Chapter Six

Myrkr

Yoda craned his neck, looking up at the evening sky. The nighttime stars were first starting to make their appearance, the brightest ones coming into view first. "Approaching now, is he. Unaware of us, Vader yet is."

The human Jedi nodded his agreement. "He's not expecting us."

Yoda regarded his old friend with sadness. "Lie to her, you should not have."

"You're talking about Padmé?" Obi-Wan questioned. "I don't believe by giving her some hope that I was lying to her."

"Lie to yourself then, you do. Brought back, Vader cannot be. Foolish hope can be, when unreasonable the expectations are."

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to argue, when he was interrupted by Luke rushing out of the base's exit door. "Master Kenobi! An unidentified shuttle has shown up on the incoming radar screen. General Bel Iblis is pretty sure it's Imperial class and Talon said we should head over to the underground bunker."

Following Luke, the older Jedi headed into the base, knowing that it was imperative to mask their presence from Darth Vader before he arrived by using the few ysalamiri located in the base as Force-shields. Then it would be up to Padmé and the twins to lure Vader to the proper location. This would have to be done quickly, before Vader got close enough to the surface to alter his trajectory. As they approached the landspeeder, they could see that Padmé was already sitting in the passenger seat, while Leia was locked in what appeared to be a heated argument with the Corellian. Moving closer, their loud words became clear.

"Why can't I come along?" Han was yelling, waving his hand at the speeder as Garm and Talon looked on, uncomfortable with listening to the disagreement. "I'm fast with a blaster! Probably faster than anyone else on this base."

"You're not part of the plan," Leia shouted back, hands on hips. "You're staying here, where it's safe."

"Stay here where it's safe, while you go face an evil Sith dude with no backup?!"

"I've got backup," Leia argued, shaking her head. "My mother and Luke are coming with me."

"That's not nearly enough."

Luke put his hand on Han's shoulder. "We're not going to need blasters if everything goes as planned."

"Since when does anything go as planned?" Han asked his young friend as Luke got into the driver's seat of the speeder.

"The droids got the message through," Padmé pointed out patiently. "That went according to plan."

Han waved at the ceiling. "What if it's not just Vader that's coming? What if an entire fleet of Destroyers drop out of hyperspace and start blasting away at the surface? How will you get off the planet? You'll be klicks away from any spaceship!"

Leia smiled up at Han, pleased he was so concerned. "Are you worried about me, Flyboy?"

The Corellian flushed as he realized everyone was watching and listening for his reaction. "Uh, yeah. I promised your father, you know…"

While Chewie gave a loud warning roar for Han to shut up, it was Leia's turn to flush, her red face was caused by anger. "I thought you actually cared about me," she snapped. "I guess I was just another notch on your bedpost."

"Leia!" Padmé gasped in shock. "I didn't need to hear that. Really, truly."

Han tried to smooth over his latest mistake with the Princess. "Kriff, Leia, I do care about you! I didn't mean to make you mad when I mentioned the promise I made to your father. I'd think you'd want me to keep my word. Promises are important, right?" He moved to give her a hug, but she pushed him away with a sharp elbow in his ribcage.

Padmé looked up at Obi-Wan. "Wait until I contact you before you come. I don't want to take any chances that Ani will sense you before we can trap him."

Leia jumped into the back of the speeder. "Let's get moving, Luke. If I have to look at Solo for one more second, I'm going to use my lightsaber on his questionable manhood."

Glaring at Han, Luke slammed his foot down on the accelerator and roared away from the base.

*I could throttle you sometimes,* Chewie groused at his partner. *Sometimes even more than sometimes.*

"Sometimes I wish you would," Han admitted. "But do it before I open my big mouth and insert my bigger foot."

Obi-Wan cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "I would like to take another speeder and follow them," he informed Talon. "Despite what Luke and Padmé would like to believe, turning Vader back to the light may prove to be a challenge."

"But what about Padmé's concern that Vader might sense you too early?" Talon questioned.

"Can you get us one ysalamiri to cover us while we travel?"

"Yes, I will." Talon raised a comlink to his lips and barked out an order to one of his men. It only took a few minutes for the Rebels to arrive, carrying a single ysalamiri.

"I'm driving you there," Han declared, thinking about how he'd messed up with Leia and how he needed to do something drastic in order to get back into her good graces. "And I ain't taking 'no' for an answer."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Captain," Obi-Wan said with a grin.

*Great,* Chewie moaned sarcastically. *I always wanted to face down a Sith Lord before I died.*

"Then today's the day, pal," Han said.

Talon rubbed his neck as he considered. "Padmé won't like this."

"But they might need the assistance," Garm said. "And if they don't know they have backup, then Vader might not sense it, either."

"Then we're in agreement," Obi-Wan stated. "Let's get moving. We need to be in place before Vader arrives."

"Go with you, Jedi Kenobi, I will not," Yoda suddenly declared. "Needed here, I am."

"Why?" Han questioned the old Jedi. "What's gonna happen here?"

