In the Shadows of Dark Empire
Part 1: The Beginning
by SJ 12-2002/2003 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
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Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs
to George Lucas. Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Empire also
belong to Tom Veitch.
Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.
See my home page for more details.
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.
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As he ran as fast as he could down the corridors of the frigate, Luke's thoughts
turned to his sister. Was she all right? Had Han managed to get her out before
the planet had been---
Suddenly aware that he was thinking as if they were back in the Rebellion and
that they were only two steps ahead of the Empire, he mentally shook his head
and forced himself to think more rationally.
Coruscant was very heavily defended and equipped with a planetary-wide energy
shield. His sister and friends, he then reminded himself, were probably in the
former Imperial Palace, the most impregnable place of the whole planet---
Although it had been proven more vulnerable than they had estimated when
imperial spies had managed to infiltrate it during Thrawn's---
At the thought of how close his sister and family had come to be taken by
imperials, he forced more speed out of his already singing muscles. The
resulting wind whistled past his ears as his heart pounded in his chest as if it
were ready to jump out of it ; Luke didn't pay any attention to those signs of
excessive straining.
He ran even faster, barely avoiding crewmen as he zipped past them before
turning tight corners.
As usual now, Mara Jade was right on his heels. "It might only be a minor
attack," she commented between two quick breaths. "I'm sure that they're all
right."
While his friend's words normally comforted him, they didn't this time. Somehow,
Luke had an extremely bad feeling about this sudden turn of events. Mara seemed
to understand this ; she remained silent as she ran at his side.
They finally reached the main bridge--- and screeched to a halt in order to
avoid plowing in the busy techs. The moment that her eyes rested on them, Mara
understood that they were in an emergency status. The ship was no longer in
hyperspace and the officers were gathered around the communication area.
Luke naturally walked toward them. "Any news?" he asked in general once he had
reached the small group of worried officers.
The admiral reflexively saluted him. "Master Skywalker, we are trying to break
through the jamming that is going on around Coruscant. From what we can deduce
from the first reports, the Imperials are striking with everything that can
fly."
The Katana Fleet, Mara suddenly shivered even as she searched Luke's eyes with
hers. From the grimness of his gaze, she understood that her friend had made
the same deduction.
However, before either of them could comment, a tech suddenly called for
everyone's attention. "Yes, Councilor, he's here," he answered urgently, then
turned toward the young Jedi. "Your sister wants to talk to you, Master Jedi."
Two seconds later, Luke had put on the offered head set. "Leia, are you all
right?" he asked. A pause. From Luke's ensuing sigh, Mara understood that the
answer was positive. "What's going on?"
"They're here to wipe us out, Luke," Leia answered him grimly, then before he
could argue against her defeatist conclusion, continued: "There were spies on
the surface of the planet. When the first ships appeared on our screens, the
others sabotaged our shields and long-range cannons. They were extremely well-
organized this time," she sighed, "and now they are much too numerous for us to
defend Coruscant for much longer."
"We're coming," Luke reflexively reassured her, then turned toward the general
in charge of the ship. "How fast can we re---"
"Luke," his sister's voice interrupted him. "We're leaving Coruscant. Don't come
anywhere near the planet, you hear me? Get to the rendezvous point. We'll meet
you there."
Luke was too stumped to argue. "What?!" he gaped in shock. "We're giving up on
Coruscant just like this? Without putting up more---"
"We've already lost more than forty percent of our means of defense," Leia
informed him matter-of-fact, "and the shield is almost completely gone now.
We're gathering at new Pinnacle Base."
Mara, who had picked up another head set, cut in the discussion. "What about our
group on Alphagi, Leia?" she inquired seriously. "You did send an important part
of our forces to take out that base.
A heavy sigh of resignation answered them both. "Imperial reinforcement came in
just after you left the area ; they boxed them in. We have lost contact with
them now, but we don't know if it is because of them, or because of us."
Both Jedi Knights searched each other's eyes at this. They were beaten. Within
a few hours, the tables had been turned on them.
It didn't make it any easier for Luke to leave his sister and friends to their
own devices, especially not when he knew that he could save them.
As if sensing his dilemma, the ex-princess spoke up again. "Luke, we'll be all
right, I promise," she reassured him earnestly. "Others will probably need your
help soon, and you are our last Jedi fighter. We can't risk you for an
impossible rescue mission. Rejoin the rendezvous point. It's an order, Commander
Skywalker," she finished, officially reasserting him in his military functions
for the time being.
For a brief, very brief moment, Luke was tempted to resist, to argue, to remind
her that he was a private citizen now. However, as he gazed at the surrounding
men and women, he understood that all of a sudden, they were once again counting
on him, the great hero of the first war, to lead them to victory.
He turned toward his friend ; she nodded slightly in agreement with Leia's
statement. Mara, he reminded himself, was an expert in fighting tactics and
strategies. She knew when some sacrifices had to be done in order to ensure
victory.
"All right," he sighed in reluctant acceptance. "I'll take the remaining ships
to the rendezvous point, then organize the regrouping until you join us."
"I knew that I could count on you, Luke," his sister answered seriously. "See
you soon, brother, and I love you."
"I love you too, Leia. Now, you and the others get out of there and come back to
us in one piece."
"We will," Leia promised him more gently. "Coruscant out."
"Commander Skywalker out," he answered, then slowly removed the head set from
his ear before he turned around to face his new assignment.
At first, the officers and crewmen could only gape at him as they registered the
title that he had voluntarily used to identify his transmission, then they all
saluted him. "What are your orders, Sir?" General Renn inquired respectfully.
Almost reverently, Luke reflected while he restrained his wince at being treated
as if he were their savior. Not so long ago, he reminded himself, he had learnt
that he was only human ; he hoped that the others would soon understand it as
well. "Re-enter hyperspace, General," he instructed him. "The rendezvous point
is Da Soocha."
"Yes, Sir," the others answered almost in unison, then hurried to accomplish
their assigned duty.
As he watched the others at work, Mara sided closer and barely rested her hand
on his shoulder. "Must be the will of the Force, farmboy," she reassured him,
obviously aware of his misgivings about returning in the military world. "After
all, you can truly make the difference if this becomes a full-blown war."
Shivering slightly at either her touch or the prospect of war, or perhaps both,
he remained silent, then answered: "Perhaps."
Around them, the ship vibrated slightly as it re-entered hyperspace.
******
On Byss, the constantly aging Emperor cackled as he watched the military display
of the ongoing attacks on both Coruscant and Alphagi. The puny rebels were no
match for his unrestrained might, he cackled to himself. While Alphagi's battle
would soon be over, having been little more than a distraction for his general's
troops, Coruscant was another matter altogether.
Blue blips of lights were constantly making their way past his uncountable
number of red dots. Many more of them disappeared before making it past his
blockade, but those were civilians, he shrugged. Unimportant elements in his
grand scheme of conquest. The main threat though was still gathered on the
planet, like a cancer that was rooted in his aging body and did not want to
leave it.
