Disclaimer: Either George Lucas or Timothy Zahn owns these characters. Chapter three title c/o Barenaked Ladies.

Rating: PG

And Mara Makes Three
Chapter Three: Baby Seat

Her ten-year-old hands wrapped tightly around the metal cylinder, Mara made a few tentative strokes through the air. The red blade hummed and crackled quietly, burning the oxygen it passed through. Slipping her finger onto the button, she turned the blade off and smiled.

"An impressive weapon," the Emperor said, opening his hand and calling the lightsabre to him. Mara gasped as the weapon leapt from her hand and then settled neatly into Palpatine's palm. "Lord Vader gave you excellent instructions."

She nodded and a long section of red hair sliding in front of her face. Her right hand, scarred from practice sessions with droids and her other master, came up quickly to tuck the hair neatly behind her ear. "He would not let me work on it except in his presence." She frowned. "I do not think he trusted me to do it correctly."

Palpatine smiled, and Mara had to repress a shiver. It was truly the only thing in her life that caused her discomfort.

"Lord Vader trusts no one, my young apprentice. Perhaps he thought you would sever a limb by testing it too early." A wave of Palpatine's hand sent the lightsabre back towards Mara and settled it onto her belt. "It is complete now; do not ever let it out of your sight."

The young girl nodded gravely, knowing she had been dismissed.

****

Vader stepped to one side as a small streak of blue lightning came towards him. It hit the wall, leaving a large black scorch mark in the steel of the Emperor's palace. Immediately, a small cleaning droid came to polish the wall clean.

With a thought, Vader lifted his assailant off the ground, binding her arms and legs with thickened air. She struggled, looking down at the ground nearly six feet below her, and then leveled wild green eyes on him.

"Put…me…down," she gasped, the air thickening around her face.

"You do not take action against me, Mara Jade. I am more powerful than you could possibly imagine, and more powerful than you will ever be."

He let go of her restraints and watched as she tumbled to the ground. To the child's credit, she rolled and recovered from the incident quite well, although her breathing was still heavy.

"Emperor Palpatine had said that I would be going to the dinner tonight, that I was to acquire information about Senator Organa." Her tone bordered on whining, but she kept her voice even. Despite the outburst a moment before, Vader once again found himself impressed by the mature child.

"Plans change, Mara. Tonight you will spend meditating on ways to improve yourself as the young Sith that you are."

Outraged, Mara stormed off towards her quarters. Vader wished he could have grinned.

****

Vader had not been certain what to expect when he arrived at the girl's quarters. Her presence in the Force had been ebbing and flowing all evening, but the crescendo it had reached just moments before had issued a stern look from the Emperor. Lord Vader was glad for the excuse to leave the dinner. Politics had never been his strong suit.

What the should-be father found was a room in shambles. Bed linens had been torn and scorched; vases and lamps had been thrown against walls and turned into dust. Mirrors and furniture lay neatly split in two, the edges neatly shorn by a new lightsabre.

He almost didn't sense her attack from above. Vader lifted one hand, stopping her lightsabre and her body from falling any farther. With the flick of his wrist, he sent her towards her broken bed, rather than against the wall that he had initially intended.

"I see you have found your anger," he said as Mara picked herself up off the destroyed piece of furniture. "Harness it, and direct it towards your foes. There are greater foes than I, Mara Jade; you will meet them soon enough. Do not destroy those who can help you."

He pivoted on his heel and left her quarters, locking the door behind him.