A stubborn expression appeared on aged Yoda's face. "Insists I remain here, the Force does." He wagged a finger at Obi-Wan, and the human Jedi leaned down as Yoda whispered in his ear, "Watch the newcomer, I feel I must."

Obi-Wan nodded, although he was greatly concerned for Yoda. Ever since they had arrived on Myrkr, Obi-Wan could sense his comrade's declining vitality. "I trust your insight, Master Yoda. Take care."

"You must, as well," Yoda replied. "If…."

"Yes?" Obi-Wan prodded.

"If I see you not again in this existence, know that we will meet when joined with the Force we become."

Darth Vader angled his ship toward the green planet. Reaching out with the Force, he could feel vast areas in the forested regions that were empty spaces where life should be pulsating. Vader knew this was the effect of the ysalamiri, and it was certainly cause to suspect the people in the holo were leading him into a trap. But the planet also had vast plains, and the coordinates that his wife had provided indicated she would be waiting in an area where life could be sensed. The Sith mentally honed in as his ship swooped lower, drawing a sharp intake of breath. The presence that he sensed was that of Padmé, and no matter how devious and smart the Rebels were, they could not forge her Force-signature.

He could also sense two unfamiliar presences and they were powerful in the Force. My children, Vader thought, his heart racing in anticipation. It was true, then. Unbelievably, after nearly twenty years of suffering, both mentally and physically, the Force had seen fit to finally reward his loyalty. He was truly the Chosen One, and this was proof. He was about to be delivered from years of servitude, raised up to the ultimate heights of glory. He would be the New Emperor. The galaxy would be rightfully his to control and rule over.

But first he had business to take care of down on Myrkr. Vader set his ship down next to a small building. No weapons could be seen, yet his sense of danger seemed to be growing with each passing moment. He reached out with the Force, and knew his wife and children were below ground. He approached the doorway, and as he reached for the 'open' button the door parted silently, as if in anticipation of his arrival, revealing a lift. Cautiously, Vader stepped inside, and simply waited for the next act. The doors shut, and the elevator lowered him quickly and smoothly down. Inside his mask, he swallowed hard against the dryness of his throat. Why should he be so nervous? He was a Sith Lord, and if anything, his unfaithful wife and deceiving off-spring should be the ones feeling apprehensive, not him.

The doors parted.

"So soon leaving the base, Captain Judus?" Yoda questioned as he came quietly up behind the young woman just as she was about to mount a speeder bike in a deserted section of the Rebel hanger.

The red-head hid her surprise well, and she glared down at the old Jedi Knight. "Captain Karrde asked me to check out the base sensors. To make sure they're still working, you know."

"Mind you not if I ask Captain Karrde to confirm this?" Yoda asked politely, waving a small comlink at the woman. "Odd it seems that a newcomer as yourself he would trust so quickly."

Trixsy shrugged, swinging her leg back over the bike seat as she dismounted. "Sure, go ahead."

Keeping his eyes on the woman, Yoda raised the small device to his lips but he never got the chance to turn it on. The woman drew a silver tube out from under her vest, and ignited an orange-colored blade, swinging it down at the Jedi's head. Yoda was amazingly fast, back-flipping away from the weapon, so the lightsaber only caught the edge of his brown robe. The ancient Jedi turned on his own lightsaber, taking up a defensive stance. "Knew you reeked of the dark side, did I," Yoda mumbled.

Trixsy arched her eyebrow. "Calling me smelly is just plain rude. I'll have to teach you some proper respect, old Jedi."

Then she attacked with a fury that surprised Yoda, her blade slashing away, forcing him to back up as he called on the Force for strength. Twirling around, Yoda quickly dove low, under her blade, and slashed at the woman's ankles. The dark-Force user was startled at the old Jedi's ability since she had considered him far past his prime. Yoda's blade singed the front of her boots before she was able to flip over Yoda, out of harm's way.

"You've still got a few tricks up your moldy old sleeve, I see," she panted out, eyes narrowing.

"The Force is my ally," Yoda responded, although even those few words came with great effort. Deep down, Yoda knew that even the Force was not able to prevent the inevitable. This woman obviously had been trained by someone that knew the ways of the darkside, and knew that Yoda's greatest weakness was his advanced age. His time remaining had been limited even though his old friends had been too kind to mention how he'd aged during his years spent on Dagobah. Although the Force was still present here on Myrkr, it was definitely diminished. That, too, was having a profound negative effect on his health.

The young woman gave a snort of contempt. "It's a good thing it is, because I see all your Jedi buddies left you behind."

"My choice that was," Yoda responded, waving his lightsaber and circling around the red-head. "Stayed behind to stop you I did."

"You stayed behind to die," Trixsy mocked, and having caught her breath, started her attack anew. "And you're making me late. Being late makes me cranky, but I've got a tracker on the Skywalkers' hovercraft, so I can always catch up."

