Terellian.

"Captain, I'm sure you know why we are here," Vader said smoothly as he advanced upon the man.

He was certain that Palpatine guessed that Vader would find the crystal cluster sooner or later and had warned Terellian of a visit. The captain's rather tight smile at his words, and the slight worry that passed through his eyes, told Vader he was right.

Terellian was only a few inches shorter than Vader, but far slighter. He had a handsome face, with angular features and a sharp chin. His eyes were a weak brown framed by pale lashes and eyebrows. It had not been his looks that had disgusted Vader from taking the man up on his overt offer of sexual favors, but Terellian's false obsequiousness to those of better position. `Anything to get ahead no matter his skills or competence for the job.'

Vader valued a person's worth by their abilities, not name or social standing. Terellian had used the latter to move up the ranks and his father's connections with Palpatine to get on Vader's ship. If it had been anything less than a direct order from Palpatine to do so, Terellian would never have set foot on the Executor.

Terellian's eyes widened as he fully caught sight of Vader's changed form and wrecked clothing. He had undoubtedly heard of Vader's face being healed through ship-board gossip, but not the rest. Vader watched with some surprise as the man looked him up and down, lingering on the places where his outfit was slashed open to reveal skin. Luke stiffened at his side as he realized it, too.

`Father, he's … checking you out!' Luke's outrage was evidence in the tense lines of the young man's body as well as the echo of his voice over their bond.

`So it seems, young one.'

Vader would have been darkly amused by Luke's statement and the Captain's actions under different circumstances. After all, lustful glances had been sent his way before, even when he wore his armor, but never had anyone stared so openly and without due respect. Using the Force he clutched Terellian's throat and gave it a squeeze. The man gasped and choked, wide brown eyes tipped up so that they focused only on Vader's.

"I hope you had your fill of staring at my body, Captain, because if you ever look anywhere but at my face again … I will be seeking your replacement," Vader said softly and gave the captain a final shake before releasing his throat.

The man coughed and sputtered, his hands rubbing at his bruised throat. When he had sufficiently recovered, he gasped out, "Forgive me, Lord Vader. I meant no disrespect. I meant quite the contrary. I have always … admired you greatly as a leader of men, but now I see that you have many … estimable qualities."

Luke gave out a sharp exhale of breath of shock and disgust. He stood straighter and actually moved in front of Vader so that the captain could not get another eyeful. Vader, himself, couldn't believe the man's gall or stupidity. Terellian was only so bold because he believed himself immune from Vader's temper. He would soon be disabused of that notion.

Luke's jealousy and protective instincts were satisfying to Vader, but it also increased the urge to snap the captain's neck and be done with it. He didn't want Luke upset any more than he had been that day. But handling the cluster might be easier if they dealt with the man whose business it was to maintain this part of the ship. Vader tamped down the desire to kill Terellian with difficulty.

"Do not remind me of your insubordination, Captain, by plying me with useless, unwanted flattery. Now I am certain that the same … person … that informed you of my visit to Engineering also told you why I was coming."

An oily smile managed to slide its way across the captain's face. "Yes, Lord Vader, you are quite correct. The Emperor himself told me you were coming and that you sought a crystal cluster he had me install in the Executor's engines."

Vader's hands clenched into fists. His voice took on a dangerous lilt. "You installed something on the Executor without my knowledge or permission, Captain?"

The man took a half step back although the supercilious smile was still in place. "Per the Emperor's orders, Lord Vader. His orders override any others. Even ones your most illustrious self can give me. If I did not do as he asked, it would have been treason … and my life."

Vader gave a low chuckle. Luke turned around, concern etched on his beautiful face. He sensed the Darkness in Vader rising as the perfidy of his former master became clearer to him. Palpatine had suborned Vader's crew, installed a dangerous device on his ship, spied on him, and thwarted all of Vader's important plans up to that point, but no longer. Captain Terellian would be the first of Palpatine's lackeys to feel his wrath.

"Your life, Captain, is in more immediate peril from me than Palpatine." Vader shoved his way into Terellian's mind. The man's body flailed about as Vader bore into his thoughts. "Now, tell me how to remove the crystal cluster."

