AN: Thanks for reviewing! This chapter includes a "modified" version of Rianna's backstory from "My Mother," the story where she made her debut. Since Padme's dead in this universe, Luke and Rianna's meeting and following hardships here are similar to that story, but not identical.
"Defenders of the Force, Episode 2: Ghosts of the Past"
By EsmeAmelia
Chapter 3
Mae felt numb.
Even though several students were panicking and the adults in the room were telling everyone to stay calm, she could barely process it. Even though the screen had gone blank, she still saw the image every time she blinked. Her stomach was flipping and her breath was short.
Why was she reacting like this? She had always known who her grandfather was. Her father told her about Darth Vader numerous times - one of Luke's favorite stories was about how Vader killed the Emperor. She had read about Darth Vader, seen holos of Darth Vader, heard many accounts of Darth Vader, how he had destroyed her aunt's planet, cut off her father's hand, frozen her uncle, killed the Jedi.
So why was she shuddering?
"Attention," Luke's voice shouted from the loudspeaker. "Everyone, stay calm. Now listen, in light of this most recent happening, afternoon classes will be cancelled. Anyone who wishes to go home may do so. If you are staying here and don't feel comfortable spending the night here, you are welcome to stay at my place."
Once the announcement was over, Mae glanced back up at the screen, which was still blank, though she felt like she could still see her grandfather's image. She looked back at her tablemates, who were all strangely quiet. Then she looked down at her food, wondering if she was allowed to finish it or if the cafeteria was about to close.
The Revolutionaries had somehow penetrated their closed broadcast. It should be shocking her, but somehow it wasn't. Since they had managed to plant a bomb in the temple just a few days ago, penetrating their broadcast didn't seem like such an amazing feat in comparison.
"So . . ." Jaina finally said, ". . . I guess we should leave?"
"Yeah," said Jacen, "we probably should."
The three Solos got up and dumped their food into the trash can, but they still lingered around the table where Mae and Tamyra hadn't moved. "Hey," said Anakin, "you guys okay?"
"No," Mae and Tamyra said in unison.
Anakin shrugged awkwardly. "Okay, well, do you guys wanna come to our place? Mom's at work, but I'm sure Dad would be fine with it."
"Sure," said Tamyra. "I've got nothing to do now, anyway."
Mae sighed. "I'd like to talk to my dad first, if that's all right." The instant Anakin nodded, she got up and made her way out of the cafeteria.
. . .
Mae found both her parents in her father's office, Luke seated at his desk with his face in his hands and Rianna pacing around the floor. They both perked up when they saw their daughter, but there was still worry in their eyes.
"Hey sweetheart," said Rianna, wrapping her arms around her daughter's waist. "Are you okay?"
"No," Mae answered that question for the second time. She peered over her mother's shoulder at her father. "Dad, had you ever seen that recording before?"
Luke sighed. "Not that particular recording, but I saw enough of what my father did in person."
"Did you know he killed children?" Mae asked.
"He killed millions of adults and children when he destroyed Alderaan," said Rianna, shivering ever-so-slightly as she released her daughter.
"I know," said Mae. "It's just . . . this feels different somehow, you know, when I actually saw it." She sighed, gazing at a family holo on Luke's desk from when Mae was six and Owen was three, Luke holding Mae and Rianna holding Owen. "And . . . I always thought of Darth Vader as that big scary monster in the black suit, you know? Here he was human."
"He was always human," said Luke. "Being put in the suit didn't change who he was."
Who, he said. Not what. Of course Luke would never refer to his father as what, but in the suit he certainly seemed more like a what than a who.
"That's not the part we need to worry about," said Rianna. "What we need to be concerned about is how the Revolutionaries managed to penetrate our broadcast."
"Does it matter how they did it?" exclaimed Mae. "They did it, and they showed my grandfather doing . . . doing . . . and I'm related to the guy . . ."
Luke and Rianna exchanged awkward glances before looking back at their daughter. "Mae, sweetheart," Rianna said after taking a deep breath, "there's something I should tell you."
"What?" asked Mae.
Rianna put her hand on her daughter's shoulder, her face wearing the serious "queen expression," as Luke called it. "You know how your father and I met, right?"
Mae raised a brow. "Yeah? I mean, Dad and Aunt Leia and Uncle Han and Chewie went to Naboo to discuss the planet joining the New Republic and you were queen at the time, right?"
