Studio 3
Rancor Productions
Coronet City
Corellia
3 years later
"I want them to fly," starlet Quianna Jane stated, her tone firm even as tears sprang into her brown eyes. "They need to fly, Kal."
Director Kal Trusk sighed inwardly even as he pasted a smile on his face, "Quianna, baby, we've already talked about this."
"No, Kal, you talked about it!" the woman pouted. "What is the point of buying amazing movable crystalline birds and fish for the holovid and just setting the figurines on random podiums? This is my big speech at the end of the movie! They need to fly."
"We don't have the budget for that kind of special effect, Quianna!" Kal exclaimed, lifting his hands in exasperation. "If The Return of the Corellian Superbeings does well, maybe we can make a sequel and make the birds fly, but right now we just need to finish the last scenes and be done. We're already over budget and out of time. If our backers find out you delayed the release date, you might never work again."
The vapid actress stared with wide eyes and for a moment, the director was hopeful, but sheer stubbornness quickly defeated good sense.
"No, I won't do this scene unless you promise me they will fly," she snapped. "Can't you do it afterwards, using 'puters or something?"
"We. Don't. Have. The. Budget!" Kal screeched indignantly, then turned angrily as Tom, the newest technician on set, touched him on the arm.
"What?" he snarled.
Tom gestured toward the ceiling laconically, "The birds are flying, Boss."
Quianna looked up and squealed in delight even as Kal's jaw dropped open in shock and a hint of fear. The blue crystalline birds and fish were indeed soaring and swooping around the room, their fins fluttering and feathers rippling.
"How ...?" Kal began.
"I'm doin' it," Tom explained carelessly. "I'm a trained Force Sensitive. But I gotta leave soon 'cause my son is visiting so we gotta get this scene done now."
"I'm ready!" Quianna yelped, darting for the middle of the room and taking her first position.
Kal decided not to look a gift bantha in the mouth. He quickly got the rest of his actors in place and started the scene.
"Dear Sentients of Coronet City," Ziwi (Quianna) proclaimed, her eyes wide with passion, "it is our honor, our pleasure, our delight to be here today as we celebrate our homeworld, our beloved Corellia. We, the Corellian Superbeings ..."
Kal adjusted his holocams and smiled encouragingly at Quianna Jane. The actress could be a pain, but she came through when she needed to. She was lovely and overly dramatic and this film was going to be a hit.
He knew it is in his corpuscles.
Five minutes later, the scene was finished and it was beautiful. Kal wouldn't have to film it 15 more times, which was a relief. His last scene with Ransome Quiltratz, who played Kiwi, the Land Animal twin, had literally required 23 takes because the fashion designer/actor had repeatedly dropped out of character to complain about the way his cape was swishing. He was never going to hire Quiltratz again for an acting job.
Never.
As Quianna accepted the congratulations of the extras in the scene, Kal watched in awe as the fish and birds swam or fluttered back into position on the decorative podiums. Kal waited respectfully until the (very costly) figurines had settled into place before striding over to Tom.
"Thank you, Tom," he said. "That's quite a talent you have there."
"Thanks," the other man said with a slight smile. Tom was an odd looking man – very tall and bald, though he concealed his scalp with a Dex's Diner hat. Strangely, he always wore gloves and long sleeves and pants, regardless of the heat. Except for his face, his skin was covered.
"Father!" a voice called out from the side of the room.
Kal turned, slightly indignant but mostly grateful. He didn't like random people on set. In fact, he hated it. But Tom had just saved his nerf meat. He knew that.
"Your son, Tom?"
"Yes," the man replied. His diction was suddenly more precise and he straightened up, adding a few more centimeters to his height.
His son was surprisingly short given his sire's height. He was dark blond, dressed in a practical gray outfit, and had startling blue eyes. Kal frowned. In fact, the youth looked rather familiar ...
There was a startled yelp from Quianna Jane, "Prince Luke!?"
The young man winced openly and then managed a courteous smile, "Quianna Jane, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Kal knew his eyes were bugging in shock. Prince Luke Skywalker? Here? And he said that …
He turned his gaze onto his technician Tom, his brain finally cataloging the details.
Very tall.
Force Sensitive
Bald
"Your Highness?" he asked feebly, hoping that he was wrong.
"He's undercover," Prince Luke said cheerfully, "so please just stick with …"
"Tom," Darth Vader ordered, his voice deeper now, his speech refined, his posture shifting from casual to regal. "Luke, it is time for us to go."
"Absolutely," Skywalker replied agreeably. "It was nice meeting you all."
Quianna's luminous eyes drooped with sorrow, "Oh Prince Luke, I was hoping maybe we could get a drink together."
All but the starlet observed the brief expression of repugnance on Skywalker's face, which quickly smoothed away into a courteous smile, "I'm sorry, but we have an appointment. I do look forward to seeing your holovid in the near future."
Kal didn't know what to say, so he just kept his mouth shut.
Darth Vader had been his technician for a few weeks? The director ran a shaky hand across his throat. He hadn't been particularly polite during some of the more stressful scenes. He was lucky to be alive.