Terellian's eyes were wide and glassy with pain as he husked out, "Cut it from the connections physically …"

"But? There is a but in there, isn't there, Captain?" Vader raked the man's mind viciously, causing him to shriek. Luke turned his head away from the tortured sound.

"But … but it can't be done while the Executor is flying … the whole system has to be shut down and that can only be done in dry dock. So it can't be removed until the Executor is back on Coruscant."

Vader shut his eyes. He sensed the truth in Terellian's words. When he opened them, Terellian was trembling. The man's seemingly tattooed smirk was gone. Sweat dotted his upper lip and his eyes darted from Vader to the door to Vader again. His belief that an order from the Emperor would keep him immune from Vader's wrath was clearly being eroded to almost nothing. At that moment, Qui-Gon hurried over, his brow furrowed, and a frown forming on his face.

"I have found the cluster, but it looks … very much connected to everything. I would fear that removing it while the Executor is operational would cause great damage to the ship," Qui-Gon explained.

"Thank you, Master Jinn. That confirms what the good captain has told me and also my own feeling that … for once … he is telling the truth." Vader directed his attention to Terellian solely. "You do know what that means, Captain?"

The man's head jerked up and he wet his lips. "Sir?"

"Your punishment can now be carried out," Vader explained. "As you are of no further use in this matter.

The man's mouth opened and closed like a fish. Finally, words poured from him, "Punishment … but why? I was only doing what the Emperor ordered! I had no choice!"

"There is always a choice, Captain."

"He would have killed me if I had disobeyed!"

"Yes, most probably. But in the end, your actions only prolonged that fate. For now … I will kill you."

The man didn't have a chance to scream before his neck was crushed. The body fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Luke turned pale and gasped. Qui-Gon closed his eyes tightly.

"Was that truly necessary, Anakin?" Qui-Gon asked softly.

"Oh, yes … most necessary," Vader answered. "Now show me this cluster."

Vader placed a hand on the small of Luke's back to guide him past the dead officer. Luke's eyes flickered away from the body. Vader could also see Qui-Gon's unhappiness with his actions in the tense set of his shoulders. Vader had no qualms about what he had done, but he understood the discomfort most felt about such acts. The man was a traitor who had not only endangered them, but the whole crew of the Executor. A trial would have come to the same conclusion and punishment. He had merely cut to the chase, and saved the Empire funds and time, by executing the man forthwith.

As they passed the last droid, Vader turned to it and said, "Have Captain Terellian's body removed and disposed of."

The droid made an affirmative noise. Vader smiled at the thought that perhaps Palpatine would inhabit the droid that had to dispose of his co-conspirator. It was the last smile he had though as Qui-Gon led them through a door at the back of the room. It opened up to a small platform that jutted out into the main shaft.

Sure enough about twenty feet above their heads, the crystal cluster was suspended, like a spider's egg sack. It pulsed with Dark energy and Vader wondered how he had not sensed it before. The amount of glassine wiring that was connected to the cluster could have wrapped around the ship twice. It truly wasn't going anywhere until they got into dry dock. He quelled his anger.

Vader pressed the button on the wall for the com for the Bridge. "Admiral Piett."

"Yes, Lord Vader?"

"It appears that the late Captain Terellian was a … saboteur."

There was a muffled sound of indignation. "By the stars! What has the man done?"

"He has installed a device allowing an outside, unfriendly party to control our droids. Until we reach dry dock and our able to remove this device, all but essential droids are to be deactivated. If any essential droids are found outside of their assigned areas, they are to be detained immediately. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir, it will be done."

Vader switched off the com and looked over at Luke. "I know that you wished to see Joran and his mother—"

"I won't hide in our quarters, Father. I refuse to run from Palpatine in the flesh or … in droid form." Luke's chin was thrust out rather defiantly, the boy having evidently recovered from their recent excitement.

Vader sighed and rubbed his face to cover the smile his son's reaction caused. He had come to enjoy the boy's fiery moments, especially the way his blue eyes sparked. It made him want to grab Luke and make him submit all over again. "All right, but you will be very, very careful and you will contact me every half hour. Understood?"

