Chapter 64- Before the Emperor and a Trap
The Death Star was cold. It felt like being in a mausoleum. Much like the one that Uncle Bail and Talon had told Lena was her mother's on Naboo when they went to honor Padme Amidala five years after she had become one with the Force. Luke stood on one side of her and Talon stood on the other side. Vader stood on the other side of Luke. It was silent, except for the sound of Vader's respirator. Lena could feel Vader's reluctance to do this. Making his son and daughter meet the emperor wasn't something he wanted to do.
All too soon the lift stopped and opened to what looked like a dark throne room. A single chair was facing a viewport. Lena felt Talon squeeze her shoulder as they walked forward. They made their way up the steps to the throne. The chair turned and Lena got her first look at Sheev Palpatine. He was a cloaked figure and looked old and wizened, but Lena, Talon, and Leia had all seen his evil side in a senate chamber before he had dissolved the senate. He was once the senator of Naboo during the time that Lena's, Luke's and Leia's mother, but had become the Supreme Chancellor after ousting Chancellor Valorum out of office and was then given emergency powers at the start of the Clone Wars. "Welcome, young Skywalkers and Talon Orran. I have been expecting you. You'll no longer need those," Palpatine said and the manacles fell from Luke's, Lena's, and Talon's wrists.
"So he knows how to use the Force," Lena muttered contemptuously to Talon. He father gave a brief chuckle as her took her hands and rubbed some circulation back into her wrists with his gentle fingers.
"Guards, leave us," Palpatine ordered and the Imperial Red Guards, at the entrance to the lift left. "I'm looking forward to completing your training. In time, you will call me master," the emperor said. Lena then noticed his eyes. They looked like sulfur and she remembered what Talon had said about the dark side changing your appearance.
"You're gravely mistaken. You won't convert me and my sister as you did our father," Luke said. Lena reached over and squeezed her brother's flesh hand, conveying her reassurance in the Force.
"Oh, no, my young Jedi. You will find that it is you who are mistaken about a great many things," Palpatine said, walking to them. The patronizing tone that he used made Lena angry, but she called all the reserves of the light side of the Force that she could.
"Their lightsabers," Vader said, handing the three weapons to Palpatine.
"Ah, yes. A Jedi's weapon and even one, you were not skilled with, Your Highness," Palpatine mocked Talon.
"No, I wasn't when you murdered my friends and my master. But I have built up my skills and taught Luke, Lena, and my daughter Cora to use a blade. I was with Lena when she found her kyber crystal and she fashioned her saber," Talon said, pride for Lena in his voice.
"Yes, much like her father's. By now you must all know your father can never be turned from the dark side. So will it be with you," Palpatine said, his friendly demeanor gone.
"You're wrong. Soon me, Uncle Talon, and Lena'll be dead and you with us," Luke said with a small trace of a smirk in his voice.
The emperor laughed. "Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your rebel fleet. Yes. I assure you we are quite safe from your friends here," Palpatine sneered as he went back to his throne.
"Your overconfidence is your weakness," Lena said.
"Your faith in your friends is yours," Palpatine shot back at her.
"It is pointless to resist, my son and daughter," Vader said, in a voice devoid of hope.
"You don't have much faith in them, Anakin. They are Skywalkers, but they are also Padme's too. They have her strong character," Talon said, under his breath. Lena heard him clearly and she was willing to bet Vader did too.
Palpatine sat down on his throne, his hands holding their lightsabers. "Everything that has transpired, has done so according to my design. Your friends up there on the sanctuary moon are walking into a trap, as is your rebel fleet," Palpatine said.
"Cora! Leia!" Talon gasped.
"Papa, they'll be fine. Cora's a Jedi. You have trained her well," Lena said in a side whisper.
"It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band, Your Highness. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them. Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive," Palpatine said.
"Steady, children. Steady. Don't let him make you angry. It's what he wants," Talon said, gripping the back of Luke's and Lena's heads.
"Right, Uncle Talon," Luke whispered under his breath.
Leia and Han shot open the door leading into the bunker. Only a small amount of men were at the stations operating the shield. "All right, up! Move! Come on! Quickly. Quickly," Han said to the men, aiming his blaster at them. "Chewie," Han said to his friend and with a growl Chewbacca kept his bowcaster trained on the men as Leia and another Alliance soldier went to the console.
"Han, hurry! The fleet will be here any moment," Leia said as she rose from her spot.
"Charges! Come on, come on!" Han said to another ally who tossed him a pack and then five Imperial officers burst into the room.
"Freeze!" An officer said, pointing his blaster at Han, who tossed the explosives at him and knocking him back into the electrical currents that powered the base. Two stormtroopers ran in and another officer came at them from behind.
"You rebel scum," the man said the words as if they were distasteful. Han held up his hand, keeping Leia back from trying to rescue him as more stormtroopers came into the room. Chewbacca growled in despair as they took his bowcaster.
Cora watched as they came out of hyperspace at the planet Endor. Through the Force, Cora could feel her father, Luke, and Lena. They were close, but where, not even Cora was certain. A cold sensation in the Force ran down Cora's side at the first glimpse of the Death Star. It hadn't been completed and it looked like a gutted corpse in space. Cora wasn't usually that grotesque, but that was an apt way of thinking of the new station.
"All wings report in," Lando ordered.
"Red Leader standing by," Wedge Antilles said.
"Gray Leader standing by."
"Green Leader standing by."
"Lock S-foils in attack position," Wedge said and all the x-wings prepared for the battle.
"May the Force be with us," Cora said over the speaker. Even though she was only eight seasons, everyone was relieved to have a Jedi on the attack with them, even one who wasn't completely a full Jedi yet.
Nien then babbled nervously. "We've got to be able to get some kind of reading on that shield up or down," Lando said in disbelief. Nien chattered away again.
"Well, how can they be jamming us if they don't know if we're coming," Cora said, her voice getting slower with each word as the implications hit her right between the eyes.
"Right, kid! Break off the attack! The shield is still up," Lando ordered all the pilots.
"I get no reading. Are you sure?" Wedge asked.
"Pull up! All craft pull up!" Cora nearly yelped. in a reaction that wasn't like a Jedi and everyone swerved in different directions.
"Take evasive action. Green Group, stick to Holding Sector MV-7," Ackbar said.
Admiral, we have enemy ships in Sector 47," Cora heard a voice say over the comm.
"It's a trap!" Ackbar said, coming to the same conclusion as Cora.
"Fighters coming in!" Lando said as the battle started.
"There's too many of them a fighter said before being destroyed.
"Accelerate to attack speed. Draw their fire away from the cruisers," Lando said.
"Copy, Gold Leader," Wedge said as all of them fought and pulled the enemy ships away from the cruisers.