Soon though, he smiled to himself while he distractedly listened to the reports
of his spies on the surface, soon, they would leave, using the advantage of
number to make it past the diffused blockade.
Which left him with one question. Would he destroy them today? Or would he keep
them around to play with for a while longer? As he considered his options and
how to achieve his goal with young Skywalker, he decided that keeping the
Rebellion around for a while longer would serve him better.
For one thing, he then smiled to himself, it would be delightful to watch his
new Dark Lord of the Sith destroy his friends and family once and for all, and
would add to the irreversible corruption of the youth.
Speaking of which, he then thought seriously, he had just 'witnessed' his
renewed nomination as 'Commander' ; he conceded that he had enjoyed the youth's
unhappy reaction to this turn of events. Now how, he wondered greedily, could he
make sure to keep this glum attitude of his going for a while longer? Soon, his
sister and best friends would rejoin him at the rendezvous point and would
probably try to cheer him up a little...
Unless, he paused shortly, he could keep the youth away from them. After all,
he then sneered in mirthless amusement, they were at war again. Thus, 'anything'
could happen once again, even friends being kept apart for months.
He turned toward his first general and ordered him to send Interdictors in the
Rodia system, then gave him exact coordinates were to ambush rebels.
He would probably lose a good few ships, he calculated, or a bare minimum of
good pilots, but, he shrugged, they were a small price to pay to keep Skywalker
in check until it would be time to claim him.
The more isolated the youth would be, the more moody he would become, thus the
more self-centered he would grow.
Speaking of isolation though, he reminded himself that Jade was still with him,
and unlike what he had hoped to generate between the two youths, the young
woman's presence was not feeding their negative feelings that much. Instead, it
was rekindling whatever Lecia had managed to destroy in his name.
But not for much longer, he cackled in dark delight. Soon, even Skywalker would
not be able to keep Jade at his side. He addressed his general once again and
gave him more precise instructions for the Interdictors, then refocused on the
tactical display of Coruscant.
As he studied his unfolding victory, he reflected that he hadn't been aware of
how much he had missed the cold pleasure of being involved in open battles with
his enemies.
******
On Coruscant, Leia was still in the main Command Center, warily eyeing the
tactical display of the ongoing battle. In a way, she conceded that it reminded
her of when Thrawn had attacked them with asteroids, but this time, Han was at
her side, and the red blips were real threats, not imaginative ones.
"You'd think that they would have learnt about subtlety," her husband wise-
cracked in her ear in an obvious attempt to lighten the grim mood of the moment.
While he managed to pull a quirk of her lips from her, she did not feel up to
his snide humor at the moment. The situation was desperate ; they were
impossibly outnumbered because their fleet was spread-out throughout the galaxy,
and the sabotagers had really done a thorough job on their defenses. As if, she
reflected warily, they had known exactly where and how to incapacitate them.
Whoever was behind this attack, she then admitted grimly, had a very intimate
knowledge of Coruscant and the old Imperial secrets to be able to pull off such
a coordinated and efficient attack. But who could it be?, she wondered uneasily.
As far as they knew, most admirals and superior officers had been removed from
the circuit throughout the past years.
Unless they were facing someone like what Mara had been, she conceded as she
remembered the red-head's mentioning that there had been others like her, but
no, she dimly shook her head.
Something was not fitting, somehow...
"Leia," Han suddenly pulled her out of her musings. "We can't stay here any
longer. I know that you wanted to stay till the end, but this is the end. We
must get to the Falcon and leave with the others," he told her earnestly.
Leia's first instinct was to resist him as she had on Hoth, but the moment that
her gaze crossed Mon Mothma's and Rieekan's, she subdued.
"Think about your children, Princess," Rieekan told her simply. "For once, don't
take any unnecessary risks. The survivors will need you at Pinnacle Base."
But they would also need them, she wanted to argue ; her companions gently shook
their heads at her, then Mon Mothma stepped slightly closer to her. "It's an
order, Leia. Go with your husband and hide amongst the rest of the group."
Suddenly feeling as if the other had skillfully twisted her arm, she meant to
retort, then remembered how she had just pulled such a move on her dear brother.
Her brother to whom she had promised to rejoin the rendezvous point in one
piece.
Reluctantly. she nodded in acceptance, threw a last gaze at the quickly
worsening status of the ongoing battle---- then Han had taken hold of her hand
and was pulling her after himself. "Chewie's got the Falcon prepped."
"As long as it doesn't do to us what it did on Hoth," she commented as she ran
after him, unable to not remember how their last near escape from the Empire had
turned out.
Han had been taken away from her. Her brother had never been the same. The
Rebellion had almost been beaten--- No!, she defied her memories, they were not
in the past anymore. Nor were they an outlaw rebellion.
They were the official government of the galaxy now.
Still, like on Hoth, she and Han ran through deserted corridors, trying to
outrun the Empire. The ex-princess of Alderaan dimly congratulated herself on
her choice of clothing for the day. Her more usual gowns would be her death
right about now.
Han tried to run as fast as he could, counting down in his mind when the shield
would completely give up on them.
A few seconds after he had reached zero, the floor and building around them
suddenly shook as a heavy turbolaser blast rammed in the nearby ground. "That's
it, we're naked now," he growled while he dragged his beloved wife after
himself. Her sleeveless cloak was floating behind her as if she were wearing a
cloud, but thankfully, the rest of her jumpsuit was ideal for running.
How could things come back to this, he asked himself while he frantically
searched around themselves for a short-cut to the Falcon's hangar bay. If he
didn't know better, he would think that they were back in the Rebellion, with a
blossoming love on their hands while they were running for their lives.
However, they were not in the Rebellion anymore. Instead, they were in the
official seat of the New Republic and he was trying to save his wife's life so
that their children would not grow orphan as he had. "Come on, Leia!" he urged
her. "We'll make it!"
As if to defy his latest statement, a new impact shook the ground ; it knocked
them off-balance. "Han," Leia commented while they both hurried back to their
feet. "Forget the hangar bays." She pulled him back the way they had come from,
then toward the nearest exit.
There, they ran into the unfortunate citizens who had been unable to make it
off-planet and were in a complete state of panic. "Call Chewie," his wife
ordered him. "Tell him to pick us up outside!"
Although he was aware that her idea would expose them to more fire, Han could
recognize when her plan was still more workable than his own. He pulled out his
comlink with his left hand. "Chewie!" he called. "Home in on me, we're---"
"Han, look out!" Leia warned him even as she pulled him down to the still well-
polished floor.
Imperial troops had landed and were invadind the former palace.
Even as he reflected that it truly was Hoth all over again, he gave the comlink
to his wife before he pulled his blaster free of his holster and began to defend
their lives from the ruthless troopers.
Not so far away from there, Chewie watched and listened to the reports about the
ongoing attack. In all his life, he had never seen such a quickly-deprecating
situation. In a matter of hours, his and his honor family's lives had gone from
Peace to War. Now, they absolutely needed to escape what had been their homes
for a few years now.