Luke nodded. "Will you view the Archive now then?"

Vader saw his son's distress even though the boy tried to hide it. Why the Archive had that effect on Luke worried Vader. He, himself, could still see the figure on the sand. That image was burned into him and the voice that was and wasn't like his son's. Vader wondered where the people who had inhabited Black Heart had gone. If any of the Viateen had survived the fire he began on the planet's surface they might be able to tell him. Perhaps there were other temples, other clues of their culture. Their knowledge of the Force was even greater than that of the Jedi and the Sith. Who were they? And what connection did they have to Luke and him?

"I believe viewing the Archive now would be wise. Then I must contact certain individuals to … make sure there is a smooth transition between the Emperor's reign and my own."

A shiver of excitement made its way down Vader's spine. He had had this plan in place for so long, only half-believing it could ever be put into action. But now, within three days, Palpatine would be dead and he would be Emperor. Finally.

Luke shuffled his feet for a moment then abruptly reached up to give him a chaste kiss goodbye on his cheek. Vader moved his head so the kiss landed on his mouth. The blush and flustered movements Luke made afterward had Vader grinning even wider than the thought of being Emperor had.

"Father!" Luke said softly, his head down, his flush growing ever brighter as Vader caressed the back of his neck.

The boy was so amusing about expressing their affection in public: both wanting it and fearing it. Vader chuckled. After Qui-Gon's amused comments in the sparring chamber, he had no fears of being openly affectionate with his son in the other man's presence.

"I know, Luke. I'm terrible. Now let's get on. Joran is probably chomping at the bit to see the pretty light sword again," Vader teased.

They exited Engineering together with Luke going down one hallway while Vader and Qui-Gon headed down another back to their quarters. Vader sent one last longing glance after his son. He hated having the boy out of his sight let alone out of reach. And with the added danger of the droids … `Luke is strong and capable. I cannot chain him to my side … tempting as that might be.'

"He will be all right, Anakin," Qui-Gon said and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Vader glanced down at where the other man's hand had been. Qui-Gon was always careful about touching him, as if he thought Vader might snap the offending limb off, yet he seemed inclined to still keep doing it. `Like he is taming a wild animal. Slowly getting it used to being petted.'

His own emotions towards the Jedi Master were still so uncertain. Vader chided himself, `Is that such a surprise? I used to wish he was my Master; even daydreamed about what that would have been like. Especially when things were terrible with Obi-Wan and the Council and I'd rather have driven my pod-racer head-on into a wall then bear it anymore.'

But that was over twenty years ago. Vader was no longer the youngling that fantasized about Qui-Gon's warm, strong arms holding him tight, or how the rough goatee would have felt against his cheek, or the way the older man's scent of Carron wood would have surrounded him as he envisioned the Jedi Master whispering words of comfort in that low, deep voice. So unlike the pettish, waspish tones Obi-Wan used to lecture him on his failures, real or imagined, as if acting like a fishwife would make Vader see the error of his ways and improve. If anything it had spurred Vader in his teenaged contrariness to act all the worse.

Vader drew in a deep lungful of air and frowned as he discovered that Qui-Gon indeed did smell of the subtle spicy wood … just as he had imagined so long ago. He found himself taking in another surreptitious breath. It was a scent that still reminded him of comfort and safety. He chastised himself internally for the action. He had long ago gotten over any need he had for Qui-Gon. He was the Dark Lord of the Sith. Not the uncertain child who longed for someone to understand him and show him the way. He fought the urge to walk faster as if he could outrun his conflicted feelings. Qui-Gon kept a steady slow pace beside him.

Qui-Gon broke the silence and, at first, Vader was glad to leave his thoughts behind.

"Did you know that I had another apprentice before Obi-Wan? In fact, I almost did not take on Obi-Wan, because of Xanatos."

Vader clasped his hands behind his back as they continued their steady progression. He wondered what had brought this topic to Qui-Gon's mind. But the other man's shields were up and the bond revealed nothing.

Vader said casually, "I don't recall. I used to ignore Obi-Wan most the time when he spoke of you."

