"She is growing suspicious." He said, voice very sure- but then it always was.
"Only of this, today."
Vader sighed, and Luke braced himself, waiting for the criticism which, despite everything, he had known would come. It was dispensed in an unexpected form; "A short recording came into my hands a month ago from a dealer on Bilbringi. I bought and destroyed it."
Luke remained silent, eyes wary, hardly noticing the rasping breath of the life-support that his father wore anymore, so familiar-a sound had it become. Vader continued after a long pause, sure that he had the boy's attention now. "It showed you stepping off from the edge of the balcony behind you. Mara Jade caught you."
Luke considered a long time, eyes down, and Vader was left to wonder if he was deciding whether to tell the truth or whether to tell him anything at all.
"I was testing a theory." Luke allowed at last without meeting his father's featureless gaze.
Vader set his head to one side, "That being?" he prompted, when the boy offered nothing more.
Luke shrugged casually, "Just a theory." he avoided.
"With Jade, apparently." Vader growled, his distaste evident.
His son looked up at this, a warning flashing momentarily in his mismatched eyes, then he turned away to the tall windows to watch the darkening, storm-heavy sky.
Vader remained still, frustrated as much at his own stubbornness as his son's- so when the boy spoke his words were surprising.
"Say it." Luke finally invited, knowing this was something his father wished to address.
"You will do as you wish regardless." Vader said, very sure.
"Yes." Luke replied, half-turning back to his father, "But I'll take what you have to say under advisement."
"She is dangerous." Vader didn't hesitate- he seldom did anyway and in this he was very sure; "She will always remain loyal to the Emperor and cannot be trusted... theoretical tests aside."
Luke tilted his head slightly in acknowledgement, "I know - and I wasn't testing that."
He offered nothing more as he turned back to the brewing storm.
Vader tried a different tack, "Palpatine is using her to control you."
"I know that too." his son replied, "I'm not blind."
"But you are allowing it." Vader warned; it was tantamount to the same thing- worse, because the boy allowed it knowingly; willingly.
Luke folded his arms, but when he spoke, his tone remained open, "Give me an option- a viable one."
Vader didn't hesitate, "Remove her."
"And then what?"
Wasn't that obvious? "That problem will also be removed."
Luke turned, tone and sense resolute. "Then she'll be replaced and I'll have to learn the operating procedures of another 'watcher'. Discover a whole new set of strengths and weaknesses and habits- four years of familiarity and knowledge wasted. No- better the devil you know."
"You're allowing her too close." Vader maintained.
His son shrugged, "I can control her. She believes she's close and she passes that confidence on to Palpatine."
"You think you can control her," Vader corrected, "You have no proof. She will always be loyal to the Emperor."
"I know. But whilst she's close to me I can control exactly what information she is and isn't party to so I know exactly what information she's passing on to the Emperor- what he's reacting to and why. He trusts her implicitly- which is a weakness on his part."
"And you?" Vader asked
"I don't trust her at all." Luke said, wondering how much his father really knew and how much was his own guilty conscience.
"That is not what I asked."
Luke turned to his father, wary. Because no matter what he said out loud, if Vader thought Luke and Mara were too close, he feared he'd find some way to remove her. "She's not a weakness because I won't allow her to be. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"See that you don't." Vader charged, tone little short of a command.
Luke's eyes narrowed at that, offended as much on Mara' behalf as his own, "Don't order me."
"Don't leave yourself open to criticism." Vader reproached.
"You of all people should think carefully before saying that."
The words had left his mouth before he'd even considered them, goaded by his father's self-righteous tone. Even now, knowing the damage they'd done, Luke couldn't back down because he knew his father too well to think that his silence now constituted any kind of agreement. "And just to be clear- if something were to happen to Mara Jade, all deals would be off the table- understand that."
It was, Luke knew, an admission of at least partial vulnerability on his part, but it had to be said otherwise his father would move against her based solely on what had already been said. "Mara jade isn't your concern."
"No- but you are." His father parried without hesitation.
Was it a manipulation or was it real? His father remained a closed book to Luke, his true intent hidden. He wanted to believe that Vader's words were were spoken out of genuine concern, but he knew him too well; it was at least partly a protection of his investment. Vader still believed absolutely that he knew what was best for Luke, and in typical heavy-handed fashion, would do whatever he conceived of as necessary to keep his son, and therefore his investment, on track. There was no contradiction; they were one and the same to him.
Luke turned away, uneasy, never knowing quite how to react to such asides from his father. "I can look after myself."
"You'll forgive me," his father said dryly, "If I don't take that under advisement."
.
.
Mara stepped out to watch Vader pass on hearing his heavy footfalls in the corridor beyond the heavy double-doors of Luke's day office. He glanced once to her in obvious distaste, but didn't pause, a flurry of dark robes against the bone-white travertine tiles of the long corridor. Although it shared part of a wall with his private drawing room, Mara had been able to hear nothing from the day-office save the rise and fall of their voices as they spoke, the deeply-plastered half-curve at the adjoining wall insulating the noise.
It wasn't in her remit to watch Vader, but Luke's position within the Emperor's elite was more stable and trusted than ever before, and she didn't want Vader to endanger that with his own petty schemes. She'd been tempted to put a trembler on the wall to see if it clarified anything, but some tiny fragment of faded morals left her reluctant to resort to such tactics with Luke anymore, despite burning curiosity and professional concern.
Luke's strained relationship with his father was something the Emperor relied heavily on to maintain the manageable status-quo between his two acolytes and therefore his own security. It always had to be maintained, he had made that quite clear. The slightest relaxing of enmity invoked the most serious measures in response, always aimed at Luke- unfairly in Mara's mind; but then she'd long ago learned that life was seldom fair. Luke's willingness to flaunt that fact at his own expense was a more recent but equally disturbing discovery, firing protective instincts and outrageous frustration in equal measure.
When she returned to Luke, he was stood close to the tall plexiglass doors, arms wrapped about himself, watching the distant storm as lightening forking over the city's horizon, briefly lighting the dark, low clouds whilst thunder rumbled ever closer, charging the humid air.
Mara walked silently up beside him, reaching out to close the open doors to the balcony.
"No leave them open." Luke said quietly, lost in thought.
"Why?"
"I want to hear the storm." he murmured, distant and distracted. "It's always the same sound on every planet- no matter what the colour of the sky or what landscape below- have you noticed that?"