Archive of Our Own ^beta

He's gone crazy. That's the only explanation for this. There's no way that this is happening.

There's a flaw in the Death Star, and no one else has noticed it.

What the kriff?

Vader's had a lot of time to think. Nineteen years of relative solitude, in fact. It would drive anyone crazy. Maybe he's finally snapped.

But he hasn't. His armor chafes against his burned skin like always, his Force signature feels the same to himself, even the tiny lingering voice of Anakin Skywalker in the back of his head hasn't gotten any louder. Or softer, for that matter.

Nothing has changed. Which means that everyone in the room with him is just really kriffing stupid.

It isn't even a subtle flaw. It's not something like a loose screw or bit of wasted space. No, there's a hole in the Death Star exterior. A skilled Rebel pilot could easily fire a shot down that shaft and blow up the whole ship.

Anakin Skywalker would be laughing at this, but Anakin Skywalker is dead, so Darth Vader only turns his head slightly to look at Galen Erso.

Erso knows. His Force signature is calm and his face is blank, but Vader learned a long time ago that that doesn't mean anything. Erso has to know about the flaw. The Empire hunted him down specifically because of his talents. He wouldn't miss a flaw this big.

Vader isn't stupid. He may be barely able to think sometimes because of the constant agony he's in, and he may be little more than Palpatine's attack dog at this point, but he isn't stupid.

"You've done a fine job, Erso," Yularen says, and a single, small tendril of satisfaction and relief unfolds in Erso's Force signature. Palpatine - if he could be bothered to be here - would likely pass it off as loyalty to the Empire, but Vader knows - Anakin knows - the feel of a successful sabotage when he sees one.

The men in this room - Yularen, Tarkin, Krennic, Bast - they don't know anything about mechanics. They wouldn't know a disastrous error if it was staring them in the face - which it is, what the kark - and Vader can't help but think, for a second, that if these are the best men that Palpatine can find then the Empire won't last much longer.

He shuts that thought down. He doesn't need to give Palpatine any more reason to keep a close eye on him.

The point being, these men don't know what they're looking at, but Vader does. Or, Anakin Skywalker does. He could expose Erso in a heartbeat, and Palpatine could get another architect to design his superweapon.

Or, he could not tell anyone.

Palpatine's really been annoying him lately, and the feeling of his suit on his skin has been teetering on the edge of agony for a few days now, and the hassle of all the paperwork he'd be forced to do really isn't something he wants to deal with. A hatred of paperwork is one of the few similarities he has with Anakin Skywalker.

And besides… being a Sith Lord really isn't all it's cracked up to be. Anakin Skywalker Fell to save his wife, to keep the people he cared about close by, but nineteen years later and Vader spends his days alone, hunting down Rebels and the remnants of the Jedi while his burned skin itches and whatever remains of Anakin Skywalker screams in his head. Vader is just Palpatine's trophy apprentice, and the painful few months that it took him to realize that Palpatine never really cared for him nor Anakin Skywalker were enough to instill a lingering resentment that he's kept well-hidden.

He wouldn't be helping the Rebels by letting this slide. There's no guarantee that they have a pilot that could even make that shot, much less find out about it in the first place.

Anakin Skywalker could make the shot in a heartbeat, but he's dead.

Vader doubts that anything will come of this flaw. But it's an act of rebellion, one that Palpatine won't catch. So really, what's the harm?

The room's Force signatures brush against his mind, and he looks up to see Erso and the officers look at him. For confirmation on the Death Star, he assumes.

Kark it.

"Good work, Erso," he says, and Anakin Skywalker smirks in his head. "I'm sure that the Emperor will be pleased with your results." He nods his head slightly, which the officers take as a dismissal. Erso can interpret it however he wants.

It's not like this is going to go anywhere.

Anakin Skywalker laughs in Vader's mind as he storms through the Rebel ship - not in rage as Vader cuts down the Rebels, but in glee as he acknowledges what they both know.

The Rebels have the Death Star plans. Perhaps this is going to go somewhere.

Palpatine had yelled at him via holocall on Vader's way here. Again. He hasn't actually seen Palpatine in person in months, but he really isn't complaining. The presence of his Master makes him feel… itchy. His skin hurts more when Palpatine is around, and the Force itself seems to twist around him, like even it doesn't want to be near him.

"Could you have noticed the flaw?" Palpatine had said. It wasn't a question.

"No," Vader had responded honestly, always honestly. He'd learned years ago that he couldn't lie to Palpatine. He could twist the truth, though, and he's gotten quite good at that.

Somewhere in the back of his head, Anakin Skywalker had said that Obi-Wan would be proud. Vader had pretended not to hear him. "I could not have noticed," he'd continued. "Anakin Skywalker may have noticed, but he's dead."

Palpatine had accepted that, hadn't noticed Vader dancing around the truth.

So Vader cuts down the Rebels, captures Bail Organa's daughter, and pretends to be angry when the Death Star plans are nowhere to be found.

And Anakin Skywalker laughs.

Vader doesn't have to fight the Rebels when they send ships to bomb the Death Star, but he does anyway. Tarkin says that chasing the Rebels like this is below them, that they should let the Stormtroopers handle them.

He says that the Death Star is invulnerable, but Vader knows better.

Anakin Skywalker radiates so much joy at the prospect of finally getting to engage in a real space battle that Vader is almost worried that Palpatine could feel it on his force signature, if he'd bothered to look.

But it wouldn't matter if he did look, because Anakin Skywalker is dead.

The Rebels fly their TIE Fighters through the trenches of the Death Star exterior, and if Vader didn't know that they were put there intentionally, he'd say that they were lucky.

Anakin Skywalker muses that there's no such thing as luck, and Vader ignores him.

Vader jerks up in his seat with a gasp as his mind brushes up against a Force signature that's so bright he can almost see it. He's always on watch for Jedi, because even in death Anakin Skywalker hates to be alone, but this is like nothing he's ever seen before.

People had described Anakin Skywalker like this, once.

Vader knows what's going to happen a second before it does. He feels the Force signature flare, and knows with the kind of bone-deep certainty that comes with Force-gained knowledge that the Death Star is going to blow up.

He throws his ship backwards as the explosion rings out, debris flying in all directions. He dodges the shrapnel with the help of the Force, reaching out in time to feel Tarkin's Force signature vanish.

Neither Vader nor Anakin Skywalker can bring themselves to be sad.

Anakin Skywalker cackles in his head, the old mischief from before coming back at the sight of such an - admittedly - glorious explosion.

Vader allows himself a smile. He hasn't made that expression in years. It stretches his burned skin and makes his face hurt.

He should go back to Coruscant, he knows. To Palpatine. His little act of rebellion is over. It's time to go back to his place at the Emperor's side.

But there's a bit of wiggle room, here. Vader flares his mind out, feels Palpatine's shock and anger at the Rebels and the team that called themselves Rogue One - but there's no suspicion.

Vader's gotten away with this.

He doesn't need to go back immediately. He's in a TIE fighter and the Death Star is gone. It'll be a while until reinforcements get here and he has no hyperdrive to leave.

Even for just a few hours, he's free.

Anakin Skywalker is dead but he is still here, and he feels almost proud in Vader's mind. Vader could not have noticed the flaw in the Death Star, but Anakin Skywalker could and did, and he lingers.

The Force presence that shines like a sun flares in the distance, and Vader smiles again.

It feels nice.