The Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center had been merged into the Imperial palace, however its cells remained very much intact. Prisoners such as Cad Bane, Ziro the Hutt and Barriss Offee has been held there, the last of whom had been executed by the guards during Order 66.
The trio were kept in separate yet adjacent cells. Han and Leia were both able to walk, or rather crawl, in their respective cells, however, Luke was tied by Force-proof bindercuffs at the ankle and his wrists were still tied together.
Han had given up trying to pound his way out, and Luke was deep in meditation as he sat trapped against the wall opposite the lasersealed exit to his cell. Leia simply remained lost in her own thoughts, reflecting on her long career in politics and the Rebellion.
Of the three, she had been to Coruscant, several times in fact. She had been introduced by her adoptive...no, her real father, Senator Bail Organa... to the Emperor and had first served as Bail's aide before becoming Senator of Alderaan in his place as well as Princess.
She was sickened at the memory of his ugly, wrinkled hand as he'd reached to touch her face, Darth Vader looming at his side. She'd never liked the corrupt bureaucracy of the Empire that allowed suffering of trillions of beings while pledging loyalty to the man who had singlehandedly dismantled the democratic system of the past.
Leia has risked her life from an early age, going on relief missions and secret meetings in dissent of the Empire. Her father had always worried for her, but he'd always known that Leia would have to be exposed eventually to the evils of the galaxy. Leia didn't know what the future held for them now, but she now had much more personal ideals at stake in the form of the man in the next cell.
"Leia, can you hear me?" It was Han's desparate, exhausted voice.
"Han, it's me."
"I hope Chewie and the droids made it okay."
"They're sure to be back with the fleet by now," Leia replied, having no way to be sure but relying entirely on hope. Hope that gotten them that far, why stop here?
"I love you, I loved you from the day we met. If we don't make it..."
"Han, we'll make it," Leia promised. It wasn't an empty promise either, although the future was unclear, Leia's faith in her friends and her brother were clearer than the rivers of Alderaan.
Luke could faintly hear his sister and best friend, but his focus was on the deepest, most remote regions of the living Force where he attempted to reach.
Ben, I need you. I failed the Rebellion, I failed the Jedi, I'm sorry. You were right.
Silence. Luke could barely refrain from lashing out in frustration, the situation bringing him to rock bottom. Ben had warned him that Vader could not be redeemed, but Luke had made it his mission to bring out the Jedi in his father. He may not have seen it until later, but in hindsight Luke could recognize Vader's misgivings about the order he had long become a slave too.
It hadn't just been political motivations that had led Vader to make his offer to Luke. No, Luke could tell that even then, Vader had craved the family he'd been denied for so many years by the Emperor.
Now, however, it was uncertain. Luke's heart filled with dread as that breathing filled the prison corridor and the sound of marching filled his ears until the door to his cell slid open to reveal Vader and two 501st Legion troopers.
Luke stared defiantly at his father, the conflict in Vader replaced by a menacing control.
"Today you begin your training in the dark side, young Luke."
"You can try to turn me, but you'll never succeed. You may as well kill me instead."
Vader raised his hand and grabbed Luke in the Force. The boy found himself lifting off the metal floor as his bindercuffs were snapped off of his ankles and wrists and clattered to the cell floor.
"I have not ruled out that option, my son. Let us go."
And Luke found himself helplessly floating along as Vader dragged him out of the cell and walked through the corridor towards the prison exit.
As he passed the cells containing Han and Leia, Luke reached out to them in the Force to assure them that it everything would be all right.
A set of red guards stood on either side of Vader's throne. The throne room was built in the bowels of the castle, dim and with no windows.
Setting Luke on the floor, Vader strode over to his new throne and sat down, facing Luke as the boy climbed up to his feet. Vader unclipped Luke's lightsaber from his belt and tossed it towards Luke.
It landed on the floor at the young man's feet. Luke hesitated to pick it up, sensing a possible trap.
"I can feel your desperation, son," Darth Vader said as Luke glanced back and forth between the dark figure on the throne and the weapon on the floor, "You want to give in. You know the dark side calls to you. You do not have to be bound to the narrow view of the Jedi."
