It seems to be the general consensus that the scene involving the woman in the morgue was creepy. That was one of the points so I am glad I got that across.
For those wondering why Leia hasn't said anything to Luke . . . she's' kind of in denial, then she's hurt and now she's just plain out confused.
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With shaking fingers, Luke typed 'Lady Vader' into the search engine of the Holonet; after hesitating for a moment he hit 'search'. Within seconds he had dozens of links and holopics of the mysterious woman.
Closing his eyes, he allowed the Force to guide him to a link and selected it. Opening his eyes, he looked at the screen and looked at the article.
Lady Vader has turned heads yet again in the Imperial Court. The young woman was recorded not only mouthing off to Governor Wilhuff Tarkin but called Senator Bail Organa an ignorant, short-sighted Nerf Herder. She implied to Governor Fedir Mgwaqo's face that he might not be as loyal to the Empire as he professes but that she doesn't believe that he is as traitorous as the late of Governors Ilari Roydon and Delian Mors.
Besides her sharp tongue Lady Vader once again stated that she doesn't support planetary governments that have schools dedicated to training the next generation of planetary leaders that feel that it is right to deceive them to the true strength, power and influence of various governmental powers.
She stated, once again, that instead of preventing corruption within the planetary government it creates weaknesses in the potential leaders who are brainwashed as she put it to believe in false ideals and have unrealistic views of the galaxy that could lead them into being manipulated by unsavory individuals that don't deserve anyone's trust. She is cited to have said that one such victim as she put didn't know that the Republic's reach was fickle in the Outer Rim and that slavery existed there.
This individual had been shocked by the almost flippant, matter-of-fact way two slaves talked about how they had been lost by a previous owner in a bet and how all slaves had been implanted with a transmitter bomb that would explode if the slave tried to escape; killing them in almost an instant.
The standard fifteen year old was forcefully escorted out of a gathering at the Imperial Palace by her father after she insulted Senator Domhnall Tronfo and his staff. Rumor has it that she likened the senator from the Gnó Sector to the Trade Federation and the Techno Union.
Some senators and other governmental officials have stated yet again that they dread the day when Lady Vader assumes the Imperial Throne. 'She is too quick to insult or anger. She needs experience and some tact before she is ready to lead the Empire.' Senator Tam'erah Su told us.
Senator Tridad Khent in the past has referred to Lady Vader as a military brat with no political training. He stands by his comments and says quote: 'the girl needs a serious attitude overhaul and in depth, intensive political lessons now and not whenever our esteemed Emperor and her father agree that she needs them.'
Lady Vader does have an unexpected ally though in the form of Senator Mon Mothma. The highly experienced senator stated that Lady Vader is still young and has plenty of time to mature and learn. 'She is highly intelligent and if all goes well she will not become the empress for several decades; more than enough time for her to become tempered and learn how to lead the Empire in a befitting way.' The Senator from Chandrila reasoned elegantly. Some have claimed that Senator Mothma only said this to boost her standing in the eyes of the Emperor and various Imperial Officials to help her appear more open to the Empire she doesn't care for.
Luke sighed in some exasperation to have opened an article that felt more like piece of gossip than real news.
After checking the list of articles he selected a holo recording linked to GalVid and silently prayed that it would actually have some meaningful information in it.
"The news of the Death Star broke just hours ago and what it was capable of." A male Mirialan stated calmly though his face showed his angry confusion. "Citizens have started asking questions: is the destruction of Alderaan and consequently its entire system slowly falling into chaos as the beginning of tyranny from the Empire or just the move of one zealot in the name of securing peace in the galaxy?
"We have spoken to several officials in the Imperial Military and nearly all of them denied knowledge of the Death Star. A few admitted knowing about it but told us that it would have been used against the Rebellion and not civilian targets. One of them even stated that Governor Tarkin could be over zealous when it came to putting down threats to the safety of the Empire.
"We even managed to get a statement from Lord Vader who stated that the late Governor was over zealous about threats to the Empire and made a critical error in judgement. Lord Vader added that if Alderaan hadn't been destroyed then more than half of the planetary government would have been arrested, charged with treason, found guilty of aiding and abetting the Rebellion and then executed for their crimes.
