Across fictive worlds

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Darth Vader POV

The infiltration went way too easy. Vader felt like he was merely playing a role in a piece as he sneaked through droid maintenance corridors, slowly getting closer to one of the dozen reactor chambers where they could manually rig the super laser. They did run across a few patrols that Vader swiftly dispatched of with his red lightsaber. Leia didn't hesitate in aiding him, using the Force to hold troopers in place or even just outright crush them. She had grown powerful. Maybe they actually did stand a chance against Sidious if they fought together.

Vader hadn't been idle this past year. He'd left his Master's service rather explosively, trying to blow up the Imperial palace and narrowly escaping with his life when that wasn't enough to take him out. (None of that ever made it to the news of course. It wouldn't do for the Emperor to show weakness.) He would've preferred to defeat Sidious in a proper duel but the sad truth was that he simply wasn't powerful enough for that, not with his body so weakened from years of neglect and old injuries. But after he fled and used his formidable influence as former Supreme Commander to gather a large part of the Imperial Navy under his banner, that changed. He updated all of his prosthetics, lined them with poorly conducting materials to ward off lighting attacks and underwent a number of surgeries that had been long overdue to repair and partially replace some of his more damaged organs. As a result he was finally free of the restrictive life support suit. He was still nowhere close to the strength he'd had as a Jedi in his prime but he was as prepared as he'd ever be to face his Master in combat. With Leia's support, maybe... Maybe they could do it.

His daughter was filled with tension the whole time though. Waiting for something. With every enemy they killed with too much ease, the dread in Vader's stomach build. Who was the trap really for? And who had set it?

Doubts started to gnaw at him. There were moments when he felt a clear kinship with Leia but it was so different from the connection he'd shared with her before. Was this even truly his daughter? Had she been replaced by someone else? It was Leia and yet it was not. Vader knew he would never be fooled by a mask or a skinchanger or even a clone. He'd encountered all that before and this wasn't it. But if Leia was merely changed then what changed her and how?

The most obvious culprit was Sidious of course. Vader hated that the thought crossed his mind before they even had to face his former Master. But he had to consider that the older Sith Lord had already gotten to his daughter. That Vader himself was the only one who was walking into a trap. The vision of Leia, yellow eyes glinting, smiling as she aimed his own red saber at him kept replaying in his mind.

His heart clenched painfully. If it was his sweet little daughter, if she truly wanted to see him dead, he wouldn't even fight it. He knew he deserved so much worse. But this girl... Was she really his daughter? When he opened those doors and met Sidious, would he be met with his real daughter, hold hostage and forcing him to chose or some similar evil scheme? That was ridiculous of course, it wasn't as if Leia had a twin... sister... Oh he was so stupid.

There is another.

XxX

LPOV

Leia and Vader moved quickly, their footsteps echoing against the cold durasteel walls as they made their way towards the heart of the massive space station.

The final door swished open at the press of a button and the laser chamber loomed before them. It was a vast expanse of metal and machinery bathed in the sickly green glow of the kyber core. Steam hissed from vents along the walls, adding to the sense of foreboding that permeated the chamber.