Chapter 13

"Leia, can I talk to you, privately?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be right back Mara."

She walked a while with Luke and waited for him to talk.

"You know how I feel about Mara, right?" Luke started.

"Yes, why are you so nervous?" Leia asked.

"What would you say if I told you I am going to ask Mara for her hand in marriage?" he questioned.

"Oh, when will you ask her first off?"

"I was thinking maybe tonight before we face the Emperor."

"Luke, go ask her now. I won't take no for an answer," she said putting her hands on her hips.

"Alright, thanks," he gave her a hug and walked back to Mara's room.

The next thing she heard was Mara.

'I wonder what is taking him so long,' Mara thought when Luke walked into the room.

"Hey, where's Leia?" Mara asked because she wanted to know more about her.

"She'll be coming, but I have a question for you Mara Jade," he replied.

'Okay he said my full name. This is serious,' she thought then nodded him to go on.

He got down on one knee and took out a small, square, black box.

"We've known each other for a while now," he started.

Mara's heart was pumping so fast that it felt as though it would jump out of her chest.

"Well, I just wanted to know…" he opened the box and took out the ring. "Will you, do me the honor of marring me?" he asked.

He finally asked the one question she had been waiting for. She jumped and gave him a big hug.

"Yes, of course," she said as he slid the ring on. "I love it. I've got to go tell Leia,"

She got up and ran out the door yelling for Leia the whole way.

"So you finally asked her," Han said standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, can you believe it? Now I need to go find her again," Luke replied sitting down.

"I thought you had to go find her?"

"Yeah, well I'll let her talk to Leia for a while before I go."

"It looks like you don't have to. She is running back this way and it doesn't look like she is going to stop," he replied and stepped out of the doorway and watched Mara tackle Luke in his chair.

"Are we going to have the ceremony after we defeat the Emperor? I think it's best to wait until he is gone," she questioned, sitting on Luke's lap and talking as fast as she could.

"Well, it looks like we already agree on something," he answered and tried to get up.

"Where do you think you're going Lord Talos?" Mara asked in a teasing way.

"You know you don't have to call me Talos. You can just call me Lord," Luke joked.

They both laughed at this while Han and Leia just stared at them.

"Come on you two. Enough laughing, we need to meet up with father to go over the plans for tomorrow," Leia said snapping Luke and Mara out of their laughing fit.

"Last one there is a smelly bantha," Mara said and ran off with Luke hot on her tail.

They arrived on the bridge and waited for everyone else to catch up. When everyone was seated and were ready to plan the attack on the Emperor, they started discussing what they needed to do.

"Luke, Mara and I will go to the Death Star and face him alone. That way if we fail, you can take our place and kill him after you get more training," the Sith said to everyone, but mostly to Leia, Han, Chewie, and Lando.

"I have a question. Why the fuck are we helping you? You're going to be just like the Emperor," Han shouted with Lando and Chewie nodding and roaring in agreement.

"First off, you're not helping me, you're helping Luke. Secondly, who said I was going to rule? I will do nothing more than advise Lord Talos on what he should and shouldn't do. He doesn't have to listen to me unless he wants to," Vader slowly stated.

Everyone looked over to Talos.

"So, the kid will rule, while you advise? I can handle that," Han replied, slapping Talos on the back.

"Yeah well, I only agreed to rule if he advised me and if you guys could stay. So, you got lucky he said yes," he replied.

"I have a question. Can I give you a nickname to call you instead of Talos, My lord, Lord, or Lord Talos?" Mara asked giving him the puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, I'll let you call me whatever you want," Luke told her, unable to resist her face.

"Thank you, Taly," Mara said hugging him.

"So, you finally asked her Talos," Vader said, noticing a ring on her finger.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask her before we faced the Emperor," he replied to his father.

"Alright, are you guys ready to go and take him down?" Mara queried standing up.

"Yeah, let's go," both Vader and Talos said at the same time.

Just then the admiral came in.

"Milord, we have arrived," he stated stiffly.

"Prepare my ship. We shall go visit the Emperor," the Sith said, walking out and headed to the hangar bay.

"Leia, if we don't contact you within two days, leave here and go to Dagobah. Yoda will be there and begin your training." With that said, Talos gave her a hug and followed his father out.

"Mara, bring them both back safely okay," Leia requested of her soon-to-be sister-in-law.

"Don't worry, I plan on bringing them both back. Besides, who would I marry if Luke got killed?" Mara replied and went to the hangar bay.

"Don't worry Leia, they'll come back safely especially with Mara there. They have no choice but to come back," Han replied trying to console her.

"I know that they will come back, but I just have a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen to them," she said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Come on, you look tired."

"Lord Vader, the Emperor waits to see the new apprentice," a stormtrooper said and led them to the throne room.

When they entered, the room was dark. There were some lights and stairs that led up to a chair. Behind the chair was a window, which the Emperor was looking out.

"I see Callista failed to bring him here. My friend, what is the boy's name?" he questioned and stood up.

"His name is Talos," the dark figure replied.

He watched as the Emperor measured Talos up and down and nodded.

"He will be a powerful ally, like you and I see Mara has joined you," he said walking over to her.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you send Callista to get me instead of waiting for Lord Vader to bring me?" Talos queried, looking at the man who held his fiancé's hand.

"I was beginning to get impatient. So, I sent her to retrieve you. It also looks like Mara is getting married. Who is the lucky man?" The Emperor asked moving back to his chair.

"Lord Talos and I will be getting married within two weeks, but unfortunately for you, you're not invited," Mara hissed moving in front of Talos because she knew the Emperor would not be pleased.

"So, he asked you to marry him without my consent?" he questioned.