"Chewie!' Leia called, replacing Han's voice. "Troopers have come in. Don't land
to pick us up, okay? Remember how we boarded the ship when in Xizor's palace?"
she asked him.
As he remembered how they had literally jumped aboard the ship that day, Chewie
groaned in agreement, then lifted off.
"Oooooh, we're doomed," Threepio whined from behind him.
Both himself and Artoo-Detoo scolded him strongly for his pessimism, then he
refocused on his flying ; he opened fire on the troops who were gathered near
where he needed to hover, then his short range warnings systems went off. He
swiftly picked up in speed and altitude, then twisted the ship on her horizontal
axis.
He thus barely avoided the sharp aim of two TIE fighters. However, once safe,
he turned his blaster cannon backward ; he nailed one on his first shot, then
quickly turned around and headed back toward the nearby palace. He flew onward,
then some more, as if intent to ram in its wall.
His pursuant didn't see any problems with his tactic and continued to fire at
him. Chewie avoided the blasts as much as he could while not losing track of his
original plan. When he was less than fifteen meters away from the solid wall, he
pulled the ship to a steep upward angle.
He barely avoided the wall ; the TIE fighter rammed completely into the wall,
thus creating the opening that he needed to save Han and Leia.
"We're not going to survive this," Threepio whined again to himself.
Leia, who had barely avoided being hit by large chunks of debris, was the first
of her couple to recover from her shock. At first, she couldn't decide if she
were dreaming or not, then she decided that the Falcon was truly hovering
nearby, waiting for them.
"Han!" she roused her dazed husband. "Come on, that's our exit cue!"
Although still reeling from the thundering noise that had followed the ship's
relatively close-by explosion, Solo pushed himself to his feet, then, with her
help, hobbled as fast as he could toward the waiting ship.
Thanks to Chewie's intervention, any immediate threat had been taken care of.
They both jumped/climbed aboard the ship--- then Leia hurried to pull Han's legs
aboard when new blaster fire began to track them inside. "Go Chewie, go!" she
yelled toward the inside of the ship.
The ramp sealed completely, cutting off the desolate sight of Coruscant under
attack, then she heard the familiar sounds of the ship climbing for space.
They had made it, for the moment.
A few moments later, after having helped an injured Han aboard the rest of the
ship, they sealed its inner hatch, then she heard the whine of the hyperdrive as
it activated itself.
They had truly made it, she sighed forlornly, and were back to being a
Rebellion.
******
When the alarm suddenly went off aboard Freedom 3, its crew and passengers
instantaneously knew what it meant.
It was their turn to be attacked by the Imperials.
However, what greeted Mara when she returned on the bridge was not what she had
expected at all. Instead of finding out that the ships had stumbled on an enemy
group, she discovered that the imperials had pulled them out of hyperspace
through the use of Interdictors ships.
"How did they know that we were here?" someone was asking to nobody in
particular.
"Man the fighters, shields at maximum," General Renn snapped to his
subordinates.
"Find the nearest edge of the interdiction field," Luke added, addressing his
request to a nearby tactical technician.
Understanding exactly what was going on, she spared the others from her
unnecessary question. Instead, she stepped closer to her friend and commented:
"Taking us back the way we came would also be a good way to escape them."
"Except that turning around will cost us several minutes that we don't have,"
her Jedi companion retorted seriously. "Unless," he then added thoughtfully and
paused.
"Unless what?" she prompted him.
He turned toward a nearby officer. "How many fighters do we have aboard this
frigate?"
"Two squads, Sir."
Around ten ships then, Mara translated for herself. "Are they all manned?" she
inquired as an idea suddenly came to her.
"We are short of one pilot, Madam. He's been sick since we left Coruscant."
"Not anymore," she answered, then turned to leave.
Luke's hand appeared on her forearm ; she turned around and stared straight into
his deep, beautiful blue eyes. "Are you sure about this, Mara?" he asked her
seriously. "You've never flown an x-wing before."
"I can fly anything, farmboy," she retorted confidently. "Just get to that edge
as fast as possible, I'll follow with the others."
And with that, she pulled free of his hand and ran out of the bridge.
At last, she smiled to herself, a new opportunity to spread her wings.
As he watched her leave, Luke pondered how much he still had to discover about
his amazing friend, then shook his head and refocused on the rest of his plan.
"Right, Sven, where's that edge?" he asked the young technician.
"Fifty meters behind us, but at only one-hundred-thirty-five degrees from our
current location."
"Lieutenant," he addressed a nearby officer, "tell your men to give us cover
throughout the maneuver. General," he then turned toward his new subordinate,
"shields at maximum, rotation as fast as possible. We'll make it to that edge."
"Yes, Sir," they both saluted, then snapped into action.
Leaving Luke to ponder his unusual commanding functions. Unlike the last time
that he had commanded a group, above Bakura, he felt strangely at ease with his
impromptu duty aboard the ship and for his group. Even stranger, he then
admitted to himself, was that he truly knew what to do to save his new charges.
He didn't need to rely on a computer anymore to understand the dynamics of an
ongoing battle, nor did he need to analyze for a long while before coming up
with a strategy.
In a way, he smiled to himself, he felt like when he had been aboard his
snowspeeder on Hoth, adapting his strategy to the strong armor of the AT-ATs.
This time however, he was in charge of three ships, and he was not on the front-
line to face the enemy. Yet, he conceded seriously, he felt in complete control
of the situation as well as able to accomplish his goal, which was to escape the
enemy for the moment.
Although he had not used his commanding abilities in quite a while, they had
obviously matured along with the rest of his personality...
And especially lately, he reflected more grimly, then forced himself to refocus
on his current task.
"Rotation up to five percent, Sir," a tech informed him seriously.
The moment that the x-wing shot past the confining hangar bay of Freedom 3, Mara
Jade felt as if she were reborn. She had not flown in a fighter since the battle
of the Katana Fleet, and she had missed it. Twisting her stick to the left, she
followed the rest of the fighters as they headed for the opposite flank of the
ship---
"Yeah, couldn't leave us alone," a grim voice commented in her ear. "Here they
come, gang. Shields at maximum, lock s-foils in attack position."
While she reflexively followed instructions, her mind remembering more details
about the x-wing with each passing moment, another part of her mind focused its
attention on the incoming imperials, as well as on the main ships that were
still behind them but quickly approaching their small group.
While she avoided the first laser bolts that came their way, skillfully pulling
the ship in a corkscrewing maneuver that brought her under the line of fire of
the main group, she dimly wondered how the others had known that their group had
been travelling along that vector.
She twisted her stick again, this time to elude a pursuing TIE, then pulled a
drop-kick maneuver on him, the very same maneuver that Luke had tried on her
when he had been trying to escape on Myrkr. Unlike then though, it worked and
she managed to shift position with her pursuant. He didn't have time to
understand what had happened before she shot him out of the sky.
"Freedom is up to twenty-eight percent of rotation," Luke's voice informed them.
