Under The Cover Of Darkness

Chapter Six

"So," Obi-Wan said, eyes crystal blue and hard even as his voice was light. "That was quite the trick."

Luke scoffed. "Unbind me, and I'll demonstrate that it was no mere trick."

It was, hopefully, a workable Vader impression, adapted for the fact that Luke wasn't quite as pompous, was pretending to be a very expressive brainwashed fanatic, and also didn't strangle people.

Hanging onto that impression, grounding himself in the memories of his Father, as horrible as most of them were, was the only way Luke knew to maintain his cover. And it let him draw a clearer, firmer barrier between himself and the things he had to say.

The pseudo-impression of Darth Vader was, somewhat perversely, helping Luke's sanity.

He had the creeping and deeply unpleasant feeling that it wasn't doing the same for Ben, watching the encounter from behind Obi-Wan's eyes.

"Yes," Obi-Wan said, "well, you'll forgive me if I don't take you up on that, and ask instead what, exactly, you were trying to do with that failed attack."

"As I told my father, I was impressing my Master."

"And as I'm sure you can deduce, I don't find your explanation particularly convincing."

"Yes, and I know so many ancient Sith techniques, given that I anointed as a Sith approximately a day before you...stumbled upon us."

"Yes, well, given that you were found on the site of a Sith Temple, echoes of Darkness still remaining even after you were pulled through time—which, of course, you claim to have no idea as to the cause of—once again, I don't actually believe you."

As far as Luke could tell, the Sith Temple actually had acted on its own, unnervingly enough. It had grabbed everything in the ruined, stone courtyard in front of the main entrance to the Temple, and dumped it all thirty-six years back in time.

That "everything" had, by coincidence, happened to include the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi, silently and invisibly checking in on Luke in the midst of a very stressful situation, although Luke hadn't known it at the time.

In response to the younger, more physical Obi-Wan sitting in front of him, Luke shrugged carelessly. "That is not my problem."

In the aftermath of the attack, only recently released from the Healers, Luke would have expected Obi-Wan to look pained, or furious, or at least tired, sitting there and interrogating his attacker, his student's son. But all Luke could see was blankness and iron-clad control.

It was, notably, a level of blankness that had not quite been present the previous times that he had interrogated Luke. Probably because Obi-Wan had to still be suspicious of the violation. Anakin might have seemed to buy his excuses—barely—but he had also certainly told Obi-Wan. And Luke had begun to get the impression that his father had never been the most subtle, manipulative type.

But Old Ben certainly had had his moments. So Obi-Wan was presumably there because he strongly suspected that Luke had done something to him—and worse, something the Jedi hadn't caught.

Luke just wished he could say that it wasn't true.

Obi-Wan didn't deserve this.

Ben had assured them that, if he had known the truth, he would have agreed the sacrifice was worth it. But Luke had still attacked Obi-Wan, arranged the invasion of his mind, and set in motion a plan that would almost certainly make the man's life incredibly difficult.

"Explain the resounding tactical weaknesses in your attempt, then."

"As I told my father, I was more interested in penetrating your shields than escaping. I knew it was more likely to succeed, and had a surer chance of impressing my Master."