Chapter
1
ALZOC 3
18:03:21 ABY:
I was so excited, and I couldn't help from skipping my way down the long, mostly empty corridor.
I was on board a space station in orbit of the frozen world of Alzoc 3, and through the viewports that I passed by I could see the great shipyards below. Berthed in those yards were ships of varying classes, all under various stages of construction. But the most impressive sight was the massive shipyard above the planet's northern pole, where a single, massive ship sat, half completed.
There were commissioned ships in the system as well. Some of them I could see near the planet with their fighter squadrons zipping in and out, performing active combat patrols or escorting shuttles and transports.
It was my birthday today, and I would be thirteen in less than two hours. I was terribly excited about it.
My mother was expecting to see me at some point today, and I knew that she was a busy woman. Because of how busy I knew her to be, I'd decided to see her now, so that I wouldn't interrupt her busy schedule.
I skidded to a halt in front of the closed door of my mother's stateroom and popped it open without pausing to knock on it. I peeked around it to see that Mother was sitting on the edge of her bed, looking across the room and out through the single viewing portal to the shipyards nearby.
I dearly resisted the urge to reach out with my mind to see what occupied my mother's thoughts, and instead settled for a tiny cough to announce that I was there.
Mother turned her head and her lips broke into an almost genuine smile.
I'd never actually seen a genuine smile from her before—not once in thirteen years. It made me a little sad, actually. I couldn't understand why Mother always seemed like she was so very disturbed or saddened, and it bothered me that she wouldn't even admit that she was. But I braved it like any loving child and dutiful student should, and I refused to acknowledge my concerns.
"Good morning, my darling miracle," Mother said, standing up and stepping around the frame of the bed to meet me midway between it and the door I'd just stepped through.
We hugged for a moment, Mother clutching me tight to her breast before she let me go and held me at arms' length to study me.
I grinned back up at her, and ducked under her arm after a moment under her scrutiny to walk around and sit down on the edge of the bed, where Mother had been a moment ago.
"How has your morning been so far?" Mother asked me.
"Fantastic!" I said right away, looking up at Mother and patting the empty space beside me on the bed.
Mother took the hint and sat down next to me, never once taking her eyes away from mine.
"Lieutenant Corr is taking me out on a patrol today to let me get a feel for the fighter controls. He said that you wanted to add flight training to my education." Mother nodded and I smiled again. "And I finished!"
"You did?" Mother said at once, knowing what I was talking about. I nodded. "May I see?"
I nodded only once and reached into my robes to withdraw the bundle that had been kept safely there. I handed it over to Mother, who was now sitting beside me. I waited silently, eagerly, for her to check out my work and praise or critique my efforts.
Mother peeled away the layers of cloth that covered the prize within.
Inside lay a pair of lightsabers; identical in design, flawless in construction—as far as I knew. They were just a little over thirty centimetres in length and tapered to a round at the back end. Looped through that end was a thin, flexible metal ring that allowed the weapons to be hung from the hooks on my belt. Rubber grip strips covered most of the shaft casing. The blade adjuster and activation button on each lightsaber were grouped close together, and located just forward of the handgrips.
Sealed into the side of each lightsaber near the front in blocky lettering made sliced from small squares of durasteel were my initials.
I felt my mother's analysing probes sifting through the circuitry inside my lightsabers as she held each one up before her eyes, looking for any faults or overlooked essentials that I knew that she wouldn't find. But was that arrogance, or was that because I justknewI hadn't missed anything?
I sensed no surprise in Mother when she discovered that there was nothing missing and nothing faulty, and could feel only the barest touch of pride. She was reassured, if anything, of my capabilities, and that she had been a good teacher to me.
"Well done," Mother said evenly, holding one of the lightsabers up and pressing down on the activation switch.
A red blade of plasma shot out of the end of the lightsaber hilt to over a meter in length and stabilised instantly. Mother passed the blade through the air a few times, and fiddled with the adjustment dial for a little while before shutting the weapon off altogether and placing it with its sister and wrapping them both up in the cloth.
She handed them back to me and I tucked the bundle back into the inside of my robes. "They're beautiful. I especially like the personal touches you added. You have done extraordinarily well."
"Thank you!" I said, grinning like an idiot.
I knew it was improper to display too much emotion for mother to see. She had brought me up to be the master of my emotions, instead of allowing them to master me. It would make me stronger, she'd always told me. But I couldn't contain the giddy feeling of having my skills at lightsaber construction confirmed.
