Disclaimer - This is my sory but the characters belong to George Lucas and what he has built is truly magnificent. I'm not making an Imperial credit out of this.
Ash
Force in Jeopardy - Chapter 2
What was keeping Luke. Leia fumed as she presided over the formal dinner for the
Deegani Delegation. He should have been here well over an hour ago. She glanced at Han, her lips tightening. He sent her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry the kid will get
here sometime. He's probably discovered some dusty old Jedi tome somewhere and has meditated himself into a different time zone."
Leia grimaced slightly," I know Han, but I really wanted us to present a united front
especially with Mon Mothma being detained at Bilbringi"
The New Republic was putting on its best show for the visiting delegation. Deegan was a very wealthy world and could help the Alliance immeasurably. Economic co-operation and military resources would ease the financial burden that the Alliance was trying to cope with.The long war had taken it's toll on many worlds and the New Republic was doing what it could, but it all needed to be done yesterday. Leia hadn't quite admitted this to herself ,but they had a rather pretty ,educated and very single wealthy Princess.
She would be a very suitable match for her brother if it was possible and Leia would see to it that things became possible. The New Republic was short of money after so long and costly a war. No-one would force the young Commander to take a bride, but he could perhaps be persuaded for the good of the Republic, and Leia knew that her brother was lonely.
Han glanced round the assembled throng of the New Republic glitterati, then caught the eye of his Fiancee. She looked absolutely stunning, her hair caught up in an intricate coil of braided loops, her pure white senatorial gown finished off with some rare pieces of Alderaanian jewellry. Her innate sense of style and grace thrilled him to his core. He wasn't too keen on gatherings such as this and always had to be forced into a formal suit, but he would do it for Leia and he admitted to himself that he had been enjoying himself ,especially now that the formalities were over.
What was keeping the young Jedi. Han hated these formal functions, but he was pretty sure that Luke hated them too. There was still quite a lot of the gauche Tatooine Rimworlder about Luke, but lately he had worn an impassive air about him like a suit of Mandalorian Armour. Leia made sure he was coached perfectly,but Han always felt that Luke kept fearing he'd make a fatal diplomatic mistake. He chuckled to himself, Luke was obviously better ar hiding his dislike of all the fawning and political nastiness.. She had been going at him hard recently and Han wondered if the Jedi was subtly getting his own back. Luke could be even more stubborn than Leia at times. He would dig in his heels and that would be that.
A small ripple in the force alerted Leia, Luke was just entering the banquetting hall. He strode towards his sister with an apologetic expression .
"I'm sorry, things just ......" he trailed off, an embarrassed look on his handsome face.
"You know I mean't to be on time, but I had to mediate in a quarrel between a very drunk Talz and a Gamorrean".
Han gave Leia a 'see what I mean face' as she raised her eyes to the heavens and lost no more time and quickly introduced Luke to the Deegani Princess. He had to admit she was very beautiful. Leia felt his appreciation through their shared force sense and smiled.
The Princess Antaara Deegan nodded to her companion, Councillor Janss Rivn, and smoothly began to make polite conversation with the Jedi. He was certainly handsome and you could feel a quiet power flowing from his compact, muscular frame. it would be a shame to have to kill him. Perhaps if she seduced him first it would make things, she paused in thought , more pleasurable.
Luke spoke to the Deegani delegation for a lengthy period under his sister's approving eye. The princess from Deegan had her long fair hair done in an elaborate fashion similar to Leias, (although the two women would dispute Luke's uneducated judgement on such matters as hair)and the effect was superb. She was tall and slim with ice blue eyes. Her speaking voice was low with the distinctive accent from her homeworld making for a very pleasing package .
Luke danced with her several times later on and admitted she was attractive but she didn't make him yearn to gaze into her eyes and think about things such as Romance. Somehow Luke felt that at her core there was an inner coldness. He couldn't explain it even to himself. Oh, he found her very attractive, but was not even vaguely aware of Leia and Councillor Horns' plans. Luke was scanning the room for one of his sister's staff members. By rights she should have been here, he thought, speaking to the delegation members. He spotted Winter conversing with Admiral Ackbaar, but no Lieutenant Maija. Then the crowd seemed to part and a vision in dark red wandered casually into the main hall. Luke somehow sensed that not all was well with the girl, the casual air was a sham. She was not happy, he could somehow feel it. He also felt distress and tiredness and somewhere a looming darkness, but couldn't have said who these feelings came from.
Maija had spent the best part of the evening getting herself and her courage together and as a result had missed the formal introductions and the dinner. With any luck she could wander in, make a point of speaking to Winter ,(she always remembered ) and then could leave. She knew all about the members of the Deegani delegation and had a good idea of what their real agenda was.