/
Valiance Street
Coronet City
Corellia
5 minutes later
"Any luck, Father?" Luke asked softly as they moved through a crowded thoroughfare toward the docking bay where their starship awaited.
"Indeed," Vader replied quietly. "The head of the slave trading syndicate is Cressa Dublai."
"The heir to the Dublai fortune?"
"Precisely."
"Aren't the Dublais backing the Return of the Corellian Super Beings?"
"Yes. It is an ironic cover; on one hand, the Dublais are sponsoring a film which celebrates an anti-slavery group of superheroes, on the other, they are neck deep in the slave ring running through Ryloth."
"Isn't Cressa Dublai ancient?"
"Yes."
"Should you chop off the head of an 80 year old woman?"
"I sabotaged the hyperbaric chamber of an ancient man, causing him to die in agony."
"Good point, Father."
"Hey, Vader," a new voice commented as a cloaked figure joined them.
"Mara," Vader replied in a disapproving voice. He had more or less come to terms with his son's marriage to the former Emperor's Hand; nevertheless, he maintained a dubious air around her, more for form's sake than anything else.
"So is the Dublai base nearby?" Mara asked with a grin even as she slipped an arm around her husband's waist.
"Indeed. I have the coordinates and it is on nearby Talus. We will be there within a few hours," Vader said with satisfaction. "They will not know what hit them."
"So what undercover role will be after this, Father-in-Law?" the woman asked cheekily. "In the last few years you've been a colo claw fisherman, a pilot – no surprise there, a chef at Dex's Diner, and a holo technician. Anything else you'd like to try?"
"I was thinking about deep sea diving on Manaan, as we have reports of a band of nefarious smugglers operating from that planet," the former Sith stated. "It would fascinating to be so deep, to see those creatures which live far below the surface of the waves. Furthermore, I would relish an opportunity to be surrounded by so much water. "
There was an indignant squawk from his son, "Absolutely not, Father. Your lungs are better, but they aren't that much better."
"I am entirely capable of determining my own limitations, Luke."
"No, you're not. You are as reckless as any Skywalker. You may not go deep sea diving."
"I most certainly will do what I want. Being a holo technician was terribly dull even with the undercover spying to determine the locale of the Dublai ring. I deserve to do something exciting."
"I'll tell Leia," Luke threatened.
Darth Vader shivered slightly.
/
Organa-Solo suite
Coruscant
8 hours later
"Reythan crackers, darling?" Han Solo asked solicitously, extending his hand toward his slightly green wife.
"Thank you," Leia muttered, sinking onto the couch and groaning aloud. She nibbled one cautiously, then called a glass of water to her using the Force. She took a distasteful sip and groaned again.
"Deychin tea?" Solo asked worriedly. "I know the water doesn't taste good."
"Oh Han," his wife moaned, "I am such a wimp."
"You are expecting our baby, Leia. No one blames you for not feeling well."
"I blame me," Leia pouted. "I know, because I've found the records, that our mother Padme kept up a full senatorial schedule while she was pregnant with me and Luke."
"Which just means she didn't get as sick as you are, Leia," Han replied gently. "There is no way you can work a lot right now. The med droid says you'll probably start feeling better soon."
"I hope so."
Leia was 13 weeks along in her pregnancy and she actually thought she was getting a little bit better, but she felt so rotten that it was hard to tell. She nibbled a cracker carefully, wondering if her rebellious stomach would accept the nutrients or have her running for the refresher.
"I just got off the com with Luke," Solo commented.
"And?"
"Vader tracked down the head of a slave trading syndicate to the planet of Talus around the Corellian star. Luke sent me a holo of piled, decapitated heads."
"Is Vader still doing that?" Leia asked in frustration. It had, indeed, become the known calling card of the Corellian Super Beings to leave a pyramid of craniums, but it just seemed so ... unrefined.
"Actually," Han drawled, sitting down and wrapping a careful arm around his wife, "Mara and Luke did most of the decapitating this time apparently. The slavers put up quite a fight. Vader was busy freeing about 200 slaves."
Leia jerked in surprise and then started sobbing quietly, out of happiness and sheer unadulterated hormones. 200 slaves freed!
"The galaxy is still too lawless to dispense with the Super Beings," Solo murmured softly.
"You are right, of course," Leia murmured, her gaze fixed on the city lights of Coruscant outside their windows. The scene was beautiful, with multicolored trails of air vehicles zipping here and there, full of citizens going to work or play. Coruscant was also a work in progress with many still mired in poverty, but there had been massive improvements since she and Luke had taken over the Empire. Especially for non-humans.
She touched her stomach, seeking connection with her own private human within her. The baby was tiny, but Leia could sense the small mind within, the locus of the Force that was their child.
Leia thought it was a girl.
"I love you, Leia." Han said suddenly, pulling her close to him.
"I know," the princess responded with a smile. "I know."
The End
Author Note: Thanks again to those of you who have persevered through this rather funky fic, what with Vader being all serious and moody and then the Super Beings bursting on the scene. Thanks also to my wonderful editor and husband!