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The corridors of the Executor witnessed many things in the past. The ill attempts of infiltration by Rebels and assorted scum, the deaths of the officers and personnel who displeased Lord Vader in particular. Those grey walls could tell tales of glory and destruction. Nobody could prepare ship AI and frankly anybody living for what was happening. Lord Vader sprinted on the top of his speed, which was in a way something shocking in itself. The blaster bolts which went past him made a stormtrooper take cover. They were ready to fire but Vader's barked order stopped them. Two ISB officers expertly plastered themselves on the floor.
“Do not shoot! Everything is under control!” Vader took the sharp turn unholstering his lightsaber.
“I WILL KILL YOU!” The scream and more shots came from the most unexpected person on the ship. Admiral Piett looked like some demon possessed him. His uniform was in disarray and he was firing expertly from two RK-blasters. The trooper TK-2339 later whispered about scorched marks on Lord Vader's armour. Of course nobody believed him. Admiral Piett was known for his calmness and lack of any emotions aside from fear from his lordship, which gained him the nickname Cold Sweat. It was unthinkable that he would try to assassinate the supreme commander of the Death Squadron.
“Admiral Piett! Calm down!” Vader's voice boomed from the cover of the alcove.
“I will skin you alive for what you have done!” Piett did not show any signs of calming down. The shots made two additional holes in Vader's cloak.
“Nobody is harming the Admiral. He … he was subjected to .. to a toxin… yes… toxin by Rebel saboteurs!” Vader's voice was lacking his usual selfsure air. It could be attributed to the fact that he was expertly diverting the blaster bolts with his lightsaber.
“E CHU TA!!” Piett expressed in his curse, what he thought about the whole explanation. The blaster shots took out the surveillance in the corridor.
TK-2339 landed on the opposite side of the corridor than two ISB officers. The woman and man were huddled together. The ISB lieutenant whispered to his companion something and she nodded grimly. They covered their heads as the camera fell from the wall and sparks covered them. The camera was struck down by the lightsaber.
“They are taking out the surveillance. Guess what they will do to the witnesses, Syril,” the woman sighed and looked across the corridor at the trooper who would share their destiny.
“Let me guess. The missions with Piett taught me one thing. He is a crazy murderous psychopath and if high everything goes on steroids,” Syril covered Dedra with his body when another piece of the corridor landed near them. The temporary truce in destroying everything in range which could record the whole situation ended abruptly by Piett's attack. They saw him fight. They saw what he did to wayward Jedi armed only with a military spade shovel. Now he had blasters.
“Firmus, calm down. For the Force sake calm down,” Vader had his hands full to cover himself from the attack. He switched from Basic to Huttese. Huttese was their private language. They both spoke it fluently and it offered them some sort of privacy when needed.
“Yoka to Bantha poodoo!” Piett screamed at him as he slid between Vader's legs to get to his back. It would go well but Vader was fast he grabbed him by his belt and picked him in the air. He dropped him immediately when the blaster bolts hit his heavily armed shoes leaving smoking holes in them.
“What the hell is this about?” Vader tried to grab him again.
“I told you! And do you remember what your reply was?” Piett yelled and was rolling on the ground avoiding Vader's attempt to catch him.
“Told me, what?” Vader tried to recall what could cause such a murderous range in Piett. The man was in control of his volatile personality unless being drunk or high or both, which after his promotion to Admiral ceased.
“About Axxilan male biology!” Piett screamed and in his voice was anger and something else, which seeped through the Force. Vader could not yet identify it clearly, while trying no to get hurt and not to get Piett hurt.
“Your Axxilan biology peculiarities about the reproductive system?” Vader almost got him, but Piett was like slick sewer Dianoga only thing he got was his belt.
“Yes! Mr. I will pull it out in time!” Piett yelled and shot at Vader's Face but the bolts met the lightsaber and bounced harmlessly on the walls.
“Firmus…,” Vader was sometimes slow in some matters, but he used to be a married man who was told once by his wife about the miracle of new life. Padmé whispered the news to him in secrecy, while Piett decided to kill him for it.
“Don't Firmus me, you bastard!” Piett was on his feet with blasters pointed at Vader, but he was not shooting. He suddenly could not. It was too much to bear being locked in his rank, without having his freedom. Being in a relationship which was as stable as it could be between Dark lord of Sith and volatile Axxilan.
“Trooper, get lost! A word about the sabotage on the Admiral of the death squadron and you are dead” Vader barked. He was not in the mood to kill anybody today. The Force gave him a second chance. He could sense the child. It was the same feeling. Skywalker was forgotten altogether. He would have a child and this time he would make sure nobody would mess with his family. He turned to the ISB officers, recognising them instantly; those unfortunate souls crossed the path with Firmus on several occasions and knew what he was capable of. “ Lieutenant Karn and Meero, you are staying. I will deal with you later.”
