Accidental Meeting
Through the Force things you will see: other places, other thoughts, the future, the past, old friends long gone. – YodaPeace, quiet, tranquility everything I value now in life, but once those things would have driven me mad.
Luke Skywalker thought humorously as he walked along the jungle path toward the Jedi Temple. There were no new enemies to fight and the New Republic finally had a period of peace. Allowing Luke and his family a long deserved rest from running around trying to save the galaxy. Of course on Tatooine all he had was peace and quiet, or as he preferred to think of it then a boring existence where nothing ever happened. The young, naive Luke would have been ready to go on a new adventure, eager to see the galaxy. The current Luke, however, was content to sit with his wife and help train his students.
At last reaching the temple Luke began to search for his wife's presence hoping to spend some time with her now that she was back from her business trip. Finding Mara's presence in the comm center was a little disconcerting. He did not wish for her to have to leave Yavin IV again so soon.
Don't worry Luke, I'm not going anywhere but you might be.
Smiling at how Mara picked up on his thoughts, he answered her.
What do you mean I might be leaving?
He could almost hear Mara mentally sighing and her voice in his head became exasperated.
Just get up here Skywalker.
"What's the trouble Mara?" Luke asked after meeting her.
"There's no trouble Luke, but Leia called while you were out in the jungle. Apparently the council wants you to come to Coruscant to discuss new Jedi Knights that would be able to serve as ambassadors, as well as other issues concerning the Jedi." Luke's face blanched as he pictured the many long and tedious meetings spent with the bickering senators. Mara sensed her husband's lack of enthusiasm.
"What the great Jedi Master who destroyed the Death Star is afraid of a few little meetings?"
"Not afraid," Luke replied, "dreading."
"Look at least you'll be able to spend some time with Leia, Han, and the kids. Not to mention your old friends. You haven't seen any of them in a while." Mara replied trying to cheer him up.
"Yeah, it will be nice to see the old gang again. Will you be able to come with me?" Luke asked hopefully.
"I'm sorry Luke, but I already agreed to help Karrade with another project of his. I'm leaving at the end of the week. If I went with you, I'd just have to leave again by the time we got to Coruscant."
"Oh I see," Luke replied sadly, "well at least we have tonight together."
"You bet so Skywalker, so hurry up and call Leia to tell her you're coming. I'll be waiting in our room." Mara winked at him before she left and Luke resolved to meet her as soon as he could.
The next morning found Luke and Mara standing outside the freighter Luke was taking to Coruscant. He had already left his orders with Tionee and the rest of the Jedi Knights to take care of things until his return.
"Are you sure you don't want to take your X-wing to Coruscant Luke?" Mara asked doubtfully as she eyed the somewhat dilapidated freighter.
"I'm sure Mara. I really don't want to spend the trip stuck in the cockpit of my X-wing. Besides the ship will make it to and from Coruscant all right, it's not like I'm going off to battle."
"I know," Mara replied, "be careful."
"You too, Mara. I love you." Luke pulled her toward him and kissed her.
When they broke apart Mara whispered, "I love you too. May the Force be with you."
Luke gently kissed her forehead then walked up the ramp of his ship.
Goodbye my love. Luke sent to Mara through the Force right before he jumped to hyperspace.
During the journey to Coruscant, Luke sat and meditated about his life. Thinking about past events and how they had affected the course of his future. Sometimes Luke found himself wondering about what might have happened had his father ever captured him. The thought did not plague him as it used to, but he could not help his curiosity. Would he have joined Vader? Or would he have refused and forced his father to kill him?
Luke couldn't understand this sudden need to question what might have happened. These were thoughts that he had not had for a long time. Before he could question himself further though, he heard the alarm warning that it would soon be time to exit hyperspace. Feeling relieved Luke got up quickly and stretched before he went to the small ship's cockpit.
