conformityfever – thanks muchly! ;)

darth mojo the spork – Well, yes and no. Leia's a very strong-minded person who likes to speak (and act) her mind, even if it's not very tactful or nice. She's also a teenager, and, unfortunately, that stage of development can have a weird effect on people. Leia hadn't really appreciated the fact that Vader and Astrid are real people with thoughts and feelings, not just "Imperials." While she can rub people the wrong way, she is loyal and courageous, and hopefully the venture she's now undertaking will make her a bit more perceptive and kinder.

Bail Organa was in a holding cell when the door opened and an officer walked in. He stared as the officer saluted.

"You are to come with me, sir," he said.

Organa followed the man as he went down corridors and turned corners. They stopped by a door.

"In here, sir," the man said. Organa walked in to see Vader waiting for him.

"You are being released," Vader said without preamble. Organa felt stunned and suspicious. Was this a trick?

The impenetrable lenses looked at him.

"The stormtroopers discovered Lady Amidala," said Vader. Organa watched him warily.

"Your hiding her continued existence from me was unpardonable." The resonant voice managed to convey a shadow of reproach. Bail wondered at it, feeling a glimmer of hope. Was it possible that not all traces of Anakin Skywalker had been banished after all? "This discovery alters both mine and Astrid's loyalties. You are being released on the condition that you allow us access to rebel information that will assist us in destroying the Emperor."

Organa was frozen in astonishment, staring at the figure in front of him. He tried to gather his wits.

"I don't know whether I can do that," he said dazedly, "but I can try."

"Good," said the Dark Lord. He glanced towards the doorway.

"We need to leave."

Organa followed him as he strode through the maze of rooms and hallways, officers and troopers alike scurrying out of his path. After some fifteen minutes they finally exited the building. A yellow speeder pulled up beside them. Leia leaned over and opened the passenger door so that Bail could join her and Padme in the back seat. Vader seated himself in the front passenger seat as Bail shut his speeder door. They took off.

"Where did you acquire this vehicle?" Vader asked Astrid as she navigated another speeder.

"It was impounded for being illegally parked," she replied in her usual no-nonsense manner. Vader radiated disapproval.

"This is not legitimate procedure for impounded vehicles."

Astrid glanced at him, her face lighting up with its captivating smile.

"Where else was I going to get one?" she asked reasonably. "Don't worry, I've arranged for it to get picked up this afternoon."

The disapproval didn't lessen.

"Besides," Astrid wheedled, "it's nice and yellow." She looked at the yellow hood affectionately.

"It is," Vader conceded, "but you are misusing your authority."

She sent him a look of mischief. Her look was so unlike the "official" expressions that she affected that Leia was startled. Leia was having some trouble adjusting to Astrid-the-teenager. It had never really occurred to her that the girl might have... well, a mind or personality of her own, even when she'd seen Astrid in tears. Obviously she needed to rethink that one.

"Chill, man," Astrid said, adopting the leisurely, relaxed tones of the young, upper-class scabo-drinkers. "Yo gotta get inna da groove."

Vader frowned at her, an expression that could not be seen but was nonetheless sensed by the occupants of the speeder.

"Oh, come on," Astrid said impatiently in her usual voice, "it's not going to kill you. I bet this isn't the first time you've been in this situation. And I bet that usually it was you stealing the speeder."

Everyone caught the startled feeling that blasted off Vader for a moment. Astrid grinned triumphantly.

"Spill," she prompted.

"I borrowed a speeder when I was a padawan," Vader admitted. "There was an assassin after the senator of Naboo, and Obi-Wan and I were in pursuit."

Padme sat forward.

"Senator of Naboo? So it was me you were protecting."

Vader nodded.

"Obi-Wan grabbed onto a droid sent by the assassin as it began to return to its owner," he said reminiscently. "So there I was, driving around in a stolen speeder, looking for the figure of a man dangling thousands of miles about Coruscant's surface, holding on for dear life to a droid not much bigger than a child's beach ball." He paused a moment.