Yoda managed to hold off her latest assault with great effort, and found himself backed into a corner. He dared to glance up at the high ceiling, where a holo-cam light flashed.

The Emperor's Hand noticed where the Jedi was looking. "Don't count on help arriving anytime soon," she taunted between raining down hard blows with her weapon. "I've disabled the security camera by forcing it into running a pre-recorded loop. Anyone looking at this scene will see a nice, quiet room."

"Planned well, have you," Yoda conceded. Calling on his last reserves of the Force, Yoda raised his blade to defend himself against the relentless onslaught, shutting his eyes. Trust her, you must not, he tried calling to Obi-Wan. Agent of the darkside is she… Even as her blade sliced through his torso, Yoda knew his message had not reached his old friend. The ysalamiri covering Obi-Wan's Force-signature had done their job too well.

The Emperor's Hand felt a rush of adrenaline in her victory. She moved closer to her victim, stabbing the old Jedi in his neck to ensure he was well and truly dead. Her blade shimmered intensely, then for a brief moment the glow faltered. When the Hand blinked, she looked down at the ground only to see the small brown robe drop to the floor, as though it had deflated. The Hand poked at the empty robe, confused. Had her prey somehow escaped? She glanced around the hanger, although she could see no one in the area. Whatever had happened, she couldn't worry about it right now. The Hand's mission could not be compromised by the disappearance of Jedi Yoda. She jumped on her pre-chosen speeder bike, and roared away at full speed, briefly glancing down at her tracking screen to note the direction that the Skywalkers' landspeeder had taken.

Inside the bunker, the room was dim and the air was musty. Vader didn't notice either, since his mask filtered the oxygen and the goggles allowed him to see in almost complete darkness. He focused immediately on three humans standing at the far wall, and igniting his lightsaber he took a large stride forward. The movement put him almost – but not quite – far enough in the room to be standing within the bars that would trap him inside the cage. "WHY?" Vader roared out, shaking his gloved fist at the three people as his voice echoed menacingly off the flat walls.

Padmé stepped forward, placing herself inside the grooved edge of the trap. She reached out as well, but her hands were flat, palm side up in a conciliatory gesture. "Ani, I'm so terribly sorry for what happened to you on Mustafar."

"Do not call me that disgusting name! You've lied to me," he growled out, trembling in rage. "Starting back on the hellish planet, then for almost twenty years, you've lied to me." Even though the Force was diminished for the Sith Lord, he still had enough power to grab his wife and yank her toward him. Once in his strong grasp, he roughly threw her to the floor at his feet and ignited his lightsaber. Holding the humming blade at her temple, he looked back at the two people still standing across the large room. "How long have you known that I am your father?" he snarled loudly.

Luke glanced over at Leia as both tightened their grip on the handle of their new lightsabers. Earlier, they'd turned the weapons on, and both Obi-Wan and Yoda had been pleased to see their handiwork had created a functioning weapon. But neither lightsaber had ever been truly tested, so it was always possible they could falter in a battle. It was Leia that replied first, "You'll never be my father! It takes more than a two minute act of intimacy to claim that title."

"Don't antagonize him," Luke whispered out of the side of his mouth.

Despite the quietness of the statement, Vader heard it. "I am far beyond antagonized at this point." He looked down at the ashen face of Padmé. "I want to know all about your lover. Or should I say our daughter's lover?" When she didn't answer, he continued, loud enough that his children could clearly hear him. "Perhaps you both share him? Why don't you speak, my lovely wife?" With his boot, he gave her a sharp kick in her thigh, causing her to gasp in pain.

"Leave her alone!" Luke cried out, igniting his green blade, rushing forward to defend his mother.

Vader gave a quick, hard slash with his own blade, easily deflecting his son's first blow. "Do not be foolish," the Sith warned. "I can, and will, kill her without remorse if you try to attack me again." He lowered the red blade back to its original place at Padmé's temple while Luke backed away. "Tell me about Solo."

"Han? He was never my lover," Padmé said, trying to keep her voice from trembling. "I've never loved anyone but you, Ani."

"C-3PO may be a lot of things, but he is incapable of making up nonsense," Vader responded bitterly. "I am so very tired of your lies, Senator Amidala." He moved the blade closer, and he could see her hair start to smolder and singe as she covered her eyes in fear. Yes, he thought, his heart racing in glee. Fear me and cower, traitor!

"Threepio wasn't making anything up," Leia spoke up, daring to step closer although it placed her inside the trap area. "Mother was under the delusion that by allowing me to believe Han was her lover, I wouldn't become interested in him. It was all a misunderstanding... Threepio never heard the real story."

"I do not believe you," Vader stated.

"It's the truth, Father," Luke said, slowly trying to put Vader between Leia and himself. He couldn't try anything until Padmé was out of harm's way. "We've no reason to lie to you."

"I can think of many reasons you are lying." He looked back down at his wife. "Explain why you allowed me to believe you died. And why you kept my children from me!"