Vader saw one of Qui-Gon's eyebrows lift slightly and a flare of amusement crossed their bond from him.

Realizing how his answer had inadvertently come out, Vader expanded it quickly, "It was … not any dislike of you. On the contrary, it was difficult to hear how wonderful a Master you had been while at the same time knowing that I …"

Vader stopped speaking and frowned. He had said too much. Suddenly this conversation seemed full of more pitfalls than his private thoughts had been. `Then again showing some … apparent weakness before him might be beneficial. Pity and mercy led many a Jedi to let down their guard. It might cause him to reveal what he truly thinks about me so I can understand his motivation in being here. And whether he can truly be trusted.' Vader accentuated his momentary fluster.

"Knowing that you what?" Qui-Gon prompted gently.

Vader gripped his hands tighter and looked down at the gleaming floor. His tense actions were not entirely calculated. Even though his plan was to illicit sympathy from the Jedi, it was still … uncomfortable, because what he was telling him wasn't a lie.

"Knowing that I would never get to experience that type of … mentoring from you."

Vader flushed when Qui-Gon said nothing. The man's expression was purposefully blank. `And what do I expect him to say? That he wished he were my Master, too? The idea is almost laughable.' Qui-Gon undoubtedly loathed him for killing the Jedi, how could he not? Vader had slaughtered younglings! True, he did it as swiftly and humanely as he could. But death was death in the end. Where at first they had run screaming to him they were soon running screaming away. Then silence.

Perhaps he had miscalculated that such a confession would encourage Qui-Gon to open up to him. Maybe he had just humiliated himself. Vader felt anger course through him at his own foolishness.

"Xanatos … went to the Dark Side," Qui-Gon said suddenly and Vader's steps faltered a moment.

A bitter smile crossed his lips. "Ah, I see."

"What do you see, Anakin?"

"I see that the apprentice you should be glad you escaped having was me and not Obi-Wan. I am sure that whatever this Xanatos did … it pales in comparison to my own actions. I am sure you are aware of at least some of my … well, misdeeds would be the more appropriate term."

"I have watched you almost every moment of every day since I died."

Vader's breathing stilled. He chanced a quick glance over at Qui-Gon. Quicksilver grey eyes were staring at him intently. He remembered the half-heard scream of `NO!' in Qui-Gon's impressive baritone when he began the slaughter of the Sand People in retribution for his mother's death. So Qui-Gon had seen that and all else. Why did his heart sink at that knowledge?

Vader let a bitter chuckle leave his throat. "Then there is nothing I have done, no matter how foul, that you do not know. Yet … you are here trying to help me. Or rather … not me … but the Balance."

"The Balance is important. But … not the main reason I am here."

Vader's eyes slid back to Qui-Gon then away when he saw the man was still looking at him in that intent and open manner. Their steps began to slow as Vader said, "Luke seems to think that the reason you came back is because you have some … feelings for me that have not been … burned away by all I've done."

"Your son is very perceptive."

Vader realized that they had stopped walking and were standing there staring at one another. He saw Qui-Gon's hands curl into fists and release at his sides as if aching to reach out and touch again.

"So am I to understand that you came back because you … care for me?" Vader had intended the question to come out half-mocking, even self-depreciating, but instead it sounded more hesitant and hopeful. He gritted his teeth.

"Yes." One word that seemed to shatter the air around them. "For me … you will always be … my Padawan. How could I not come back to help you?"

Vader stood there silently for a moment. He contemplated the two emotions that swirled within him as Qui-Gon said that word, `Padawan:' joyful satisfaction and roiling anger. His satisfaction came from the fact that Qui-Gon had come back for him. Not an ideal, but him! But then there was the acid anger that blazed up at the demeaning idea and arrogant assumption of the Jedi that he still needed a Master. He was one half of the Balance of the Force. He had more power than thousands of Jedi put together. How dare Qui-Gon suggest he was still a Padawan-learner!

"Always a Padawan … never a Master. Not in the eyes of the Jedi anyways," Vader said, bitterness lacing his words, as anger won out.

"I did not mean it like that, Anakin."