"I used synth crystals, just like you suggested. You were right; they reallydoyield better results than any of the other crystals that you showed me." I paused, and frowned. "But I didn't enjoy the stifling heat I had to endure while I was shaping them."
Mother patted me on the shoulder reassuringly. "When am I ever wrong?" she said with a sly grin.
"There was that time on Hoth," I said, "when you walked, blinded by snow, straight into—"
"When am I ever wrong when it matters?" Mother corrected, giving my shoulder a playful shove. I shrugged, unable to come up with an answer. "Exactly my point."
We sat in silence for a little while after that, Mother's arm around my shoulders as we both gazed out through the viewport at the shipyards.
It was a silence brought on by the ulterior motive I had for being so eager to see my mother today, and I knew that she knew it was coming. She had promised me so many years ago that we would have a certain discussion on this very day, the day I turned thirteen and transformed invisibly from child to young adult.
Now that that day had finally come, I had high hopes that mother would keep her promise. I could sense, though, that she really didn't want to.
"Mother …" I started, speaking carefully and waiting just long enough before I did to make sure that she wouldn't start the conversation herself.
"Yes?" The word was almost a sigh.
"Idohave a father, don't I?"
I heard the quick intake of breath, but sensed no real surprise in Mother; a reaction to the fact that the topic was actually going to be discussed, and that I wasn't going to back down and wait for her to bring it up—if she ever did.
"Yes, honey, you do," Mother said. There was that sadness again.
"Is he still alive?"
Mother hesitated again. I kept calm, and actively stopped myself from probing her thoughts, resisting the urge to find the exact explanation for Mother's reluctance to go on. I knew there must have been a good reason for it. Maybe something bad had happened to him?
"I guess so," she said eventually, quietly.
"What happened to him? Why isn't he here with us?" I asked. I made sure to keep my tone even, not belligerent or demanding or even disappointed. All I wanted was the information that I didn't have that I wanted to have. I asked my questions the same way I would ask questions in my day-to-day lessons with Mother.
"Your father—" Mother broke off, and got to her feet. She paced soundlessly across the deck to the viewport to look down at the icy planet some distance away.
I took the initiative. "If father meant so much to you as you have told me he did, then surely he would have wanted to be with us here … now?"
"The problem is, my dear, that he isn't able to be with us here and now," Mother replied.
"Why not?"
Mother turned to face me again, seeing that I was now perched patiently on the edge of her bed. My hands rested on my knees and I was half-turned toward her with my eyes locked onto hers to show her that I was listening intently to whatever explanation she was about to give me.
Mother sighed.
"I suppose … todayisthe day I promised I would tell you what happened to him. And, I admit, I would prefer not to relive it; but I think you have a right to know that your father didn't abandon us." She breathed in the courage she would need, and then sat back down on the edge of the bed next to me.
"As I have told you, I met your father on Sullust nearly fourteen years ago," she started. "He and I didn't have a long time together by any standard. We only had a very short time together, but we felt for one another strongly, and, as you know, those feelings resulted in your conception."
I nodded; encouragement for Mother to continue.
"Unfortunately for us, he was set upon by external forces, forces that sought to undo his greatness and rid the galaxy of anything good he could and would have brought to it. It was a cruel thing to do."
"What happened to him, if he didn't die?"
"He was ripped out of time."
It took me a minute—in which Mother stopped—to work out what it was that she meant by that. I went over her wording, and touched her thoughts only lightly with the Force to get a feel of the meaning, until I pieced it all together.
"Yes," Mother said, reading the realisation from my face. "I was greatly upset at his disappearance. For a long time, I thought he had just abandoned me, left me without a word. I missed him terribly—I still do—but there is nothing I can do to save him."
"Will I ever meet him?" I asked curiously.
Mother's eyes lost their focus; I recognised the look as one she often wore when she was trying to peer into the future to see certain events.
"I don't know," she said. "I can't see when, if ever, he will be returned to time. I … there is only one way I can think of that either of us will be guaranteed to see him in our lifetimes."
"Do the same thing," I guessed. "Willingly put ourselves in stasis and wait to be awoken when he's ever freed."
"Precisely." Mother looked away, adding to the emotions that I could sense threatening to overcome her and breach the surface. "But, as I said, I can't foresee how long that will be. It could be days or weeks. It could even be many, many years from now. For all I know …"
She turned to look at me again, her face showing no hint of the roiling emotions within her. "For all I know, it may never happen in our natural life spans."
