Fortress Vader

Twenty-three - Explication

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we crash a ship.
Year 6

———————

Kat
Months later

He replaced the chair. I only know because the very next day, he sent me a message with the order number, proudly displaying an obscenely expensive chair and a delivery date. Honestly, I hadn't known chairs could sell for so much. My face burned red at the message because I was absolutely ashamed of my outburst.

I haven't seen him since. And to my horror, the next time I saw Lord Vader, he asked me why I bought him a chair! Said he liked his old one just fine, but 'this one will do.'

It's been months and I still want to die just thinking about it.

As far as the military garrison, all is well. It's exhausting keeping up with them, but Letty helps quite a bit.

And, true to my word, I sent her off planet to pick up some parts I needed. I could have ordered them like always, but Lord Vader approved the request, so I sent her instead. She came back with a sunburn on her cheeks and endless stories about her very uneventful trip to Bataan-Fa.

I miss him. I'm not mad at him anymore. I don't know if that's why he's stayed away or if it's just one of his usual periods of absence. I don't ask, of course. Don't reach out.

Still, I'm beginning to feel a little sad at night, when my room sounds too quiet and he doesn't show up in my dreams. Or in real life.

I did rewrite the entire code that controls the lift in this wing. It scans all electronic devices without alerting the person and sends me the report directly. Kind of cool, I guess.

Anyway. It's another day at Fortress Vader. I've been working on the same damn algorithm that I've been fighting with for years now. I'll crack it one day, but at the moment, I want to throw the whole thing away. Which is why I'm currently staring at the surveillance station, my arms crossed, and honestly, probably looking like I don't want to be bothered.

Because I don't. At this rate, I'll complete the new design for Vader's suit when I'm a hundred years old. Good thing I've never mentioned it to him.

I snap my head to the right when a single, loud beep goes off, indicating a ship dropping from hyperspace.

Weird, there's nothing on the schedule.

I wait the few seconds, fairly confident it's going to be one of the Inquisitors returning to their moon. Like Vader, their schedules are pretty unpredictable.

It's not. It's Vader's TIE. That's unusual...

What's more unusual is the speed at which he's flying. My instincts are on fire.

I try to connect with him. There's nothing but complete radio silence. No answer. No rejection. Nothing.

"Connect me with the Dominion," I snap, dragging everyone's attention to the screens. Andrew, who is on watch next to me, does so immediately.

I was hoping Captain Crook would be on bridge duty—but no, it is Admiral Nelson. His holo pops up and begins speaking before I can.

"Commander, I was just contacting you. He's not responding and coming in way too fast. It could be a trick, requesting permission to attack." Fear spikes hard and fast within me.

"Are you out of your mind?" It isn't acting like a ship on a mission, it is acting like a ship in a free fall. "Pull him in!"

"It's out of range of our tractor—"