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Luke sprinted down an empty hallway, wincing as his boot connected at an odd angle with the polished floor. He growled in his throat and shook his head at his carelessness, but he couldn’t afford to stop moving.
Not when he was this close to escape.
Luke slowed as he approached an intersection which forked into four separate corridors, each leading to a different section of the Devastator. He sucked in a breath and listened intently; the Force amplified the sounds of machinery and distant chatter, drowning out everything else except for one route that appeared eerily silent.
Excellent, Luke thought with a smile. That was exactly where he needed to go.
He rounded the corner to his right as his fingers reached into his pocket and twitched against the stolen datachip. Luke had grabbed it right from the emperor’s private office only one standard hour ago. The lack of safety measures baffled him; the device sat atop a stack of flimsi in the second drawer of the massive desk, unprotected, and none of the imperials had even noticed a 13-year-old kid snooping around where he shouldn’t be.
Well. That was embarrassing for the empire. When Luke successfully escaped, perhaps he would be kind and let the emperor know his security was lacking.
Luke increased his strides, his excitement rising. He had memorized the Devastator’s schematics in excruciating detail, accounting for viewports, meeting rooms, and even the location of every single vent. Yet, a discrepancy persisted, one that he pored over for days until the lightning bolt of understanding struck him.
A secret hangar. And according to his calculations, he was only a few short minutes away from it.
He wiped the dampness from his brow with the sleeve of his imperial uniform. He was getting closer to the end, almost there now…
An unsettling chill in the air caused Luke to halt mid-step. He frowned, then flattened himself against the grey, sterile wall. The corridor was different here, far away from the nucleus of the ship, resembling more of an unfinished underground bunker. Along the edges of the curved ceiling, rows of cylindrical lightbulbs—a translucent blue that emitted a cool off-white glow—flickered like the dying embers of a flame. Luke stared ahead and shivered. He had been aboard the Devastator long enough to know its monotonous design had a purpose, serving as a place of order and efficiency amidst the turbulence of the galaxy.
Something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
Luke flinched as the lights sparked and sizzled above him like an off-key symphony, then blinked out. Darkness flooded the corridor and swallowed the peripheral sounds until a void of emptiness remained.
He stood motionless, though his mind raced. These types of failures simply didn’t occur on a vessel as significant and well-run as the Devastator. The timid part of his brain whispered that it was merely a coincidence, that the timing had nothing to do with Luke’s snooping around in the emperor’s quarters.
But Luke’s inner courage burst through and snuffed the dissenting voice. He was on a mission, and such obstacles were bound to appear in his way. Luke had survived much worse situations, and he knew he would survive this.
Luke exhaled into the shadows. His back still pressed solidly against the wall, but Luke forced himself to walk sideways in shuffling steps towards his destination.
Breathe in and out, he reminded himself. You can do this. Just keep breathing.
Luke gained an inch, and then another. He needed to continue moving, and as long as Luke could do that—no matter how paltry each step seemed—he would succeed in his mission.
Several minutes passed before he registered a faint movement, far away but traveling closer. Luke stilled as his heart began thudding in his ears. What was that?
On instinct, he turned his head towards it and immediately reached for the Force. His master had taught him to spread out his Force presence to make himself appear smaller and impossible to track. But when he tried, the Force slipped through his metaphysical grasp, and despite his bravery, Luke couldn’t stop the swell of rising panic from blotting out his senses.
Luke wrapped both arms around himself like a shield, trying to ward off the cold and defend himself from the lurking danger. An impression of a hunting beast flashed along the perimeter of his awareness, a clear warning from the part of the Force still accessible to him.
The danger was advancing quickly.
A low drone interrupted Luke’s careening thoughts, followed by the activation of emergency arrows along the floor, like oversized traffic signals. Luke supposed it made sense; the darkness was absolute, and the imperials needed all they help they could get with navigation.
Luke glanced down as he passed by an arrow, tinted in a vivid red. It reminded him of something that made his stomach jump, and he re-centred himself by tracing the outline of the datachip still concealed in his pocket.
A bead of sweat rolled down Luke’s neck, and he shook his head as a personal reprimand. Composure was critical to a mission like this, and Luke was close to losing his. Keep your cool. Use the power outage to your advantage.
Luke’s youth and sheltered upbringing often led others to underestimate him, oblivious to the depth of his capabilities. He wasn’t completely naïve to the realities of life in the galaxy, and he used those misconceptions to his advantage. The Force wasn’t the only way to outwit an opponent, his master had said more than once.
But a sudden sensation of a jackhammer against his skull swiftly eroded any of Luke’s remaining calm. The Force pulsed in warning as an automated female voice boomed from the loudspeakers above him.
