Therapy Room
Imperial Basement
Imperial Palace
Imperial City
Imperial Center
The next day
"You are quite certain you don't want to enjoy the medicinal mud?" Sheev Palpatine asked conscientiously. "It has truly done wonders for my skin."
"Two decades spent living in bog have I," Master Yoda replied firmly. "Dry heat I want, not mud."
The Emperor frowned in concern at the small gnome lying under the sun lamp but shrugged slightly. No doubt the old Jedi knew what he was doing, though his skin already looked very wrinkled and dry.
"Here comes Trey!" the former Sith cried out with excitement, turning toward the door.
A moment later, his still overly thin son walked hesitantly inside, carefully guarded by four red robed Imperial Guards and the Hand Jasun Krill.
"Come here, Son," Sheev said with a welcoming gesture. "I wish to introduce you to Jedi Grandmaster Yoda, my former adversary and nemesis, now cautious ally."
Trey sidled forward nervously, his expression worried.
Yoda pushed the sun lamp away with the Force and hopped to his feet, his aged eyes focused on the young man.
"Good to meet you it is, young Palpatine."
Trey shot a horrified look at his father, who smiled reassuringly, "Master Yoda has been annoying people with his speech patterns for many hundreds of years. It is part of his eccentricity."
"Eccentric I am not!" Yoda insisted.
"It is either eccentric, or loopy," Palpatine replied helpfully. "I would go with eccentric if I were you."
The large green eyes rolled and the slight gnome hobbled forward to place a cautious hand on Trey's knee. He focused his power on the youth and then turned to the former Sith with surprise on his face, "Not sensitive to the Force at all, he is!"
"I know," the Emperor agreed. "Such a gift, truly. Malvos would have done something horrible to or with Trey if he had been a Force Sensitive. No, Trey is completely blind to the Force but he has amazing political abilities. I am so very proud of him."
Master Yoda gazed up at the perplexed face above him and smiled gently, "Glad I am that your son lives. Most glad."
/
Dilapidated freighter
Approaching Rebel Base
Ryloth
"Not much to look at it, is it?" Ahsoka murmured aloud.
"Most Rebel bases aren't," Luke agreed. "We aren't planning on staying long — we'll unload the former slaves and get out of here. Leia said it could get complicated if we stayed long enough to be recognized. Not that anyone probably will. I look weird."
"You do look weird, Skywalker," Mara Jade agreed. She had changed out her rancid slave girl outfit and now was wearing a practical tan outfit
"I do," Luke agreed. "Dark hair isn't really my thing."
"With dark hair you look like your mother," Vader suddenly said in one of his periodic forays into soulful reminiscing.
"I do?" Luke asked skeptically. "I don't see it."
"You do," Ahsoka averred, "though Princess Leia is her very image."
"What about the princess?" Aralina Silk inquired curiously. She and her twin were seated in a corner of the cockpit, playing a card game that Luke didn't recognize.
"Leia is my twin sister and she looks like our mother, Padme," Luke explained.
A moment passed in silence.
"What?" Aralina demanded, dropping her cards and turning to face Darth Vader's son.
"Leia Organa is my twin sister," Luke frowned. "You know all about twins. Obviously we're fraternal whereas you are identical."
Aralina blinked at the young man and a smile stretched across her face, "So what you are saying, Skywalker, is that Princess Leia is your sister, not your girlfriend."
Luke was horrified, "Girlfriend? No, of course not! Where would you get that idea."
"From that stupid interview with Relinka Spetzv," Brilana commented. "Ara, are we playing or not?"
"I'm done," Aralina said cheerfully. "I am basking in the new reality that Luke Skywalker, son of Darth Vader, is romantically available."
Vader jerked in outrage, "My son is not …"
"Father …"
"Ara, don't poke the rancor!"
"Starting landing sequence," Ahsoka cried thankfully.