"You had changed," Padmé whispered. "The man I loved would never have hurt me. If you tried to kill me once, you would try again, and I was so very frightened, Ani. After I gave birth, Obi-Wan and Yoda took the babies and gave them to good homes, so they'd be safe."

"Once again, Obi-Wan haunts me," Vader rumbled. He pointed his finger at Luke. "Where did you live? Who raised you?"

"I grew up on Tatooine," Luke replied. "Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen raised me."

"So they betrayed me, as well."

"No!" Padmé shouted, suddenly fearing for the Lars' safety. "They thought Anakin Skywalker was dead."

Vader regarded that comment silently, before turning his attention to Leia. "Where did you live?"

"I grew up on Alderaan," Leia replied, refusing to show fear in front of Darth Vader.

"Princess Leia Organa," Vader said, suddenly remembering where he'd seen the young woman before. "A senator, like your wayward Mother." He nearly laughed under his helmet. "Tell me, son, how did you like finding out that your twin sister grew up in luxury, as a rich, pampered Princess, while you toiled away in the heat as a slave to a dirt farmer?"

"I… I wasn't a slave," Luke stammered out as a strange sensation swept through his emotions. Why was he suddenly resenting his sister? He tried to push the feelings aside, but they weighed him down like a suffocating cold, wet blanket.

"Are you certain?" Vader questioned intently. "There are many forms of slavery, son. Did Lars give you a choice to work endless hours in the hot dirt? Or was it expected of you? If you wanted a bed to sleep in, or food to eat, would they have given it to you if you had refused their orders?"

"Don't listen to him, Luke," Leia shot out. "He's playing mind games with you."

"Or perhaps I am the only one that's telling the truth?" Vader chided. His blade moved slightly away from Padmé, and he jerked her to her feet. "Perhaps sending Luke to Tatooine as Lars' servant was Obi-Wan's ultimate form of revenge. What better irony than sending my off-spring back to the place I grew up as a slave?"

"You were a slave?" Luke questioned in surprise.

"Padmé failed to tell you that?" Vader asked sarcastically. "What a shock. After all, how can she manipulate you against me, if you have sympathy for the devil?"

"I've never called you a devil, and I wasn't trying to manipulate them," Padmé argued. She glanced at the floor, noting with despair that Vader was still outside the trap area. She tried to take a step inside the trap, but Vader jerked her back to his side with such force that her head snapped back and her teeth rattled together.

"Then why are they here, Senator Amidala?" Vader hissed out. "Why did you really lure me here with your song about family and togetherness? I am tired of the lies, so if you refuse to tell me the truth, right now, I will snap your neck and take great pleasure in watching you die."

"Obi-Wan and Yoda have trained us as Jedi!" Luke yelled, trying to distract Vader from following through with his threat. "You're here because it's our destiny to destroy the Sith."

Vader actually bit out a harsh laugh. "The timid Jedi Masters cannot face me, so they send my own barely trained children to attempt to do what they could not. You will fail, then you will both be dead while Kenobi and his cowardly friend run away and hide for another twenty years."

"If you're so certain that you'll prevail, then let our mother go and face us," Leia challenged the Sith. She turned on her own yellow-hued blade. "Unless you're the one that's afraid."

Vader threw Padmé aside - she stumbled and fell against the outer wall. "If… when I defeat both of you, she will quickly follow you in death," Vader warned.

"First things first," Leia said, lunging at the Sith while Luke attacked from the opposite direction.

"Do you have a plan?" Han asked the Jedi as he pulled the landspeeder up next to where Luke had parked. He frowned as he noticed the Imperial-class shuttle parked nearby, knowing it belonged to the man the entire galaxy feared.

"The Force will be my guide," Obi-Wan stated, then put his hand to his forehead. "I wish we could move this ysalamiri away."

"Yeah," Han grumbled unhappily. "How can the Force guide you if you can't use it? Not that I believe in the Force, mind you. But if I did, then I'd have to wonder about that."

Obi-Wan smiled indulgently. "You and Chewbacca should stay up here, as backup."

"Not a chance!" Han argued hotly. "I came along for a reason. The woman I love is down in that hole."

*When Leia isn't around, he says the right words,* Chewie complained. *Why is that?*

Han flushed. "Well, it's hard to say it to her face. Besides, she's a princess, and I'm nothing more than a two-bit smuggler. She won't want me to hang around after all this is over with."

"You should give her more credit," Obi-Wan said, pressing the control panel buttons to the lift. "She might surprise you."

"Yeah? Her daddy might be even more surprised."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow as he entered the lift, and Han crowded in next to him. "Which father are you more concerned about? The one you've met, or the one you're about to meet?"

"Uh, I hadn't thought about that," Han admitted.

"When the door opens, stay behind me," Obi-Wan instructed. "And whatever you do, don't fire your blaster at Vader. That will only make him mad."

