The Darkside of the Moon

Part VII: The Empire Strikes Back

Chapter I

 Luna was glad to return to the familiar halls of the Executor. To be honest, the corridors didn't much differ from the Devastator, but she was glad to be back nonetheless.

Mainly because she could feel the overbearing presence of Vader weighing on the entire ship—said presence seeming to be paying extra special attention to her, swirling around her to the point she could almost feel a tangible touch wrap around her. He knew she was there—of course she had given him a mental notification of that fact and a message to the Executor—but that didn't make his awareness of her presence any less enjoyable. It had been months since had last spoken to her Master face to face, and the Sith apprentice was rather eager to rectify that particular matter. Her most recent assignment had involved what was basically a campaign against a rather troublesome smuggler band who, quite frankly, were halfway to Rebellion with a capital R. Needless to say, it had taken time to stomp them out. Luna had of course updated Vader weekly, but holocalls just weren't the same.

The Sith apprentice smiled beneath her mask as she strode through the ships halls, studiously ignoring the dull ache in her shoulder from a recent wound. Three years. Three years having her own command. Three years of extensive missions away from her Master's side.

That's how long it had been. Hard to believe—Luna would have sworn just yesterday Vader was finally allowing her to participate in her first dog fight among the stars.

In a way, she missed it. Life was so much simpler back then. Fight, defend, and learn—those were her only jobs. Vader took care of the rest; she just had to obediently follow.

That said, she did rather enjoy the anonymity that having her own star destroyer allowed her. The Sith apprentice had been shocked to say the least when Vader had transferred the Devastator's command to her, having fully expected for him to give it to an admiral and she to remain at his side.

It had been an interesting adjustment at first. The crew all knew and respected her, so there was no need to really go through the ship for incompetents—that had been nice, a bonus, she supposed, from taking over her Master's old flagship for her own—but there was the adjustment that was her ship. That Vader no longer used it.

Funny that was what startled her the most. Not the ability to take on a decent amount of resistance at a whim or deploy a garrison on a city whenever needed without asking for permission. Not having a star destroyer to travel in rather than a shuttle. Not being the sole commander—she'd taken over in her Master's place many times before.

It was the fact seeing Vader daily—weekly—was no longer a given.

It was an odd thing to realize. And even as she had, Luna knew it was just a part of growing up. She was Vader's Shadow, but she was old enough and strong enough to take on more responsibility. To leave her Master's side.

And Vader had seen and recognized that. Wanted her to do that.

So that's what she did. Before, most of the galaxy knew her only as Vader's Shadow. Luna didn't have much of a reputation outside of her Master's overwhelming one.

She'd fixed that the past few years. Oh, they still referred to her as Vader's Shadow alright, but that was probably more from habit than anything else now. On the larger fronts when all of Death Squadron came together, Luna would always be at Vader's side, but short of that, it seemed to her more often than not that they were on opposite ends of the galaxy.

Of course, that was sometimes by her Master's design. While Luna openly fought Rebels, she had helped them on several occasions—warning them soon enough for there to be less lives lost during an Imperial crackdown or convincing a few smugglers to run supplies somewhere unusual. Her heart was with the Rebellion, even if her actions didn't make it appear so more often than not.