Well… This is only a translating of my fic in Spanish with the same title… English is not my first language so if you can read Spanish I suggest you guys to go and check on it because, obviously, I think I can write better in Spanish than in English, but I will do my best xD

Since the original fic was published yesterday I will still say… Happy force day! And May the Fourth be with you guys xD I have been thinking about writing a fic like this for a long time and today (yesterday) seemed like the best day to do it, am I right?

Anyway, Star Wars is, y far, my favorite fandom and universe and I feel very comfortable writing about it so there wont be any muse problems (I hope). This fic will be focused on Luke and Mara´s relationship and it will start shortly after the battle of Yavin and the destruction of the first Death Star.

I apologize now for any mistakes I can make while writing since I think I have a good English but of course since It is not the language I use to speak I probably am not as good as any English speaker so… sorry for that and I ask you guys to be patient. Tell me in the reviews how to improve xD

So, now that has been said, let´s go with the first chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own any character, world or entity showed in this fic. Star Wars universe belong to Lucasfilms, Mr. God Lucas and Disney.

Enjoy!

The Emperor´s Hand

Imperial Palace (Coruscant) – Year 0

A hooded figure, completely dressed in black robes, remained still in front of the window sitting on his throne. Two all skin and bones, white and wasted away hands could be seen under the large sleeves, resting on his lap while the man remained with his eyes closed, clearly he was deep in his thoughts.

Emperor Palpatine wasn´t used to defeat, especially to a total and astonishing defeat like the one he had suffered. Until that moment every single plan he made had turned out exactly how he foresaw, however, he didn´t count with Director Krennic´s incompetence or his over his head ego, allowing a well-known defector like Galen Erso to work on the project… The Sith Master was ninety hundred percent sure about the Death Star being able to go on and be finished even without the architect that happened to be the reason of the Empire´s most long expected project´s fall… Since the emperor had been working on that even before the clone wars started.

And then there was Tarkin… Honestly the emperor couldn´t have foreseen that continuous of bad decisions all at the same time made by one of the most condecorated Great Moffs in the army…. By destroying Alderaan for a demonstration Tarkin only had put the galaxy on alert, the rebels went out to fight desperately and seeking for vengeance, and Palpatine knew very well how strong could be the vengeance desire.

However, the biggest obstacle, one he could have never predicted, was the boy. Luke Skywalker… The son of the fallen Jedi Anakin Skywalker, and apparently Obi-Wan Kenobi himself had been his master. The very same moment the Death Star exploded Palpatine had sensed his power flow… The boy was powerful in the force, even if he hadn´t received any kind of training. It didn´t meant that he feared the fact of dealing with a new Jedi rookie, it was crystal clear that, regardless how powerful the young Skywalker was, he would never be able to challenge him. However, the perspective was quite uncomfortable, he knew that he needed to end the problem before the rebel alliance started gathering too much hope around their new hero. Vader seemed to have the impression of being easy to turn the boy to the Dark side… And he might be right, so the SIth Lord gave his apprentice permission to do what was necessary to achieve that goal, but he wasn´t completely sure about Vader´s methods, so he decided to start an alternative plan on his own, just in case.

Luckily, the emperor thought he knew pretty well the Skywalker kind, he had observed Anakin Skywalker grow and evolve for years, after all, in his mind he was sure about his son making the same mistakes, he just needed to rush the situation a little-. If his Intel was correct Skywalker was no more than a boy, powerful, indeed, but totally naïve, it wouldn´t be hard to play with his feelings and making those destroy him for good.

Palpatine opened his eyes when he sensed a presence behind the door, he showed a grin on his disfigured face, it was time to start his plan "Enter, my child…" he didn´t need to use words, his mind connected perfectly with the person he was waiting. The throne room´s door opened and Palpatine´s throne turned around to face the person who was entering, the window being now behind him.

A young girl, she was no more than 20 years old, stepped into the room, immediately walking until she was in front of the throne and placed a knee on the floor, bowing his head "Master… How can I serve you?"

Mara Jade had lost count of how many times she had said those very same words, but she never imagined stopping doing it, and he didn´t want to either.