"I finally locate him among all the traffic, manage to get the speeder underneath him so that he can let go of the droid, only to have him demand indignantly, 'what took you so long?'"

Astrid and Padme burst out laughing. Organa chuckled while Leia allowed herself an indulgent smile, rather bemused. Vader had ...humanized... in the last few minutes. Yeah, she definitely needed to rethink her perspective on people.

"So then what?" Astrid asked.

Vader gave an impatient shrug as though he was regretting being so open with them.

"I told him that I hadn't been able to find a speeder that I really liked."

Astrid laughed. A warm, rather tender smile was on Padme's face.

Vader turned to his daughter.

"What is the status of this mission?"

Astrid immediately went serious and shrewd, and rather grim.

"A shuttle's taking us to the Executor," she informed him, frowning eyes running over the traffic in front of them. She dove suddenly to avoid a large cargo carrier that had suddenly braked in front of them. "The Admiral's been informed of the situation. We're heading off to Coruscant straight away. I tied up all the loose ends you left, so that it appears as though everything's as usual. The only one who'd be likely to suspect anything is the Emperor, and it shouldn't reach him – certainly not before we do, anyway."

Vader frowned to himself.

"Stopping at Deneb III would be advisable." Deneb III was a very small planet, uninhabited, that Vader himself owned.

"Oh?" Astrid glanced at him. "The droids?"

"Precisely."

"Droids?" Padme queried. Astrid flickered a look in her direction.

"They have been programmed for lightsaber use," she explained. "We practice against them."

"Oh." Padme frowned. "You're allowed to use a lightsaber? I wouldn't have thought Palpatine would agree to any Sith training for you." Too much of a threat to his power, she thought.

"Uh, no, not exactly." The grin flashed out again. "I've kinda been trained, uh… surreptitiously." She glanced at Vader again. "Figured it'd come in handy." She didn't say who had figured it would come in handy. Perhaps both of them had.

Padme glanced wistfully at her husband. She couldn't help wishing that…

Well, if Palpatine was defeated, things might work out, anyway.

Bail Organa's mind was running through all the problems he could see with their plan. There seemed to be a hell of a lot.

"What about the Imperial Guards? Stormtroopers? Won't the Emperor call for assistance when he finds you've turned against him?"

"All such contingencies have been taken into account," Vader said dismissively, seemingly annoyed by Organa's lack of faith in his omniscience. Astrid gave Bail an amused look.

"We've already covered all that. We are good at this, you know." She turned back to driving. Padme leaned forward, wanting to know more about her daughter.

"Why are you?"

"Dad because he's Vader, and me because I've been brought up to it all my life," said Astrid, sounding surprised that Padme didn't understand. "Well, since I was twelve, anyway. I'm Lord Vader's daughter. Naturally I was destined to be in a position of command. For a start, I'm his heir, so if anything ever happened to him I'd be taking his place."

Padme got a nasty, sick feeling at that, but Astrid kept talking.

"I was sent to a good Empire school so that I understood politics and power early, and attended Imperial social functions, while from the time I was fourteen Dad had me sitting in on treaties and negotiations and things so that I would learn about them. Then, of course, I spent a lot of time living on the Executor, so that I knew a heap of things about how the military works." She shrugged. "What I wasn't trained for I picked up from living with Dad." She turned and sent a sudden smirk in Leia's direction before turning back to the controls. "Much as in your case, I'm sure, Leia." They heard the smile in her voice.

"I… see," Padme said faintly. She recovered herself. "You grew up as I did, to some extent."

"Because you were Queen." Astrid's voice was neutral and Padme couldn't decipher what her feelings were on the issue. "Being in charge at fourteen must have been a challenge for you – particularly considering the events that occurred during your time in office. But capable of ruling at that young age? No wonder Dad fell for you. Even if he was only nine years old."

Vader smacked her over the back of the head.

