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Vader watched the holo again. Two of his inquisitors, two of the best, smart and clever and thirsty for advancement, fighting Ahsoka Tano, rebel agent and Jedi Knight.
It was not a fair fight.
He almost felt bad for doing that to her.
Almost.
“Pathetic.” He muttered, the words reverberated through his mask. She didn’t even use her lightsabers for half the fight. She likely could have taken them without them. It was a rather scathing indictment of Palpatine’s inquisitors. And his belief that Ahsoka Tano of all people could be defeated by such a thing. After all, his Grand Inquisitor had been beaten by a mere padawan, and Ahsoka would always be much much more then take.
“My thoughts exactly.” Everything happened very suddenly. He heard the voice at the same moment he became aware of the other presence, and the glowing blade at his neck.
Vader’s breath hitched, ever so slightly. He hadn’t felt anyone approaching. That was worrying. He normally felt safe enough, alone in his meditation chambers on his Star Destroyer. No one he didn’t want should be able to get on board. And no one on board should feel relaxed enough to impede on him here. He had let his guard slip, and the white blade that lay at his armored neck was proof of how dangerous that was.
It was lucky, really, that he trusted it’s wielder absolutely.
“Where did you find them?” Ahsoka asked, motioning to the holo, “Under a rock in Nal Hutta, or someplace more desolate, like the senate chamber.”
Vader couldn’t help but laugh, and then noted Ahsoka’s frown, as she removed the last of her mental shields, though he still didn’t turn to look at her. She deactivated the white blade and walked around to face him.
“I hate your laughter through the mask.”
With a small pop, the locks on his helmet disengaged from the rest of his armor, and he used the Force to remove it altogether from his person.
“That makes two of us.” He glared at the mask as he lay it gently down on the table. He hated it. Which was useful, but supremely unpleasant. He also hated to be without it on his ship, where anyone of his officers could stumble upon him. But being without it in the presence of Ahsoka was such a gift, he was willing to risk it.
“When I was a boy, I did not imagine a worse chain then the chip implanted in all of us.” He looked at his arm, the mechanical hand clenching into a fist, larger than it had any need to be in the ridiculous armor. “I was naive then. At least we were allowed to present ourselves to the world.”
Ahsoka reached out, and lay an orange hand on his face. Pale from lack of exposure, gaunt from expelling considerably more calories fighting and living in the heavy suit then he was able to eat in his alone moments, dark circles under his eyes from spending far too many hours awake, and far far too few resting. His hair was buzzed shorter than when he’d been a padawan to fit under the helmet. And her hand, resting lightly on his sunken cheek, was the best thing he’d experienced in weeks.
“I hate him,” She said, matter-of-factly, brushing her fingers lightly on his face, just so he could feel skin to skin contact, could experience another person. “but I have a policy for slavers.”They shared a grin, his skin pulling tight around his mouth, an expression he does not have the pleasure to make often, “Remove one limb at a time.”
And his laugh, without the mask as a filter, was music to both of there ears. She was a brilliant Sith Lady. Even better at that then she had been as a Jedi. And she had been the greatest Jedi in the Galaxy, save one.
Speaking of…”Any leads on Obi-Wan?”
She sighed and removed her hand, “Not yet. I really think he doesn’t have anything to do with the rebellion. None of the cells I have contact with have even so much as hinted to having contact with a Jedi master. Not even Kanan Jarrus.”
“That’s the Jedi from Lothal, yes?”
“Yes, though they are based on Garel these days. I don’t know if I mentioned that’s where they set up a new base.”
“No, but it doesn’t matter now. I’d rather they strike from a hidden base and embarrass some incompetent outer rim officers these days. It divides Sidious’s attention. And the fact that they have a Jedi means it divides the Inquisitors attention too.”
“I had to hold myself back from correcting their form the entire fight.” She said, “It's just embarrassing. To think their master was able to conquer the Galaxy. The Jedi and the Senate should be ashamed of themselves.”