"The Interdictors are not changing position but the Star Destroyers are coming
closer."
Gazing in front of her, Mara saw that he was right, then frowned. Something was-
--
A sudden warning in the Force saved her from becoming stellar dust ; she turned
upside down to avoid another hit, then swerved from right to left to elude next
attacks. She then spotted what she needed to save herself and headed toward a
lone fighter that was looking for new preys. As expected, he turned toward her
and aimed at her from a forward location. She quickly shifted path ; the two
imps caught each other in their cross-fire.
Safe once again, she refocused her attention on the far away interdictors.
Something was not right about them, she resumed her previous thought. She had
heard about Thrawn's use of them to pull his own ships out of hyperspace during
a battle, but in their current situation, they weren't positioned for this use.
Instead, they were truly meant to hold an enemy in real space, but...
Something was nagging at her about their disposition, something---
As if aware that she was pondering their true intents, the imperials fighters
redoubled their attacks on them, forcing her to concentrate her attention on her
flying only.
While she and her group made sure that the fighters could not disable their
ships to keep them from escaping, Freedom 2 to 4 opened fire on the approaching
Star Destroyers---
Then, finally, they were near the edge. She, like the others, received scrambled
coordinates about their new rendezvous point, then they all broke away for
freedom.
Even in hyperspace though, her feeling that something was not right remained.
******
After making sure that everything was all right after their quick confrontation
with imperials, Luke retired to his quarters for the night, which had already
been delayed by the bad news of the day. Now that the adrenaline had receded
once again, he discovered that he was still not completely recovered from his
bout of hypothermia.
As he wrapped his previously-discarded blanket around his shoulders, he dimly
reflected that wearing a cloak for the time being might not be a bad idea until
he had completely recovered from his 'swim' in the cold waters. His thoughts
then went to having a hot shower in order to relax and warm himself up again,
but as he approached his assigned quarters, his eyes stopped on Mara's door.
Pulled by the prospect of talking to her a little, he walked closer to her door,
then knocked. At first, nothing happened, then her door finally slid open.
"Mara?" he called uncertainly.
She was facing the window of her quarters, her dark form contrasting quietly
with the light-blue colors of hyperspace. "Have you ever had the feeling that
you are this close to finding an answer to your worry," she inquired, not
turning around toward him yet raising her hand into view while keeping her index
mere centimeters from her thumb, "yet can't find it?" she concluded, dropping
her hand once again.
"All the time," he nodded knowingly as he noticed that her bunk was undone
already. "What's troubling you?" he inquired as he stepped closer to her.
She slowly turned toward him. "Have you noticed something strange about today's
incident with the Interdictors?" she queried seriously.
He could only raise his eyebrows in confusion. "Not really," he admitted
honestly.
She shrugged and turned away from him once again. "Then I might just be jumping
at shadows."
"Don't underestimate your intuition, Mara," he advised her seriously. "What
caught your attention?" he prompted her knowingly.
"Their disposition," she answered. "Normally, Interdictors are positioned
'along' both sides of a vector in order to offer as wide a restriction field as
possible, thus truly entrapping their prey. Today though, they were facing
us..."
"Which means that we were either dealing with incapable," he nodded as he slowly
understood what she was worried about.
"Or else with someone who only wanted to slow us down."
"But who, and why?" Luke frowned in confusion.
"Exactly," she nodded slowly. "How could they know that we were travelling along
this vector, especially since we changed direction after we contacted Coruscant?
And why not truly slow us down by leaving us in a state of disrepair?.. Or
taking us prisoner for a while. They had everything that they needed to manage
this," she pointed out seriously. "If the destroyers had come in faster and
closer, we would have been done for."
"I know," he conceded. "Could we have spies inside the ship or the group?" he
suggested seriously.
"They would have left a signal of some kind on the monitoring devices of the
ship between our last stop and then. I," she then briefly hesitated, "I already
checked the communication registers. Nothing was sent out of either ships
between those."
Suddenly feeling uneasy with the other option that was left to them, Luke waited
for Mara to complete her thoughts. "I don't like what I'm thinking about either,
Skywalker," she informed him seriously, having obviously felt his sudden worry.
"However, if we take the facts at face value, we can only deduce that we're
dealing with a Jedi. And who would be powerful enough to do this..."
"But the Emperor," Luke half-whispered--- then shook his head in denial. "He's
dead, Mara. I saw it happen. You felt it. His spirit is prisoner around Endor."
"But we know that he knew about cloning," she reminded him grimly, as if his
answer had been what she had needed to accept her conclusion. "What if..?"
Luke reflexively took hold of her biceps. "Mara," he said seriously, "look at
me. We would know if he were alive," he stated adamantly. "Besides, why would
he stay hidden for so long?" he commented more reasonable. As he gazed in his
friend's eyes though, he understood that she knew more than she had told him.
"What?" he asked her seriously. "What is it?"
"I," she began, averting his eyes, "I'm having nightmares about him once again,
Luke," she barely whispered loud enough for him to hear her. "And he berates me
for befriending you. For..."
"Mara," Luke interrupted her gently even as he brought his fingers under her
chin to make her look up at him once again. "This might only be your old self
that is trying to resist the changes that you have chosen for yourself. If it
were the Emperor, he would have done it the moment that you saved my life---"
His friend suddenly turned away from him, as if unable to face him anymore.
Even though she didn't say anything, he understood that she 'had' dreamt of the
Emperor before today.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her more glumly.
"I couldn't, Luke," she apologized, "I didn't want to face the fact that he
could still be alive, not after finding out how he had lied to me for all those
years," she hesitated slightly, "and about you. I should have told you though,
I know this now, I'm sorry" she apologized again. "I began to hear his voice
again the first night that I went to your place for training. Then, the next
day, you taught me about the mental shields and I never had those problems
again. I thought that it had only been a spirit problem," she tried to joke,
but her voice choked on itself in grief and worry, "However," she continued more
steadily, "after seeing what happened today..." She turned around to face him
once again. "I'm afraid that he's using me as a homing beacon, Luke. I can't
stay with you, not even to fight against him."
"If we are dealing with him, Mara," he countered reflexively.
As she listened to her friend's new argument, Mara felt her heart sink in her
boots as the unfortunately-familiar voice filled her mind once again, as if
talking about it had weakened her shields. She tried to block him out once
again.
*Aren't you a clever 'Jedi', Jade,* her former master's voice grated in her
mind. *You should know that you can never defeat me, no matter how far you run,
nor how fast.*
She reflexively looked into her best friend's eyes, searching them for support.
Thus, she found the strength to not endanger him in any way. Her friend
deserved a break, and she knew just how to eliminate the immediate danger of the
Emperor from around him. "I have to leave, Luke. Besides," she added quickly
before he could argue with her once again, "if a war is truly coming, the
Smuggler's Alliance will need leadership to continue to exist. Otherwise, it
will be lost forever."
She moved toward the door ; Luke silently followed her. Thanks to her different
experiences with her friend, she could feel that he wanted to give her several
reasons for not leaving, but in the end, they both knew that it was for the
best.