How could she? She was the Emperor´s Hand, his personal assassin, raised since he was 3 years old and trained with the only purpose of serving hi on the shadows, just like Darth Vader did it in public. She was the other side of the same coin, she eradicated the problems before they became a problem and Vader crushed them once they appeared. While she was kneeled Mara cursed himself for not having tied up her scarlet hair, now it was hanging and hiding her face and it was annoying, the emperor could see that as a lack of respect if she didn´t look at him in the eye when he started talking.

"Mara… I am very pleased to see you… Did you have a satisfactory trip?" he asked, but without allowing the girl to stand up, she just nodded lightly "Indeed… The revolutions on Naboo have been reduced, there wont be more insubordination."

Palpatine smiled, seeming pleased with the information "Good, good… You did well… Tarkin should have known that blowing up Alderaan would bring anger and battles in the systems that had friendship with it…" the hooded figure sighed a little, he didn´t like sending his assassin to clean other´s messes, it was a pity that Tarking was dead, he would have received a severe punishment otherwise by the emperor. Hearing those words Mara chewed her lower lip lightly "Master… With your permission… Do you… Approve Great Moff Tarkin´s actions?" she asked, her voice a little shattered. She knew that the emperor couldn´t control everything that happened in the empire, a lot of leaders and generals she had crossed paths with used to abuse the people… It was natural, power corrupts, Mara didn´t want to even imagine how the empire would be if any of those people were in charge instead of Palpatine. Actually, she was almost sure about Vader being the one approving that genocide without his master´s permission.

It took the emperor a few moments to answer, choosing his words carefully and trying them to sounds as sincere and affected as possible "Of course not… Moff Tarkin acted recklessly and he was arrogant, getting himself carried away by the immense power of the battle station under his command to try and achieve his goals… I assure you that, if he was still alive, he would have been severely punished." The redhead nodded, that was what she was expecting, she lived to try and help the empire´s citizens, and the emperor sent her where she was needed to do that, however, both the rebels and some corrupt empire officers seemed to be completely determined to alter the order and endanger innocent empire citizen´s lives. It sickened her that what the emperor was trying to build kept shaking because of the actions of some terrorists or incompetents like those. Palpatine frowned a little, ending the subject there and motioning with his hand Mara to stand up "Rise, my hand… I have a new mission for you, something different of what you have faced before."

Mara stood up, gratefully, and locked her emerald eyes on his master´s "Different?" she asked curiously.

The emperor was able to detect that sign of doubt in her voice, but he simply smiled "Indeed… I would never send anyone else on this mission but you, my child; you are the most qualified in the entire empire… Also, you have the luck of having grown up to become an incredibly beautiful woman." Mara blinked a few times, she was grateful of her master´s compliments, he was right after all, there weren´t a lot of people more qualified than her for any mission, except Vader, she would never be as powerful as a Jedi or a sith, of course, the emperor had been sure of not training her that way… She could be compared with one of his inquisitors, even though she hadn´t been gifted with a lightsaber yet. "Master?" the confusion on her voice when the young girl asked was clear… What did her being beautiful have to do with her mission? Palpatine seemed to guess what she was thinking because he let go a shivering and sinister laugh that echoed all over the throne room "My dear child… What I am going to ask you shouldn´t be a challenge for you, even though you are not very used to it…" Mara waited patiently for the nature of her mission to be revealed, she was starting to have some doubts about it, but then the emperor talked again "as you would know, the Death Star has been destroyed, and the only responsible, in more than one way, of that fact is a new enemy who has appeared in front of us, Luke Skywalker."