Rianna twisted her mouth, the hand that wasn't on Mae's shoulder fingering her lightsaber belt. "That's true . . . but that's only part of the story."
Luke quickly stood up. "Honey, you don't have to tell her about that now . . ."
"She has a right to know," Rianna interrupted before looking into her daughter's eyes. "Your grandfather on Luke's side was Darth Vader, of course, but your other grandfather was involved with the Empire as well."
"Yeah yeah, I know," said Mae with a shrug. "Your dad was an Imperial soldier and he died in the war, but what does that have to do with anything?"
Rianna sighed, gazing down at the floor. "Your grandfather was killed in a very famous battle, one so famous that we now mark our years with it."
Mae gulped. "Are you saying . . . he died in the Battle of Yavin?"
Rianna sighed yet again and nodded.
"But . . . does that mean Dad . . .?"
"At first I hated him for it," Rianna interrupted.
"But . . . how?" Mae looked from her mother to her father and back again. "Your dad's on the space station he blows up . . . and you end up married?" Her mind was spinning. Her entire life, she had seen her parents as a model couple. From the way they kissed each other good morning to the way they cuddled on the sofa in the evening, they always seemed to be silently saying "I love you." Even their arguments always ended in a kiss.
"Just listen, okay?" said Luke. "When we met, I could sense that you mother was Force-sensitive. I could also sense all the anger and hatred she carried and I was worried about her falling to the dark side."
Mae held up her hands. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you saying Mom turned to the dark side too?"
Rianna gave anoter sigh, this one longer and more sorrowful. "When Luke started teaching me about the Force, I saw things. I saw my father dying over and over again. I felt anger - raw, hot anger, the kind that keeps you from thinking about anything else. It grew so bad that I told him I didn't want anymore lessons. Then one day . . ."
She stopped abruptly. Luke quickly rose from his seat and wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder. "One day she tried to kill me," he said in a near-whisper.
Mae couldn't hold in her gasp.
Rianna was trembling slightly as Luke squeezed her hand. "I . . . I had my guards seize him and beat him. When he was properly weakened, I stepped in, pointing a blaster at his head. At that point, I knew the dark side was influencing me, but I didn't care. I just wanted to stop the pain." She gulped, squeezing her husband's real hand. "He told me that if I killed him then, the pain wouldn't stop. It would just go on and on. No matter who I killed, it would never be quenched."
Mae felt her eyes going dry from widening. She tried not to think about where this was going, but it insisted on entering her head. Rianna had a scar on her chest, just above her left breast. Mae had nevere asked about it, never questioned its presence, but now . . .
"Yes," said Rianna, apparently sensing her daughter's distress. "When I saw what the dark side would do to me . . . I thought there was only one way to escape that fate . . . ending my life." She gazed over at her husband, touching the spot on her chest with her free hand. "I turned the gun around and pulled the trigger . . . but then I woke up in the hospital and Luke was there. They all were. He never gave up on me."
Mae gulped, her hands clenching. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I tried to," said Rianna. "Many times. I just . . . didn't know how."
"Yeah, I understand," said Mae. "Probably hard to tell me I've got the dark side on both sides of my family." She took a deep breath through her teeth. "Look . . . Anakin invited me over for the afternoon and I think I need a break from all this, so can I go?"
"Of course," said Rianna.
Once her mother had given approval, Mae left the room, her hands in her pockets, her breath short. She still saw her grandfather slaughtering children in her head, only now it was joined by images of her mother pointing a blaster at her father.
Her mother tried to kill her father.
Her mother tried to kill herself.
Her mother had almost succumbed to the dark side.
She felt dizzy as she made her way down the hall, wanting to get to her cousins' place as soon as possible. Maybe Uncle Han would be able to offer some perspective.
Or maybe not.
. . .
By now Han was used to his kids inviting their cousins over without permission, so he didn't question it when Mae walked through the door. However, he did ask about Tamyra and whether or not she was supposed to be with her parents right now, but once he found out that she was staying at the temple, he was fine with her visit. Since they hadn't had much to eat at lunch, he made them some sandwiches, which they ate on the couches in unusual silence.
"Hey," he said after a while, "what's with all the quiet?"
Mae sighed. "You mean besides the fact that the Revolutionaries broke into the holovid system?"
