It only takes Aayla a moment to decide, in the end. After seemingly thinking about it briefly, she nods sharply.
"We'll both go down, Knight Skywalker. Just one of us and the Dugs might give us the run around. But a Jedi Master and a Jedi Knight will be taken more seriously."
… Vader didn't believe that was the reason for even a second. At least, it wasn't the only reason. Aayla had some sort of ulterior motive here beyond just wanting to handle the trip to the Dugs as quickly as possible. What was she after? Sure, Vader didn't think she was investigating him on behalf of the Jedi High Council, but did that mean she was investigating him on her own behalf instead?
Curiouser and curiouser. Still, as the highest ranking Jedi on the mission… what she says goes.
"As you wish, Master Secura. I will make preparations to depart immediately. We shall see each other down on the planet's surface."
"Yes. We shall."
As the private call comes to an end, Vader rises from his command chair, not discomfited by how things have gone, but nevertheless very intrigued. At the same time, he's not overly worried about him and Aayla both leaving their fleets behind. While he has quite a lot of experience with fleet-to-fleet combat thanks to the future, at this point in time, most Jedi, including who he was supposed to be, weren't exactly skilled fleet admirals.
No, in the end… that role fell to the man who had been staying quiet and out of the way ever since Trench revealed his survival. It's that same man that Vader turns to now. Admiral Wullf Yularen straightens up a bit at having his gaze fall upon him. Not quite standing at attention but certainly showing that he's focused and ready for orders.
"Master Secura has instructed me to join her on the planet's surface. Together, we intend to get to the bottom of Admiral Trench's claims that the Dug Ruling Council has reached out to the Separatists for aid."
Admiral Wullf Yularen is, in Vader's estimation, 'one of the good ones'. Before the Clone Wars, he served as a member of the military arm of the Republic's Judicial Department and also had a bit of a career in the Senate Bureau of Intelligence.
He retired from that, eventually, only to come back again when the Clone Wars started, where he was raised to the rank of Fleet Admiral and assigned to command the Resolute and the rest of Vader's fleet.
After the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, Yularen had ultimately gone on to join the Imperial Security Bureau, otherwise known as ISB. Alas, eventually his long and storied career had come to an end in the same place so many other Imperial Officers had met their end. In the Battle of Yavin, with the demise of the first Death Star.
Vader had never been a fan of the moon-sized battle stations and their capability of destroying planets. Never mind that killing a planet was a massive waste of potential in terms of both lives and resources, but the Death Stars themselves were giant drains in more ways than one.
The Death Star was considered quite the exciting posting as it had reached completion. Shrouded in mystery, only the absolute best and brightest minds that the Empire had to offer had been brought aboard it. And then every single one of them had died when Luke successfully fired a set of proton torpedoes down a single exhaust port.
It was a critical weak point that Vader found out only after the fact had been built into the Death Star's design on purpose by a disgruntled weapons designer forced by heavy handed Imperial Bureaucracy to work on the project.
All of this was to say, Wullf Yularen was just one hard working, competent individual who had died on the Death Star that day… and if Vader had anything to say about any of it, it would not happen again, mostly because the Death Star would never exist. Not either of them.
Regardless, here and now in the present, Yularen simply raises an eyebrow.
"I see. Is sending you both down to the planet particularly wise, General Skywalker? As far as we know, there should be no ground battle down there."
Vader just smirks.
"We'll see. While the Separatists arrived too late to land any droids just yet, it's entirely possible the Dug might put up a fight. As for Trench and his fleet… well, I don't think I could possibly leave the situation here in better hands than yours, Admiral."
Yularen straightens up at that, pride clearly swelling in his chest. But then to be fair, Vader isn't even really lying. Not only was Yularen there at Christophsis when they beat Trench last time, he was actually here on Malastare back before the Clone Wars as part of the Republic Forces that thought they'd vaporized the Harch Admiral the first time around.
Ultimately, Vader was well aware that Yularen's very first encounter with Trench had left a lasting impact on him. However, the human Admiral had gone on to comport himself well at Christophsis and was a new man now… a man who did not have to fear the alien Admiral he'd already helped defeat twice before.
"I won't let you down, General. We'll hold the line… and keep you up to date on what's going on up here in the meantime."
Fully smiling now, Vader reaches out and clasps Yularen's shoulder for a moment with his organic hand.
"That's what I like to hear, Admiral."
With that, he departs from the bridge and heads for the hangar. Taking a shuttle down to the planet below with Rex and a complement of 501st Troopers, he and Aayla both land at the Imperial Palace on the planet's western continent, where the Dug Ruling Council would hopefully be waiting to meet them with open arms… for their own sake if nothing else.
Of course, Vader isn't exactly surprised when nobody important comes out to the landing pad to greet him and Aayla as they disembark from their respective shuttles and meet each other in the middle. At least nobody comes out with the intention of attacking them either.
Instead, they are met by someone who clearly doesn't have any pull, judging by the lack of anything ostentatious to mark them as a leader.
"Master Jedi, welcome to Malastare. I have been instructed by the Council to ask your intentions at this time."
Vader happily takes a mental step back as Aayla takes a physical step forward, the Twi'lek frowning slightly at the lack of respect.
"We need to meet with the Dug Council immediately. You have a Separatist Fleet threatening your planet and while our fleets combined currently outnumber them, the Separatist Leader has cast aspersions upon your people's loyalty to the Republic."
