On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CXLVII

In the opinion of General Maximilian Veers, his Lady looked tired. More than simply tired actually, though it seemed no one was about to mention it. This was an understandable decision, though in Veers's mind, a questionable one. Lady Eclipse was not infallible—Veers had witnessed Lord Vader bail her out of sticky situations one too many times to believe that—and while she most usually was correct, anyone could make a mistake after overextending oneself, Lady Eclipse included. And if she were to make a mistake, that may lead to problems when the time came to use the strategies she was compiling. Lord Vader would not be impressed, and while Veers doubted failure possible under that circumstance (his Lord and Lady hardly ever failed, though as they weren't gods, such things did happen), it was still something best avoided. General Veers had developed a natural avoidance of failure as within it contained a truism. Long ago he had discovered the secret to promotion, respect, power, and a long life when surviving under the Commander was perfectly clear:

Don't fail Vader.

For many, this particular task was far easier said than done, but Maximilian Veers was one of the handful who never had. He was likely one of the few who never would. This secret, this key to surviving under Lord Vader's command, had guided the General through his service. It was this very truth that made Veers entirely unafraid of either of the Sith as he knew they were of no threat to him. It was in fact this truth that had helped the General hang on to life during the Battle of Hoth, for dying in that battle would have caused him to fail his Lord and that was simply something Veers would never allow. The General had a part to play, and it was one he would complete.

After all, while it was more of a personal distinction, as the elite and loyal troops aboard the Executor were known as Vader's Fist and Lady Eclipse—the eyes, ears, hands, apprentice, and enforcer of the Commander—was known as Vader's Shadow, General Maximilian Veers liked to consider himself Vader's Dagger: silent, elegant, and lethal. Every action he took was done in service to that role.

And so it was with that in mind, that Veers decided to step over the usual boundaries and attempt to nudge Lady Eclipse to a better path: "Perhaps we should continue this tomorrow, my Lady."

It took Vader's Shadow longer than usual to react to the words. It was a delay most would not recognize, but Veers had been working closely with her long enough to see the oddity. In fact, he'd been working with her long enough to read her body language for an accurate guess at her emotional state. He could read the same with Lord Vader as well, though that was to a very limited extent—without him speaking or proper context, anger could be confused with worry, especially where Lady Eclipse was concerned.

"....I suppose we might as well develop the more intricate strategies after we receive the recon data," she agreed after a long moment spent looking at a chrono. "You are dismissed, General."

Not exactly what Veers had been going for, but considering the late hour, this may be Lady Eclipse's last meeting. He certainly hoped so. She may be young and thus more adept at handling a variety of tasks with something less than half a standard sleep cycle under her belt, but the General had witnessed Lord Vader ordering her to rest on multiple occasions. In the absence of their Lord, there wasn't anyone aboard who outranked Lady Eclipse. They were all there to serve her as they would Lord Vader when the Sith Lord was not present, and thus it was not the place of anyone aboard the Executor to tell their Lady to rest.

Veers could only hope that his Lady did indeed decide to rest and not continue working through the datawork on her desk. He bowed and left the room to find the cloaked Togruta that had boarded the Executor off of the Tantive IV waiting in the hallway. She walked past him and into Eclipse's office without a word, a pink R2 unit following behind her.

"I talked with High Command—" the stranger began without preamble before the door closed and cut off Veers's unintended eavesdropping. The General considered for a moment what this new information may mean. High Command undoubtedly meant the Rebellion. That wasn't surprising—Veers knew just as well as the rest of the crew that the Rebel pilot Commander Skywalker was aboard and had the privilege of being the guest of Lady Eclipse. The Togruta he had just seen had a similar honor, though the boy had been placed on the same floor as the Sith's chambers while the other had been placed closer to Lady Astarte. Perhaps it had been done to prevent aggression against Commander Skywalker, but it was still odd.

Regardless, it was not Veers's place to question his Lady's actions. Until Lord Vader returned and stated otherwise, her will was her Master's and would be treated as such.