Luke gazed at the guards beside Vader, then at the stormtroopers at the entrance. He had nearly failed before, when the Emperor had taunted him on the Death Star. Was he going to fall under the sway of his own father?
Then, Luke was struck by a feeling. His Jedi calm and awareness allowed him to detect what was coming while in his powerful, ego boosted state, Vader did not.
"You're in danger, Father. I can feel it. You're not safe here."
"There is no danger that can come to me," the new ruler replied, "I am a Sith Lord and soon you will be as well."
"Search your feelings, father, and you'll feel it. They're going to kill you." Luke was very serious as he tried to reach out to the man he hated and loved. He knew nothing except that Vader was in serious danger.
Vader rose from his seat of power, shaking a gloved fist. "Your trickery will not save you, Jedi Skywalker. You are helpless as are your friends!"
Luke reached out to Leia again in the Force. She was tired and, like him, angry, but she was as resilient as ever.
"You won't harm your own children, you couldn't before."
Vader raised his hand and Luke out of nowhere felt his throat beginning to close.
He reached for his throat as the air began to leave him, finally on the receiving end of one of Vader's Force chokes.
"As long as Captain Solo is in my custody, you have no choice but to bend to my will!" Vader snarled, determined not to be swayed by his son's persuasion.
Luke gasped for breath as his muscles weakened, unable to reach for his lightsaber. "Father..."
"Guards!" Vader addressed the elite stormtroopers at the entrance to his throne room, "Fetch me Princess Leia and Captain Han Solo!"
"Yes, my lord," the two armored men departed the throne room, leaving Luke, Vader and the motionless guards.
At last, Vader released his son and Luke came crashing hard on the floor, rubbing his throat and trying to consume as much air as possible.
"My patience is running out, son," Vader said, striding across the length of his throne room, his cape trailing behind him, "You have been long indoctrinated by Jedi fables. Perhaps you are not so useful after all."
"Lord Vader," the stormtroopers came back in, this time however, Han and Leia were there.
Upon seeing her brother, Leia shouted, "Luke!" and started to run to him.
Luke began to rise, however, Vader extended his Force hold to Leia and caught her, pulling the struggling princess to him.
"Leia!" Han charged forward, but stopped in his tracks as he began gasping for breath and dropped to his knees.
"Han!" Leia turned towards her choking lover, then back to the masked enemy. "Let him go!"
"You see now, your Highness, you are totally at my mercy. If you want the captain to live, you will obey me."
At last, the invisible stranglehold on Han vanished and he was a sweating, gasping mess.
Leia rushed to him, as did Luke, however Vader held both of them back, creating an invisible field cutting his two children off from their friend.
"Your feelings are powerful," Vader said to Luke and Leia, "Use your hate! Unleash your feelings of aggression!"
Losing his mind and his patience, Luke screamed and reached towards Vader with both hands, concentrating on both his father's lightsaber clipped to his belt as well as his own confiscated weapon.
Before the senior Skywalker was aware, both lightsaber hilts shines through the space between them as Luke caught them both and ignited the blades of green and red.
The young Jedi ran at Lord Vader, preparing to strike with both sabers. Vader pivoted and sent a Force push at Luke.
Luke screamed as he tumbled backwards, losing his grip on both lightsabers. The green blade landed at Leia's feet as Luke was knocked onto his back, stunned by the fall and too weak to recover immediately.
Leia glowered at her father as Vader summoned his own weapon back into his hand.
"Pick it up," the Sith Lord said simply to his daughter.
"I can't believe Luke thought there was anything in you. You're just a monster."
"I can feel you tapping into your great potential, young Leia," her father replied, "Strike at me with the power of the dark side."
To prod her, Vader reached towards Han and began to Force-choke him again.
"Leia..." Han gasped, his face a dark shade of crimson. He was totally helpless.
With a yell, Leia picked up Luke's dropped lightsaber and ran at the towering figure before her.
Vader's guards began to advance, but he waved them back as he clashed his red blade against the green lightsaber coming towards him.
