son of suns

luke takes vader’s hand on cloud city, swayed by his offer to work together to destroy the emperor and determined to use himself as leverage for the safety of his friends.

vader accepts these terms and leia, lando and chewbacca are allowed to escape (though unaware that they had help,) while boba fett is already gone with han.

leia feels the strong shift in the force that luke’s decision causes and knows something horrible has happened, but with nothing to go on but the feeling—and the sense that luke is alive—she knows they can’t afford to turn back and that she has to prioritize rescuing han.

vader reports to sidious that luke refused to turn and was killed on cloud city, his body falling into the abyss after vader cut him down, while vader himself was injured in their duel and requires a return to mustafar for treatment and maintenance.

of course, this is a cover to smuggle luke to his fortress so he can receive medical treatment and begin his training in the dark side.

luke has a natural aptitude—and a lot of anger to work with—despite his struggle to unlearn his jedi training. 

a short time after he begins training in earnest, he’s tasked with bleeding a lightsaber crystal to craft his own lightsaber.

with this rite of passage completed, vader formally names luke his sith apprentice and gives him the name darth regulus.

with the threat of palpatine discovering their deception looming overhead, regulus begins carrying out missions alongside vader in utmost secrecy to properly hone his skills. (even when it means silencing imperial troops.)

…which doesn’t stop the rebel alliance from receiving a few scattered reports of an “inquisitor” seen with vader, along with fragment of a transmission revealing the name “darth regulus.”

the alliance has meanwhile declared luke missing in action and presumed dead; despite leia sensing that he’s alive, she can’t think of any logical reason he would be once vader got his hands on him.

and yet, as she plans her mission to retrieve han from tatooine alongside lando and chewie, the news of a lightsaber-wielding secret agent of vader’s gives her a very, very bad feeling about this.

and it doesn’t help that the ghost of obi-wan kenobi decides to show up and tell her she has to travel to dagobah before it’s too late or the galaxy will be doomed.