An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Vader nodded, satisfied.
“As I thought you might. That is well. Because faced with such a scenario, I also would choose family. You see, Admiral. I have a son. Does that surprise you?”
Piett blew out a breath and clenched his hands behind his back as was his habit.
“Yes, my Lord.”
“Most beings assume I am some sort of monster under the suit,” Vader told him, pacing toward the one piece of art hanging on the opposite wall. It depicted flames and wings and had drawn him strangely a number of years back. “I am, however, a man. And I have a son. A son I wish to protect from the Emperor.”
He could feel Piett doing his utmost not to jump ahead to conclusions or make assumptions. But the Admiral was intelligent and even in his exhausted state, his mind was putting things together despite his best efforts.
“The Emperor specifically, my Lord…?” he faltered.
“Yes.”
The time had come. To speak the thing that Piett himself had uncovered though he did not know it.
For Vader had gone to Tatooine. He had travelled far into the desert and the winds had whipped at his soul. He had called to that desert and She had answered in confirmation. He had felt raw and exposed in ways he hadn’t since Obi-Wan confronted him ten years previously.
“Luke Skywalker is my son,” he stated, turning to look at Piett as he said this. The man paled significantly, but did an admirable job of holding his composure at the news, licking his lips briefly.
“I was once a Jedi, Admiral,” Vader said, fighting fiercely against Anakin’s memories with that statement. “My name…was Anakin Skywalker.”
Piett’s emotions surged into the Force with a shocking onslaught. And as he was completely untrained, Anakin saw what he was thinking.
A whirl of images and memories not Anakin’s swept over him as Piett desperately tried to claw back control of his mind.
Shmi…
A Jedi Knight…
Anakin lives…
Oh Shmi…
“WHAT WAS THAT, ADMIRAL?” Anakin roared. and every piece of furniture in the office trembled.
