Luke calmly followed his fuming father into the bowels of the Executor. The ship had arrived in the Adritha System and had begun sending transports to the third planet for supplies- when the spearheaded goddess herself began to feel a bit- faint. Luke smiled at his metaphor. Unlike the Falcon though, the ship alerted her crew of the problem BEFORE they tried to go into hyperspace. Vader halted suddenly to examine a connection, Luke nearly walked into his back, but recovered, nonchalantly moving next to his father to survey the damage as well.

"Kinda reminds me of the Falcon," Luke voiced aloud.

"It 'kinda' reminds me of the Falcon as well," Vader replied, as Luke looked up at him in shock- did his father just compare his flagship to Han's flying junkyard?

"It reminds me of the Millennium Falcon in the respect that it has be sabotaged," Vader explained.

Luke shot his father a very serious look, and directed his attention back at the connection with more scrutiny.

"Yeah, I see it now," he muttered, "But who would do that- surely your crew- "

"Wouldn't dare," Vader finished with a nod, "And would have no reason either--" he trailed off in thought.

Looking back down at the expertly severed cables, he sighed, "This is going to take awhile to repair- longer than I would like. In the meantime," he looked down at his son, "Stay close, there's SOMEONE on this ship that cannot be trusted."

Luke nodded in understanding, and walked next to his father as they exited the engine level.

~

Threepio finally got a chance to get into the cockpit as the humans began bickering once again. He looked down at his counterpart as he read their destination coordinates, "Oh, look at that Artoo, we're going to the Adritha System, we've never been there before."

Artoo whistled in return.

"What do you mean YOU'VE been there?" Threepio hit Artoo's dome with his metal arm. "Don't be ridicules!"

Artoo whistled again, just as Leia entered the cockpit.

"What do you mean, you've been there with Master Luke? He's never been there either!"

Leia froze as she heard Threepio's words.

"Artoo said Luke's been to Adritha before?" she asked in astonishment.

"I think he's just being delusional, Ma'am. He says that they stopped there for supplied right after the Hoth evacuation."

Leia looked at Artoo, "Why would he go there? Didn't he rejoin with the others?"

Artoo whistled again.

Threepio straighten, "He says that he and Master Luke did not rejoin with the others."

Leia's face darkened, "So all this time I thought he had rejoined with the Alliance- and then come after us--- and probably High Command thinks that he went straight to Bespin--"

Threepio knew that look and remained silent.

"Where did he go?" she asked just as Han came up behind her.

"Hey, Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

She hushed him with a wave of her hand, looked expectantly at Threepio.

Artoo beeped, almost meekly.

"He went to Dagobah, Ma'am."

"DAGOBAH? What the hell is on Dagobah?"

Artoo squawked shortly.

"A Jedi Master, I believe." The golden droid translated, throwing in his own two cents.

Leia paled and turned to face Han, murmuring, "A Jedi Master--"

The princess set her jaw, looking down at Artoo, "Do you still have the coordinates?"

Artoo whistled an affirmative-- that much Leia understood.

Looking back at Han, she smiled, "Change of plans, Captain. Set course for Dagobah."

Han rolled his eyes, "Great, that's ALL we need, is another Jedi."

~

Mara knew her "routine hyperdrive problem" cover was blown the moment Vader set out the check the problem plaguing his ship himself, but her plan was far from ruin. She navigated the hall of the Super Star Destroyer as if she'd never before seen one, but in actuality she knew it as well as she knew her Master's palace, but for appearances sake- she had to be a naïve transport worker. She couldn't use the Force, without risking Vader's notice, so she settled with the 'lost little girl' routine whenever an office noticed her wandering the halls of the upper levels of the Destroyer. Finally, she came to a stop, right out Vader's quarters. Quickly putting her slicer skills to work- she was in.

Now to figure out where the Dark Lord was hiding his little brat.

She slowly moved through the office, blending with the shadows in the dark room.

A smile slowly spread across her face as she noticed the seam in the far wall, gotcha Skywalker.

Now- how to get to him?

She studied the wall thoroughly before deciding on the most ridicules course of action- she knocked.

~

Luke looked up from the book he was reading as a knock sounded on the wall that connected his quarters to his father's office. He frowned, "That's odd," he mumbled.

Standing, he tossed the book aside and cautiously approached the hidden door. He drew his lightsabre, as he activated the door release---

To reveal the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

The shock gave Mara the opportunity she needed to knock him out and throw his limp body over her shoulder before he even knew what hit him.