Qui-Gon extended one hand towards him again but Vader abruptly turned away. He began walking briskly. The Jedi Master matched his pace.

"Anakin, I only meant that every Master sees his former students, no matter what level they are, as their Padawans. Even my own Master, Count Dooku … saw me as such after I had been a Master for twenty years."

Vader acknowledged the apology with a curt nod of his head. He knew that he had overreacted as his emotions had cooled. Qui-Gon awoke too many dangerous things in him. Things he had hoped were buried.

He asked, "Count Dooku … you mean Darth Tyranus? He was your Master? I forgot that."

Although Vader could hardly forget the man himself. He had taken Darth Tyranus' head at Palpatine's urging. He had known it was a Dark Side act the moment he'd accomplished it, repeating to himself over and over again afterwards that he shouldn't have done it. Yet that was nothing compared to the acts he would commit later. Vader pulled him mind back to the present to listen to Qui-Gon's response.

"Count Dooku was my Master. It was he who taught me to feel, not to think; to use my instincts with the Force."

"Feelings … Obi-Wan had little use for those. That philosophy must have driven him insane while you trained him. Much too messy, not clinical enough," Vader teased mildly, trying to restore a more open discussion between them that he had almost closed off with his quick anger.

Qui-Gon smiled. "Yes, I had to remind him often to be aware of the Living Force."

Silence fell between them again. Vader wished his calm exterior matched his interior. Now that the anger had left him about the Padawan presumption he wanted ask Qui-Gon why do you care for me? What do you want? But instead he asked, "You were saying …earlier … about this Xanatos … what was he like?"

The Jedi Master smoothly transitioned back into their former conversation. He said, "Xanatos was very strong-willed and powerful both in personality and in the Force. He inspired great love and loyalty. A bright light."

"Sounds like quite a student … a worthy addition to the Jedi."

"Most definitely."

"So what went wrong?"

Qui-Gon's head lowered, his eyes were dark and shadowed, as he answered, "Master Yoda had … doubts about him. Wanted us to accomplish one more mission before Xanatos was allowed to take the Trials. The mission involved Xanatos' father, Crion. He was a corrupt overload on Telos. We were to stop him. If Xanatos was … successful in facing his father … he would be made a Master."

A sour chuckle left Vader's throat. "What is it with the Jedi insisting children strike down their parents to attain Masterhood?" If nothing else, Qui-Gon's expression became more somber at Vader's point, but no words left his mouth. "So what happened to your bright light?"

"Crion … seduced his son to the Dark Side. He promised Xanatos power enough for them both … and offered a father's love as well … if Xanatos would join him. Both love and power were the things that Xanatos had craved all his life." Qui-Gon smoothed down the front of his robes.

Vader felt a great resonation in him at those two things. They were what he craved most, too. "And he chose what Crion had to offer?"

"Yes, but … I didn't … couldn't abandon the mission. Crion was terribly corrupt and hurting many, many people. With Xanatos' help … Crion's ability to harm others would multiply exponentially."

Qui-Gon folded his hands together in front of him, and allowed the sleeves of his outer robes to slip over them. Vader knew if he could see those hands, the knuckles would be white from gripping one another. The Jedi Master was obviously haunted by what he had felt forced to do.

"Did you fight Xanatos … strike him down?

Qui-Gon swallowed deeply and answered, "No, in a way what I did was far worse to him than death. I killed Crion. And Xanatos … watched me do it."

Qui-Gon seemed to wilt while he waited for Vader's response. The Dark Lord knew what he was about to say would shock the Jedi Master, who was obviously expecting contempt for his actions or worse.

Vader shook his head in disgust. "You and Xanatos were put into an impossible situation."

"Crion had to be stopped," Qui-Gon said, without much heart, and his expression shaded with uncertainty as to where Vader was going with this.

"But did Xanatos have to be the one to do it?"

Qui-Gon shook his head slowly. "He would not have been my choice to face this mission. But his presence gave us close access to the man."