A few corridors later, she heard him call the hangar bays to have a y-wing
prepared for immediate departure. Next, he warned the bridge to take them out
of hypersace, then he resumed his companionable silence with her.
Both knew that the events were forcing their hands and that they couldn't change
them this time.
For their safety, as well as the survival of everything that they had worked for
either for a long, or short time, they had to part company once again.
No matter how much their friendship had recovered in closeness throughout the
past day.
******
They finally reached the hangar bay. Luke guided Mara to the Y-wing bay, then
sadly watched her as she checked her ship before she disappeared inside the
ready room to put on a flight suit.
Strange, he reflected, how he had gone from being afraid of her to liking her
very much once again. This time, his feelings for her were tempered, less
ravaging, yet his love for her was slowly resurfacing from under the cold wall
of fear that he had been wrapping around himself until... well, before his bath
in cold water, he smiled slightly to himself.
Perhaps it was because he knew that Mara did love him, or perhaps because her
wonderful personality was making him forget almost everything that the false
Mara had told him and made him do to himself. She had not been Mara,.. not even
in her worse days as the Emperor's Hand, he thought with growing confidence in
his best friend.
However, loving partner or not, the Will of the Force was still for him to
become a true Jedi, he reminded himself seriously. He had to put a plug on his
heart, on his overwhelming feelings for people or things. He had to reach a
state of Serenity.
He dimly admitted to himself that such a state did not appeal to him that much,
but consciously, he accepted his Destiny once again and forced himself to simply
appreciate his friend as a good companion, someone on whom he could 'always'
count.
Someone he would miss, but would not allow himself to miss too much either. He
would balance even 'this' feeling for her, he resolved seriously.
The object of his thoughts finally came out of the ready room. "If something
extremely important happens, farmboy, you know how to reach me, right?"
"Will you still be on Myrkr?" he asked her while she walked past him to check on
an engine of her ship.
"If I'm not, try Karrde, or the Mystril Guards. They will know where to find
me." She completed her check up, then faced him one last time.
"I... I wish you didn't have to go, Mara," Luke admitted honestly, dimly
berating the farmboy for his emotional outburst ; he worked on his self-control
once again.
"Me either," she answered him, then moved closer--- and hugged him.
While part of Luke's brain balked at the thought of where that could lead him
once again, another, still surviving part of his heart answered with a hug of
his own. "Take care of yourself, Mara," he entreated her earnestly, "We'll
figure out whoever is behind this, I promise."
"Take care of yourself too, Luke, and keep me posted on the evolution of your
search. I'm going for now, but," she pulled away and locked her emerald-green
eyes on his. "I might come back if the situation changes."
And then, whoever was masquerading as the Emperor would learn to not play tricks
on her, Luke understood. He involuntarily winced in sympathy for whoever was
behind all this. "I'll keep you informed," he promised her. "You, or your
contacts," he then added with a smirk.
With a last exchange of gazes, she turned around and climbed aboard her ship.
Luke reluctantly moved away from the snub fighter. His friend waited until he
was far enough from her to not be affected by her energy blasts, then activated
the repulsorlifts. Outside, the surrounding space was normal once again.
Seconds later, Luke watched her exhaust fire as it quickly disappeared amongst
the dots of the stars--- then she made the transition into hyperspace and was
gone for real.
Forever?, Luke wondered uneasily.
He admitted to himself that he hoped not.
******
However, his wish didn't seem very powerful. The moment that Mara left him, the
situation steadily worsened. When his still small group wasn't ambushed on
their way back to the rendezvous point, they were receiving messages from Leia
and the high command to help this or that planet that was undergoing an attack
by a minor group of imperials.
Thus, it took him almost two months to rejoin his sister and friends, two months
during which he divided his time between his renewed functions of commander and
his meditations to gain stronger self-control.
The more the imperials seemed to wake up from their year-long sleep, the more
serene and in control Luke grew until nothing much mattered to him, not even the
dark cloak that he had begun to wear only to keep himself warmer. He also
didn't wince anymore when people called him Master Skywalker instead of his more
preferred 'Luke', or 'Commander Skywalker' addresses.
Once he reached Da Soocha though, he briefly took a break from all this 'master'
business to celebrate his friends' safe escape from Coruscant, but the moment
was short-lived and quickly forgotten.
More missions came up, calling for his, and the others' services once again.
Thus, with or without his friends, he led their troops into rescues of besieged
people and ships, then into hit-and-run tactics against the feuding imperials.
One night, as he contemplated the sad sight of renewed war, he admitted to
himself that they truly were back to being the Rebellion now, although the
Empire was also warring against itself now. He also was nowhere close to
finding a way to reassure his friend about her Emperor's worries, and his lack
of answer about who was behind the sudden resurgence of the Empire greatly
annoyed him.
On Byss, the Emperor cackled mirthlessly. His plan was proceeding as he had
foreseen. While his feuding troops were distracting the Rebels and young Jedi,
he was overseeing the last preparations for his rightful return to his Empire.
TBC in Aftermath
'Copyright' 2002/2003, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
Part 1: The Beginning
by SJ 12-2002/2003 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
___________________________________________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs
to George Lucas. Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Empire also
belong to Tom Veitch.
Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.
See my home page for more details.
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.
____________________________________________________
As he ran as fast as he could down the corridors of the frigate, Luke's thoughts
turned to his sister. Was she all right? Had Han managed to get her out before
the planet had been---
Suddenly aware that he was thinking as if they were back in the Rebellion and
that they were only two steps ahead of the Empire, he mentally shook his head
and forced himself to think more rationally.
Coruscant was very heavily defended and equipped with a planetary-wide energy
shield. His sister and friends, he then reminded himself, were probably in the
former Imperial Palace, the most impregnable place of the whole planet---
Although it had been proven more vulnerable than they had estimated when
imperial spies had managed to infiltrate it during Thrawn's---
At the thought of how close his sister and family had come to be taken by
imperials, he forced more speed out of his already singing muscles. The
resulting wind whistled past his ears as his heart pounded in his chest as if it
were ready to jump out of it ; Luke didn't pay any attention to those signs of
excessive straining.
He ran even faster, barely avoiding crewmen as he zipped past them before
turning tight corners.
As usual now, Mara Jade was right on his heels. "It might only be a minor
attack," she commented between two quick breaths. "I'm sure that they're all
right."
While his friend's words normally comforted him, they didn't this time. Somehow,
Luke had an extremely bad feeling about this sudden turn of events. Mara seemed
to understand this ; she remained silent as she ran at his side.
They finally reached the main bridge--- and screeched to a halt in order to
avoid plowing in the busy techs. The moment that her eyes rested on them, Mara
understood that they were in an emergency status. The ship was no longer in
hyperspace and the officers were gathered around the communication area.
Luke naturally walked toward them. "Any news?" he asked in general once he had
reached the small group of worried officers.