“Oh, I’m sure what’s left are, we’ll be sure to ask Obi-Wan once we find him,”
“I still think Organa knows.” Ahsoka said, crossing her arms, “But he’s playing it all extremely close to the vest.”
“Have you at least been able to figure out why? He doesn’t suspect you, does he?”
“Organa is so thrilled to have a Jedi to work closely with again, I could commit war crimes in front of him and he’d still trust me. He’s an old school senator that way, happy with the idea of the Jedi, no need to look at the particulars.” She bit her lip, “My best guess, he’s worried I’ll attract your attention one day, and if I know, you’ll be able to get it out of me.”
“Which leads to the question, if Obi-Wan isn’t doing anything for the cause, what does it matter?”
“No idea. It's all speculation. I’m only about 98% sure he knows. He’s hinted at it, but he hasn’t even come out and told me that.”
“Do you think the daughters know?” She rolled her eyes, Vader and the Organa Princesses. Predictable.
“As I understand it Winter has very little to do with the rebellion at this stage. She’s busy with her studies, she’s hoping to be the next Senator from Alderaan soon. Which you know, because you get to the Core considerably more often than I do.”
“She quite the young woman.” Vader agreed, “I am very impressed by her, and would be even if her every appearance didn’t make Sidious's blood boil.”
“But she’s not the one you are interested in.”
“I will admit to having a slight preference as far as the Alderaanian Princesses go. But I do like both.”
“Uh huh.”
“I just mean, she’s an excellent pilot.”
“I’ve seen her fly.”
“And she wrote her dissertation at the University of Alderaan on illegal slavery in the Empire and its horrors and costs to sentients.”
“I read...ok, I skimmed all four of the annotated copies you sent me.” Ashoka assured him.
“And the Queen and Viceroy adopted her.”
“Both of them are adopted.”
“Well, obviously, but Winter was adopted from one or another of their aids. Not exactly humble beginnings.” he said, almost defensive.
Ahsoka smiled, “I will admit having a marked preference for Hanna too. Not many Core world princesses would risk their lives intercepting and stealing Hutt cargo. I don’t know if you heard about that.”
“The cargo was spice and slaves, right? I read Mara’s report on it. Though the fact that it was a Princess was absent. I believe the ‘crime’ was pinned on a Wookie and a Corellian pilot named ‘Solo.’”
“As you said, adopted from Humble beginnings. She always uses her birth last name when she’s under cover. You should keep an ear out. She’d be brilliant help.”
“We don’t need help.”
“We always need help. That’s why I went through all the trouble getting Rex back on our team.”
“I am powerful enough to kill the Emperor. Against the two of us together, he stands no chance. And that’s not even counting Obi-Wan.”
“Of course not,”She agreed, but this wasn’t a new discussion. “But the Emperor’s just the one man. The bureaucracy is another thing entirely.” He groaned, “I know you hate red tape, we all hate red tape. Use it, let it feed your power, and then realize that we need it to plan an effective overthrow.”
“I thought I was the master.” It's a joke, but her look made it clear it was a bad one. They would not be Slavers. He would not be a slaver. They would not be enemy Siths.
They would be partners. Equal in all things. Him. Ahsoka. The girls. And eventually Obi-Wan. Controllers of his Empire. A Proper family. Not quite what he’d once dreamed of, with his wife dead and his daughter with her that was impossible, but slaves learned to make their families out of what they had, and Vader had Ahsoka and he had his goddaughters, and he would have his Obi-Wan.
“I hate it when you’re right.”
“Use your hate,” she advised, she was good at that, channeling and focusing. She kept him on track while he was all raw power and passion. They were a team. No need for slavery and servitude. No masters and apprentices. She taught him, he taught her, and while they were young, they both taught the girls.
“Your Jedi friends, could they be helpful? I watched the vid of Jarrus’s fight with the Grand Inquisitor, he’s skilled for a half trained padawan.”
“Not even that.” Ahsoka considered it. “He hadn’t been apprenticed when I left the order. So he would have been six months out, at most, when Order 66 happened.”
Vader frowned, and then brought up a holovid of the man in question. “By then a new apprentice would have been kind of a big deal, but I don’t remember him, any idea who his master was.”
