Authors Note:

Vader's a walking mess of a human being and he still loves Ahsoka despite her joining the Rebels.

Also if you haven't read the SW darht vader comics parts of it may be hard to follow

Darth Vader was surprisingly lenient when it came to subjects Dr. Aphra thought were taboo to members of the Empire, and was oddly strict about others she had never considered would be bad to bring up.

As an archeologist of sorts Aphra prides herself in knowledge of the past. Especially if it's forbidden information. Not only is it interesting to learn about, it can be sold for a lot if you know the right people.

So maybe Aphra should have done a better job at hiding said forbidden information in her ship, for example, old holos and news reports of Jedi from the Clone Wars. With a few new things produced from the Rebels, they were always a fun thing to see.

It's not as if she exactly had a reason to hide it before, she certainly didn't know Darth Vader of all people would invite himself onto her ship and decide to hire her in the middle of one of her not strictly legal archeological ventures.

Aphra was just feeling lucky that the second in command didn't launch her into space at the first sight of the stuff. Force, she was feeling lucky that he needed her help get a bunch of old Clone Wars era droids, and probably wouldn't kill her for casually disobeying the law because of it.

Darth Vader seamed to find the collection out of pure luck. He was inspecting parts of the ship and the many pieces of broken objects she kept around, and just started going through the holos one by one.

It was possible he already knew or at least had a hunch that she was in possession of such illegal information, because he did not say anything to her when he started looking at the stuff. Going through each holo he turned them on, watched for a short time and then turned it off and put it back where he found it.

Aphra was far too worried that he would turn on her at any moment to say anything about his newfound adventure of looking at stuff that didn't belong to him. At least he was polite enough to put them back where he found them.

Eventually he did come across one holo that held his attention.

It was an old news report of a bombing that occurred at the Jedi temple about a year before the Empire came into existence. The twi'lek woman reporting was talking about the momentarily upcoming trial for the person who had committed the crime. There wasn't any way to tell exactly what he thought of said report, because he was encased in black armor she was sure was too heavy to be comfortable, so she didn't know why this one in particular caught his attention.

"What do you think of this report?" He asked her without addressing the fact that she does in fact have a hoard of very illegal information pertaining to the Jedi.

Aphra didn't know what to say to that. What exactly was there to say about the news report at all? From what she remembered the person up for the trial was a painfully young Torgruta and hadn't actually done anything wrong. But she didn't want to strait up say she sided with the Jedi girl. She opted for a more neutral option.

"So what do you mean by that, exactly?"

The holo continued to play in the background coming to the actual trial of the girl. She was just as young as Aphra remembered. All gangly arms with short montrails that gave away her youth more so then anything else.

"I assume you've seen the full trial based on your... collection. What do you think of it?" Although the last sentence was a question, it felt more like a threat. He then turned his head from the holo to look directly at her and stated what was definitely a threat. "It would be wise to remember I can sense when you are lying to me."

"Well, I think that..." Aphra did not understand his angle with this, but she was positive he wasn't going to kill her over this, since he hadn't already. "...That I feel a bit bad for that kid who was almost punished for it. I mean if I was her I wouldn't stick around people like that, or like the Jedi to even begin with."

"Ahsoka Tano did not remain in the Jedi Order after that trial. She left after seeing the true face of the Jedi that day."

Curiosity picks at her mind hearing that. It was information not in any of the holos she's seen from the Clone Wars, or the Rebels. She knows asking questions about the Jedi to the person who is mostly known for killing Jedi is not the best idea, but the fact that she is still standing after everything so far means something. Aphra doesn't know what it means, but it's something.

"And then what happened when the Empire, and you happened?"

Vader in his expressionless, motionless tall stance gave thought to the question, pausing before giving her an answer. The sound of the holo and Vader's endless breathing filling in the silence before he responded.

"I... offered her a position in the Inquisitors rank." His tone suddenly turned very sour for someone with a mechanized voice, "and she declined."

Despite not really knowing what he could possibly be thinking, she felt like it was a significant thing to tell her. It was as if the very atmosphere of the air changed to be harder to take in. With every sentence Vader speaks it raises more questions in Aphra's mind.

Were all the Inquisitors Jedi? Why did you offer her a position if your job is to kill Jedi? Why did you know her name? How did you know she left the order after the trial?

The Sith Lord continued to speak before Aphra could get out any questions, in that sour tone like before, but it turned to one of regret in the end of the sentence.

"It appeared that despite knowing the truth about the Jedi, and their cruel ways... 'Soka chose to be on the side of the Rebellion instead of mine."

"And then you killed her? Right?"

The words blurred out of her mouth, because Vader had to have killed this girl at this point if anything she's ever heard about the man was true. Something about him has to be predictable by her, if she ever hopes of escaping from his employment alive.

Vader turned his helmet toward the side giving Aphra the impression that his gaze was turned away from her own.

"In a way we both killed a part of one another that day."

How absolutely vague. This raises more questions, and it wasn't even an answer.

The sound of a male Jedi suddenly and loudly interrupting the court room trial on the holo was enough for Vader to remove his attention from Aphra completely.

And force, what a heartthrob this Jedi was. It was her favorite part of this holo, because not only does this Jedi somehow have the real culprit with him and gets her to confess almost instantly, he looks great doing it. It's not like she's into men that much, but there's something distinctly captivating about him. Maybe it was the raw emotion he gave off that she never sees in these old holos of the past Jedi.

After whatever just happened in their conversation that made Vader turn suddenly sour and unhelpfully vague, she figured they both need something lightheartedly fun. And maybe get to know the hulking mass of black armor a bit more then not at all.

"Geez what a heartbreaker, huh?"

Ever so slowly, Vader turned his masked head to look at Aphra directly. And stared at her without saying a word.

"-uhh, like how he's all hot and the Jedi weren't allowed to like..."

Distinctly she gets the impression that she's digging herself into a deeper hole to die in with every new word that comes out of her mouth. How Vader manages to convey this despite not being able to see his face is truly a talent. Maybe it's the fact that the man stands a good foot over her head that makes him so intimidating in his silence.

Well it's time to forget about this moment in time forever. File that one away in, never think of again please. Guess he wasn't a fan of talking about attractive people. That one usually works on most to at least make them smile, or say something personally surface level about themselves.

With that awful moment over, Vader turned the holo off, and put it somewhere on his belt, then proceeded to leave for the cockpit, despite the fact that they had at least an hour left before they arrived at Geonosis.

She sure did manage to somehow make Darth Vader of all people feel uncomfortable, so much so, he had to leave her sight immediately. What an accomplishment.

Wait a second, did Darth Vader seriously just steal one of the holos that she so very diligently worked hard to get? That is, for no better word, strange. Vader obviously knew exactly what the trial was, and from what he said Vader probably knew more about it then the news report and herself.

If he took it because it was illegal information he would have simply destroyed it along with everything else.

Then the question is, why take the holo?

Perhaps some things are better off left unanswered. Questions certainly make life more interesting. But then again, solving mysteries is incredibly fun. And Darth Vader is one big mystery waiting to be solved.

If only the mystery wouldn't kill her if she became too annoying, she would be begging for answers.