Vader doesn't fail to notice the Dug's eyes flash a little bit at the 'loyalty' comment. He wouldn't be surprised if most Dug didn't feel much loyalty to the Republic whatsoever. After all, it wasn't like they'd ever asked to join the Republic. As Vader had told Aayla up in orbit, they weren't given that choice.
"… Of course, Master Jedi. Unfortunately, the Council is not fully present at the Imperial Palace right now. It will take a few hours for them to all arrive for a proper audience. Until that time, may I escort you and your fellow Jedi to a place we've prepared to accommodate your wait? There will be food, drink, and musical entertainment."
Hm, a stalling tactic to be sure. Tilting his head to the side, Vader reaches out through the Force, curious to see where this is all going. To his credit, the Dug in front of them has no ulterior motives. He's slightly irritated at having to deal with them of course.
However, it's the irritation of a service worker having to deal with the unexpected combined with a poor opinion of Jedi propagated by their close connection to the Galactic Government that all but annexed his planet. There is no sign that he's plotting to try and kill them or involved in any kind of rebellion attempting to turn the planet over to the Separatists.
After a moment of considering his offer, Aayla finally nods.
"We accept."
Then, she turns to their clones.
"Secure the shuttles and the landing pads. Contact us immediately if anything changes."
When Rex surreptitiously glances to Vader for confirmation, Vader just as surreptitiously nods back to the Clone Commander. He and Aayla's own Clone Commander, Bly, proceed to shout orders to their subordinates, who begin to spread out and inspect every bit of the landing pad.
Meanwhile, Vader and Aayla follow the Dug into the Imperial Palace, where they are led to a large room. There, just as promised, they find food, drink, and even a live band performing off to the side. Again, Vader detects no hostile intent from any of the Dug in the room with them, or indeed anywhere in the Imperial Palace in general.
Was Trench lying? Or was this because the adversarial members of the Council hadn't arrived from elsewhere on the planet just yet?
Either way, he finds it curious when Aayla guides him over to a part of the room furthest from the Dug Musicians. She also picks a corner of the room where the only piece of furniture is a single couch and nothing else. As she sits down, Vader raises a curious eyebrow but sits down with her.
If nothing else, it gives them good line of sight on the rest of the space. And yet, somehow he suspects that's not Aayla's only, or even main reason for picking it.
"… Does it ever bother you, Skywalker?"
Vader lifts his other brow, even as Aayla picks up a cup and takes a drink from it. She glances his way, clearly gauging his reaction. In the end, he plays along.
"Does what bother me, Master?"
"Please… call me Aayla, it's just the two of us."
Oh? How familiar. Well…
"Then you can just call me Anakin."
Vader might not like the name that much at this point, but he can't tell her the name he truly identifies by, now can he? And it does seem to please her, that he's willing to get so familiar.
"Very well, Anakin. As for what I meant… I speak of the corruption. There's just so much… greed in the galaxy. Sometimes it feels as though being selfish is the natural state of most sapient beings, regardless of species. No matter where I look, everyone wants something. Everyone wants to just take and take but never give back."
… Huh. She's getting pretty heated about this. In fact, Vader suspects that Aayla is being truly honest with him right now. More honest than she intended to be. Of course, as she realizes this, she starts to pull back. Curious now, Vader reaches out through the Force before she can fully do so and… massages her feelings just a bit.
"This sounds like something you've thought about quite a bit, Aayla."
With his subtle prodding in the Force, Aayla stops pulling back and nods vehemently instead.
"I have. Ever since I was nothing but a mere Padawan. It's just… you grow up in a creche in the Temple, learning all the lessons of the Jedi. How to be kind, how to be considerate, how to be generous. You learn how to be a Jedi and how to spread the Light throughout the galaxy. But what you don't learn is just how Dark the rest of the galaxy is. They never tell you that you'll be up against an insurmountable, unsolvable problem. That the common sentient does not care about spreading the Light like you do."
Humming, Vader tilts his head to the side.
"Well. Admittedly, I cannot quite relate to what you speak of. I did not grow up in a Temple Creche, and the lessons I learned of the Jedi came much later in life for me. By the time I arrived at the Jedi Temple, I had already learned the harsh lessons you speak of as a slave of Tatooine."
Aayla's face crumples as she nods, her empathy for his childhood shining through the Force. Except… not quite shining, not really. Because now that Vader is prodding Aayla's emotions with his own Force Presence, he's running up against her Force Presence in turn.
He'd been careful not to pry too much, both at the Temple and in in the time its taken them to arrive at Malastare. But now… well, now that they're all but alone together and the only two Force Users on the planet, he can start to look at Aayla a bit more closely. And what he sees doesn't shine very much at all… given how Dark it feels.
"Of course… I'm sorry, I must sound inconsiderate. What you had to survive as a child was horrible… an example of the Darkness that pervades the galaxy. Do you think that's why you're so Light now? Because you were pulled out of that Darkness and taught the lessons of the Jedi after learning the harsh realities of the universe?"
Vader is starting to think Aayla Secura isn't trying to feel him out for any of the reasons he originally assumed. The more he listens to her speak, the more he feels at her Force Presence… he's beginning to suspect that she's actually after something else entirely.
… But there's no way he's somehow stumbled into a THIRD fallen Jedi Master, right? Shaak Ti's Fall made sense. Depa Billaba, he'd gone looking for. But Aayla Secura? What were the odds? She definitely hadn't Fallen in the original timeline. But then, neither had Shaak. And Depa's original Fall definitely hadn't occurred the same way.
Was… was Aayla trying to feel him out to see if she might be able to bring him over to the Dark Side as well? Was that what this all was?!