“I like my life private,” Piett raised the blasters to shoot the trooper, but Vader pulled it from his hands with the Force pull.
“You should've thought about it before you jumped on me guns blazing,” Vader pulled Piett towards him and put his arm around his shoulders.
“You knocked me up, idiot,” Piett murmured into Vader's chest. The strength to fight suddenly left him. All he wanted to do was get away from this situation. From his Axxilan biological heritage which made men fertile for a month every year. From Vader. From the responsibility which was too much to bear.
“I can feel it through the Force now, “ Vader informed him and caressed his back to calm him down. He definitely did not want to go back to the killing rage phase.
“I will get rid of it. After all we both did not want it,” Piett came with only logical situations for them. He definitely was not a parent material and Vader even worse.
“NO!” Vader's voice boomed through the corridor. The only thought about such abomination made his blood boil. He would not lose this chance. He would grasp it. He would have a family again. He would not mess it up this time. There was no Kenobi, just his master. That could be an issue but Vader was ready to stand up against the whole galaxy in order to protect what he had now.
“Look I am everything but not a good mommy and you with your tempers and issues, be reasonable,” Piett tried to convince himself and Vader to take the easy way out. He felt the warmth around him. The Force. The Light side of it. The Dark was the coldness.
“I lost my wife and my child. I will not lose it ever again. I was not given the chance to be a good father. I will be a good father! I will be! I swore an oath to you! I will be a good husband too!” Vader made a decision. There was no turning point. He did something which made three people in the corridor gasp in shock. He went to his one knee in front of Piett, before his Admiral could come up with a reply.
“What are…Vader…,” Piett looked like somebody pulled a rug under his feet.
“Will you marry me?” Vader asked and felt it was him who made the first move unlike a decades ago Padmé practically forced him into marriage.
“I am …not husband material either, “ Piett whispered and looked nervously around and sighed when he saw two familiar ISB officers. He started to like them and killing them would be a waste, but that was life.
“You are. We have been together for almost two decades. With all ups and downs. I am alive. You are alive, “ Vader wondered what he would do if Piett said no to his proposal. He would be more broken than he was after Mustafar. He would survive. His heart was hammering in his chest. He tried to reach Piett's mind with the Force. He didn't manage it. What happened next broke his concentration.
“Yes, you huge oaf, “ Piett whispered almost to himself.
“I…,” Vader took both Piett's hands in his. He wanted to say something but it was cut by Piett.
“I will not make it easy for you. I will challenge you at every turn!” Piett murmured. He let Vader hold his hands.
Dedra had no idea what those two were talking about in the strange alien language. The whole scene was surreal for her. It was stunning her like speeder headlights were stunning a loth cat. Syril reached for her hand and squeezed it.
“Piett is with child somehow … something with biological abnormality on his home planet…who is father… is obvious,” Syril understood Huttese pretty well and wished he did not. They were so dead.
“Piett. I hate that man,” Dedra murmured. She still remembered the first time she met him and the second, the third and it went on and on. Syril pointed several years ago that Firmus Piett had to have some perverted sense of humour, when he requested them as their ISB liaison. The reality hit them like a hammer, when Vader turned towards them.
“You proved your efficiency in the past. You will be taking care and watching over Admiral Piett,” Vader stood up and held still dazed Piett close to him. He needed to make sure that no mistake or danger would jeopardise his family plans.
“I do not need a nanny. Those two are…,” Piett's voice was still full of emotions. This time they were not murderous.
“You will stop drinking, smoking, which is extending to illicit substances and fucking around in every port. The stress will be minimised. The supplements will be introduced to your diet together with fresh fruits and vegetables, “ Vader said and with grim satisfaction was observing Piett's perplexed expression.
“Are you joking…right?” He was a heavy smoker among his many bad habits.
“I know how to take care about…,” Vader wanted to say to the pregnant woman, but something told him if he mentioned Padmé, it could put Piett in another fit of murderous frenzy. “I know what is needed to make you happy and safe together with our child. I know you would need care and later a nanny for which you have these two ISB officers. You dragged them through hell in the past. They are used to various facets of your charming personality, plus if I find out they failed in their mission!” Vader gently used force choke on two unfortunates. Who looked to be grateful for the black jodhpurs of ISB uniform.
“I need a smoke and a shot to digest it,” Piett murmured.
“Off limits, Firmus!” Vader said and knew the next months would be a free fall with Piett, like everything connected to him.