Luke, who was simultaneously blushing and sending calming thoughts towards his outraged father, was suddenly hit with a lightning bolt of awareness.
"Leia!"
/
Leia Organa, flanked by a rather nervous Han Solo, stood at the bottom of the ramp of the freighter and she saw him coming down the ramp and he was running and then they were in one another's arms and he was alive and she was alive and they were together again.
Together.
"Leia, oh Leia! What a glorious surprise! And Han! This is wonderful!"
"Luke," she murmured, stepping back to stare into her brother's beloved face. "What have you done with your hair?!"
"Um, dyed it black," Luke stated, plucking at the two centimeter length strands. "''Cause I was undercover at Jabba's palace."
"It looks weird, Kid," Han said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. Luke looked Ok aside from the green eyes and dark hair. He didn't look evil and/or demented. That was reassuring, and somewhat surprising after months in Imperial custody.
"I don't think he looks weird," a new voice commented flirtatiously.
Luke huffed in exasperation, "Leia, Han, this is Aralina Silk, closely followed by her twin sister Brilani. They are both Emperor's Hands, a group of Force Sensitives who serve the Empire. And this is Mara Jade, another Hand."
Leia frowned at the threesome, "Like ... junior Sith Lords?"
"We are not strong enough in the Force to be Sith Lords," Mara said, slightly gloomily.
"Which is fine with me," Aralina said firmly. "Being a Sith Lord means a whole lot of work, even more work than we usually have. I'm happy being a Hand."
Leia stared at Aralina in confusion and Brilana wrapped an arm around her twin, "Don't mind Ara, your Highness. The Emperor got rid of most of the really cruddy overseers among the Hands, and she's a bit goofy with pleasure. Our lives haven't been very easy, truthfully, what with our parents being murdered and us spending most of our childhoods being brutally trained."
"It wasn't that bad," Mara said defensively.
"It was worse than bad," Aralina snapped back. "Don't honey coat it, Jade. It was horrible."
"I'm sorry," Luke said awkwardly, even as Ahsoka and Vader reached the bottom of the ramp. "And this is Ahsoka Tano, Leia."
"Fulcrum," the princess murmured. "Welcome."
"And of course, you know ... um..Vader."
Leia blinked in astonishment at the tall form who was looming over Luke, his blue eyes fixed on her own countenance.
"Excuse me, what?" she sputtered.
"Um, Father had some work done ..."
"Where's the mask? The repetitive, obnoxious breathing? The dark flowing cape?" Solo inquired.
"We were undercover, Solo," the Dark Lord hissed. "It was obviously not possible for me to appear as usual."
"So it was all for show?" Leia demanded angrily. "The whole thing was just for intimidation?"
"No," Luke said quickly. "No. He was a physical wreck and kind of still is. I mean ..."
"Clearly, from the exposed scarring on my face, you can see that I was badly burned," Vader continued coldly. "I was seared over 100% of my body and was locked in that life support suit for the last two decades. It is only with Luke and Ahsoka's help, and significant up to date medical intervention, that I have achieved my current state of comparative health. I was a walking wreck for many years, Princess."
Leia tilted her head thoughtfully, "I see."
"And may I say," the cyborg continued, clearly nervous, "that I am pleased to see you are doing well?"
Leia's eyes narrowed into slits and she took an impetuous step forward, "You may not. We are not friends, Lord Vader, you got that? We are enemies, through and through. You tortured me. I hate your guts. We can discuss political issues but we are not exchanging pleasantries."
Vader's exposed face grew unnervingly blank and he nodded, "As you wish."
"We should get the rescued slaves off the ship," Luke said hastily, glancing worriedly between his father and sister.
"Yes," Tano agreed, grabbing Vader's arm and yanking him gently back toward the ship. "Come on, Skyguy."
/
Trey Palpatine's main living room
Imperial Palace
That evening
Sheev Palpatine lay on his back on the floor, watching the dozens of glow balls circling over his head.
