Forbidden

Vision of a Treasured past?

Vader’s POV

Vader crouched down in front of the holonet. The face panel of the machine was off and he stared intently at the glassine wiring. He tapped a few lines of code into a handheld analyzer and gave a small sound of disgust at the readout. Vader rose up swiftly while he yanked the analyzer’s connections free of the holonet’s innards.

“Any clue as to how the Archive is allowing us to see this live image?” Qui-Gon asked. 

The Jedi Master stood to one side, a few feet away from Vader, stroking his goatee. Luke was hanging slightly farther back his hands clasped tightly in front of him. 

“No, nothing.” Vader glared balefully at the machine. “There is no indication that the Archive has enslaved or is piggybacking on the Executor’s systems in any way. Nor are there any subspace signals being sent or received by the holonet independently. However this is being accomplished it is so beyond our technology that we can’t even detect it.” 

Vader swung towards Qui-Gon. The frustration was evident in the tight set of the Dark Lord’s jaw. Yet his expression softened slightly upon looking at the older man. It was strange to see Qui-Gon now after he had come to those realizations about him. If Vader hadn’t been angry, he would have almost felt shy around the Jedi Master. As it was, he knew that Qui-Gon sensed a difference in him, but was uncertain what it was. Vader kept his shields tight. He wasn’t quite ready to talk to the Jedi Master about this difference and the old wariness was hard to shake off.

Vader’s amber eyes skittered past Qui-Gon to his son. Luke was as tense as a bow and it was clear he was wondering exactly how angry Vader was about his having viewed the Archive alone and without informing the Dark Lord first. Artoo gave a mournful hoot in the corner as if the little droid could sense the emotions swirling in the room.

Upon Vader and Qui-Gon arriving in the quarters after being summoned by Luke on the com-link, the boy had haltingly explained what he had done and why, stammering out something about not being held captive by his fear. It was an explanation that Vader hardly heard and didn’t need to understand the specifics of. The Dark Lord simply knew Luke’s explanation involved something noble and foolish, which obviously meant something to be done without telling his father. 

Vader had just stared at him silently during the explanation and Luke had lowered his head. The boy had then admitted softly that it was wrong not to tell Vader what he had decided to do before he actually did it. The child had wisely said nothing after that. But to add to Vader’s anger, Qui-Gon had then acknowledged that he had known about the boy’s decision to view the Archive alone before the child had gone and done it. Despite this fact, Qui-Gon had not stopped Luke. 

The Dark Lord had not addressed either mans’ actions … until now.

“You should have told me what he planned, Qui-Gon,” Vader said suddenly, his anger flaring. 

Luke stepped forward. “Father, I alone am responsible for my actions. Not Qui-Gon.”

Vader merely gave his son a look that had the boy slamming his lips shut as if they had been caught in a vise.

“This is something I should address, Luke.” Qui-Gon turned to meet Vader’s burning gaze. “Perhaps, I should have told you, Anakin. But he is very much your son.”

One of Vader’s eyebrows rose expressively. “Oh? And what does that mean exactly?”

“Once determined on a course of action, he will see it through. I feared if I informed you of his plan, you would have forbidden him to do it—”

“Absolutely! It was foolish and reckless and—”

Qui-Gon raised his hands in a calming manner as he interrupted Vader’s rant. “Yes, but I also feared that Luke would have gone forward anyway. And that would have led to … other unfortunate circumstances.”