*Yes, Han,* Chewie woofed out. *Try not to make the Sith mad, okay?*

Padmé could barely drag her eyes away from the clashing lightsabers. Red, green and yellow blurred together into a rainbow swirl of colors. She knew her children had to manipulate Vader into the middle of the room while both Luke and Leia had to be outside the trap before she could press the button on her wrist control. As the battle raged, Vader was easily able to fend off both his off-spring, and Padmé felt a complete loss of hope that Anakin Skywalker could be redeemed.

Blinking against the bright light cast by the sabers, she waited… and waited for the right moment. The fight continued in the center of the room, and Leia back-flipped over Vader, out of the cage area. Then Luke spun around and rolled away, leaving Vader standing alone…

Padmé reached for her wrist band but before she could press the button that would slam the bars down from the ceiling and up from the floor, the lift door burst open….

Completely disregarding Obi-Wan's instructions, Han Solo pushed past the Jedi Master and promptly started firing his blaster at the Dark Lord of Sith.

Padmé wanted to scream in frustration as Vader easily parried and blocked the blaster shots fired by Han. As Obi-Wan moved toward Vader with his ignited lightsaber, Chewie rushed in holding the single ysalamiri they had brought with them. I have to trap him, before it's too late, was her only coherent thought, and pressed both the button to the hidden bars as well as the second button, which opened up the walls, revealing the rest of the ysalamiri.

Even though the cage bars fell down from the ceiling and rose up from the floor with fantastic speed, the scene seemed to unfold in slow motion to Padmé's abject horror. She could see the billowing black cape of her husband as he rushed forward to engage Obi-Wan in battle, and when the room suddenly became completely void of the Force she saw him stumble in confusion. That slight stumble was enough to prevent the Sith Lord from completely escaping the area inside the trap. Therefore, what happened next was far worse than merely getting caught inside the bars. The lowering top bar nicked the armored helmet as it hurtled to the floor, and Vader spun around, falling sideways just as another post, rising up from the floor, caught his torso, driving the durasteel spike through his side. For a long second, he physically was jerked upward, and with a roar of agony, dropped his lightsaber to the ground as his body, still impaled by the bar, slid down to the floor.

Luke screamed, "Father!" Luke looked briefly at his mother, his face ashen. "What did you do?" Without waiting for Padmé to reply, he rushed around the now completed cage to Vader's side while Padmé stood frozen in shock.

"Shut the cages!" Obi-Wan yelled out, hurrying to help Luke. "Retract the bars!"

Padmé stood still, unable to tear her gaze from the scene of her writhing husband, or move to obey Obi-Wan's orders. A second later, she felt Leia take her wrist and press the controls.

"It went completely through his entire right side," Luke yelled to Leia. "Contact the medics… he's bleeding badly."

Leia hesitated. "Maybe we should…"

Snapping out of her stupor, Padmé turned to face her daughter. "Should, what? Allow him to bleed to death?"

"He was trying to kill us," Leia tried to point out, seeing the disgust on her mother's expression.

By this time, Han had reached Leia's side. "Are you alright, sweetheart? I was only trying to help."

Padmé directed her wrath toward Han. "Help? You considered that helping? You destroyed our one chance! Everything was going exactly as we'd planned! He would have been trapped inside the cage, cut off from the Force, if you hadn't come blasting in, uninvited! How dare you! You are completely useless… no, you're worse than useless. You're nothing more than a stupid liability... I wish I'd never hired you… I wish I'd never heard the name 'Solo'!" She rushed away from the astounded Corellian, toward her gravely injured husband as she spoke urgently into her comlink.

Han was deeply hurt by Padmé's accusations, informing Leia, "I messed everything up, and now your mother hates me."

Leia reached up and touched his cheek. "My mother can't see the truth, Han. There isn't any hope for reaching the man once called Anakin Skywalker," she whispered. "I'm impressed you came down here to try and help me, even if you did it in your usual style of shoot-first and ask-questions-later."

"What makes you think I always shoot first and ask questions later?"

Leia arched her eyebrow. "So you're saying you never do that?"

"No, actually I do it all the time."

"Now that's a surprise," Leia said dryly. "I never would have guessed."

"So you're not mad at me?"

"Well, no," Leia said. "But I don't know how you're ever going to earn back my mother's and my brother's respect." She waved toward the huddled group, frantically trying to stop Vader from bleeding to death. "Especially if the Sith dies."

Han nodded, instead wondering what was going to happen to him if the Sith survived.

The Emperor's Hand was livid. Sitting on her speeder a klick away from the empty landspeeder that she'd tracked to this point, she could also see the Imperial shuttle, as well as a second landspeeder. All the occupants were undoubtedly already inside the building. This was not going according to her plan, which had been to kill Padmé with a well-aimed sniper shot before they arrived. Now there would be far too many people inside the bunker, even for her sharply honed skills to handle.

She had just decided to wait and see who ended up coming out of the bunker alive, when she noticed a small, fast moving ship swooping down from the direction of the Rebel base, and landing next to Vader's shuttle. She flattened herself down into the tall prairie grasses, watching the scene through her macrobinoculars. The men that rushed out of the ship were obviously medics, and the Hand smiled. Perhaps the situation had resolved itself, and the worthless Rebels were dead or dying by the wrath of Darth Vader.