They were a children's toy, sold by the dozens in toy stores across the galaxy. Even a month ago, he would have disdained the pleasure of watching them swirl above him with the power of the Force.
It was so relaxing and pleasant and good. Why had he ever thought that the Dark Side was the best way? In his heyday as a Sith Lord, the most fun he had was electrocuting someone to death. How crazy was that? The galaxy was full of beautiful and lovely and fun things, like glow balls and baby shaaks and hot chocolate, and for years, decades even, he had disdained them all in favor of being a grumpy, angry, raging, malevolent, manipulative Sith Lord.
It was totally pathetic.
"Father?"
Palpatine sat up suddenly and smiled at his son, "Yes?"
"Um ..." the youth continued, his eyes drifting to the glowing galaxy of balls.
"I'm sorry," the Emperor murmured, letting them drift off to a nearby table. "That must be terribly distracting."
"It's beautiful."
Sheev levered himself to his feet and walked over to a couch, where he sat down next to his son, "What can I do for you, Trey?"
"Um, this Master Yoda ..."
"Yes?"
"He was surprised that I am not sensitive to the Force."
The old man leaned back against the couch, "I am not certain if he was surprised, precisely. The Jedi Order forbade emotional attachment so very few Jedi had children. Anakin Skywalker, of course, was an exception, but it was his decision to marry and bear children that led to his Fall. The children themselves are, of course, wonderful people, but I'm afraid the whole thing was rather a disaster for the parents. Thanks to me and Malvos, sadly."
Trey twisted his hands in his lap and Sheev looked at him worriedly, "You are distressed, my son?"
"Am I worth anything without the Force?" the youth blurted out suddenly.
The Emperor's eyes widened in horror. He had skimmed a couple of parenting books in the last few days and there was an entire section on self-image issues. He had always been a supremely confident person but apparently many young people of Trey's age went through heart rending seasons in which they doubted their self worth. He should say something encouraging.
"Er ..."
"I think I am," Trey continued determinedly. "In fact, and I hope this isn't offensive, I think that it's a problem that you, as Emperor, are Force Sensitive. I think it's unhelpful."
"Why?" Palpatine asked curiously.
Trey frowned in concentration, "You aren't normal. I mean, you and Lord Vader and Luke, you're all like the Corellian Superbeings, you know? You can move things in the air, like glowing balls ..."
"And spacecraft," Palpatine continued. "Yes."
"Spacecraft? Really?"
"Well, small spacecraft, easily."
"Wow. Anyway, I think that given that you were a despotic leader, and you are able to hit people with Force Lightning and choke them to death ..."
"Not that that was my thing, exactly. That was more Lord Vader's thing."
"Right. I think you should ... step down."
"Step down?"
"If you are willing, Father. I mean, I'm just saying that you have a reputation and you can't relate to people very well because you have these crazy special powers. It would be good if we could find someone else, preferably not a Force Sensitive, but a wise leader who could guide the galaxy towards peace."
Palpatine gazed fondly at the boy, "I agree."
"Do you?"
"Yes, and I think you would be a fantastic Emperor."
Trey's eyes widened and he squeaked in shock, "Me? I can't run the galaxy! I'm not even 19 years old yet."
Palpatine rose to his feet and began pacing enthusiastically, "Luke Skywalker's mother, Padme Amidala, was a truly gifted politician in her teens and she guided my homeworld of Naboo. Yes, Trey, you would be a fantastic Emperor!"
/
Author Note: Wow, I am sorry for the delay in updating! I got caught up in two other fanfics. Why do I do this to myself? Hope you are well and staying safe!
Also, I just published my first book! It's not a SW story because of course Star Wars is copyrighted. It's a Pride & Prejudice variation called 'I am Jael' on Amazon Kindle. Take a look if you are interested.
I am enormously grateful to the Star Wars fandom because your encouragement and helpful feedback honed my writing skills the last few years. You are awesome!