Lady Obscura: Vader's Shadow [Star Wars | Luke Skywalker]

Chapter 8

Never, in a million years, had Athara ever dreamed that she would become involved with the Rebellion. It truly was an absurd idea. She was Darth Vader's apprentice; the Right Hand of the Emperor's Right Hand. She was feared across the Galaxy and highly respected among the Troops she once commanded. She had led dozens of minor engagements, many of which were against the Rebels themselves. Engagements that she'd won. She was an enemy, a threat.

But she had also vanished, so far as both the Empire and the Rebellion were concerned. That had certainly resulted in an interesting situation.

Since Vader ordered her to disappear for her own safety, she had changed. She held no illusions to the contrary. She had gone from an order-dependent Imperial agent to an apolitical independent freelancer, to a Rebel Smuggler in less than two years. She had been able to start with a clean slate; no one she had yet encountered since the Battle of Yavin had any suspicions of her true identity that she was aware of, and she preferred it that way. She was no longer quite as proud of her accomplishments as she had been in the past. That didn't mean she had no respect for her past; she was still rather proud of her own tenacity and quick thinking on past occasions, as well as her prowess with the Force. She was also still dimly proud of her military achievements, though the opponents she had triumphed against were now essentially her allies; the more she thought of it, she was proud of her capabilities, rather than her actual actions.

Still, part of her missed her old position. She was a fair leader, and she missed the satisfaction that used to come with running a tight ship. After worming her way into the Alliance, she realized with time that it was a spike of jealousy that shot through her whenever she witnessed military initiatives and events happening around her.

She also missed Vader. There was an old saying that said something about not realizing how much something or someone meant to you until they were gone. Well, Vader wasn't gone, per se, but Athara had been separated from her Master for far longer than she ever had before, and she missed him. Almost everything she was, save what she had learned in the past two years, she was because of his tutelage. She found that she could sympathize with Luke when he spoke of missing Ben because of the ache she felt at being separated from her own Master. She missed his guidance and, as strange as it might sound to anyone else, she missed his reassuring presence. He was her Master, and as she had revealed to the Princess in the detention block of the Devastator, he had raised her. His methods might have been blunt and even harsh, but he cared for her in his own way, and she was pretty sure he valued her presence as much if not more than she valued his. Rumour had it that since her 'departure', he was executing officers at an alarming rate simply because they displeased him, if there even was any reason at all. It was a rumour that disturbed her greatly, for though she knew he was horribly cruel in the eyes of the Galaxy, it was still unlike him to be so wholly and irrationally reckless with his punishments. Yes, he had always been unforgiving and ruthless with his own brand of justice, but there was always some sense of reason behind it, even if it was a reason that belonged only to him. Never, in all the time she had known the Dark Lord, had he ever regularly behaved in such a way as current rumours suggested.

It was no longer her immediate concern though, she simply couldn't afford for it to be. Her loyalties were her own now, and not conditional on those of her Master. Now a great many of her loyalties belonged to the Rebellion, and one Rebel in particular. She was still largely apolitical, for she didn't directly belong to the Alliance, nor did she support the Empire anymore. The supply running aspect of her life was simply a job. She was involved with the Alliance for one reason.

Luke.

Once she became involved with running shipments for the Rebellion, she had begun working with the sandy-haired farmboy, teaching him the basics of the Force that she had known since childhood. It hadn't been long before she was running supplies directly to the Rebel's newest bases, so she was often able to steal away for several hours at a time to work with Luke.