Moments later, a hover-gurney was pushed out of the lift and the Hand nearly dropped her binoc's in shock. The person on the gurney was none other than Lord Vader himself, and it was obvious the Rebels were doing everything possible to keep him alive. The Hand moved her sights toward the door, watching as Padmé, her children, the Jedi, Solo and the Wookiee exited. Padmé was obviously extremely distraught, leaning on her son's shoulder for support, while Leia and Solo seemed to stay back, away from the sobbing woman.

The Hand pursed her lips thoughtfully, recalling earlier in the day when Talon had first introduced her to Padmé's twin children, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. The Hand had nearly swallowed her gum she'd been so startled, and she'd instantly understood how Vader had been lured to Myrkr after Palpatine had ordered him to stay away. She would have to get word to her Master about this turn of events, informing him of the fact that Vader had living off-spring. She wasn't certain how her Master would react to this news – it might please him to learn that he could train another apprentice, or it might infuriate him that there was another threat to his throne.

As she thought further, it occurred to the Hand that these spawns of Vader might be a threat to her status. And Palpatine had told her to eliminate any threats, so it stood to reason that she should eliminate them as quickly as possible. Contacting Palpatine was unnecessary at this point, the Hand decided. The entire Skywalker family, Vader included, would have to die. With Vader incapacitated, it should be a fairly simple task, and Yoda was kind enough to fade away and not leave behind a suspicious body to complicate matters.

Then no one would be alive to interfere with the Emperor's Hand plan to become his Second-in-Command.

The Corellian sighed, and leaned against the wall, his eyes focusing on Leia, who was sitting across the room on a well-worn sofa, next to Obi-Wan. "It was Obi-Wan's idea to head out there."

*But it wasn't Jedi Kenobi that fired away without first understanding the situation,* Chewie replied.

"Vader was fighting Luke and Leia!" Han protested. "Anyone could see they needed my help."

*You need to learn restraint,* Chewie admonished.

"Restraint? What's that mean?" Han questioned as he watched Padmé pace the waiting area inside the medical unit. The older woman had refused to speak to Han, even after he'd offered several apologies. "Kriff, Chewie. I seem to get one Skywalker after another mad at me."

*The Princess has forgiven you,* Chewie woofed out.

"Well, Padmé is still furious, and Luke is hotter than a nova blast at me, too."

*You do have a way with people,* Chewie conceded.

A moment later, the outer door opened, and a human doctor accompanied by a Em-Dee droid walked in the room. Padmé rushed over, her eyes wide. "Tell me!"

The doctor gave a humorless smile. "He's lost quite a bit of blood and he's quite weak, but he'll live."

Padmé let out a relived sob, and Luke wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Thank you, doctor."

"I'm not certain you should be thanking me," the doctor commented. "I didn't sign on with the Rebels to save the life of an Imperial Sith Lord. This is something we might all live to regret."

"Just do your job, Doctor," a firm voice said from behind the man. Talon stepped further into the room as the doctor nodded and left. "General Kenobi? Have you seen Master Yoda lately?"

"As a matter of fact, I haven't," Obi-Wan said, standing and walking over to the group. "I should be able to sense him through the Force now that there are no ysalamiri blocking me, yet I cannot."

Talon held up a small brown robe, which had been burned into two sections. "This was Yoda's, correct?"

Obi-Wan took the robe gingerly. "Yes. It's been cut by a lightsaber."

"There was no body, or blood."

"There wouldn't be," Obi-Wan replied. "A lightsaber wound cauterizes instantly."

Leia had walked over. "Master Yoda's dead, isn't he?" Even as she said the words, she felt a heaviness drop over her spirit. Her Master was gone… she could feel it, and the knowledge hurt more than she thought possible. "Who killed him?"

"My guess would be our new arrival, Captain Judus," Obi-Wan answered grimly.

"Trixsy?" Luke asked. "No. That's not possible!"

"It's more than possible… it's probable," Talon said. "Our techs looked your protocol droid over to see what was causing his confusion. C-3PO had a high-powered thermal detonator implanted inside his central processor, set to explode from a long-range, remote control device. The astromech had one inside him, too. Both devices have been removed without harming the droids, and the protocol droid seems to have recovered his proper memory."

"Only one person could have done that," Leia said firmly. "Trixsy's an Imperial agent."

Obi-Wan regarded the charred robe. "She's more than just an Imperial agent. She's a trained assassin that can use the dark side of the Force."

"To make matters worse," Talon said. "She's completely disappeared, too."

It was late at night, and Vader had still not regained consciousness after the delicate surgery. The doctor had told the Skywalker family that the Sith had lost enormous amounts of blood, and his blood pressure had plummeted well into the danger zone. It would remain to be seen if that loss of blood had impaired his mental abilities when he woke.

