AN: After 4 years I am now returning and aiming to finish this story. In the ensuing time I have graduated, started work, moved house several times and got lost int eh Sherlock fandom writing meta-analyses.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed in my prolonged absence. I hope that the rest of this story will have been worth the wait.

28TH DAY OF THE FIFTH MONTH 20.00 HOURS – CONTROL DECK, SKYHOOK

"I would guess the planets been gone longer than we think, perhaps it's been gone for nearly a century,"

Luke started listlessly into the blank expanse of darkness where Andaman once spun. The star of the system glowed brightly just out of view casting a crisp cool blue glow over the solar system and the skyhook. If he still had any sense of humour left, he would probably be wondering if this was the galaxy's greatest practical joke. The Rebellion had come bounding into the negotiations like over enthusiastic children on the strength of one fragmented message and they had all fallen into a deadly trap. The only consoling factor was that the Empire had been just as stupid. Somewhere out there the mysterious orchestrators were probably breathless with laughter.

"The last known expedition to Andaman was 22 years ago," said Vader dispassionately, "it cannot have been missing for a century."

"Actually," corrected Leia in her most superior voice, "the last Trade Federation report dates from 95 years ago,"

"Expect, the Trade Federation were not the only people who had dealings with the Andamans, the last expedition I speak of was carried out by the Jedi."

Everyone, including Han who had been temporarily been distracted by some kind of silent argument with Chewbacca, turned to stare at the Dark Lord.

"How could you possibly know that?" demanded Leia haughtily, "the Jedi archives were destroyed in the sacking of the Temple."

For a moment Darth Vader paused and turned towards the viewport as if distracted by an internal struggle.

"I was there," he finally rumbled and then held up a hand to silence any questions, "I shall speak no further of this but I can assure you that the planet existed during the clone wars. It was at least structurally sound and there were no signs that the plasma reserves had been running low."

Leia was speechless for all of five seconds before she suddenly turned to scrutinise Luke with a very shrewd expression but Han reached the only logical conclusion before anyone could engage in damage control.

"Oh my stars! You were once a Jedi! Wow, know that's what you'd call ironic. Did the whole celibacy thing drive you insane? Is that why you murdered everyone?"

Surprisingly, the Dark lord merely stared down at the smuggler in a condescending fashion, failing to raise to the bait. Unfortunately, Leia had taken logic one step further and it didn't take much brain power to put two and two together. She did not betray her own astonishment at the result of her deduction but could not supress the smirk that was starting to spread across her face.

"You weren't just any Jedi," she started blandly and then paused for effect before allowing Darth Vader to see her triumphant expression. "You were Anakin Skywalker the Hero with No Fear," she stated almost blandly in contrast to the sheer explosive magnitude of the information she had just conveyed.

In response one of the Stormtrooper dropped their blaster and made an abortive fumbled attempt to retrieve it but everyone else simply froze no one quite daring to look away from the blank face mask of Darth Vader. Han's previously cocky grin evaporated like water in the desert heat and he too looked lost for words. It was Chewbacca who finally broke the silence with a mournful wail.

"I suppose we should have worked it out sooner," said Leia, "you and Luke certainly gave us enough clues,"

"Speculating about my past is not helpful," growled Vader, "we must focus on the present."

"So you admit it!" cried Han shattering the surprising civilised nature of the conversation so far, "that – that means Luke is really your son." He spun around and eyed Luke's lack of response suspiciously before realising just what he had realised, "and Luke knew! That's what you old Luke on Bespin. You didn't murder his father, you were his father!"

"I am his father," corrected Vader darkly and Luke flinched at the possessive tone. "Now that you've all enjoyed shouting your imbecilic deductions around the room, I suggest we find out who wants to kill us."

"Um…" Hobbie looked terribly embarrassed to divert everyone's attention but none the less he ploughed on, "that might be easier than you think because the skyhook just picked up a transmission from the gas planet Halo."

Luke lurched forwards, glad at the timely distraction Hobbie had provided. He emphatically did not want to answer any questions about his parentage, especially ones regarding just how long he had known about it.

Vader beat him to the communications panel and his bulk blocked the holoprojector from everyone's view.

"It seems that this system is more inhabited than we previous thought," said Darth Vader sounding almost pensive. "There is an uncharted settlement of some kind on Halo and another on one of the Portal's moons. The computer must have automatically scanned for all incoming transmissions after it rebooted."

"So the Andamans relocated to different planets?" asked Luke hoping he didn't sound too ignorant. "I thought the gas giants and their moons were uninhabitable."

"They are," said Leia sharply elbowing her way through the wall of Stormtroopers who were also trying in vain to get a good view, "the combination of freezing temperatures and noxious gases would make habitation far too expensive -,"

"-but not impossible," rumbled Vader. "It may be that the gas giants contain deposits of rare elements or simply more plasma, which explains why the Andamans did not have to mine their planetary supplies dry. However I doubt the people currently there are Andamans."

"If they are just miners why would they conjure up this elaborate plan to kills us all?" demanded Luke, "why clone the Emperor? Why attempt to turn us into mummies? Why make human cyborgs?"