"Leia, no!" Han yelled as she became a thing of sheer fury, having no training with a lightsaber but feeling one with the Force like never before, channeling her grief and rage all at once.
From the command bridge of the Ravager, Fleet Admiral Rax awaited eagerly as the armada came out of lightspeed in orbit of Coruscant.
To the deck officers below, Rax shouted, "Prepare a transmission to Admiral Sloane!"
"Yes, sir."
Within a single minute, the tall holographic figure of Sloane appeared.
"We're ready to attack, and we have Vader cornered," Sloane reported to her superior.
"Perfect," Rax replied, "I have good news for you, Admiral Sloane. As the Counselor of the Empire, I am promoting you to the rank of Grand Admiral."
"Promoting me?" Sloane's first thought was of the rank of Grand Admiral but then immediately realized the deeper, less obvious implications of what Rax was saying. "What do you mean, Counselor of the Empire?"
"Well, Grand Admiral, the Empire was built on social hierarchy, and we must maintain such a founding concept. We need a sovereign body of rule once Vader is gone."
Sloane looked away from the hologram of Rax and quickly pondered what this meant for her and the Empire. She would never side against the Empire that she had long trained for and served in battle on behalf of. However, she realized that Rax was going to be no different from Palpatine, that he was going to usurp the throne himself and continue the old ideology of fear. For now, she decided, the smart thing was to play along.
"I humbly accept the rank, Counselor," Sloane replied to the hologram of Gallius Rax.
"I'm glad you do. Let's get on with it," Rax said with a smile "Today, we take back our Empire."
As the hologram of Sloane disappeared, Rax tapped his foot to the captains seated at their stations below him and said, "Prepare to aim our maximum firepower at the Imperial palace."
The nearest captain turned hesitantly to Rax. "With respect, Fleet Admiral, we could risk leveling a large chunk of the plaza with it."
"Any number of casualties is well worth the cost," Rax impatiently replied, "We need to make sure Vader is dead and unprepared."
The strength of Leia's attack admittedly caught Vader by surprise, largely due to her inexperience.
The tall, caped lord stumbled backwards, then brought his lightsaber backwards to rebuke hard and fast.
Leia's grasp on the saber slipped up, and with his own frustration, Vader launched a kick into her stomach.
"Aaahhhh!" Leia cried out as the obsidian boot struck her and she fell. The lightsaber rolled out of her hand, the activated blade cutting deep into the throne room floor.
"Leia!" Han yelled, but he was whacked by the rifle of a 501st Legion trooper.
Luke reached for his lightsaber, grabbing it before Vader could summon it to him. The time he'd spent breathless and stunned had given him time to retain his senses and better judgement.
With a new, fresh wave of calm, Luke switched off his lightsaber and boldly stood facing his father, who loomed over Leia with his saber ignited.
"Enough," panted Luke, "Father, back away from her."
"You can't reason with... owww!" Han was again gut with the blaster and remained on his knees.
"You are undisciplined, my children," Vader told them sternly, "I am beginning to tire of your resistance to my teachings."
"We won't fight you anymore," Luke declared as Leia looked at him incredulously, "Let's see if you can for once make good on your threats."
"Luke, hasn't he proven that he's willing to kill us all?" Leia asked her brother, silently begging him not to lose his guard.
"Never mind that now," Luke glared straight into the black mask, into Vader's unseen eyes, "Father, I can still sense the danger you are in. All of us."
Vader twisted the red beam in his hand to point at his son's chest. "The only danger you are in is from me. Your Jedi trickery will not seduce me."
Luke stepped towards the malevolent precense before them, knowingly gambling his life for all of their safety. "Father, don't you sense it? We are not your real enemy. We all need to get out of here before..."
He sensed it just before it happened. Luke immediately raised his hand before the massive laser hit the north wing, hoping to use the Forceto somehow save them from the pending catastrophe.
For a moment, Luke could only see, but not hear, the explosion engulfing his surroundings, as he suspended the entire realm of existence in the air.
Then everything went dark as his senses left him and the explosion rocked his world.