Padmé sat in the darkened room, watching her husband's labored breathing. The black helmet had been removed, as well as the armor chest plate, and Vader's pale and scarred head was resting against a pillow, while tubes ran from his nose and mouth. As a precaution against escape should he miraculously awaken, his artificial legs had been removed, and his cybernetic arms had their connections switched off. The Sith Lord was as helpless as it was possible to make him, short of surrounding his bed with ysalamiri. Obi-Wan had advised against that, saying it was possible that cutting Vader off from the Force entirely might cause his death. Despite the terrible scene at the bunker, Padmé felt in her heart that Anakin was still there, underneath all that rage and anger. The plan to cut off Anakin from the Force would have worked, if they'd had the time.

A distraught Princess Leia, however, had come to the conclusion that Vader was too far gone to be brought back to the Light, and had agreed with the doctor's comments. She also firmly believed that Trixsy must have been working with Vader and that Vader was just as much to blame for Yoda's death as the Imperial assassin. Since there was no proof either way, it was difficult to disagree with her assessment.

The Rebel base had been put on high alert, and the security forces were on the lookout for Captain Trixsy Judus.

The Emperor's Hand had gotten into tight security areas many times in the past, and using the Force as her cover, easily slipped back inside the Rebel base. The Rebels were busy looking for a slender red-head, but Trixsy no longer appeared to be human, much less a red-head. Vader had taught her well, and she knew how to manipulate the immediate area around her aura to present an entirely new look. Trixsy was now a Twi'lek Rebel Security Officer, so no one questioned her as she headed toward the infirmary. She felt a twinge of guilt over the fact she had not contacted her Master about what was taking place on Myrkr, but shoved the guilt aside.

She was simply doing what the Emperor had ordered – kill all threats.

Luke couldn't sleep, even though his mother had assured him she would contact him if his father's condition changed in any way. Tired staring at the ceiling, Luke got out of bed, and got dressed. He kept thinking about the mysterious red-head and he got a cold chill whenever he thought about her, and the scorched robe of Jedi Master Yoda. It seemed that the Force was prodding Luke to do something, and the only thing he could think to do was check on his mother and father.

As he left his room and headed through the maze of halls, his mind was focused firmly on the infirmary, he reached out to his injured father, focusing his thoughts on trying to break through the wall of pain and the haze of the drugs. Behind that wall, Luke believed he could sense that his father was desperately trying to reach back, so he quickened his pace. Luke felt caught between Leia's declaration that Vader was evil beyond redemption, and his mother's insistence that Anakin Skywalker was a victim, tangled inside the dark web of lies of Emperor Palpatine. She had said that if it hadn't been for Obi-Wan's - and especially Han's - impetuous behavior, they could have reached the man Anakin once had been. Luke was conflicted about this idea, truly wanting to save his father, yet unable to deny that Darth Vader would have killed all of them, given the chance.

So engrossed in his thoughts, Luke didn't notice someone following him at a discreet distance.

The Twi'lek Security Officer was now, to anyone that noticed, a Twi'lek nurse. No one noticed her, and the Emperor's Hand was amused at the ease of her infiltration. The soft sound the door made when it opened was muffled by the hissing life-support equipment, as well as the ongoing noise of the medical unit in general.

Sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room was the traitor Padmé Amidala. Her chin was resting on her chest, and her eyes were shut in a restless slumber. The Hand's eyes focused down to the person lying in the bed, cringing in disgust at the sight of the helmet-less Darth Vader. So under all that intimidating metal, that was all he was... a decrepit old man, deformed, pathetic, and helpless. She would be doing him a favor by ending his pitiful existence. This was going to be too easy, the Hand thought gleefully. Which one to kill first?

Almost silently, she moved around the foot of the bed, and with the hilt of the lightsaber in her grasp, she raised her arm. One quick slice on the back of her neck, she mused, and the Queen will lose her head. It was almost a shame not to wake her first, to allow her a final moment to realize her fate before the end. The Hand wondered about the rumors that sentient beings could actually think for a few seconds after having their heads cut off. What would be that final reflection? Fear? Pain? The need to draw a breath, when there were no longer lungs to inhale from?

With her finger on the switch, she pressed the 'on' button, and the bright blade hummed to life just as the hospital room was suddenly flooded with a bright, overhead light. The Hand blinked her disoriented eyes, trying to comprehend what was happening. A green lightsaber blade intersected her own weapon, pushing the blade away from Padmé's head.

"Back off, Trixsy," Luke said, forcing her backwards with his weapon. "Or whatever your name is."

"My name is none of your business, spawn of traitors," the woman taunted. "I guess you'll be the first Skywalker to die, instead of your mother."

By this time, Padmé had awakened, leaping to her feet as she tried to put distance between herself and the humming lightsaber.

"You're not working with Vader?" Luke questioned, blocking her blows with his own blade.

The woman gave a snort. "I only used Vader to train me in the ways of the Sith. I work for my Master, Lord Sidious."