A presence blocked her path." Good Evening." she looked up and winced. Not again. Commander Skywalker right in front of her, impeding her path towards Lady Winter.
"Sir". Maija acknowledged and made as if to move on.
"Are you well Lieutenant?" the Commander asked softly."You seem a little out of sorts this evening, but very beautiful".
Maija stopped thinking and glanced at those blue eyes of his. I thought he was supposed to be a simple man from farming stock. This polished urbane officer was the essence of charm and he left her as a gibbering idiot.
"I am quite well ,...... Sir" she added that as a sort of afterthought, a concession to politeness. "If you would excuse me, I must have a word with the Lady Winter". Maija nodded her head with the correct air of deference and Luke had no option but to let her past.
"Damn", she muttered and rubbed her suddenly sweaty palms against her robe. After avoiding him for nearly two years, why was he picking up on her sense now. Were her force barriers cracking, was that the reason for the awful dreams.
Winter smiled at Maija, her keen eyes taking in the younger girls' sophisticated appearance, but she wondered about her nervousness and the brief conversation with the young Commander Skywalker. He had deliberately blocked her path , of that Winter was convinced. Should she bring it to Leia's attention or was Winter making moth fibre from Bantha hair. Winter was of course, privy to Leias' matchmaking plans and could see the suitability of the Princess Antaara, but was Luke suitable for the Princess. Winter wasn't convinced that the Lieutenant had been there the entire evening, but chatting to the Omwati aide, Helas Qrax-Uit, convinced Winter that Maija had indeed been there. Winters perfect memory reassured her, for in the past year and a half Luke had barely spoken to Maija. Maybe Leia should worry about Helas Qrax-Uit getting in the way of a union with Princess Antaara
Maija had enough force skills to plant the idea in Helas's brain that Maija had been sitting with her the whole time. Although using force skills in such august company was not clever, you ran the risk of discovery..
Antaara looked at Janss Rivn and her lip curled slightly. These rebel fools had no idea that they were dealing with one of the top graduates ever to come out of the Imperial Academy. Her mission from Grtrec was plain. First a little sabotage was in order . Then the real mission would begin. The assassination of Princess Leia Organa and the Jedi Knight - Luke Skywalker.
Chapter 3 - Force Dreaming
The dreams came every night now. For nearly three weeks Maija had not had a peaceful rest. The brown eyes were red rimmed and sunken and her face was paper white. Her colleagues were beginning to ask her if she was well. Winter had been giving her very penetrating stares, as if she didn't trust her, or that she was no longer fit to carry out her duties. How long before Leia and Han noticed and even worse Commander Skywalker. If she was getting herself noticed then she would not be able to move freely about the Imperial Palace.She had to tell someone and there was only one person that she could tell.
Mon Mothma was bone weary. The latest uprising by the remnants of the Empire were very well organised. Her shuttle had been trapped at Bilbringi for far too long and it was good to be home. She would rest then she would contact the New Republic Senate. She glanced at the chrono on her wrist 0300 hours. The Imperial Palace was silent, well, this part of it was. Coruscant was never completely silent. But in Mon Mothmas human cycle it was long past sleeping time.
Her acti-link buzzed briefly. "By the force!" she exclaimed. "Who could this be at this hour?"
Cautiously Mon Mothma activated the viewer and blinked. It was a member of Leia's staff, what was her name again? Ah, yes. Lieutenant Maija .....
She opened the door and the girl scurried in, checking that no-one was following behind her. When Mon Mothma looked at her face, it was obvious that the child was extremely distressed. Her face was as white as Hoth, and streaked with tears as if she had been crying for an age.
"Madam President, I once did you a favour many years ago. I don't know what to do, where to go, who to trust anymore. If I do not find some solace I will go mad and if I do that, people important to the Alliance will die. I trusted you once with the key to my identity, do you still have the holocube I gave you on Raithal?"
Mon Mothma started in surprise and nodded.
"I made sure you would put it in a safe place, but unconsciously, without accessing the information stored within.".
The President found her voice "Who are you and how did you manage to get past the guards?"
Maija sighed, and it was a sigh that was centuries old. "My name is Maija Darklighter Ke....."
"any relation to Biggs and Gavin?" broke in Mon Mothma.
Maija sighed again, this wasn't easy at all. "Cousin" she muttered. "As I said, I'm Maija Darklighter Kenobi"she looked down at the carpet woven in a design typical of Chandrila and missed the Presidents reaction to her real name. Mon Mothma had been literally struck dumb.The almost forgotten incident when she had made the break from the Empire returned to the front of her mind. The name explained a lot.