While watching the timer count down his dread of the coming meetings returned and he briefly thought that he would rather face Vader again at Cloud City than deal with the politicians. A disturbance in the Force broke Luke out of his reverie and he saw the walls of the hyperspace tunnel begin to flex and shift around him. He quickly pulled the control to drop out of hyperspace and was blinded by a bright light as the old freighter shook around him. Luke's head crashed into the control panel and he slipped into unconsciousness.
When Luke finally managed to pull himself out of the blackness, he was relieved to see the planet Coruscant in front of him. For a second he thought that the Force might have some how transported him to another location. Checking the ship's damage readouts he was relieved to see that while the engines had been damaged, they still functioned. Nothing else had suffered any damage. However, Luke was worried that the engines wouldn't hold out for much longer and resolved to make it to Coruscant as quickly as possible.
Taking the ship closer to the planet he saw the number of Star Destroyers protecting the center of the New Republic had increased and that all the other ships that normally made up the fleet were not present. A vague sense of unease began to manifest itself inside Luke. The sound of a voice coming over the radio system distracted him from analyzing his feeling.
"Unidentified ship, state your ship's name and purpose for coming to Coruscant."
Luke replied, "This is the freighter Firestar. My ship encountered a little trouble while leaving hyperspace. So far everything vital is functioning, but I'm a little worried about how long my engines will remain so. They were damaged while entering real space."
"Very well, permission granted to land on platform 28B. There you will receive technical assistance if needed."
"Thank you." Luke said and he switched off the comm.
After landing his ship successfully Luke went back to check on the engines. He sighed in relief when he saw that he would be able to repair them easily and that he would not require any aid. Before starting the task of repairs, Luke tried to hail Leia on her comlink but got no answer. When that failed, he tried searching for her presence and found that she was not on Coruscant.
That's odd; Leia would usually wait for me to arrive before she left on any diplomatic missions.
Setting aside his uneasy thought, Luke decided to go pick up the parts he needed to fix the engines instead of calling in for them. He threw on his brown Jedi cloak and pulled up the hood hoping to remain anonymous. Once he left the docking port he quickly started to make his way across the massive city. Crossing from one building to another Luke started looking for the old parts shop he had found on his last exploration of the city.
While walking along he noticed the high amount of fear that seemed to be in the air. Curious as to what was causing this he began scanning the minds of the people around him and was shocked when a small girl ran into him almost causing him to lose his balance. His hood fell down and he stumbled back a few steps from the collision with the girl. When the child looked up at him she was already starting to apologize but froze upon seeing his face. Luke was startled when the small girl's eyes began to fill with fear and her mouth began to tremble.
"I'm sorry my Lord. Please, I beg your forgiveness!" She cried out kneeling down in front of him.
Luke Skywalker was shocked and could not understand this reaction from such a small child. The utter terror coming from her was unbelievable, as if she thought he would kill her for running into him. A crowd was starting to form and he could feel similar reactions in the citizens surrounding them. Not quite understanding why they were reacting like this, Luke quickly threw his hood back up and hid his face.
He knelt down next to the small girl and said, "Do not be afraid, I'm not going to harm you. Please stand back up you don't have to kneel."
The girl did so, but was obviously still terrified of him. Closing his eyes, Luke reached out and wiped the incident from her mind and those around them. Then he stood up and quickly left the area.
Why had they been so afraid of me? And that child she called me "my Lord." Only my father had been called that.
Luke's thoughts swirled around in his head utterly shocked at what had occurred. He stopped next to a news screen trying to get a handle on what had happened when the voice on the screen penetrated his thoughts.
"And later today Lord and Lady Vader will be returning from the war with the Rebellion after successfully finding and destroying the main Rebel base. Protecting the citizens of the Empire from the Rebellion once more." The screen then shifted from the anchorwoman to a picture of Lord and Lady Vader.
"Sith!" Luke shouted as he saw the image, two black clad figures wearing capes, himself and Leia.
Well, tell me what you think in your review. I'm sorry if I misspelled something or got some technical detail wrong. No flames though, I live in Florida so I don't need them to stay warm. If anybody likes it, I'll do my best to continue.