The admiral reflexively saluted him. "Master Skywalker, we are trying to break
through the jamming that is going on around Coruscant. From what we can deduce
from the first reports, the Imperials are striking with everything that can
fly."
The Katana Fleet, Mara suddenly shivered even as she searched Luke's eyes with
hers. From the grimness of his gaze, she understood that her friend had made
the same deduction.
However, before either of them could comment, a tech suddenly called for
everyone's attention. "Yes, Councilor, he's here," he answered urgently, then
turned toward the young Jedi. "Your sister wants to talk to you, Master Jedi."
Two seconds later, Luke had put on the offered head set. "Leia, are you all
right?" he asked. A pause. From Luke's ensuing sigh, Mara understood that the
answer was positive. "What's going on?"
"They're here to wipe us out, Luke," Leia answered him grimly, then before he
could argue against her defeatist conclusion, continued: "There were spies on
the surface of the planet. When the first ships appeared on our screens, the
others sabotaged our shields and long-range cannons. They were extremely well-
organized this time," she sighed, "and now they are much too numerous for us to
defend Coruscant for much longer."
"We're coming," Luke reflexively reassured her, then turned toward the general
in charge of the ship. "How fast can we re---"
"Luke," his sister's voice interrupted him. "We're leaving Coruscant. Don't come
anywhere near the planet, you hear me? Get to the rendezvous point. We'll meet
you there."
Luke was too stumped to argue. "What?!" he gaped in shock. "We're giving up on
Coruscant just like this? Without putting up more---"
"We've already lost more than forty percent of our means of defense," Leia
informed him matter-of-fact, "and the shield is almost completely gone now.
We're gathering at new Pinnacle Base."
Mara, who had picked up another head set, cut in the discussion. "What about our
group on Alphagi, Leia?" she inquired seriously. "You did send an important part
of our forces to take out that base.
A heavy sigh of resignation answered them both. "Imperial reinforcement came in
just after you left the area ; they boxed them in. We have lost contact with
them now, but we don't know if it is because of them, or because of us."
Both Jedi Knights searched each other's eyes at this. They were beaten. Within
a few hours, the tables had been turned on them.
It didn't make it any easier for Luke to leave his sister and friends to their
own devices, especially not when he knew that he could save them.
As if sensing his dilemma, the ex-princess spoke up again. "Luke, we'll be all
right, I promise," she reassured him earnestly. "Others will probably need your
help soon, and you are our last Jedi fighter. We can't risk you for an
impossible rescue mission. Rejoin the rendezvous point. It's an order, Commander
Skywalker," she finished, officially reasserting him in his military functions
for the time being.
For a brief, very brief moment, Luke was tempted to resist, to argue, to remind
her that he was a private citizen now. However, as he gazed at the surrounding
men and women, he understood that all of a sudden, they were once again counting
on him, the great hero of the first war, to lead them to victory.
He turned toward his friend ; she nodded slightly in agreement with Leia's
statement. Mara, he reminded himself, was an expert in fighting tactics and
strategies. She knew when some sacrifices had to be done in order to ensure
victory.
"All right," he sighed in reluctant acceptance. "I'll take the remaining ships
to the rendezvous point, then organize the regrouping until you join us."
"I knew that I could count on you, Luke," his sister answered seriously. "See
you soon, brother, and I love you."
"I love you too, Leia. Now, you and the others get out of there and come back to
us in one piece."
"We will," Leia promised him more gently. "Coruscant out."
"Commander Skywalker out," he answered, then slowly removed the head set from
his ear before he turned around to face his new assignment.
At first, the officers and crewmen could only gape at him as they registered the
title that he had voluntarily used to identify his transmission, then they all
saluted him. "What are your orders, Sir?" General Renn inquired respectfully.
Almost reverently, Luke reflected while he restrained his wince at being treated
as if he were their savior. Not so long ago, he reminded himself, he had learnt
that he was only human ; he hoped that the others would soon understand it as
well. "Re-enter hyperspace, General," he instructed him. "The rendezvous point
is Da Soocha."
"Yes, Sir," the others answered almost in unison, then hurried to accomplish
their assigned duty.
As he watched the others at work, Mara sided closer and barely rested her hand
on his shoulder. "Must be the will of the Force, farmboy," she reassured him,
obviously aware of his misgivings about returning in the military world. "After
all, you can truly make the difference if this becomes a full-blown war."
Shivering slightly at either her touch or the prospect of war, or perhaps both,
he remained silent, then answered: "Perhaps."
Around them, the ship vibrated slightly as it re-entered hyperspace.
******
On Byss, the constantly aging Emperor cackled as he watched the military display
of the ongoing attacks on both Coruscant and Alphagi. The puny rebels were no
match for his unrestrained might, he cackled to himself. While Alphagi's battle
would soon be over, having been little more than a distraction for his general's
troops, Coruscant was another matter altogether.
Blue blips of lights were constantly making their way past his uncountable
number of red dots. Many more of them disappeared before making it past his
blockade, but those were civilians, he shrugged. Unimportant elements in his
grand scheme of conquest. The main threat though was still gathered on the
planet, like a cancer that was rooted in his aging body and did not want to
leave it.
Soon though, he smiled to himself while he distractedly listened to the reports
of his spies on the surface, soon, they would leave, using the advantage of
number to make it past the diffused blockade.
Which left him with one question. Would he destroy them today? Or would he keep
them around to play with for a while longer? As he considered his options and
how to achieve his goal with young Skywalker, he decided that keeping the
Rebellion around for a while longer would serve him better.
For one thing, he then smiled to himself, it would be delightful to watch his
new Dark Lord of the Sith destroy his friends and family once and for all, and
would add to the irreversible corruption of the youth.
Speaking of which, he then thought seriously, he had just 'witnessed' his
renewed nomination as 'Commander' ; he conceded that he had enjoyed the youth's
unhappy reaction to this turn of events. Now how, he wondered greedily, could he
make sure to keep this glum attitude of his going for a while longer? Soon, his
sister and best friends would rejoin him at the rendezvous point and would
probably try to cheer him up a little...
Unless, he paused shortly, he could keep the youth away from them. After all,
he then sneered in mirthless amusement, they were at war again. Thus, 'anything'
could happen once again, even friends being kept apart for months.
He turned toward his first general and ordered him to send Interdictors in the
Rodia system, then gave him exact coordinates were to ambush rebels.
He would probably lose a good few ships, he calculated, or a bare minimum of
good pilots, but, he shrugged, they were a small price to pay to keep Skywalker
in check until it would be time to claim him.
The more isolated the youth would be, the more moody he would become, thus the
more self-centered he would grow.
Speaking of isolation though, he reminded himself that Jade was still with him,
and unlike what he had hoped to generate between the two youths, the young
woman's presence was not feeding their negative feelings that much. Instead, it
was rekindling whatever Lecia had managed to destroy in his name.
But not for much longer, he cackled in dark delight. Soon, even Skywalker would
not be able to keep Jade at his side. He addressed his general once again and
gave him more precise instructions for the Interdictors, then refocused on the
tactical display of Coruscant.