"We have been told that young Princess Ana Organa, the adopted daughter of Queen Breha and Viceroy Bail Organa (formerly Antilles), is a member of the Rebellion and was outed when she made the decision to fire on an Imperial Star Destroyer after being asked to stop after being spotted at the edge of a space battle between Imperial and Rebel Forces. The Alderaanian Princess then had her ship exchange fire with the Star Destroyer and ignored the dozens of communications telling them to cease firing on the Imperial Vessel before being stopped and boarded where she ordered her troops to open fire on anyone that entered her ship. We have been told she was freed from an Imperial facility by Rebel Sympathizers.
"We reached out to Lady Vader and asked she reacted when she learned that Princess Ana, a longtime friend, was a traitor. She responded that she was the one that arrested the young woman and said she wasn't surprised since more than once it was obvious that Princess Ana idolized the Galactic Republic and would have loved to be part of it.
"She also corrected us on the nature of her relationship with Princess Ana Organa. When Princess Ana was visiting her father on Coruscant Lady Vader would keep her company when both of their fathers were in meetings with the Emperor together. They would sometimes do things together but they were never friends."
Luke huffed in frustration as he closed out of the recording. It was just a commentary about the Death Star with some comments that were made by Lady Vader.
For a few minutes, he looked at holopics of Lady Vader that were either official, taken by paparazzi, stills from holorecordings and supposed holopics of her. He had to admit that her features were well hidden by the hood and that face veil she wore.
He paused when he came to an age progression holopic of Lady Vader. It showed a little girl with big brown eyes with long medium brown hair in an odd hairstyle that a notation called Gungan Ears and a simple golden brown dress with flowers embroidered on the collar, along the sleeves, along the waist and hem. Next to it was a young woman with her hair in the same style wearing a simple gray tunic and matching military trousers and black military boots. He notice that the woman bore a striking resemblance to Angel and he wondered if some desperate holonews journalist had just taken some holopics of a young Angel at the Imperial Compound and passed them off as some lucky pics of Lady Vader when she was a child.
"You seem to have excellent range of motion with your injured hand." The medical droid commented. "I project that you should be cleared for duty in a few days if nothing delays your recovery."
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Theed, Naboo . . .
Obi-Wan had never believed that Vader would learn the truth about Luke let alone that he would reveal it to Luke.
He had debated appearing to Luke and explaining everything but Luke was in company of trained Force Users and surrounded by security cams that would pick up on the fact he appeared to be talking to thin air.
He didn't feel he could handle the anger and possible rage that might accompany his appearance. The look of betrayal and the hurt and the voice tinged with pain and confusion.
Besides, learning about the woman that had rescued Luke yesterday was more important; he knew nothing about her besides that she was apparently one of the Empire's Elite but he couldn't understand why she had been near Bespin or why she hadn't taken Luke, a wanted Rebel to the nearest Imperial Base or ship. If he hadn't known any better he would have said she wanted to get to know Luke better and that she had questions that she believed only Luke could answer.
He had almost followed her to her family's house the night before, knowing that so many of his questions could be answered there but worry that she would Sense him had kept him away.
Today though he knew that she would have her guard lowered and that he could still learn important things.
She had a big head start on him since he had gotten distracted and he didn't know where the girl who called herself 'Angel' liked to go here on Naboo. Qui-Gon had been talking to him about Lady Vader and how she would be willing to open peace talks with the Rebellion.
That was almost laughable that someone that Vader had to be grooming to follow in his footsteps would want to make peace with the Rebellion and truly want peace.
He had been curious about her though and had tried to visit her but she had been meditating and alerted security to the presence of an intruder.
After several hours of searching he found Angel sitting on a stone railing by the Solleu River about ten meters from the Virdugo Plunge. She was holding a multi petal flower in one hand and with the other she was plucking the petals and dropping them in the river; next to her on the railing was a good sized pile of the same kind of flower.
"There you are Angel," a woman's voice called out. "I got us some lunch." Angel turned to the red haired woman who had helped her with Luke. She held some take-out containers from a restaurant in some sort of clear bag.
"Have you ever wondered Mara how your life might have turned out if your father hadn't abandoned you?" Angel asked Mara as she tossed the now petal less flower into the Solleu River.
Mara's face hardened and her Force Presence roiled in cold fury.