"At what cost? Anyone would be hard pressed to go up against their own family. It is the most unnatural of acts to be asked to kill one's own parent!" Vader warmed to the subject as he thought of Obi-Wan telling Luke to kill him. It appeared his old Master was just following a pattern the Jedi had already set out. He clenched his hands into fists at his sides. "Yet even knowing that natural abhorrence, Master Yoda sends you both into the fire. Not just Xanatos was outrageously tested and put in danger on that mission. You were, too."

"How do you mean?" Qui-Gon asked.

"If Xanatos failed not only do you have to kill your Padawan's flesh and blood, most likely you would have to kill him as well. And the likelihood that he would fail was astronomical!"

Qui-Gon's head lowered even further as if Vader's words crushed him more.

Vader continued, outrage staining his words, "Never let it be said that the Jedi were not incredible optimists about people's devotion to them! Or perhaps they just hoped Xanatos would fail. And maybe you as well."

Qui-Gon's posture straightened as his head snapped up at that comment. "I … what are you suggesting?"

"My recollection is that you were often espousing views the Council wholeheartedly despised. So perhaps they sought to get rid of you both in this mission. There was no way it was going to turn out well."

"I can't believe they acted with that much malice. More arrogance than anything else. A lack of understanding, but not … malevolence."

"Does it matter if that was the end result?"

"Intent … is sometimes all we have," Qui-Gon answered softly.

They had arrived at the doors to their quarters. Vader's hand hovered over the access panel. He thought of the pattern of Jedis asking students to kill parents. Even he had been asked to do that in a way. He could still see Mace Windu raising his purple saber to kill Palpatine. Back then he had loved the old Sith, thought of him like a father. The Jedi had first asked him to betray Palpatine then had expected him to sit back and watch as they slaughtered him. His loyalty had been split in two. He had been ripped apart by it.

Then, at that last moment, when Mace had held his saber high over his head … leaving a hole in his defenses a speeder could have driven through, the Jedi had seemed touched by the Dark Side himself. And there was Palpatine screaming, playing the helpless old man, begging for Vader's help. It had taken but a fraction of a second for Vader to take that mile-wide opening in Mace's defenses and kill him.

Vader punched in the code to the door viciously. The Jedi had manipulated their way to their doom when they sought to control him. But Obi-Wan had ensured them some measure of revenge by stealing Luke from him all these years. `Even Leia. They poisoned my daughter's mind against me, too, and created that damned Rebellion in the process.'

He strode purposefully through into the main room to the terminal where he had downloaded the Archive. Qui-Gon wandered over to the viewport and stood there, staring at the smear of stars as the Executor hurled itself through hyperspace.

"What happened to Xanatos in the end?" Vader asked as he began the process of loading up the Archive.

Qui-Gon continued to stare out the viewport as he explained his former Padawan's fate, "After Crion's death, Xanatos took his father's ring … it was still hot, having been cut from his hand during battle … and burned his own cheek with it. A constant reminder … to both of us … of why he hated me, the Jedi and … most of all, himself, because he had not been able to save his father. He pursued various schemes to undermine the Temple, which were unsuccessful. In the end … he threw himself into a toxic pool rather than be captured by me."

Vader watched the Jedi Master's forlorn figure by the viewport. He seemed so alone. But he wasn't. Vader was there.

"Why have you told me about Xanatos, Qui-Gon?"

The figure stirred, head turning towards him, Qui-Gon's face shrouded in shadows.

Qui-Gon's voice was low at first, but the words seemed to flare with more power as he continued to speak, "I swore after Xanatos that if I ever had another Padawan like him … brilliant and passionate … I would not make the same mistakes. I would protect him from … those that would seduce him and … the Council itself, if I had to. Nothing and no one would get past me. I would change. I would be different. I would be … and do … whatever it took to keep him safe."

Vader felt alternately a chill and a trill of warmth run through him. The stars behind Qui-Gon seemed to brighten a moment, leaving only the black silhouette of the imposing man. Qui-Gon looked like a pillar of strength and determination. An unstoppable, primal force.

Vader opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He thought to say: it's too late, I've already been seduced and destroyed by Palpatine and the Council. But Vader was not completely destroyed. He had risen from the ashes with Luke's help. There was a chance to have a different future, a different fate than Palpatine and the Jedi had set for him. Qui-Gon was offering to protect him on this journey. Awe and shock swung through his system at lightening speed.