As he studied his unfolding victory, he reflected that he hadn't been aware of
how much he had missed the cold pleasure of being involved in open battles with
his enemies.
******
On Coruscant, Leia was still in the main Command Center, warily eyeing the
tactical display of the ongoing battle. In a way, she conceded that it reminded
her of when Thrawn had attacked them with asteroids, but this time, Han was at
her side, and the red blips were real threats, not imaginative ones.
"You'd think that they would have learnt about subtlety," her husband wise-
cracked in her ear in an obvious attempt to lighten the grim mood of the moment.
While he managed to pull a quirk of her lips from her, she did not feel up to
his snide humor at the moment. The situation was desperate ; they were
impossibly outnumbered because their fleet was spread-out throughout the galaxy,
and the sabotagers had really done a thorough job on their defenses. As if, she
reflected warily, they had known exactly where and how to incapacitate them.
Whoever was behind this attack, she then admitted grimly, had a very intimate
knowledge of Coruscant and the old Imperial secrets to be able to pull off such
a coordinated and efficient attack. But who could it be?, she wondered uneasily.
As far as they knew, most admirals and superior officers had been removed from
the circuit throughout the past years.
Unless they were facing someone like what Mara had been, she conceded as she
remembered the red-head's mentioning that there had been others like her, but
no, she dimly shook her head.
Something was not fitting, somehow...
"Leia," Han suddenly pulled her out of her musings. "We can't stay here any
longer. I know that you wanted to stay till the end, but this is the end. We
must get to the Falcon and leave with the others," he told her earnestly.
Leia's first instinct was to resist him as she had on Hoth, but the moment that
her gaze crossed Mon Mothma's and Rieekan's, she subdued.
"Think about your children, Princess," Rieekan told her simply. "For once, don't
take any unnecessary risks. The survivors will need you at Pinnacle Base."
But they would also need them, she wanted to argue ; her companions gently shook
their heads at her, then Mon Mothma stepped slightly closer to her. "It's an
order, Leia. Go with your husband and hide amongst the rest of the group."
Suddenly feeling as if the other had skillfully twisted her arm, she meant to
retort, then remembered how she had just pulled such a move on her dear brother.
Her brother to whom she had promised to rejoin the rendezvous point in one
piece.
Reluctantly. she nodded in acceptance, threw a last gaze at the quickly
worsening status of the ongoing battle---- then Han had taken hold of her hand
and was pulling her after himself. "Chewie's got the Falcon prepped."
"As long as it doesn't do to us what it did on Hoth," she commented as she ran
after him, unable to not remember how their last near escape from the Empire had
turned out.
Han had been taken away from her. Her brother had never been the same. The
Rebellion had almost been beaten--- No!, she defied her memories, they were not
in the past anymore. Nor were they an outlaw rebellion.
They were the official government of the galaxy now.
Still, like on Hoth, she and Han ran through deserted corridors, trying to
outrun the Empire. The ex-princess of Alderaan dimly congratulated herself on
her choice of clothing for the day. Her more usual gowns would be her death
right about now.
Han tried to run as fast as he could, counting down in his mind when the shield
would completely give up on them.
A few seconds after he had reached zero, the floor and building around them
suddenly shook as a heavy turbolaser blast rammed in the nearby ground. "That's
it, we're naked now," he growled while he dragged his beloved wife after
himself. Her sleeveless cloak was floating behind her as if she were wearing a
cloud, but thankfully, the rest of her jumpsuit was ideal for running.
How could things come back to this, he asked himself while he frantically
searched around themselves for a short-cut to the Falcon's hangar bay. If he
didn't know better, he would think that they were back in the Rebellion, with a
blossoming love on their hands while they were running for their lives.
However, they were not in the Rebellion anymore. Instead, they were in the
official seat of the New Republic and he was trying to save his wife's life so
that their children would not grow orphan as he had. "Come on, Leia!" he urged
her. "We'll make it!"
As if to defy his latest statement, a new impact shook the ground ; it knocked
them off-balance. "Han," Leia commented while they both hurried back to their
feet. "Forget the hangar bays." She pulled him back the way they had come from,
then toward the nearest exit.
There, they ran into the unfortunate citizens who had been unable to make it
off-planet and were in a complete state of panic. "Call Chewie," his wife
ordered him. "Tell him to pick us up outside!"
Although he was aware that her idea would expose them to more fire, Han could
recognize when her plan was still more workable than his own. He pulled out his
comlink with his left hand. "Chewie!" he called. "Home in on me, we're---"
"Han, look out!" Leia warned him even as she pulled him down to the still well-
polished floor.
Imperial troops had landed and were invadind the former palace.
Even as he reflected that it truly was Hoth all over again, he gave the comlink
to his wife before he pulled his blaster free of his holster and began to defend
their lives from the ruthless troopers.
Not so far away from there, Chewie watched and listened to the reports about the
ongoing attack. In all his life, he had never seen such a quickly-deprecating
situation. In a matter of hours, his and his honor family's lives had gone from
Peace to War. Now, they absolutely needed to escape what had been their homes
for a few years now.
"Chewie!' Leia called, replacing Han's voice. "Troopers have come in. Don't land
to pick us up, okay? Remember how we boarded the ship when in Xizor's palace?"
she asked him.
As he remembered how they had literally jumped aboard the ship that day, Chewie
groaned in agreement, then lifted off.
"Oooooh, we're doomed," Threepio whined from behind him.
Both himself and Artoo-Detoo scolded him strongly for his pessimism, then he
refocused on his flying ; he opened fire on the troops who were gathered near
where he needed to hover, then his short range warnings systems went off. He
swiftly picked up in speed and altitude, then twisted the ship on her horizontal
axis.
He thus barely avoided the sharp aim of two TIE fighters. However, once safe,
he turned his blaster cannon backward ; he nailed one on his first shot, then
quickly turned around and headed back toward the nearby palace. He flew onward,
then some more, as if intent to ram in its wall.
His pursuant didn't see any problems with his tactic and continued to fire at
him. Chewie avoided the blasts as much as he could while not losing track of his
original plan. When he was less than fifteen meters away from the solid wall, he
pulled the ship to a steep upward angle.
He barely avoided the wall ; the TIE fighter rammed completely into the wall,
thus creating the opening that he needed to save Han and Leia.
"We're not going to survive this," Threepio whined again to himself.
Leia, who had barely avoided being hit by large chunks of debris, was the first
of her couple to recover from her shock. At first, she couldn't decide if she
were dreaming or not, then she decided that the Falcon was truly hovering
nearby, waiting for them.
"Han!" she roused her dazed husband. "Come on, that's our exit cue!"
Although still reeling from the thundering noise that had followed the ship's
relatively close-by explosion, Solo pushed himself to his feet, then, with her
help, hobbled as fast as he could toward the waiting ship.
Thanks to Chewie's intervention, any immediate threat had been taken care of.