"I believe you were acquainted with my parents. They worked for Bail Organa on Alderaan. I'm said to be very like my mother, although I have the Kenobi eyes."
Mon Mothma didn't need the holocube to verify this fact it was as clear as a day on Chad.
" I was placed in the care of my Uncle and Aunt on Tatooine as my parents travelled around various worlds. My parents, with the view that I might serve the Organa family, or the greater good of the Empire, more likely the fledgling rebel movement, placed me in the accelerated programme and I ended up on Raithal. I have some weak force skills which enabled me to warn you and to block discovery of who I really am. But after Alderaan was destroyed my relatives felt I would be safer where I was. I finished my training and started working as an Imperial recruit. Although I did send the Alliance as much information as I possibly could. You were the one who received it, as did General Madine, although he is unaware of my identity. just the code name 'Sandstorm'. I couldn't work for them after what they did to my family.When Biggs and my Grandfather died I no longer wanted to stay where I was. But I stuck it out for another two years. I had promised my allegiance to the light side. My official joining of the rebel alliance became unavoidable as I had made a mistake and was nearly caught hacking top secret imperial codes from the Triadon main computer and I sensed I was in big trouble. So I defected to the Alliance just around the time of the Battle of Hoth. That is not a period I want to remember for a very long time."
Mon Mothma poured the shivering aide a glass of wine." Come on, just drink it down, you obviously need someone to talk to"
Maija gulped at the liquid gratefully and wiped her eyes." I never thought I was really force sensitive. I'd almost forgotten about it until two or three months ago when I started getting flashbacks and strange dreams of destruction and darkness. I knew about Durros", she started to shake and her voice wobbled dangerously. "I knew about Durros and I could do nothing to save them, nothing" her voice tailed off and she sobbed bitterly." I didn't think it was true until it had happened, then it was too late, they had all died. I could have saved them." Maija put her head in her hands drained.
"Why are you here Maija, could you not have talked to Leia?" Mon Mothma asked.
"No !", Maija all but shouted. "I have been given a task. Until I'm discovered, which will be soon I fear, I must complete it". The voice came deep from within the aide as if spoken by another.
"I have acted as a sort of unofficial bodyguard to Leia Organa and will continue to do so until after her wedding. My Grandfather has charged me with the task of protecting the other Skywalker twin as he is also in grave danger. The Deegani delegation are not what they seem. Do not trust them, they do not wish the alliance well. The Princess Antaara is a top Imperial Graduate and worked for a period with Lord Vader. It is said that she has a very weak ability in the force but it all comes from the darkside and as such is evil. I tell you now that it has grown and she is evil."
"The president of the New Republic sat down ,her face drawn. "How do you know, Can you prove it?"
Maija produced a data file. " Most of what you need to know is on this disk, I managed to retrieve the data from the Raithal erased files . But on a personal note. I was a very junior cadet on Raithal and Antaara was the top graduate for that year group. She wouldn't recall me, very few people do as I blend into the background very well, it is a useful skill. She is vicious and cruel and has no sense of moral decency. If you crossed her path you were denounced as a traitor and usually disappeared without trace. Take it from me Madam President, check where her ship travelled to when it left Deegan and I would bet my life on it, that the Relentless Warrior visited Imperial space first."
Mon Mothma poured herself a measure of Chandrilan Brandy, and filled Maija's glass
again with a red wine from some anonymous world. "What do you want to do child? Do you want Leia to be told ,or Luke?"
"No Ma'am, for the Deegani Princess would pick up on the negative feelings and it is better that they do not know. my force skills are weak, but I can make myself force invisible as if I am an ordinary member of staff. I can better protect the princess. If it makes you feel more secure Ma'am, you could divulge this information to Page, General Madine or Admiral Ackbaar. Antaara Deegan went into a sort of Imperial Special Elite band of Agents and Assassins. These things were known but never discussed, all the top graduates usually went into the Special Services. "
When Maija left Mon Mothma scanned the data file, then set some enquiries in motion, some extra surveillance was in order. She went to the holoproj and coded a call to Lieutenant Page. She then thought about the girl. A very brave young woman and she recalled her as she had been before Mon Mothma had left the Empire.She had saved her life, especially when they had found the message in the shuttle's computer detailing the way the ship had been sabotaged on Raithal.' I will do as she asks', Mon Mothma thought, but I will let Lieutenant Page know. Perhaps I also need further checks on Lieutenant Darklighter just to make sure.
She turned to her holoprojector and inserted the message cube. The figure of Petros Kenobi rose into the air. "Greetings mon Mothma, if you have activated this you will know that I am dead and I am placing my daughters' care in your hands.........."
She deactivated the machine and sat in silence. there was trouble ahead, she could feel it.