"Ow!" Astrid was indignant, but grinning over the fact that her jab at Vader had succeeded. "Dad, not when I'm driving!"

Vader was unperturbed. "It was no hindrance to you. You were expecting it."

Astrid made a face at him. "Huh. Like hell."

Piett greeted them when they came aboard the star destroyer.

"Lord Vader, Miss Vader," he saluted. "Senator Organa. Princess Organa. Lady Skywalker."

Lady Skywalker? Padme thought. The Organas looked equally surprised. Vader looked at his daughter. Astrid gave a sheepish smile.

"It's a compromise," she explained apologetically. "I felt that perhaps you did not desire to be known as Lady Vader, yet we needed to establish you as a person of status."

"Senator Skywalker would have been fine," Padme said weakly.

"I'm afraid," Astrid continued, ignoring this interruption as frivolous, "that some of those who hear you referred to as such may put two and two together, however, as my legal name is still Astrid Skywalker no matter what I may go by in public."

She turned to Piett, who was patiently waiting. Despite his impassiveness of expression Padme could feel his curiosity itching at her.

"We've set our course for Coruscant and should be there in twenty-eight hours, ma'am," he reported. Padme was surprised that he was telling her and not Vader. But the Sith Lord raised no demur, merely listening intently. It occurred to Padme that it had, after all, been Astrid who had given the Admiral his orders.

"Very good, Admiral."

Piett saluted again and left them.

"As my representative Astrid's authority is equal to mine in many areas," Vader stated, just as though he had read Padme's mind. She barely repressed a shudder.

Padme was in her quarters when Leia tentatively entered.

"Are you all right, Aunt Padme?" she asked uncertainly. Padme smiled at her.

"Quite alright, Leia." It wasn't true, but Padme wasn't going to worry her. And it was private.

Leia sat on the edge of Padme's bed and looked at her.

"I'm sorry about anything I ever said to you about the Vaders," she confessed. "Especially your – daughter."

Before Padme could decide how to answer that frank apology Astrid herself entered, wearing a black uniform with red trim. She stopped politely, seeing Leia. She was entirely the cold, stern Dark Lord that sometimes appeared on the media networks.

"You are busy."

Padme realised with a sort of panic that Astrid had taken Leia's presence to mean that Padme preferred her company to her own.

"No!" she said involuntarily. "I mean, Leia was talking to me, but she can go – that is, if you're happy to, Leia – she – I'm happy to – " Padme broke off as her sentence became inextricably confused.

"Please do stay," she finished helpessly.

Astrid inclined her head. "I shall."

There was a short silence. Then –

"I'm sorry," Leia said suddenly, "for being so horrible at the palace."

Astrid gave her a thoughtful look.

"I never really thought – about what life was like for you. You were just – the enemy."

The Dark Lord vanished. Astrid was regarding Leia with a sort of solemn interest.

"Oh."

Her gaze switched to Padme. There was a look of slight puzzlement on her face that Padme didn't understand. Then, suddenly she smiled.

There was a moment of incomprehension for Leia and Padme as Astrid stood there, simply beaming. Then Padme stepped forward to hug her.

Probably my favourite part in this chapter is the "This is not legitimate procedure for impounded vehicles," part. :) Astrid is very smart and enjoys diplomatic situations like the one where she was verbally sparring with Leia – she has a lawyer-type mind that picks up on subtle details and intricate technicalities – but she also has a lighter side that usually only comes out in private, usually when she's with her father. I made sure to put a bit of that in at the beginning of the chapter. While she does have a stern, in-charge, Dark Lord-type side, when she's on official business she's really slipping into an acting role a little. She tends to regard it as a separate part of her – "Imperial Royal/Dark Lord" versus "Astrid Skywalker/Teenage Girl." :)

Oh, and "brave and clever action" in the second chapter means Leia was brave to do it, and while it was stupid to reveal her rebel sympathies the way she did it was clever. Sorry if there was any confusion.