“Attention all personnel: this is a code black. A security breach has been detected. All personnel are required to initiate full lockdown procedures immediately. All entry and exit points are to be sealed without delay. Turbolift systems are now offline. Commence a sweep of all corridors with priority on infrared tracking. Communication lines are to remain open for critical dispatch only. Proceed to the nearest secure area and await further instructions. Do not leave your secure location until the all-clear is given. Repeat, this is a code black. All personnel are required to initiate full lockdown procedures immediately.”
Luke’s jaw gaped open as he processed what he was hearing. A code black? Seriously?
Emergency code announcements stemmed from the highest levels of imperial authority, Luke knew. But issuing a code black could only originate from the emperor himself.
Luke would’ve scoffed if he weren’t so frazzled and unbalanced. All of this, for him?
The message repeated, but Luke tuned it out and dropped his face into his hands. He considered his options for a moment and reassessed his list of backup plans before the echo of approaching footsteps stamped out all thought. His head spun towards the noise, even as his body urged him away from it.
Luke was being pursued.
He had to get out of here.
Willing his legs to move faster, Luke grabbed as much of the Force as he could and raced across the hallway, following the direction of the arrows. The footsteps behind him sped up, but Luke focused on the cavern that finally opened like a beacon of hope in front of him.
A scattering of battery powered LED lamps provided enough illumination for Luke to spot the latest TIE fighter model sitting idly in the corner. He zeroed in on it and prepared himself to Force jump directly into the cockpit. He lunged, using forward momentum to lift his body up, and then he was ascending like a bird taking flight.
But the moment of elation was all too brief. The air shifted worryingly, thickening like molasses, and Luke found himself suspended in mid-air, thrashing against the invisible restraints that had wound themselves around him.
He just hung there, even as he wiggled his fingers and toes, even as he struggled to free himself, even as he refused to acknowledge the cruel reversal of fate.
It wasn’t fair. He was so close.
“I have you now, my little thief.”
The resonant baritone erupted in Luke’s ears, as thundering and emotional as he had ever heard it. Those same footsteps seemed infinitely louder as they tread closer, and then his pursuer slowly turned Luke around.
Emperor Darth Vader stood a few feet away, his golden eyes narrowed, and a gloved hand extended forward in a claw-like shape. The thin, pale pink scar that bisected his right eyebrow and cheekbone looked deeper and more menacing in the low light, mirroring the depth of the man’s underlying fury.
“Let me go!”
The strength and volume of Luke’s words surprised him—he half expected to feel a choking pressure on his windpipe, cutting off his breathing and vocal cords. He had witnessed the act perpetrated many times before, against hapless imperials and enemies of the empire alike. Would he become the next victim?
Vader snarled, as though he heard Luke’s thoughts. And perhaps he had. Luke’s grip on the Force was still tenuous and his shielding was in tatters—his master would have to teach that particular set of lessons again.
“You cannot escape me. Yield.”
“Never.” Luke shook his head to emphasize his resistance.
“Yield!”
Luke stared at the ceiling, then at the dimly lit expanse behind Vader, before defiantly meeting his eyes. “No.”
“Luke,” Vader spoke, his voice softer now. “Yield.”
“Ugh. Fine!”
Luke was lowered to the ground gently, and Vader immediately crossed the distance between them. He felt his father’s firm, steadying hand on his shoulder, keeping him upright as he regained his bearings.
Luke pouted, unable to stop the whine from seeping into his voice. “But I almost made it!”
“You weren’t going anywhere.”
“I wasn’t actually going to leave, you know,” Luke said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He never understood why his father thought he’d want to jet off someday. “Just take a loop around the ship and come right back!”
“I would’ve stopped you, regardless.” Vader’s eyes flitted over their collection of ships, and he nodded with pride. “You did well, my son. Our private hangar. Clever.”
“Yeah, well, we have to be ready for every scenario. It’s possible there’s a rebel out there smart enough to infiltrate the ship and figure out the alternate route.” Luke shrugged, skeptical. “It took me a few days, and I live here!”
His father chuckled. “The rebels are not as smart as you are. Come, let’s return to our quarters. Perhaps we can sneak in a quick lesson on shielding before dinner.”
“Yeah!”
Luke pumped his fist as his father steered him towards the hallway and into the belly of the ship. To his amusement, the lights had powered back on, and the code black had ended.
“Hey, so what's on that datachip, anyway?” Luke asked as he retrieved the item from his pocket and stuck it in an empty compartment on his father’s belt. “Cutting-edge research, the locations of the rebel bases, plans for new weapons, Palpatine’s will…?”
“None of the above. It contains something far more valuable.”
“Oh yeah?” Luke’s eyebrows raised with interest. “What?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
Luke sighed in an over-exaggerated, dramatic way that made Vader smile and ruffle his hair affectionately. He made a mental note to question his father about the datachip after their meal. Until then, Luke was content to skip beside Vader as they made their way back to their quarters.