Mara Jade frowned, that last name was well known for her, Anakin Skywalker had been a high ranked Jedi general during the clone wars, no doubt he was exterminated during the purge as well "You want me to kill him, master?" Jade asked, determination in her voice, she was sure of being capable of doing it. But, for her surprise, the emperor shook his head "Oh, little one… Even though I appreciate your enthusiasm I would never send you on a mission like that… You are no match for Skywalker, his powers might still be precarious, but there is no doubt he has heritage his father´s strength in the force, I would never forgive myself if I lost you, my child…"

Palpatine added those last words using with the exact touch of worry enough for Mara to be forced to contain a little smirk. Her master was like her father, and listening that from him was comforting, however, she didn´t understand why he doubted her skills for that job "Master… I assure you my skills are more than enough for that task, you wont regret… Send me to kill Skywalker, I assure you I wont f…"

"¡I already said no!" the loud and cutting tone the Lord Sith used sent a shiver down Mara´s spine, who stood completely petrified on the spot. Palpatine´s anger was absolutely terrifying… She had scars all over her body as a proof for that, however, the emperor´s face softened as soon as Mara stopped talking "My child… My plan has much more implications than simply death… In fact, all the Skywalkers share the same weakness… And you and I, specially you, are going to take advantage of it."

Moving Rebel base "Home One" – six months later.

Luke was meditating, it wasn´t like he could do much more else apart from practice step by step every little force skill Ben taught him and try to improve with his lightsaber using that little training ball. Meditation was, by far, what he could do better, he had always been aware of his surroundings and now it was like his senses were more awoken than ever.

The alliance was not in it´s best moment… Less than a week ago Yavin 4´s base had fallen and the empire had captured general Dodonna during the attack.

"Rogue squadron to the hangar!" the megaphones then cried "Rogue squadron to the hangar!"

Luke opened his eyes and stood up without wasting a moment, walking towards his cabinet to change into his orange flying suit, generally the high command didn´t assign so sudden missions, something very bad has to be happening… He walked fast towards the hangar and when he got there almost all his squadron was already there waiting for him… Rogue Squadron was founded by him and Wedge Antilles, the two only survivors of the first battle of Yavin, and was currently formed by both of the,, Wes Janson, Derek Klivia, Zev Senesca and Dak Ralter.

"Hey Boss" Wedge approached Luke, only Wes and Dak were missing, probably they probably got distracted, something Luke was not very happy about considering that what was happening seemed to be urgent "Do you know something about this? It´s weird… No mission was informed about apart from the weapon convoy the Renegade Squad was escorting."

The Jedi aspirant shook his head "I dunno, Wedge, I guess we will find out shortly" as soon as the two remaining pilots stepped into the hangar the general Crix Madine talked to them, he was an imperial officer who defected and happened to be a great active in the alliance considering all the Intel he could give. He didn´t mess around and started talking "We just got a help signal from the Renegade squadron… They have been ambushed, someway the empire knew our plans and they sent troops to intercept them, commander Narran has informed that they had very little chances of making it… You will be sent as backup to try and level the battle and, if possible, finish the current mission… The weapons and supplies the convoy is carrying could be essential for the alliance."

Luke frowned a little but nodded "Alright then… To the fighters!" once that order was given the other five pilots started running the final checks on their X-Wings and got on board, they found out that the coordinates to the Ison runner were already settled on their navicomputers, apparently there was there the renegades had been ambushed "May the force be with us" wished Luke to the intercom, soon enough hearing the agreeing mumbles from his pilots, just before taking flight and jumping to light speed.

It would take them around twenty minutes to reach their goal… Twenty minutes that seemed like an eternity to the worried X-Wing squadron pilots.

Finally, when the blue light spiral turned black again it was clear that the situation was not giving winning hopes for the rebels in combat. There was no sight of the convoy and there were only two X-Wings left battling at least twelve TIE fighters over Chorax planet. Even though it was surprising for them to find out some imperial destroyer recently destroyed by the Renegades.

"This is Rogue Squadron, Renegades! Baclkup has arrived!" said luke to the intercom to all the revel channels in range "Make groups of two! Dak, you´re with me! Wedge and Wes you go the other way, we four will try and divide the TIEs to toss them away from the Renegades! Zev, Derek, you two cover the Renegades, take down as much TIEs as you can!"

"Copy, Rogue Leader!" five voices cried at unison in the coms. With Dak on his tail, Luke speeded up and placed his wings on attack position, firing a barrage of blasters against the TIEs, forcing them to open their formation and allowing Zev and Derek to place their fighters between the imperials and the Renegades, starting to battle as well.

