Missing and Presumed Dead

To Find a Skywalker

"I want every place of business, every home, every hangar, everything on this outpost to be searched, top to bottom," Vader snarled at his troopers the moment their transport set down in Docking Bay One, the largest of the hangars on the Ring of Kafrene, reserved for Imperial resources only.

It had been an effort to wait for his troops to arrive. He himself had taken his TIE Advanced, with two of his best pilots flying escort. He'd almost strangled them while he waited for the rest of his troops.

What he really wanted to do was to rip the trading post to shreds himself, using nothing but his hands, his lightsaber and the Force, but even for him that would be too slow. A lone raging Sith Lord would be fairly obvious, and anyone who had anything to do with Luke's--with what happened would have the sense to turn tail and run. He didn't feel like giving chase, so he would instead use numbers to route out the perpetrators quickly and efficiently before they could escape.

He needed information on his son. He needed to confirm what the Force had already told him. He needed...

He needed his son.

"You will bring me all information on Skywalker. Anyone who saw him, anyone who engaged with him, anyone who was in the same room with him. I want them all apprehended and brought to me. Alive ." He put emphasis on that last word. Information required the informant to be breathing still.

Besides. He wanted to kill those responsible..

He would relish in their deaths.

Once the 501st acknowledged his orders and disappeared out of the hangar, Vader turned on his heel, marching towards the control center, the Force swirling angrily around him as he anticipated who awaited him there.

The stormtrooper squad that had fired the shot that killed his son.

When he entered the main control room, a line of ten stormtroopers waited at full attention. The other control officers in the room attempted to focus on their work, pretending Darth Vader hadn't just called a squadron of their comrades to interrogate them in the middle of the room.

Vader stopped before the waiting troopers, crossed his arms over his chest and stared at them for a full minute. There was nothing but the hushed tones of control officers giving clearance to passing ships and the rasp of his respirator. Through the Force, he sensed the troopers' rising fear.

Precisely as he intended.

"Sergeant." Vader turned the weight of his stare on the leader of the squad. "Report."

The trooper at the far end of the line stepped forward. Though his helmeted face revealed no emotion, Vader could sense the trooper's awareness of their impending doom.

Good.

"Lord Vader," he acknowledged. "JN-584 was on patrol this morning when Skywalker was spotted with Organa and another pilot, known to us now as Wedge Antilles." Vader mentally filed the information away for later. He'd known some information on Antilles simply because he shared a squadron with his son, but since he hadn't been a viable option in getting Luke to turn himself over, he hadn't bothered with anything more than the basics. That would need to be re-evaluated.

The Sergeant continued, "JN-584 called it in, and since Skywalker and Organa are considered dangerous, high-ranking Rebels, our squad decided to engage the Rebels before they could escape. They were in Docking Bay Four, loading smuggled weapons purchased from a local smuggling gang. We surprised the Rebels and the smugglers with them, and engaged. There were casualties on our end, but it ended with Skywalker being shot and the Rebels escaping."