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78 EXT IMPERIAL LANDING PLATFORM - LOWER DECK
COMMANDER: He was armed only with this.
Vader looks at Luke, turns away and faces the commander, taking the lightsaber from the commander's hand.
VADER: Leave us, Commander.
COMMANDER: Yes, my Lord.
The officer and troops withdraw.
VADER: (staring at Luke in disbelief) How can this be? I felt you. You were dead.
LUKE: (hunched over) I felt it too, Father. Like for a moment, I had become one with the Force, with everything. And then I was here again.
VADER: This is impossible. Only the Emperor knows the secrets of immortality.
LUKE: Many things are possible, through the Force. The Emperor may be powerful, but he does not control the Will of the Force.
VADER: Be careful how you speak of our Master.
LUKE: Even now you will bring me to him? You will be forced to watch me die a second time. I will not turn.
VADER: (clenching a fist around Luke’s lightsaber) I will not let that happen, my son. There is no other way.
LUKE: (shaking head) There is always another way. You are simply too blind to see it.
78 EXT IMPERIAL LANDING PLATFORM - LOWER DECK
LUKE: (shakily) Father… you must know that your death brings me as much pain as mine brings you.
VADER: (dismissively) My death is a foregone conclusion. You will take my place at the Emperor’s side. There can only be two: a Master and an Apprentice.
LUKE: You, Ben, the Emperor! You all keep saying the same thing! Your death is not a foregone conclusion. Stop acting like it is! No matter how many times any of you say it, I am not going to kill my own father, and I’m not going to just sit back and watch it happen!
VADER: So Obi-Wan told you to kill me.
LUKE: (sighs) He told me that if I refused to, the Emperor had already won. That is something I will not accept.
VADER: You must.
78 EXT IMPERIAL LANDING PLATFORM - LOWER DECK
LUKE: (crowding into Vader’s space) If you're going to keep handing me over to your Emperor, you might as well kill me yourself, right now! The result is the same.
VADER: (igniting Luke’s lightsaber) If that is what you wish.
Luke does not try to dodge as Vader strikes him down with his own lightsaber.
78 EXT IMPERIAL LANDING PLATFORM - LOWER DECK
Luke and Vader stand next to each other in silence. They do not look at each other.
78 EXT IMPERIAL LANDING PLATFORM - LOWER DECK
VADER: Your sister. You…care about her. Is she well?
LUKE: She is on this moon. She was well the last time I saw her, and I can feel her still. But the future is uncertain, especially now.
VADER: Does your sister know you are here?
LUKE: She told me not to come. She told me to run away, to save myself.
VADER: She has more sense than you.
LUKE: Master Yoda would agree with you. He told me not to go to Bespin. He told me I wasn’t ready.
VADER: (staring thoughtfully off into the distance) Yoda…
LUKE: (looking down at his hands) I had visions. That my friends were in pain, dying. My sister.
VADER: Your sister?
LUKE: (turning to look at Vader) Leia.
78 EXT IMPERIAL LANDING PLATFORM - LOWER DECK
VADER: Your sister. Does she know?
LUKE: I told her. She didn’t take it well. I didn’t know she was my sister until just before this mission. I didn’t know if I’d get another chance to tell her. But there wasn’t ever going to be the right time. Not for this.
VADER: She should never have been hidden from me.
LUKE: If you ever want to actually speak to her, I would suggest not insulting the people she calls her parents. The parents you made her watch die.
VADER: Would she ever speak to me?
LUKE: She’d yell at you, at least. But there’s only one way to find out. We can go ask her.
78 EXT IMPERIAL LANDING PLATFORM - LOWER DECK
LUKE: (smiling) You are no longer conflicted.
VADER: I have not seen so clearly in years. Will you join me?
LUKE: We’ll face him together, father.