The low hum of the Archive playing broke the moment. Vader turned to look at the spinning image of Black Heart and when he turned back, Qui-Gon was just a Jedi Master again, not the colossus he had appeared to be for a moment. The Jedi walked slowly over to join him at the terminal. Vader took a deep breath and began to speak of the Archive instead of what had just occurred. He needed time to process it all.

"The Archive is interactive. Just touch these symbols and vid scenes begin to play. I am sure there is a main section where data is kept in addition to the vids. I have not had the chance to locate it yet."

"Fascinating. It reminds me a little of the technology that was used to create the Jedi Archive," Qui-Gon noted as he moved closer to the hologram. His face was slightly pale and drawn, but there was no other evidence of his former fervor.

Vader nodded. "The Empire's technology is not as good as the Jedi's nor anywhere near as advanced as the people's of Black Heart. When we glimpsed a portion of the Archive on Black Heart's system, it was fully colored and perfectly three-dimensional. It appeared that you were actually looking at the planet itself, not a hologram."

The Jedi Master was nodding and suddenly Vader couldn't bear this anymore. He steeled his nerves and extended one hand towards Qui-Gon. It landed lightly on the older man's shoulder. Other than Luke, Vader rarely touched anyone … at least not with gentleness and friendship. Qui-Gon stared at the hand, a small tentative smile gracing his lips.

"I … I am sorry about … Xanatos. I am … sorry for … you, as well. And I would … would welcome … if you are offering … if you are … I would welcome any help you would be willing to give us," Vader cursed himself as stumbled over the simple words and was about to draw his hand back from Qui-Gon's shoulder when the Jedi Master covered it with one of his own.

"Thank you, Anakin. Any help I can offer … it is yours."

Qui-Gon's face was suffused with genuine happiness. Their bond thrummed with it. Vader flushed slightly and found himself dropping his eyes to the floor.

"Well, that's … excellent. We should … should get back to business," Vader said hastily and was relieved when the man released his hand after only one gentle squeeze.

Vader reached forward and brushed the symbol on the hologram that had shown him the racing desert vid before. He alternately looked at the vid and the Jedi Master's face to catch his reaction to it. Would it be the same as his? Qui-Gon's brow furrowed as he saw the liquid pooling on top of the sand.

Qui-Gon pointed to the screen as he said, "That appears to be …"

"Blood," Vader finished for him. "I know. At least that's what it looks like to me, too."

The Jedi Master nodded, his troubled eyes staring intently at the vid.

Then the figure appeared in the far distance: the warrior with the lightsaber. Vader closed his eyes and listened with all his senses for the word he had heard spoken before when the Archive had played by itself.

"Aethro."

The word was like a clear bell. Vader felt a tremor run through the Force with it. The word was said with such … longing, sorrow … it almost hurt to hear. Qui-Gon took in a deep, almost pained breath as he heard it as well. Vader was going to start a translation program on this language as soon as possible.

"Such … agony. What has caused this man to feel so?" The Jedi Master whispered, as if he wouldn't speak louder for fear of disturbing the moment. "Look! There are other symbols here, very faint. I wonder if they lead to other vids or parts of the Archive."

Qui-Gon was gesturing to faint markings along the edge of the hologram of the warrior figure. They kept flashing in and out as the Empire's technology was unable to process the massive amount of data required to show the hologram. Vader tried to access one symbol, but while the symbol glowed, nothing else was revealed.

"This system cannot handle the dataload from the Archive. We're probably blocked from accessing most of it," Vader said, frowning.

The Executor's holonets were the best in the Fleet and were better than much of what one would find on Coruscant. Would they be stymied from accessing the material forever? Was Black Heart itself the only place the material could be viewed? Vader felt ill. He doubted the temple was anything more than a pile of slag on the planet's surface now after the firestorm he caused.

"The Jedi Temple's holonet system would probably give us the best chance of viewing the Archive," Qui-Gon suggested. "Plus we could cross-reference what we find on it to the Jedi's own Archive."