"Then I'll do it," I said, standing up and smiling down at her. "There's no way I would ever pass up a chance like this, to meet my father."
"But—"
"Mother, I know that you have worries about that," I said knowingly. "But I justhaveto meet him. Ihaveto have the chance to know what he's like. I've learnt so much from you over the years, and perhaps there are things I still could learn from you. But I could learn things from Father as well. What if I pass this chance up and heisn'treleased until way beyond our time? How will I ever get the chance to know him and learn from him then?"
My face became neutral once more, and I reached down to put a gentle hand against my mother's cheek. "There is still a chance he—and therefore I—will be awoken in your lifetime. We can be a proper family again. Wouldn't you want that?"
"I …" Mother started, faltering. She looked up to see that I was smiling at her again to reassure her that I was confident we would all be together.
It didn't faze me in the slightest that I was so eager to abandon her to meet my father one day in the future. I was confident that it wouldn't betoofar into the future for her to be excluded from our lives.
"I was rather hoping we wouldn't have to resort to that kind of a family reunion, at least not for years, so that I could train you more."
"Mother, please?" I pleaded.
Mother's face crumpled and she stood up and embraced me tightly again. I sensed the reluctance in her to let me go, the selfish desire to keep me all to herself so that she alone could teach me the wonders of the galaxy, as she nodded her consent.
"Whenever you're ready for this," she started softly, still holding me, "let me know. I beg of you; take more time to think about this, my daughter. While the allure of seeing your father, meeting him for the first time, learning all you can from him, is strong … I would go so long without you. Thereismuch that I could still teach you."
I nodded and she released me and backed up a step so I could look into her eyes.
"I'll see about purchasing a cryo-unit and having it prepared in case you decide that you still want to go through with this."
I pushed myself up on my tiptoes and planted a kiss on Mother's cheek, and then hugged her tightly again before releasing her and excusing myself.
On my way out, I stopped outside the doorway and turned to look back at my mother, standing motionless, soundless, and senseless where I'd left her. I felt a pang of sadness and guilt, and was about to turn to go when the comm. unit on the far wall bleeped loudly.
Mother looked to it, and then back over her shoulder at me and shrugged before she strode over to the unit and slapped on the receiver. I pulled the door almost to a close, and stood there, eavesdropping, though I knew I shouldn't.
"I thought I left explicit orders not to be disturbed today," Mother said flatly. I listened intently, hoping to hear something of interest.
"Sorry, ma'am," the distorted voice of a young military officer who I knew replied across the comm. line. "But we're receiving a communication from the Grand Inquisitor."
My interest was piqued instantly. I'd heard of the Grand Inquisitor before. He was the leader of the Inquisitorius. His people had been spoken of in hushed voices amongst some of my mother's servants.
From what information I could piece together from the rumours, the Inquisitorius was a secret organisation that reported directly to my mother. They performed secret tasks and went on secret missions that no one but my mother knew about, and more often than not got the intended results.
But that was all I knew. I wanted to know more about them, but to ask Mother would be to let her know that I'd heard things I probably shouldn't have, and to get those servants in trouble. For now, I figured I would work it out on my own.
"Put him through immediately," Mother said. I ducked out of the way as she shot a quick look over her shoulder. Hopefully, my presence was masked enough that she didn't know I was still standing there.
"My Lady," another voice started over the comm.
"What do you have to report?" my mother demanded emotionlessly.
"Straight to business then. Our plan to set up the Shadow Academy is in motion. We have but one final concern to assess."
"What concern would that be?"
"Am I to assume that you would still prefer your existence to remain unknown to those outside of the Imperium?"
"Certainly."
"Then we will need someone suitably powerful in the Force to lead the Shadow Academy in its conflict with the Jedi. We have a candidate in mind, but I was rather hoping you would sanction it."
"Who is this candidate?" Mother lightly tapped her chin with her forefinger in thought.
"The young man we seeded against Skywalker's academy on Yavin Four several years ago: Brakiss from Msst."
"Hmm." Mother stopped to think about it. I'd never heard of this Brakiss person before, or of any plan against the Jedi. I knew that the Jedi were bad though, and perhaps that plan had worked to some degree. "I like this idea. The boy had promise before Skywalker got his hooks into him. See what you can do about restoring that promise. But remember: no matter how trustworthy the boy proves, he isnever to know the truth of the Imperium.Never!"
"Understood, My Lady."
The comm. sizzled and went dead, and I stood there, wondering what it was that I had just heard.