The lightsabre slid from Luke's hand and clattered to the floor as the Emperor's Hand retreated with her Master's prize.

As Mara stepped back into the corridor she knew she didn't have the luxury of not using the Force this time- The Stormtroopers might not know a kidnapping when they saw one, but the officers swarming on this level would. She just had to hope that she could make it to a ship before Vader caught up with her. Taking a deep breath- she drew on the Force and ran.

~

On the bridge- Vader turned, like a lion realizing his territory was being compromised--- he felt the presence of another Force user- with his son.

He bolted in pursuit- to the crew surrounded him, he seemed to just vanish. As he moved through the corridors at lighting speed, he could feel that his target was doing the same- he wouldn't make it.

He stopped, startling the officers around him- as he seemed to appear out of nowhere. He slammed his fist into a nearby alarm console, putting the entire ship on red alert. He sneered, lets see you get off this ship now, he thought as he resumed making his was towards to landing bay.

~

Mara cursed as the Executor's alarms began blaring. Great. Well, she smiled to herself, at least they haven't figured out yet that the tractor beams are offline too. She reached a small cargo ship and rushed inside, slapping the ramp controls as she ran to the cockpit with her burden. She cuffed him to the copilot's seat and smiled, "I'm not letting you out of my sight, Jedi."

She ran through the preflight sequence as quickly as the ship would allow, and immediately fired up the shields- they wouldn't shoot her down, but they would certainly cripple her if given the chance, and then she lifted off- just barely slipping through the closing bay doors. As soon as she cleared the massive ship- she threw the hyperdrive switch, and they were gone.

~

Vader arrived just in time to see the small cargo ship containing his son slip through the closing bay doors.

He'd failed. He'd failed his son.

An inhuman growl escaped the Dark Lord as he turned to face the pallid officer standing behind him, "Fix this damn ship now!" Vader roared, and stalked away from the terrified man before the urge to kill him became overpowering. He had an desire to just take his own ship and pursue them, but to abandon his flagship would definitely draw the Emperor's unwanted attention-that is, if he hadn't drawn it already.

~

The Emperor's Hand finished checking the instruments before her and glanced over at her still unconscious prisoner. She couldn't help but smile. She had an incredibly handsome Jedi tied to her copilot chair.

She scratched her lower lip in thought.

There was no reason this mission had to be all business and no pleasure--- right?

She leered mischievously as she moved closer to the helpless young man, gently running a finger along his strong jaw line. She settled on her knees in front of him, and began to loosen his tunic.

As she kissed his neck, and she felt him jerk away. She looked up at his face, alarmed, and was met by two blue darkened spheres- glaring at her.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded dangerously.

Mara stumbled away from the narrow eyes tearing into her.

Mara Jade had just grabbed a hold of more bantha foddler than even she could handle.

~

"This place is nothing more than a slime hole!" Han cursed as the group trekked through the swamp of Dagobah, following Artoo's lead. They had been walking for hours, trusting that the little R2 unit knew where it was going.

Han was beginning to have his doubts.

He cursed yet again as his boot heel was sucked into the mud.

"Who in their right mind would live in this place?"

"Live here I would, Captain." A voice called from behind them, they all spun- weapons trained on---- On a small green creature.

"Oh, great." Han murmured

Leia stepped forward, drawn by this diminutive alien.

"Master Yoda?" She asked uncertainly.

Yoda smiled, "Yes, Yoda I am."

"Thank to Force," she blurted smiling.

"Need my help you do." He did not question.

She inhaled deeply, "Yes."

"Found himself in trouble again, Young Skywalker has, hmm?"

Han sighed, "Do you always talk like this?"

"Han!" Leia elbowed him sharply.

Yoda merely smiled, "Offended, I am not. But, prevent Palpatine from getting to your brother- we must."

Leia's jaw dropped open.

"MY WHAT?!"

[Oops, nothing like a convenient slip of the tongue on a Jedi Master's part. now only if Ben had done the same. "Your father is a powerful and rich mofo- who practically runs the galaxy- doesn't it SUCK to be you, growing up on this dustball?- Oh, wait. I mean, your father was betrayed and murdered by me- I mean Darth Vader. What a dirty bastard huh?" PLEASE keep up the reviews! They are my will to LIVE! (well, kinda. YOU know what I mean!!) And I love you soooo much for reading!]