"True … if the Temple system was working we could do those things," Vader answered, bitterness coloring his words. He ran his hands through his hair with a disgusted sigh.

Qui-Gon straightened up from studying the holonet, a quizzical look on his face. "It isn't working? Was it destroyed?"

"Not by us. After the … Purging, I attempted to access the system, but … no matter what I tried, no matter what the best splicers in the business tried, the system and all information contained therein was completely locked down. Unusable. I suppose the Jedi must have … disabled it permanently somehow."

Qui-Gon gave a short laugh. "I doubt that."

Vader bridled slightly, his nostrils flaring, and amber eyes narrowing. "I've tried for twenty years to break into the system! If it was doable, it would have been done!"

Qui-Gon squeezed his shoulder to soothe Vader's ruffled feathers. "The Jedi did not use just codes and firewalls to keep people out of their computer system. After all, if they had done just that a skilled hacker or … curious Padawan … would undoubtedly have been able to break through such barriers given time."

Vader's eyebrows lifted. "Oh, so what did they use?"

"A form of biometrics. Every Master had to undergo a full Force and body scan. That information was implanted into the system. In order to access the system, a Master must be present."

Vader felt his excitement rising. "And would your scan still be in the system?"

"Undoubtedly, they never purged them once they were entered. I should be able to get us in."

Vader was grinning. "That's perfect. It will have to wait until Palpatine is dealt with, but that will have to be soon enough. I am sure there is more on the Archive that we can view now even with the Executor's less powerful system."

Vader was about to get them back to the main menu of the Archive when the com beeped. He touched the receiver on his shirt. Luke's sweet, excited voice filled the room.

"Father!"

Vader felt his face lighting with a huge smile. "Luke, I'm so glad to hear from you. Nothing's wrong, is it? Or has it been a half-hour already?" Vader asked, suddenly checking his chron.

"Nothing's wrong. And it has almost been a half hour, but I was calling for another reason," Luke said, his voice rushed and animated. Vader heard him say to someone else on his end, "Damon! Don't give Joran your blaster! I don't care if the safety's on. Just let him look at it while you hold it."

Vader felt his lips twist. `Trans would be there! Damn that trooper!' Qui-Gon gave him a sympathetic look. Obviously, the Jedi Master knew something of Trans' interest in his son.

"Sorry about that, Father, but Damon was about to let Joran tear up the cantina with his weapon!"

"I heard," Vader said dryly. "So what exciting bit of news do you have for me?"

"Oh, yes! Well, I know that you and Master Jinn are looking at the Archive, but … you're not going to believe this! I was talking to Joran's mother, her name is Salara by the way, Salara Desertrider."

When Vader heard the name, something in his memory tugged at him. "She's … she's from Tatooine?" Vader guessed from the surname.

"Yes! Her husband was an amateur archeologist there … well, before he died. But … he would go out and investigate ruins in the mountains west of Mos Eisley."

"Ruins? I didn't think Tatooine had any prior civilizations capable of creating them," Vader murmured as he began to pace the room.

"Yeah, I didn't know either, but I guess there were. Well, Salara's husband brought back a lot of stuff from them. The last time he was out at a very special set of ruins, he called it the Palace, he brought back a small data scroll. She was able to conceal it from the slavers and kept it with her all this time."

"Were you able to access the scroll? What was on it?" Vader sounded as excited as Luke. He could almost feel the Force pulsing with anticipation for Luke to reveal what he'd discovered.

"I was able to access it, but I don't know what it says. That's not the important part though … I mean it's important, but that's not what caught my eye. The writing … do you remember the room where I fell down to the dragon? The walls of that room were covered in writing, a very distinctive-looking alphabet. I was studying it just before the stone broke beneath my feet."

"Yes, I can hardly forget," Vader said faintly.

"The writing on the scroll is the same as that on the walls in the room. Father, I think the people who created the temple on Black Heart also created the buildings whose ruins Salara's husband found on Tatooine!"

Vader stood still in the center of the main room. He could hardly breathe.

"Father, can you believe it? Of all places for the people of Black Heart to have been … they were on Tatooine … just like us."

Part 6

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