Dak and Luke managed to make four TIEs follow them and they already destroyed two with the first attack while Wedge and Wes dealt with other two. The Renegades alongside Zev and Derek didn´t seem to have any problems now, however, while Luke maneuvered to keep his fighter away form the green shots the Tie was tossing against him and trying to lock the imperial in firing range, one of the renegades spoke to him on the coms "Rogue Leader! This is Renegade three! We appreciate the help but the transport Nonnah has crashed on Chorax system! It´s possible to save the crew and the cargo we gathered!"

Luke tensed his lips for a moment "Copy that, Renegade three… Dak, join Zev and Derek, I am going down to the planet… Rogues, cover me!"

"Copy that, Rogue leader!" with that, Luke speeded up again while a rain of red blasts covered him form possible TIE chasers. The young commander launched himself straight down towards the planet´s surface. Scanning possible signs of the transport. Finally he was able to locate the ship, or what was left of it, but he noticed that a TIE had been able to sneak out of the Rogues´ vigilance and follow him when he was almost obliterated by a rain of green shots. Luke clenched his teeth for a moment and executed a nearly impossible very close twist to the right, channeling the force to help him being precise. The TIE, being more maneuverable than the X-Wing, was able to follow him, but the pilot´s skills were clear there when the imperial pilot needed a few seconds to react, by that time, he was already in Luke´s firing range and allowing the rebel pilot to fire his blaster and make the TIE fighter explode.

Once he got rid of that annoying fighter Luke flew towards the place where he had located the Nonnah and he found a desolating scenario. The shuttle was completely shut down and half destroyed and the almost the entire crew had fallen defending it. In fact, it appeared like only one person was still standing and firing back to the imperial ground troopers attacking, while using the ship´s remainings for cover against the only AT-ST remaining. Luke could tell the crew had fought hard since there were a lot more imperial corpses than rebels, and also no less than two AT-STs and three AT-PTs destroyed on the ground. Luke didn´t hesitate and first he focused his fire on the walker, it didn´t take him long to destroy it. The imperial troops didn´t stand a chance against the air attack and they perished, in less than a minute the place was conflict free.

Luke landed his fighter and stepped out of it, approaching the broken Nonah shuttle, blaster in hand "Hello?! This is commander Skywalker! There are no imperials anymore!" a woman´s face appeared fro behind one of the fallen shuttle pieces, her gold-red hair shined under the sun and she seemed even younger than Luke himself. Her clothing was shuttered and she had taken an ugly shot on her right shoulder "I-Is it over?" she asked in a shaky voice.

Luke approached her carefully, trying and placing a comforting hand on her healthy arm "Yeah… It is over, mission accomplished… Are there any more survivors?" she shook her head when he asked, while some tears sliced down her cheeks from her emerald eyes. Luke closed his eyes; it was a terrible loss… Almost the entire Renegade Squadron and the convoy… "It´s okay… Don´t worry, I´m gonna get you out of here…" but without warning he found himself being hugged by the girl, while she sobbed lightly on his shoulder. Luke could understand her, she just saw all her partners being slaughtered, he didn´t know what to do but he tried to comfort her by giving little and clumsy taps on her back, trying to calm her down. It took a few seconds, but she finally calmed down and let Luke go, drying her tear, Luke gave her a soft smile "My name is Luke Skywalker… Yours?"

"Mara… Mara Jade"

And that´s it! Well, as some of you could notice (Some other maybe not) I changed what happened on the Ison runner Battle to adequate it t my story´s needs. I needed something like this for Luke and Mara to meet each other and this seemed like the best option, I also did some light modifications on Rogue Squadron.

I apologize for any grammar/selling mistake but as I already said English is not my first language, I am working on getting a beta reader whose first language is indeed English so I hope I will get better xD

Tell me how you like the story; you know reviews are useful and appreciated… I have most of the plot in my mind but I am open to suggestions about some changes/ways to include Mara on the original Trilogy´s events… Surprise me and your ideas might appear on the fic!

So that´s all form my part, don´t forget reviews and seeya on the next chapter. Be good and May the force be with you, always :P