by fyre
FEEDBACK: [email protected]
TEASER: Darth Vader's thoughts on discovering the existence of his son.
TIMELINE: Archive- The Empire Set in the beginning or just before Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters, plotlines, or galaxies represented in this story belong in any way to me but George Lucas and his numerous companies. No money is being made off of this. Do not post elsewhere or copy this story without author permission
A son. A boy. His child. His and his beloved's child. The thought nearly brought *her* name to his lips; musical, unspoken, forgotten.
Would any child of theirs look like her or would he resembled himself before the scarring, before he renounced who he used to be? The boy. Their son.
His heir.
A supporter, ally, loyal to him and only him. The thoughts flooded, the possibilities, the potential for power. He would have the boy. He would teach him, train him, raise him--
*His son was no child!* a part of him scoffed angrily at his unchecked plans. He was passed his twentieth season at least, raised under the Force only knew what conditions, on what planet, under who's guidance. The boy was old, too old to be molded carefully over time. Old even for a Sith, impossibly so for a Jedi if there was even one left to train him, to take on the risk. No, Vader concluded, the boy, this man-child was largely ignorant and thus susceptible to conversion to darkness through the employment of brute force. If only he could *find* him, but the Dark Lord knew not even his name.
A nameless son to search for whose Force potential sparked just out of reach now and again l ike a flickering light; somehow sheltered and growing even without the bond of a master to guide him, even completely alone among Force insensitives. Vader cursed quietly. *To be alone with such power . . .*
If not for the self-feeding darkness within and his bond with his Master the Dark Lord admitted to himself he would have nearly gone mad when the Jedi were purged-- though he aided in their downfall, he was their sworn enemy. But even he, Sith that he was recognized that to be without support, to be so alone was tantamount to committing your very soul to slow suffocation and suicide. The Force was something that needed to be shared even in the form of the black bitter bond he had with the Emperor. The boy had no bond, no master, was largely unaware of his gifts; for him the strain would be much more intense.
*But how to find him? Where to begin?* Vader pondered deep within meditation. He had an approximate age, but that was all and the galaxy was vast. Without a name or a holo or a place to begin . . . and with his own ability to reach for the boy's Force presence strangely blocked as if by another Jedi (*an impossibility!* he sneered) there was frustratingly nowhere to begin. It was not as if he could simply look up *Skywaker* on the Imperial Data Net and find . . .
But what if it was that easy?
His Jedi Master, Obi-Wan once his dearest friend had told Anakin Skywalker long ago that the best place to hide was sometimes in plain sight. And Darth Vader had to admit that Obi-Wan was probably behind all this, responsible for keeping his son from him. The familiar murderous rage rose again and Vader slammed one hand down on the arm of his chair, the metal buckling under his strength. *But if Obi-Wan hadn't?* a part of him whispered traitorously. The Emperor would have killed him, he acknowledged reluctantly; the risk was too great. There could be only two; master and apprentice and at the fall of the Old Republic Palpatine needed Vader not a Force-potential baby. Obi-Wan had saved his son, kept him safe, hidden the last remnants of his beloved one.
He wondered if he would have *her* eyes.
Quickly, almost feverishly he called up the data net and typed in the name that had once been his, been his mother's, been his wife's.
Vader held his hissing breath, waiting, waiting . . .
The computer pinged softly >>MATCH FOUND <<
The Dark Lord sat back stunned. It was true. A son, an heir with his name!
Keying for the entry he was suddenly stonewalled by classification Level 10, Code Gamma.
"A rebel?" Vader asked in shock as the significance of the security block sunk in. "He is a *rebel*?!"
A premonition struck Darth Vader deep; within him the Force stirred. He had met his son, been close to him on Yavin 4 perhaps even above around Death Star. The memory flooded back, the lone X-Wing barreling down the trench at full throttle, dodging crazily out of his target lock. His words echoed back to him with the certainty of death.
("The Force is strong with this one." )
"Impossible." he breathed. His son a pilot, a fine one, one to be proud of, responsible for the most grievous blow against the Empire by the Rebel Alliance? It was inconceivable! He quickly typed in his password with one gauntleted hand and devoured what little intelligence the Empire had gathered. There was no picture, only a small entry a few lines long at most. The Imperial agents had tentatively identified the rebel pilot who destroyed the Death Star as Skywalker, but Vader was certain of the truth. The only scrap of information the file offered was a possible home planet and rank.
Commander.
Tatooine.
end