"Who?"

"You probably know him better as Emperor Palpatine," the Hand responded, surprised when Luke turned on an offensive rush.

The Imperial deflected Luke's strikes with her blade, and waved her free hand at the respirator machine. The huge machine lifted up, and spun across the room toward Luke, who barely had time to duck and roll away from being crushed against the wall.

On the bed, Vader let out a gasp, his injured lungs no longer being supplied with life-giving oxygen. "Ani!" Padmé cried out, rushing to her husband's side as the Imperial agent slashed down on the mattress. If Vader's legs had still been attached, she would have severed them; but as it was, all she destroyed were the blankets and support foam.

"Father?" Luke shouted, desperately hoping that his father would be able to live long enough for Luke to end this fight and prevent his father from suffocating.

Laughing, the Imperial used her powers to flip the bed onto its side, and the unconscious Sith rolled onto the floor, despite Padmé desperately holding onto her husband's limp body. Luke rushed to help and the assassin took full advantage of the distraction by sending the chair Padmé had been sitting on toward Luke's unguarded head. The leg of the chair clipped his temple, and Luke stumbled and fell to the ground, losing his grip on the handle of his lightsaber as his vision blurred from the impact.

The Emperor's Hand snarled in triumph as she lifted her arm to bring down her blade on Luke's exposed neck. "I've won, Jedi. But, then again, I always win."

Luke could hear his mother's scream of fear as he stared up at the hard eyes of his killer. Then a shot was fired from the doorway, and the hard eyes of the Imperial altered to that of shock and pain. She moved her gaze from Luke down toward her own body, and Luke saw a blackened hole in the center of her chest, where her heart had been beating a moment earlier. She lifted her eyes one more time to Luke's, her mouth opened but no sound left her lips as she dropped her weapon from her suddenly numb fingers. Then she fell to the floor, her life force rapidly fading from her eyes. A second later, she was dead.

The Jedi looked over to the doorway as doctors and nurses rushed past. "Han? Why are you here?"

The Corellian walked over, pulling Luke to his feet. "Couldn't sleep, since Leia was tossing and turning too much. I went for a stroll, and then I saw you so I followed to see where you were headed. It's my job to keep you alive and out of trouble, kid." He gave a quick jerk of his head toward the dead woman. "Sorry I had to kill her, but it seemed like a good idea."

"You don't have to apologize," Luke replied. "I appreciate not being dead."

Together they watched as Vader was placed back on the bed, and a new respirator was hurried into the room. Before the tubes were inserted, Vader coughed and opened his eyes.

"ANI!" Padmé cried out, reaching over and stroking his bald head. "Can you hear me?"

"I… can hear you," his strangled voice rasped. "Is that you, Mom?"

"No, I'm not your mother. It's Padmé." She leaned closer, so he could clearly see her face. "You're going to be alright," Padmé said soothingly. "I promise."

"Perhaps…perhaps I do not wish to get better," the Sith Lord whispered.

"Don't say that, Father," Luke said, sensing the confusion and the conflict that was in his father's spirit. "We'll do whatever it takes to make you get better."

Vader focused his haunted eyes on his son. "Why would you care? Why… why would you want me to recover? It's obvious you lured me here to kill me."

"No!" Luke protested. "We wanted you to turn away from the dark side. That's why we had you come to Myrkr."

The man turned his neck to look back up at his wife. "I tried to kill you." The remark held neither regret nor apology. It was simply a statement of fact.

Padmé wondered which event Anakin was referring to, but decided not to ask. "That wasn't my Anakin. But I know you'll heal; both your body and soul."

"I no longer have a soul to heal," the Sith stated. "If I could, I would still strike you down."

"I don't believe that," Luke said, the hairs on the back of his neck rising in cold fear.

"You don't know the power of the dark side."

Not knowing how to respond to that grim proclamation, Luke decided to change the subject. He gazed down sadly at the pretty, but quite dead young woman. "Did you know her, Father? Was she working for you?"

With great effort, Vader turned his head, and looked down at the floor. "She was my apprentice, and one of Palpatine's Hands. Her name was Shira Brie."

"So Leia was right? You brought her here?"

Vader coughed harshly, then caught his breath. "No, I did not bring her with me. She must have been sent by Palpatine."

Han finally spoke up, "So you're saying the Emperor knows this is the Rebel base?"

"I do not know what Brie transmitted back to Coruscant," Vader said, his intense gaze turning to Solo. "You are the Corellian? My wife's lover?"

Han backed away a few steps, his eyes wide. Putting his hand to his chest, he said, "Me? I was never Padmé's lover. I'm Leia's lover!"

Vader's lips thinned into a tight line. "If I do recover, Solo, you had better find yourself a very good hiding place."

Swallowing hard, Han waved at the nurse. "Hurry up and stick that tube back down his throat. I like him way better when he can't talk."

"The feelings are entirely mutual, Solo," Vader replied right before the breathing tube was replaced.