Obi-Wan moved a little closer to them, wanting to hear their conversation.
"You know how many Jedi viewed relationships and love. They could sleep around as much as they wanted as long as they didn't form attachments to them. My father was no different from them. The moment my mother told him about me he decided to abandon her because he refused to become attached to us. He was just using her and she was blinded by her belief that he loved her." Mara spat.
"What brought this on?" She asked Angel once she calmed down.
Obi-Wan could Feel Mara's anger burning white hot in the Force while Angel was radiating sorrow, anger and pensiveness in the Force. "I was thinking about my mother and something that came up recently that has made me wonder what some things would have been like if other things hadn't happened." Angel answered as she picked up another flower and began to divest it of its petals.
"Were you ever jealous of me Angel? You lost your mother and have only the vaguest memories of her and I had my mother until she died seven years ago. I know and remember what it was like to be held by her and feel her hands stroking my face. She tucked me in when she could and told me stories. She took me on walks and taught me to be proud of my heritage until I went to live in the Imperial Palace Complex." Mara asked as she took a seat on the stone railing near Angel.
"I wasn't jealous of you Mara, not at first. I was use to the absence of my mother. My father and her family were always willing to tell me all about her if I asked them. When you started to tell me about your mother and everything she did with you. At first I told myself that my father did all of that with me and so much more but then I became envious that you had your mother in your life and wished mine was still alive and able to tell me those stories for herself."
Angel paused and tears filled her brown eyes. "My father loves her so much still but he is blind to her faults and so are her parents. My mother did so little wrong in their eyes besides maybe getting involved with my father but they like him well enough. I used to worship her but then I went to that stupid school here and the teachers tried to bend me to their vision of perfection. I couldn't allow them to lie to those boys and girls anymore. They were trying to brainwash all of them into believing that no one had ulterior motives or that everyone followed the laws of the Empire and if anyone broke those laws the Senate would punish them for their misdeeds. So I stood up and called them out for their lies and reminded those koochoos of the recent history of this planet, the Clone Wars and other injustices in the galaxy. The children started crying when I told them of the corruption that existed in the Senate and still did. I told them that it was their responsibility to live by the laws of Naboo and the Empire and not to expect that just because they were obeying the laws that everyone was."
Obi-Wan could Feel Mara's anger drain away as she listened to her friend's tirade. "That's when you refused to sit through anymore political lessons. You were tired of listening to the teachers lie to you about the state of the galaxy and favored accompanying your father on his assignments." Mara commented gently. "I will say that everyone but me was glad that you weren't in as many of our classes."
"I'm sure that Roganda, Galen and Jaller were happy to see less of me and-" Angel suddenly broke off mid word and her brown eyes swept the area while the Force rippled as she searched for something; him
"What is it?" Mara asked as she joined in the search.
"I am sure I Felt a trained Force Sensitive nearby." Angel answered as her left hand drifted towards what Obi-Wan guessed was a concealed lightsaber.
Mara's eyes closed and she too started to move a hand to her concealed lightsaber.
Cursing Obi-Wan disappeared from Naboo and its sun filled streets before the two young women could find him.
He had a lot to think about after hearing their conversation. He had known about the Empire's Elite but he had assumed that once they were taken from their families that they never spoke to them again; not too different than how the Jedi Order had operated. Now though he knew that at least two of them had been allowed to keep in contact with them.
Something niggled at the back of his mind as he thought of what Angel had told Mara. Her mother's family was from Naboo, they hadn't approved of their daughter getting involved with Angel's father and she was a politician. If he didn't know for a fact that Leia was dead he would be suspicious of Angel being Leia.
Mara wasn't too far off the mark when she reminded Angel of the way the Jedi Order viewed brief encounters. However, the Jedi had more control then she implied. It was disturbing though to think that her Jedi father had abandoned her mother to whatever fate awaited those that knowingly harbored Jedi and his child to possibly being raised as an agent of evil.
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The second the Presence vanished in the Force Mara was retrieving her commlink to report what she and Angel had Felt.
"Theed Barracks, this is Mara Jade: Identification Number EE-SE09-06031991. I am advising all units to the presence of a trained Force User along the Solleu River near the vicinity the Virdugo Plunge. Do not engage them if spotted. Report immediately to me or EE-IH02-10217756 and allow us room to deal with them. Inform all local security personnel as well."