"If I knew the answers to those questions Young one, we would not be standing here," Vader remanded him without any harshness, "the truth will reveal itself in time."

"It's just a pity we might not be alive to see it," grumbled Han wedging himself between Leia and an irate Stormtrooper.

Luke restrained himself from making a remark about Han's general lack of self-preservation where Darth Vader was concerned; it wasn't going to help dispel the constant bubbling tension which had just been elevated several notches by Leia's expose.

"Quiet," snapped General Veers as a faint bleeping started to sound from one of the many control panels in the command centre.

"It's the sweep system," cried Hobbie, "it seems to think…there's an incoming ship."

"Oh great, they've come to finish the job," muttered Wes grimly.

"No, it is great," said Admiral Piett, suddenly looking alive, "they have just provided our transport out of here."

"What you want us to hijack them?" asked Wedge incredulously, "we're on a skyhook without any weapons."

"Actually," replied Admiral Piett rather too casually, "this Skyhook is armed to the teeth." With the confidence born from years of commanding capital ships, the Admiral stepped up to a previously overlooked control panel and opened the holoprojector. "Twenty three heavy duty laser turrets, three ion cannons and countless small laser guns all with controlled by an intelligent targeting system. They are all retractable and thus cannot be seen from the outside. Quiet clever really."

"Well now we know what that durasteel an Irridium was being used for," said Leia, "but it still doesn't explain why,"

"Enough with the questions, lets shoot down that ship," said Hobbie hastily as he triedin vain to shove the fleet Admiral away from the weapons control panel.

"He's even more stupid than he looks," growled General Veers as he forcefully dragged Hobbie away.

"We're not going to use the weapons on that ship. Whoever is on the ship is only approaching us because they believe we have no idea of the firepower this vessel has. We must lure them in with a fall sense of security and take their transport from them."

"Or we could just fly this skyhook out of here," suggested Han nonchalantly. Everyone turned to look at him incredulously.

"This skyhook doesn't have a hyperdrive," said Wedge, sounding as if he wasn't quite sure whether Han was still drunk from the night before.

"Ah, but it does have a generator larger enough to power one. All we have to do is build one, which won't be difficult at all given that Anakin – I mean Darth Vader – has done it all before."

Han sounded far too pleased with himself for Luke's comfort, but instead of the cold burning rage he expected to feel from Darth Vader, there was only a sense of deep thought as if the Dark Lord had for once decided to seriously consider the smuggler's words.

"That's impossible. We don't have the parts, we don't have the time…" snapped Hobbie his eye glued to the screen as a small dot moved slowly but persistently across the screen.

"Not impossible," said Admiral Piett, unexpectedly looking towards his commander with something akin to admiration, "as Captain Solo has stated, it has been done before."

"Alright but do we blow up that ship?" demanded Hobbie, his fingers twitching nervously.

"Oh no," said Leia darkly, "I want to meet these no-good sons of sleemos."

28TH DAY OF THE FIFTH MONTH 20.10 HOURS – LEVEL 1, SKYHOOK

Luke still couldn't work out why he was currently accompanying Darth Vader on what seemed to be junk savaging mission, whilst everyone else got to confront the mysterious incoming ship. It seemed that upon learning conclusively of Luke's parentage, his friends had suddenly decided he no longer needed protecting from Darth Vader. In fact, Han had happily waved them off whilst muttering something about a Hero with No Fear. He was now hoarse from the extended force choke but it didn't put him off making ill-humoured remarks over the comm link to Luke.

"So, when did you – I mean Anakin Skywalker – build a hyperdrive from scratch?" asked Luke tentatively as they roamed through the vast warehouse.

"The past is of no consequence to the present," rumbled Vader as he ploughed forwards through the long rows of identical shipping crates.

"I want to know about my father," snapped Luke, feeling his temper rise like a black cloud through his mind. He had waited his whole life to hear about his father and yet what Ben had finally told him was nothing more than a thinly disguised lie. Now he was so close to knowing the real Anakin Skywalker, it felt all the more painful when he was thwarted at every turn by a temperamental Sith Lord.

"I am your father," growled Vader, "you can start getting to know me by being quiet and obeying my instructions."

Luke almost snorted with derision, if Vader was looking for the perfect son he was going to endlessly frustrated.

"Seriously, you should have talked to my Uncle Owen, being quiet and obeying are two things I'm no good at."

Suddenly Vader halted and fixed Luke with a penetrating stare that make him feel almost naked under the intense scrutiny.

"What were you like as a child?" he asked sounding oddly intrigued.

A completely inappropriate smile spread across Luke's face,

"Oh no, Lord Vader, you don't get to find out about me until you've told me what I want to know." It was brave gamble but strangely it paid off because Vader raised his head in acquiescence.

"Very well, I shall tell you about…myself and in exchange you will tell me what I want to know."

"Deal," said Luke, not knowing why he was suddenly grinning from ear to ear.

AN: Please review: constructive feedback, wild speculation, logical deductions and everything else in between all welcome. The truth is fanfic authors are addicted to reviews :)

I also need a beta reader for this story - the grammatical mistakes are horrendous. Please PM me if you'd like to volunteer