Pax Blank - In Shadows and Darkness

That was how powerful he was.

He was the only thing of value which Vader had ever created in his life.

And of that...he was proud .

.

His son turned, glancing up momentarily as Vader slowed to a halt before him. He towered over the boy, as he did over most humans, though Luke remained not in the least intimidated. Their saber duel two years earlier in the Imperial Palace had settled all scores and clarified only four months after his conversion just how much power Luke had already gleaned from his new status as a Sith. He had nothing left to prove, least of all to his father.

"Lord Vader." He nodded curtly in acknowledgement.

He never referred to his father as such in public, another of Palpatine's little manipulations, all references to Luke's identity having been removed from public records, replaced by hints and rumours and misdirections.

The boy didn't particularly care to correct them; he had long since abandoned his old life, though he seemed to Vader equally uninvolved with his new one. He went through the motions as was required, but very much like his father he remained pointedly uninvolved with Court and the machinations and power-plays of Palace life, avoiding them whenever possible in favour of his involvement with the Fleet.

Ever paranoid, Palpatine still contrived to keep his new Sith close at hand however, keeping him confined to the Palace on Coruscant for many long months after his conversion before finally granting him command of the Core Fleet. But even now, almost three years later, he was never allowed outside of the Core and Colony Systems which he commanded in the Emperor's name. And even here, Luke's interests lay not with the acquisition and dispensation of power, but in the complexities of management required to maintain and subjugate the massive diversity of planets and cultures in the densely-packed Core Systems, consciously losing himself in the minutia rather than stepping back to acknowledge the greater picture - both of his position within the Fleet and of his life.

"We need to speak." Vader said simply, never one to procrastinate, having never been in a position where such was necessary, considering his status.

Luke's pale blue eyes remained guarded as he studied his father for long moments, then the slightest of gestures tilted his head to the side as he acknowledged the request and turned, heading for his private ready-room to the right of the rear of the bridge. Vader followed, noting that Jade also fell into step.

Luke entered the large, grey, featureless office, walking to stand before the wide span of the desk there, turning to face Vader's looming form as Mara Jade slipped into the room behind them.

.

Luke had worn black today and in view of his visitor, was regretting it.

Despite the Emperor's preference for his inner elite, Luke generally chose to wear darkest blue, a half-shade away from black, but away nonetheless, the subtlest of independence expressed even here. The impeccable cut of his clothes remained almost but never quite a military uniform, a tiny sliver of white at the high stand-collar of his fitted, side-fastening jacket, the top three fasteners undone, giving a more casual air. At first glance they seemed such insignificant expressions of dissent given his position, but he held to them. Appearances were important here, and he had learned that in his Master's rigidly controlled world, the subtlest of divergences could cause incredible ripples. Elusive powerplays and political subterfuge and were not his forte - but he was learning.

"You have something to say which couldn't be spoken over the HoloNet?" he asked pointedly of his father now.

He tried hard to discourage any face-to-face meetings; everything he had to say to his father he'd said long ago, and it was he and not Vader who would have to answer to Palpatine when he found out they had met. Which he would - there were two of his Master's spies on the bridge; three in fact, if Luke included Lieutenant Wez Reece, who had long since swapped allegiance, though of course he still had to report most of Luke's dealings to the Emperor to avoid suspicion.

Vader didn't speak, only turned pointedly to Mara, who lifted her chin, unimpressed. She was one of the few who knew what Vader really was to him, Luke having consciously robbed his Master of whatever machinations he had in play long ago by choosing to tell her himself. Indirectly of course, the act appearing a momentary slip rather than a conscious defiance - he'd long since learned that lesson too. Now he turned immediately to Jade.

"Mara?" he invited simply, and she walked from the room with the slightest of bows, conspicuously choosing to acknowledge Luke before his father.

Luke waited until the door had closed before speaking again. "Well?" If his father was not in the habit of prevaricating, then Luke was well able to match him.

"This room is safe?" Vader asked.

"Of course."

"You have a new infiltrator in your command staff."

"You mean Ogo?" Luke prompted of the new Security Officer who had been assigned to the Peerless only two months earlier. Her record was impeachable of course, but records could be faked. Luke had done so himself many times now in order to place his own spies. Vader said nothing, but Luke sensed the slight fluctuation in the Force and was pleased that he'd been able to come back with her name. "Yes, she's good, but a little too... excessive in her sense of duty."

"Then why is she still here?" Vader referred to his son's habit, much like his own, of removing on principle unwanted spies placed by the Emperor in positions close to themselves in the most permanent way possible.

"She's useful to pass on information of my choice at present. When she outlives that usefulness..." Luke shrugged, unmoved.

Both men remained where they were for long moments, Luke knowing that this was not why his father had come here and prepared to wait him out, refusing to blink before that blank, glaring mask.

"You are playing a very dangerous game." Vader said at last.

Without seeming to move, Luke's stance turned from waiting to wary, "I'm always playing dangerous games. Which one are you referring to?"

"Using forged access codes to smuggle communiqués out of the Palace."

Luke's expression changed not a whit, but his mind was racing now; if Vader knew, then others may also know, and he needed to maintain that line of contact. He glanced down, considering, hoping to buy time or redirect his father. "And who would you have close enough to me to know that?"

"Irrelevant." Vader stated flatly, refusing to be drawn. "The important fact is that I do- and it will cease."

That brought Luke's eyes back up to his father, his innate stubbornness kicking in though it was, if not mastered, then at least tempered by the experiences of the last three years. "I don't think so." he said resolutely.

Every meeting with his father was a contest to some degree. Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost, but he seldom backed down without a very good reason- it wasn't in his nature.

Nor was it in his father's. "Then you wish me to bring it to the Emperor's attention?"

Luke hesitated, pushing past the freezing burst of adrenaline at this ultimate threat, knowing that the punishment for such subversion would be extreme- but even before this he didn't yet concede, mind racing to pull the pieces together-

In truth it was unlikely that Vader would take this to the Emperor if he hadn't already done so; to do so now would require him to admit that he had approached Luke beforehand, which their ever-paranoid Master would consider a damning betrayal on Vader's part. Palpatine knew he was breaking every lore of the Sith by holding more than one advocate; history had illustrated time and again the dangers inherent in balancing the ambitions and power struggles which resulted, and the blood connection between Luke and his father made their cautious Master obsessively distrustful. More than anything else, Palpatine would tolerate no connection between father and son; he had made that very clear again and again, usually at Luke's expense. But this would be unmistakably his father's doing. It wouldn't change the fact that Luke had been smuggling illicit communiqués - wouldn't save him from Palpatine's wrath - but it would mean that he would take Vader down with him this time.