"Well, yeah," said Han. "You guys'd be talkin' about it if it were just that."
Tamyra was fingering her sensor. "Well, I found out that my aunt was a traitor."
"Yeah?" asked Han, taking a sandwich from the plate on the caf table. "Who's your aunt?"
"Barriss Offee," Tamyra sighed. "I thought she was a noble Jedi, but I found out today that she planted a bomb in the Jedi Temple and was executed for her crimes."
"A bomb?" Han said with a raised eyebrow. "Well that sounds familiar. Think maybe these Revolutionaries got some ideas from your aunt?"
"Dad!" Anakin hissed. "Be sensitive, will you?"
Han held up his hand, showing his palm. "Hey, I'm just sayin' it's possible, that's all." He turned to face his niece, who was digging her chin into her hand as she rested her elbow on the sofa's arm. "So what's keeping you quiet?"
"Nothing," Mae grumbled.
"Oh, c'mon," Han coaxed. "Give your uncle a little credit, will ya? I know something's botherin' you."
"Fine," said Mae, folding her arms. "Mom and Dad told me how they met."
"Wait, what?" Han exclaimed. "You mean they haven't told you before?"
"No," Mae said with a sneer. "Apparently they tried to but they couldn't."
Han smirked. "Hiding family history, huh. Luke's more like that crazy Kenobi than he wants to admit."
Mae fingered her sandwich, pulling off a bit of the crust. "Say, Uncle Han, you were there. How did Mom and Dad end up in love after all that stuff?"
"You're seriously asking me?" said Han. "I'm the only one in this family who doesn't have your Force thing, remember? I couldn't read their minds or sense any weird connections or stuff like that."
Mae shrugged. "Well maybe that's why I'm asking you. Give me some perspective."
Han leaned back. "Perspective? Well I thought it was dumb for Luke to be teachin' her about the Force in the first place. It was askin' for trouble, you know, and I think the kid knew it." He smirked. "He was probably smitten with her even then. Anyway, there was all that weird stuff that happened during their lessons - she saw visions and stuff, but I dunno much about that." He briefly closed his eyes, concentrating on those long-ago days. "But then after she shot herself, she seemed to become a different person. Luke visited her in the hospital every day - sometimes Leia and me and Chewie went with him, but they pretty much ignored us. They'd talk and talk and talk till the doctors threw Luke out." He drummed his fingers on his lap. "Course, they couldn't let her attempted suicide leak out to the public. The official story was that it was an accident, like she'd forgotten to set her blaster to safety mode or some bantha shit like that. So yeah, you're not the only one they didn't tell."
"But I'm not the public," Mae protested. "I'm their daughter."
"Mae, don't feel bad," said Tamyra. "It's an interesting story with a happy ending. It's not something to be ashamed of."
Mae sucked in her breath as she looked over at Tamyra. "If it's nothing to be ashamed of, then why did Mom and Dad take so long to tell me about it?"
Han didn't have an answer for that.
. . .
In the middle of the night, Mae woke up to the steady beeping of the comm. For a moment in her half-asleep state, she wondered when she had gotten a comm installed in her bedroom, but then she remembered that in the spirit of Owen's "sleepover" with Tamyra and a few other trainees staying at their apartment, he had convinced her to sleep in the living room with them.
The comm kept beeping, making it impossible to go back to sleep. She considered waking her parents up to answer it, but then she figured that it would be quicker to just answer it herself, and if it turned out to be someone trying to sell something, she could just hang up without having to disturb her parents.
She scrambled out of her sleeping bag and staggered over to the comm, scrambling around the sleeping guests. If it was some idiot trying to sell something without realizing what time it was at this location, she hoped she might be able to insult him without waking anyone up.
But the hologram that appeared wasn't that of a salesperson.
It was a figure in a robe, a hood covering its face, only showing an angular jaw and thick lips. After a moment, the figure spoke in a male voice that sounded surprisingly young - perhaps somewhere in his late teens or early twenties. "Mae Skywalker, I was hoping I'd get to talk to you.
"Who are you?" Mae whispered, her finger hovering above the button to hang up.
The figure appeared to be smiling under his hood. "My name isn't important. You know what I am."
Though Mae's finger still hovered over the button, she didn't press it. Instead, her curiosity drove her to speak to the figure.
"You're one of the Revolutionaries, aren't you?"