Capital, Alderaan

0 BBY

To his great humiliation, he had to call Errol for a ride.

He was able to endure his sly smile when he arrived with his transporter. "Kicked you out, huh? That's some subtle work. In all my breakups, I don't think I've ever been escorted out by palace guards."

That wasn't exactly true. They hadn't escorted him out. That would have more of an obvious affront to the Chancellor than even Alderaan could afford. The Senator had sent word that he understood Elian would be returning early to the Academy. Would he like a lift to the nearest town? It was all very cordial and chilly and perfectly clear.

Once they arrived back on campus, Errol dropped him off at his residence hall with many apologies and offers of aid in return for unspecified favors. Elian eyed the usual crowd milling around his residence hall. He needn't have worried. Apparently no one had informed them yet of his fall from grace. They greeted him with the usual cool chin lifts that counted as greetings of great affection in their circle. When he entered his room he saw his holograph receiver blinking notification of an unheard message.

A middle aged human woman with a pinched expression graced his screen when he activated the receiver. "We regret to inform you that our student quotas for next academic year have been exceeded. Therefore we cannot consider your application at this time. Please advise us when you are ready to vacate your room. Thank you for considering the Academy and best of luck for success in your future endeavors."

Elian doubted her wishes were sincere.

He dialed Coruscant . When Sate Pestage appeared, Elian asked for something he had only requested a handful of times. "I need to speak directly with my father."

Pestage looked dubious, but complied. Within moments he was looking at his father's face for the first time in over a year. It was the same pale, mutilated profile he had known since he had first come to Coruscant at age nine. The same face that told him his skills lacked refinement, that his fighting was mediocre at best, that it really showed how much training time he had lost, that he was an incredible disappointment.

"Father," Elian said. "My cover has been compromised."

"How unfortunate," Palpatine said with no hint of surprise. "How did this occur?"

"A woman at the Royal household. She found my face in an old picture from the Holonet. With you."

"I see."

Elian braced himself for one of his father's sudden rages. But there was nothing. Barely any reaction at all. " I can no longer gather information here," he continued, trying to ensure he was understood.

"And what have you gathered so far? Perhaps that will be of use, though incomplete."

There was a slyness in his tone that was familiar from Elian's childhood. He'd never been able to lie to his father. He remembered a time when he had tried to hide a little Tooka kitten in his room that he'd found wandering the streets of Coruscant. Shortly after, his father had ordered the housekeeping staff to put kill traps throughout the palace, and the Tooka was caught in one of them. As Elian sobbed over the small creature's broken body, his father had pointed out in the very same tone that the traps had been set for pests, and had he known Elian was keeping a pet, he never would have endangered it.

Never attempt to trick the trickster, his father told him on another occasion. You will always lose the game because you simply don't have the stomach for it.

"Nothing," Elian said with as flat an affect as he could manage. "I have discovered nothing of any use at all."

"Six months of living and learning alongside the most radicalized students in the Empire, and at no point have you seen or heard anything supporting the rebels?" Palpatine asked with a mocking kind of feigned shock.

"No. They have never trusted me. I tried to gain their trust, but I was unsuccessful." It was always best to stick as close to the truth as possible so that his father would not sense the divergence.

"Well, that is very disappointing."

"Should I return to Coruscant?" Elian asked dully.

"I will contact you with the details of your next...project," The Chancellor said. Then he ended the holograph abruptly.

Elian stared at the dark machine, unsettled. He felt far more tense and worried than if his father had shouted and cursed at him.

There was nothing to do but wait, and he was unsure how long he would be safe in Alderaan. He wasn't sure he even cared. When he left his room the next morning the Anarchists had clearly learned something. They made his way difficult and elbowed him as he passed. Surely they hadn't learned the whole truth or they would have killed him or at least left him with some memorable scars. But someone must have hinted around campus that he had imperialistic sympathies.

Did that mean Mara had returned?

It didn't matter.

He hunched his shoulders against the chill wind and walked toward the least preferred campus cafe for a cup of bitterstem. Perhaps there he would not see Keo, Vala, or anyone else. He needed some time to think and decide what to do next. He was so consumed by his situation that he didn't notice anything else out of the ordinary until he passed a couple of students standing in the middle of the path and pointing at the sky. He followed their look and froze.

