Pax Blank - In Shadows and Darkness

"Who are you passing the information to?" Vader demanded, interrupting Luke's thoughts.

So he didn't know everything; if he didn't know their recipient then likely he didn't know their content, which meant he hadn't cracked their code- possibly that he didn't even have the messages, only the second-hand knowledge that they were being sent.

"That's none of your business." Luke said simply , looking casually away.

"Everything that you do is my business." That was a step too far and Vader saw his son's hackles rise at it, his ice-blue eyes narrowing... then the brief burst of emotion was gone and the boy turned calmly away, walking behind the desk to sit, his voice cool and disengaged, the momentary flare of resentment giving him the nerve to call Vader's bluff.

"If you wish to take it to the Emperor then do so." Luke said at last, tone composed and even.

"I wish you to stop doing it." Vader repeated, having no real counter now that Luke had called him.

"Which I'm not going to - so do what you must."

Vader stepped forward, though the wide desk stopped him from coming too close to his unresponsive son, his tone derisory. "You won't beat him by playing him at his own game. You're playing to his strengths."

"Thank-you for the advice." Luke said coolly without looking up, eyes to the automemo on his desk. He neither wanted nor needed his father's involvement in his life- and he certainly wasn't going to be preached to by a man who had stood in the Emperor's shadow for the last two and a half decades.

Vader stared down at the boy, indignation and exasperation fairly blasting out of him now. He had no idea, none whatsoever, of how to speak to him, except in the way that he dealt with everyone else about him; as a menial or an adversary- someone to order and dismiss or to intimidate and oppress as he saw fit.

"I made you what you are." he asserted, voice clipped in anger.

That brought the boy's eyes up, burning with accusation. "Do you expect gratitude ?!"

"I expect respect ." Vader slammed his clenched fist down on the desk, making its contents jump.

His son only smiled tightly, as if amused that he could instil such blind frustration, his final barb yet to come, "Respect is earned."

For a split-second, Luke thought his father would actually lunge forward for him, his own muscles tightening in response, regretting sitting now, aware of the vulnerability of his position. But then, he hadn't expected his words to elicit such a response, and already now some uneasy pang whispered, so that it was he who lowered his gaze, not in submission and certainly not in guilt, but regret, on some level.

He sighed quietly, rubbing at his eyes, uncertain as to how he could feel even the slightest trace of compassion for the man who had caused nothing but pain and misery to him, frustrated that he allowed himself such weakness, yet completely unable to do otherwise. Such challenges as this were perhaps the nearest his father ever came to expressing some sense of protection for his son... or should Luke open his eyes and see it for what it really was; a protection of his investment , nothing more?

"If you want to help me then tell me who Lieutenant Reece's watcher is." Luke said quietly at last, speaking of the deep-cover agent placed by Palpatine to watch even his own most trusted agents such as Reece and Mara, both of whom were permanently assigned to Luke, supposedly as Aides, more correctly as spies. Luke had the identity of Mara's watcher, but more importantly he needed Reece's, and repeated searches had come up blank.

Vader tempered his own voice just slightly in reaction to his son's, but he didn't concede - and he wouldn't, not on this. "I won't help you to play these foolish, ill-conceived games. Palpatine owns everything on Coruscant. He sees everything. You know that."

"We're not on Coruscant." Luke said levelly.

"And you think that will protect you?"

"No- I think knowing my enemies will protect me." Luke stared into his father's resolute silence, his own frustration beginning to rise again. "Either help me or get out of my way."

Vader remained silent and unmoving, only feeding Luke's resentment. It was after all Vader who had instigated this - all of it.

It was Vader who had brought him to Palpatine thinking he could use his own son to solve the problems he hadn't the willpower or the commitment to resolve for himself; to realise all of his goals with none of the risk- and in doing so destroyed Luke's life completely without even a moment's hesitation or guilt. He didn't see his son when he looked at Luke, not really- he saw an advantage and sought to use it, just as Palpatine did, with neither consideration nor remorse. And until he saw that he had guaranteed control, Vader remained always duplicitous and undependable, aiding or hindering his son as it suited his own ends, often erring on the side of greatest power, giving empty loyalty and lipservice to the man he wished to depose.

And Luke was tired of it.

He rose, eyes locked on Vader's - no mask could hide his father's eyes from him. "It will come down to this- sooner or later it will come down to this one fact; him or me. I won't do what you want, it's not going to happen. I have my own mind and I have my own agendas and they're nothing like yours. But you're still eventually gonna have to make that decision- him or me. I'd start thinking it over if I were you because one day you'll have to take a side. You forced it on me without compunction, well get ready, because it's coming to you now. Which will it be, father ? Make a choice."

.

Mara's eyes narrowed as Vader strode from Skywalker's ready-room and off the Bridge without pausing. She didn't bother to follow him, Admiral Joss and Reece already setting forward; they all knew that Skywalker would go ballistic if he found out that Vader or any of his crew had been allowed to wander the Peerless alone. Instead, Mara turned back to the door, pausing to knock lightly before pressing the door release.

Skywalker stood at the far side of the room, hands clasped behind his straight back, staring out into space. Or so it seemed- she'd fallen for this trick many times in the past, and knew him too well now to be fooled.

He had positioned himself so that he was able to see the door in the reflection of the transparisteel pane, watching her enter. In truth he needed only call on the Force to know her emotions or intent, but he used this method of studying without turning mostly on those who had Force abilities of their own and so would know if he was reading them and shield themselves in response. Though Mara's own grasp of the Force was limited, one of the few things the Emperor had taught her well was how to shield her thoughts. Despite her suspicions that he was able to break through her shields, Skywalker seldom actually did so- more as a matter of politeness through familiarity than anything else she suspected, much as she would like to believe otherwise.

Like Reece, Mara had remained with Skywalker, ostensibly operating as something between aides and bodyguards, and she and Skywalker had reached a kind of informal status-quo quite quickly, each learning to operate around the others' restrictions, neither so impolitic as to mention this directly to the other.

The first year and a half of his new life, Skywalker had been a constant trial, alternately listless and disinterested, holeing up in the same three rooms to the back of his extensive quarters for weeks, even months at a time, then tearing about the Palace like a vornskr with a sore head, striking out at anyone who came close when he was summoned to attend Court by Palpatine, always baiting and chastising, provoking and punishing until one or the other of them cracked and the game began afresh.