"Yes I did. She doesn't need your consent, your not her true father no matter what you say," Talos retorted stepping out from behind Mara.

"She will not marry unless you have my consent," he said thinking he had Lord Talos.

"Or unless you're dead," was Talos' cold reply raising an icy stare at the Emperor.

"You cannot kill me and you will address me as Master since you're my apprentice," he hissed getting up.

"I would, but you're nothing more than a crippled old man demanding something he can't have, Palpatine. Yes, I know that is your name was because I did my homework," Talos explained seeing the surprise look on his face.

"You will die for your insolence," Palpatine hissed menacingly.

"No, he will not. I made a promise and I will keep it. You will not harm him otherwise, you will die. Oh, that's a promise," Mara yelled giving Palpatine one of her glares that could freeze hell over.

"Alright, I see you came here to kill me, but what would happen if I did this!" he said throwing a bolt of Force lightning towards Talos and Mara.

At seeing the bolt coming towards them, Talos stepped close to Mara and threw her to Vader. Luckily he was paying attention and caught her right when the bolt hit Talos square in the back. He was forced down to kneel in front of the Emperor.

"This is your place, to kneel before me as your master," Palpatine growled.

"What if I refuse to kneel down before you?" Talos asked pushing himself up and stumbling away from Palpatine.

With no more patience left, Palpatine let out more bolts of lightening.

'How very original,' Talos thought as he raised his lightsaber up and, with a snap-hiss, blocked the attack.

"How very smart, but you can't dodge them forever."

Talos nodded his head making it look like he was going to give up. Mara noticed him nodding his head and told Lord Vader the plan.

At the sight of more lightning bolts, Mara turned her attention back to Talos, who was now on his back due to the force of the bolts.

"I will give you one more chance, become my apprentice and we can rule the galaxy," Palpatine tempted Talos.

Talos stood up straight and kneeled before his 'master.'

"Yes I will become your apprentice and help you take over the galaxy," Talos replied.

"Good, now rise and come with me," the Emperor replied moving back to his chair. "See, the Rebels don't stand a chance considering we can destroy their fleet with two shots."

"Yes it is funny to see how they think they can defeat us," Talos replied moving behind the Emperor's chair to give Mara and Vader their lightsabers.

They both placed them on the back of his chair ready to turn them on.

Talos walked back out in front of Palpatine and smirked down at him.

"But what I think is funny is that you think you can break me that easily. Now that's funny!"

He then turned on his lightsaber at the same time as Mara and his father.

"I see that you are stronger than even I predicted." With that said, the Emperor closed his eyes and died.

"You guys know what really hurts?"

"What?"

"The burns from those bolts. I don't know, but I am going to sit and rest for a bit and when I wake up, I expect to be here with my sister sitting there and the Rebel fleet commander in here so we can talk," Talos said and fell asleep.

"You heard the new Emperor. Guards!" Mara shouted.

Four red guards came running around a corner and stopped in front of Mara.

"This is Lord Talos, he is your new ruler and he has orders that need to be given out," she said and relayed the orders to them.

After she told them, she sat down next to Talos with her head resting on his shoulder.

"Rest now Taly, for when you wake up, you will have a lot to do," she whispered and closed her eyes and fell asleep.

She woke up about two hours later with Talos still sleeping. Off in the distance she heard the frantic yelling of Leia's voice.

With Leia

Leia was on the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer waiting for her brother to contact her. She heard running footsteps behind her and turned to see the Admiral.

"My Lord wishes to speak with you," he said.

"Who is this lord of yours?" she questioned making sure it wasn't the Emperor.

"He liberated us from our previous master and now he rules," the man informed her.

"Alright, prepare my ship," she commanded as she made her way to the hangar.

"Han! Get your ass down to the hangar immediately," Leia yelled into her comlink.

Within minutes Han was right next to her walking to the hangar.

"We are going to the Death Star. Talos succeeded," she said.

The rest of the way was silent until they landed on the Death Star. When they landed, she bolted to one of the red guards.

"Where is Talos?" she asked as politely as she could.

"Down the hall and up the lift to the top floor," he said as he pointed to the left at the opposite end.

She got off the lift and ran to the stairs. When she got onto the top step and only saw Mara she started to worry.

"Mara, where's Talos?" she questioned, walking towards her.

Mara pointed a finger right next to her. Leia moved and saw Talos sleeping next to Mara.

"Shh, he is very tired," she said as Leia walked forward.

"Can we move him to a room with a bed or a couch?" she asked sitting on the other side of Talos.

"No, he doesn't want us to move him. He only wants to wake up when the Rebel's leader is here."

"He doesn't have to wait long because I contacted them before I came. So, they should be arriving any minute now," Leia replied while tapping her finger on her chin.

"That helps a lot, but do you mind if I sleep before they come?" Mara asked rubbing her eyes.

"No, you must be tired. I'll wake you up when they get here."

"Thanks," with that she resumed her position and fell into a peaceful sleep.

Thirty minutes later she was woken up by Leia calling to her.

"Come on Mara. The Rebel leader is here and is waiting to see us."

"Alright, I'm up. I'll wake up Talos."

Mara got up then plopped right back down on top of Talos, making him grunt.

"Come on, wake up Taly. We need to go meet the Rebel leader," she said while bouncing on him.

"Alright, alright I'm up so can you please get off; that does hurt," Talos said while trying to stand.

"I'm sorry for jumping on you," Mara replied giving him a bear hug.

Leia joined in on the hug and together they squeezed him between them.

"Well…this is touching and all, but…your guys' hug is hurting…the burns I have…and I can't breath," Talos said though each gasp.

The girls let go immediately and helped him to his feet.

"Alright, let's go meet the Rebel leader."