Moments later he was beating his hands bloody on the door of her room, praying she was there. It was too early for a meal or classes or for any one of her many jobs. If she had returned from the capital she would surely be here. If not...

The door swung open violently. Mara's face was pale and blotchy and her eyes were rid-rimmed. "How could you possibly be knocking at my door after what you've done?" She said hoarsely.

Without a word he reached out and grabbed her arm in a bruising grip, dragging her into the hallway and out the front door of her residence hall. He had quite a fight doing it, too. She pulled, then scratched, then punched with a closed fist and force he had not been expecting. "What are you doing? Are you crazy? Let me go!"

Then she looked up and saw it; a huge silver-white crescent hanging low in the sky where no moon should be. It was visibly moving, drawing closer to the sun with the side nearest turning dark in contrast. Mara's resistance fell away. "What is that?" she whispered.

Elian took advantage of her confusion and distraction and got hold of her again, dragging her further down the quad. Around them a shadow swept across the grassy lawns and ancient trees as the Weapon eclipsed the sun. The few students already out halted in mid-step and looked up. They impeded his path as they stood staring. Windows opened in the nearest residence halls and sleepy-looking people stuck their heads out to see what was going on.

He didn't know how much time they had. It would have to charge itself, but he had no idea how long it had been there.

He'd managed to get her three quarters of the way to the campus space port when she began to realize where they were headed and started trying to pull away again. "Stop, Elian! What is happening? What are we doing?"

He dragged her towards the nearest space-worthy vessel he saw. It was no one's first choice to go off world, other than that it was unguarded and he was reasonably sure he could fly it. He'd been given a list of universal access codes when he'd left Coruscant and he'd need them all to launch the thing. He punched in one to open the door and hauled Mara bodily inside, her feet dragging and stumbling on the floor.

"Stop!" She was screaming then. "If that thing is dangerous we have to go back and warn people! Warn everybody!"

She attacked his arms and face with her nails, making purchase on his cheek, drawing blood. Shoving her away, Elian raised his hand toward her. Her eyes went wide and a gasp left her lips as something like an invisible wall shoved her back against the bulkhead.

"Don't. Move," He said in a strange, power-laden voice.

He knew it wouldn't actually work on her, but it did scare her to immobility. That's all he needed for a few minutes. He released the force push and turned to the controls, punching in the launching sequence.

The engine thrummed beneath their feet. Through the cockpit window he saw the noise raise the heads of some nearby security personnel. They began to walk toward the shuttle, and then run as they realized someone was trying to take off.

He pulled back the throttle, the view outside tilting crazily from the security staff to the quad and the towering trees to the ragged black edge of the mountains, and finally to the blue sky feathered with white. With a tremendous force that would have sent Mara rolling across the galley if she had not already been against the wall, they were airborne. The blue rapidly turned to indigo and then to black. It was an artless and turbulent takeoff, especially for a first timer. Elian heard Mara retching behind him, but he could not be sorry for something to occupy her while he got them to a safe distance.

What was a safe distance? The ship shuddered and jumped as it surged through the upper atmosphere. The heat shields were holding...so far. He released his breath as they cleared the misty blue halo of Alderaan's atmosphere and the shuttle's vibrations leveled out. The planet lay before them, hazy blue, green and brown. Elian flipped the ship over and made for the nightside of the planet. A glittering starscape filled the cockpit window. His knowledge of the weapon was fairly limited. He decided putting the planet between them and it was a good place to start.

"Don't do this," Mara pleaded.

But it was done. Elian glanced over his shoulder at the green and gold planet becoming smaller and smaller in the rear windows of the little shuttle. He couldn't see the Weapon at all from this vantage point.

Mara followed his gaze and struggled to her feet, stumbling toward a portal and pressing her fingers to the transparisteel.

"Don't look," Elian said. Perhaps he should have tried the voice again, but he didn't. It was only a simple plea that she didn't even seem to hear.

The off-world silence gave what happened next a surreal, macabre beauty. Before her eyes, a red, gold, and blue-black flower blossomed where the planet had been. The light from its petals of fire and debris reflected in her eyes and lit up her face as they stretched and arched and fell away to nothingness in the blackness of space.