“Billaba.”
Vader considered this “Are you sure, or is it one of your educated guesses?”
“First, my guesses are almost always right, like when I guessed that behind scary armor was my best friend, and he still had plenty to teach me. And secondly, no, It isn’t a guess. I asked, and he told me. Why?”
“Because Depa Billaba did take a padawan right before the end of the war. But it wasn’t a Kanan Jarrus. It was Caleb Dume.” He lay an armored hand on his chin. He was always so much more animated when he took off the mask. Ahsoka preferred it that way. She wished he could shed the entire suit. But that took a long time both ways, and he didn’t do it where rank and file soldiers could stumble on him.
“It think,” He inspects the holo closely, “It might be the same person though. I liked Caleb. He was in one of my starfighter combat classes. He was bright and clever. Is there any chance to get him on our side?”
Ahsoka looked at the same holo. “Against Sidious, we’ve got him. To come to the dark side…” She frowned, “The worst has already happened, and that’s where it landed him. But his padawan is resting on the tipping point...and Kanan...Caleb, if he were to follow Ezra…”
“Follow his padawan to the dark side? Can you facilitate it? Would you death secure it?”
“Not on its own, not even if it did get Ezra. He’d fall for his wife in a second though.”
“His wife?”
“Hera Syndulla.”
“The pilot.” He switched to the appropriate vid, a recreation of their battle, when Vader had decimated Phoenix Squadron (a bit of a waste but necessary for appearances) but still managed to nearly be bested by the Twi'lek woman.
“They aren’t legally married, and I doubt he’d ever use that word. He is a Jedi, after all. A good, proper one. But I can’t think of a better word for it, at least not in basic. Not that kind of devotion mixed with a romantic and sexual relationship.”
“Their child would be an absolutely fantastic pilot.”
“I thought we had a talk about your breeding future godchildren before their parents were together or they were on our side.”
“It worked out so well last time.”
“Yes, and they are still young, concentrate on what prime examples of Mandalorian and Jedi engineering can create. You can drop unsubtle hints to Hera and Kanan after they are on our team.”
“Then I suppose you must add recruitment to your task list.”
“Right up there with building a credible threat that we can easily control once we are in charge, Getting them to steal the Death Star plans from under Tarkin's, and finding Obi-Wan.”
“Rex is with them, now. Make sure to read him in on the new element. You need to concentrate on the inquisitors, anyway.”
“Are you ever going to tell me what Sidious does with the children?” Darth Vader, she knew, had murdered a temple full of children in cold blood. Had choked his pregnant wife half to death. Had lead an army into bloody, violent battle for years before that. But whatever it was, it disturbed even the skeletal man in the black armor.
He let out an involuntary shudder.
“Not as long as I can protect you from the nightmares.” He said at last, “You don’t want to know. Just keep them safe.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
The hovering helmet meant their time was at an end. They had business to attend to, roles to play. But he didn’t put it back on quite yet. Ahsoka was as tall as he was now, but the armor added height in the boots and helmet. Still Ahsoka walked towards him, resting her forehead against his, before he pulled her into a fierce hug. He pressed his chapped lips one of her forehead markings before she pulled back. Leaving her hands resting on his shoulders.
“May the Force be with you, Skyguy.” She said with a bright smile.
“May the Force be with you, Snips.”
And then she was gone, skirting her way through the shadows of his ship, as he re-sealed himself in his cell.
It could be worse, he reminded himself. He had seen the original plans. Full life support, four mechanical limbs. Monitors for fire damaged skin and smoke damaged lungs. Sidious’s designs, ready and waiting when he was sent to Mustafar. As if Obi-Wan would ever do that to him. As if anyone else had a chance.
It could be worse. He had Ahsoka, he had the girls. He had Obi-Wan and the Emperor’s death to look forward to. He had his health. He let his anger at their current situation buzz within him. Let it build and grow with his power. The Dark Side, the Sith. This is what he needed now.
And through their bond, as Ahsoka was whisked away, he whispered I love you.