Chapter 36

'He Started It' – 'Come on , Fellas, Don't Fight'

'Meditation Does a Body Good'

MORNING –

'Twisted' and 'Evil' is Anakin's mood by morning. Everyone avoids him today.

Leia calls Isabel.

"Isabel, he's making everyone's life miserable. C3PO is hiding to avoid inevitable dismantling. Luke may be riding his speeder for that last time and my days are numbered seeing Han. Come on. What did he do that was so bad?...He what? You're joking….Listen, I assure you, he couldn't have been laughing at that. We'll get to the bottom of it. I'll talk to you later"

After Leia's call to Isabel she goes to her father's room. She pokes him in the head.

"Hey, 'Chuckles' wake up!"

"Leave me alone, Leia. You came home late last night. I'll deal with you later. I'm not blind. I see thingss"

"Just clumsy and stupid. And besides, rumor has it you didn't see much last evening."

"Don't make me ground you; I'm still the head of this household. Learn some respect."

"Oh, calm down! You're not going to do a darned thing about it." She pulls the sheets off of him.

"Get out of bed and stop feeling sorry for yourself, you big baby!"

Anakin eventually gets out of bed. He takes a shower before returning to his room. He goes into his walk-in closet.

Upon his return he sees the Force Ghosts of Qui-Gon and Mace Windu are in the room. Anakin sees Qui-Gon and sneers. "What are you doing here?"

'I came to apologize.'

"Right"

'I didn't think you were going to lose it last night. I thought you'd forget all my little pet names for your girlfriends' headlights'

Mace speaks to Anakin, 'Anakin, come on, admit it. It was funny. Qui-Gon told me all about it. He imitates Anakin's pathetic cries the night before. 'Come back, come back…..' I heard those panties went back on faster than they dropped! Poor Ani, didn't even get a peek.'

Anakin is embarrassed. He is listening as he is curled up under the sheets.

"Mace, I laughed at the most beautiful body in the galaxy. She hates me now."

'Get your sorry ass out of bed and go to the office. She won't have any respect for you if you start all that crying. This is beginning to get ponderous. This is almost a weekly event bringing you out of your blue funk... Ever consider seeing a shrink?'

"I'm not crazy"

'You sure act crazy. You should have been rejoicing last night, not curled up under the sheets like a little girl. Now, you're whining because you had one of Qui-Gon's stupid grade school jokes in your head. '

Leia walks into the room again. She sees Mace and Qui-Gon.

"If you two are really his friends, you'd help him get out of this bed. He is not spending the day moping around this house. Mace, I guarantee you, I will throw my own father out the window if he doesn't get the Hoth out of here under his own power. This is not a good week for me either!"

Mace is stunned.

'Damn, Leia, you're cold! What do you think we're trying to do! The man has issues. His woman walked out on him. I think he's about to spontaneously combust'

"Well, let him blow up someplace else."

'Anakin, your daughter has a point. You need to snap out of it, man. Come on, let's go!'

Anakin lets out a heavy sigh then throws off the covers. He is fully dressed. A few minutes later he heads out to the office.

Talk to the Hand

Anakin has a late morning meeting with the Emperor. He is barely listening as the Emperor harps on the Genosis report Anakin submitted.

"Lord Vader, I would really like to review your findings on the Genosis droid factory closings with Governor Tarkin and Admiral Motti here. Admiral, you had some comments to make earlier, did you not?"

"These closings are unjustified, Lord Vader. You need to re-work your numbers because I don't see the logic in depleting our military reserves. The Genosis manufacturing plant is the ultimate military offensive in the universe. I suggest we use it."

"Don't make me choke you, Monti, I'm in no mood. I had a bad night."

"Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. And it's Motti NOT Monti. You over –aged boy toy"

"You making fun of me? I swear, don't mess with me today."

"Choke anyone lately?" He laughs at Anakin.

Anakin Force-chokes Motti. He starts turning blue. Tarkin commands Anakin to stop.

"Enough of this! Vader, release him!"

"No way! I'll choke the living daylights out of you, Monti!" Anakin force b-slaps Motti then chokes him again.

"Aaakkkk…He's…chok—ing …me…caaan't breeeath……"

Tarkin and Palpatine sit and watch Anakin and Motti argue. Palpatine wants to see sparks fly. He is wringing his hangs with glee. Tarkin just wants them to stop.

"This bickering is pointless. Vader, release him now or else you'll spend another two weeks in sensitivity training"

Anakin didn't want to do this. Those sensitivity classes were real snoozers! Anakin, Boba Fett and General Grievous were frequent attendees according to the Human Resources department. The role playing exercises were not helpful.

"As you wish." Anakin takes one more shot at Motti and slaps him on the head.

After the meeting, Anakin returns to his office.

AFTERNOON –

Glady's calls Anakin over the comm. unit.