"EE-SE09-631991, grid searches will commence immediately. Do you have a description of them?" The communications officer asked.
"Negative officer, check all identifications, record all encounters and exercise extreme caution."
"Understood madam, Theed Barracks out," the officer said
"Head back and I will trail you at a distance and see if the one spying on us returns." Angel whispered to her.
Cautiously Mara turned, slipped off the stone railing, retrieved the food and with her lightsaber hidden in her sleeve she started a circular route to the Medical Center.
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Theed Medical Center . . .
Slowly scrolling through the article names on the datapad screen one name caught Luke's attention: Lady Vader and Governor Tarkin Never Liked Each Other. He knew all about the two's dislike for each other from both the Rebellion and reading the news articles but something, perhaps the Force encouraged him to open it.
Almost immediately a popular song about rivalries began to play and a quick holo recording of a little girl dressed in a black cloak attempting to kick Governor Tarkin in the shins. The next clip showed a man dressed as Lockesher Holme getting a drink spilled on him by either a child or a short alien dressed as Eshe from Wylla and Friends, Holme hurrying after Eshe through the crowd and to a man dressed perfectly as Torg the caretaker of the animals and children, lowered helmet visor and hint of cybernetic left arm, with Eshe on his back. The next clip showed Tarkin at some sort of party or gathering having a conversation with different beings when suddenly everyone clamped hands over their ears or what passed for ears and the view panned to show Lady Vader with what appeared to be a broken datapad and a devious gleam in her eyes. More clips went by showing Lady Vader and Governor Tarkin having some sort of run-in. The last clip showed a woman with dark brown hair in some sort of headdress and a simple but fancy dress arguing with a man that was Tarkin but not dressed in his usual uniform. Beside the woman was a man dressed as Anakin Skywalker with a highly amused expression on his face. The vid ended with a transition to black and a list of dates and events.
At the end of the list it was noted that there was a dispute whether or not the woman dressed as Senator Amidala was Lady Vader. This ranged from the fact that the man that accompanied her was dressed as Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi, to the fact that Padme Amidala was one of those brainwashed, naive individuals that Lady Vader denounced vehemently. Those that supported the woman being Lady Vader stated that what the woman said to Tarkin was pure Lady Vader down to her body language. There was even the claim that Tarkin had said something about the woman and her partner's choice in costume and wasn't it hypocritical of her to dress as Senator Amidala and have her date dress as Anakin Skywalker: a Jedi; not to mention there were rumors that the pair had been involved in an illicit relationship. The woman did agree that Senator Amidala fit the description of the kind of politicians she despised but that illicit relationship was probably the best choice she could have made then promptly kissed her date. However even they were hard pressed to explain why she had chosen the costumes or why she would have made such an odd comment.
Luke almost dropped the datapad when he read about the supposed illicit relationship Senator Padme Amidala had with his father.
A sharp ripple of fear, anger and concern suddenly rippled through the Force. Startled Luke dropped the datapad and got himself into a position that would allow him to defend himself if someone undesirable came through the door.
The Presence came closer and slowly the fear and anger dried away, or became hidden behind stronger Shields leaving only the concern to waft through the Force.
The door to the suite opened and Mara slid in; holding a bag that smelled good.
"I brought lunch and Angel is going to join us shortly." Mara told him as she closed the door behind her. "I didn't know what you would like so I ordered a little of everything they offered and we can have a free-for-all."
Luke smiled a bit as he remembered his few friends on Tatooine and how sometimes for lunch they would bring different food from home and share it as a group after a day of racing. His throat tightened as he thought of Biggs, Tank, Camie, Fixer and the others he would hang out with.
"You're lucky to have had such good friends growing up. I had only Angel growing up and she will tell you the same thing even if it's not the complete truth." Mara told him.
"The chief medical droid here says I should be ready to leave in a couple of days." He informed her.
"That's good," she said with a smile.
Within ten minutes he could Sense Angel approaching the suite. He could Feel that she was on high alert.
"Did something happen?" he asked Mara.
"Yes, but I think Angel wants to tell you about it." Mara answered.
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Thank you for reading, please leave a review and tell me your thoughts and how I might be able to improve.