"Yes, Gladys?" Anakin is working on his 'Who to Kill' list. He is in that sort of mood.

"There is a visitor here to see you."

"Oh….who is it?" He knows darned well who it is.

"Miss Isabel Nor, Sir."

"I'll be out in a sec, Thanks, Gladys."

Gladys smiles up at Isabel. "You used to be the children's nanny. Are you coming back to work for the family?"

"I don't think they need a nanny anymore."

"That's probably true."

Anakin opens the door to his office and greets Isabel. They shake hands.

"Miss Nor. This is a nice surprise." It was no surprise. He felt her with the Force. He should have been doing that last night. He closes the door. "Please. Have a seat."

"Thank you."

"Did you have any trouble getting up here?"

"I just get the impression not many women pass through this place."

"It's not a glamorous job. Listen, I'm really sorry about last night. I was being stupid. I wasn't laughing at you. Honest."

"Leia told me so much. So what were you laughing about?"

"It's too embarrassing. You wouldn't understand being a woman and all."

"So now I'm stupid?"

"No, no no….that's not what I meant. Listen, can we get pass this? We finally get together to smooth things out and we get into a fight. We never get to be alone together and when we do, it's a disaster. It's been almost ten years. Let's not do this."

"Fine"

The comm. unit light is on. It is Gladys.

"Lord Vader, I have General Veers on the line. He says it's important."

"I'll take it. Thank you, Gladys." Anakin looks over at Isabel "I'll not be a minute."

"Sure"

Isabel gets out of her chair and takes a look around. She sees Leia's stuffed ewok toy on the bookshelf and some holographs of the children when they were younger. There is even one with Isabel taking the children to the museum. She doesn't remember this one. Strange. She looks out of the window at the city. The sky was clear that afternoon.

She turns her attention to the huge black sphere on the far side of the office. She's not sure what it is but it looks as if it serves a function.

Meanwhile, Anakin is wrapping up his telephone converstion. He is speaking in a quiet voice indicating a private call.

"So how much do you have riding on the third race? I see…put me down for 8000. Yes. I made16000 on Monday. I'm not complaining. Great, I'll talk to you next week. Gotta go."

Anakin turns in his chair. He sees Isabel looking around as if she's in a museum. She looks at him and points to the sphere.

"What's that for?"

"Oh You've never been to my office, have you?

"No. Never."

"Well…it's sort of like a flight simulator." He leaps from his chair and walks over. He takes her by the hand. "Want to sit inside? I'll help you up." They are sitting in the oversized white upholstered reclining seat.

"What do you do in it?"

Anakin looks at her for a moment then smiles. 'Would you like to go for a ride?"

"Does it move?" She is looking over the side for a track or mounting pole. Anakin blinks and smiles slyly.

"Would you excuse me for a moment?"

Anakin opens the door to his office and pokes his head out.

"Gladys?"

"Yes, Lord Vader?"

"Hold all my calls and cancel my appointments. I'll be in an important meeting for the rest of the day. Uhm Order a tray of food and leave it out here. . I'll take care of it. Oh, Gladys?"

'Yes, Lord Vader?"

Take the rest of the day off. You deserve it."

"Why, thank you, sir. How generous of you."

"You're the best secretary in the Galaxy, Gladys. I hope you know that."

"Thank you, sir. Don't work too hard now. At least that nice young lady will be there to assist you. You won't be doing it all by yourself."

"You know me, Gladys. I'm a team player. Working hard is something I should do more often. I haven't been applying myself lately. I'm going to be pulling an all-nighter. You know how it is."

"Well, if anyone were to ask me, I'd say you work harder than anyone in the Empire."

"You're sweet. Thanks Gladys. That means a lot. Good night."

"Goodnight, Sir."

Anakin locks the office door. He steps inside the meditation chamber and sits beside Isabel. He kisses her. The chamber begins to close. Isabel looks up.

"I think something's happening."

"I know. You're a smart lady." He grabs her pink purse and tosses it out of the chamber. "We're not going to need any money for this ride."

The meditation chamber is sealed. The units' controls lights up.

Late that afternoon Luke returns to the office to deliver some papers to his father. Gladys is gone. He sees a tray of fruit on her desk with his father's name on it. He decides to take it into the office. The door is locked. He calls his father.

"Dad?"

He decides to use the force to open the door. He looks around. After stealing a piece of chopped fruit and popping it in his mouth, he looks across the room at the chamber.

Luke slowly walks over to it. His eyes widen. The lights are on and the screen on the display pad is rapidly generating data. Finally he backs away quietly and sets the tray of fruit on the conference table. As he turns to leave he sees a small pink handbag on the floor. He grins and hurries out, quietly locking the door behind him. He whispers "Way to go, Dad"

To be continued……Next chapter: 'Don't You Know What the Night Can Do'

Attention Readers: It might take 24 hours for the next story. In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying this humorous and sometimes touching space ride through the Galaxy