They both jumped/climbed aboard the ship--- then Leia hurried to pull Han's legs
aboard when new blaster fire began to track them inside. "Go Chewie, go!" she
yelled toward the inside of the ship.
The ramp sealed completely, cutting off the desolate sight of Coruscant under
attack, then she heard the familiar sounds of the ship climbing for space.
They had made it, for the moment.
A few moments later, after having helped an injured Han aboard the rest of the
ship, they sealed its inner hatch, then she heard the whine of the hyperdrive as
it activated itself.
They had truly made it, she sighed forlornly, and were back to being a
Rebellion.
******
When the alarm suddenly went off aboard Freedom 3, its crew and passengers
instantaneously knew what it meant.
It was their turn to be attacked by the Imperials.
However, what greeted Mara when she returned on the bridge was not what she had
expected at all. Instead of finding out that the ships had stumbled on an enemy
group, she discovered that the imperials had pulled them out of hyperspace
through the use of Interdictors ships.
"How did they know that we were here?" someone was asking to nobody in
particular.
"Man the fighters, shields at maximum," General Renn snapped to his
subordinates.
"Find the nearest edge of the interdiction field," Luke added, addressing his
request to a nearby tactical technician.
Understanding exactly what was going on, she spared the others from her
unnecessary question. Instead, she stepped closer to her friend and commented:
"Taking us back the way we came would also be a good way to escape them."
"Except that turning around will cost us several minutes that we don't have,"
her Jedi companion retorted seriously. "Unless," he then added thoughtfully and
paused.
"Unless what?" she prompted him.
He turned toward a nearby officer. "How many fighters do we have aboard this
frigate?"
"Two squads, Sir."
Around ten ships then, Mara translated for herself. "Are they all manned?" she
inquired as an idea suddenly came to her.
"We are short of one pilot, Madam. He's been sick since we left Coruscant."
"Not anymore," she answered, then turned to leave.
Luke's hand appeared on her forearm ; she turned around and stared straight into
his deep, beautiful blue eyes. "Are you sure about this, Mara?" he asked her
seriously. "You've never flown an x-wing before."
"I can fly anything, farmboy," she retorted confidently. "Just get to that edge
as fast as possible, I'll follow with the others."
And with that, she pulled free of his hand and ran out of the bridge.
At last, she smiled to herself, a new opportunity to spread her wings.
As he watched her leave, Luke pondered how much he still had to discover about
his amazing friend, then shook his head and refocused on the rest of his plan.
"Right, Sven, where's that edge?" he asked the young technician.
"Fifty meters behind us, but at only one-hundred-thirty-five degrees from our
current location."
"Lieutenant," he addressed a nearby officer, "tell your men to give us cover
throughout the maneuver. General," he then turned toward his new subordinate,
"shields at maximum, rotation as fast as possible. We'll make it to that edge."
"Yes, Sir," they both saluted, then snapped into action.
Leaving Luke to ponder his unusual commanding functions. Unlike the last time
that he had commanded a group, above Bakura, he felt strangely at ease with his
impromptu duty aboard the ship and for his group. Even stranger, he then
admitted to himself, was that he truly knew what to do to save his new charges.
He didn't need to rely on a computer anymore to understand the dynamics of an
ongoing battle, nor did he need to analyze for a long while before coming up
with a strategy.
In a way, he smiled to himself, he felt like when he had been aboard his
snowspeeder on Hoth, adapting his strategy to the strong armor of the AT-ATs.
This time however, he was in charge of three ships, and he was not on the front-
line to face the enemy. Yet, he conceded seriously, he felt in complete control
of the situation as well as able to accomplish his goal, which was to escape the
enemy for the moment.
Although he had not used his commanding abilities in quite a while, they had
obviously matured along with the rest of his personality...
And especially lately, he reflected more grimly, then forced himself to refocus
on his current task.
"Rotation up to five percent, Sir," a tech informed him seriously.
The moment that the x-wing shot past the confining hangar bay of Freedom 3, Mara
Jade felt as if she were reborn. She had not flown in a fighter since the battle
of the Katana Fleet, and she had missed it. Twisting her stick to the left, she
followed the rest of the fighters as they headed for the opposite flank of the
ship---
"Yeah, couldn't leave us alone," a grim voice commented in her ear. "Here they
come, gang. Shields at maximum, lock s-foils in attack position."
While she reflexively followed instructions, her mind remembering more details
about the x-wing with each passing moment, another part of her mind focused its
attention on the incoming imperials, as well as on the main ships that were
still behind them but quickly approaching their small group.
While she avoided the first laser bolts that came their way, skillfully pulling
the ship in a corkscrewing maneuver that brought her under the line of fire of
the main group, she dimly wondered how the others had known that their group had
been travelling along that vector.
She twisted her stick again, this time to elude a pursuing TIE, then pulled a
drop-kick maneuver on him, the very same maneuver that Luke had tried on her
when he had been trying to escape on Myrkr. Unlike then though, it worked and
she managed to shift position with her pursuant. He didn't have time to
understand what had happened before she shot him out of the sky.
"Freedom is up to twenty-eight percent of rotation," Luke's voice informed them.
"The Interdictors are not changing position but the Star Destroyers are coming
closer."
Gazing in front of her, Mara saw that he was right, then frowned. Something was-
--
A sudden warning in the Force saved her from becoming stellar dust ; she turned
upside down to avoid another hit, then swerved from right to left to elude next
attacks. She then spotted what she needed to save herself and headed toward a
lone fighter that was looking for new preys. As expected, he turned toward her
and aimed at her from a forward location. She quickly shifted path ; the two
imps caught each other in their cross-fire.
Safe once again, she refocused her attention on the far away interdictors.
Something was not right about them, she resumed her previous thought. She had
heard about Thrawn's use of them to pull his own ships out of hyperspace during
a battle, but in their current situation, they weren't positioned for this use.
Instead, they were truly meant to hold an enemy in real space, but...
Something was nagging at her about their disposition, something---
As if aware that she was pondering their true intents, the imperials fighters
redoubled their attacks on them, forcing her to concentrate her attention on her
flying only.
While she and her group made sure that the fighters could not disable their
ships to keep them from escaping, Freedom 2 to 4 opened fire on the approaching
Star Destroyers---
Then, finally, they were near the edge. She, like the others, received scrambled
coordinates about their new rendezvous point, then they all broke away for
freedom.
Even in hyperspace though, her feeling that something was not right remained.
******
After making sure that everything was all right after their quick confrontation
with imperials, Luke retired to his quarters for the night, which had already
been delayed by the bad news of the day. Now that the adrenaline had receded
once again, he discovered that he was still not completely recovered from his
bout of hypothermia.
As he wrapped his previously-discarded blanket around his shoulders, he dimly
reflected that wearing a cloak for the time being might not be a bad idea until
he had completely recovered from his 'swim' in the cold waters. His thoughts
then went to having a hot shower in order to relax and warm himself up again,
but as he approached his assigned quarters, his eyes stopped on Mara's door.
Pulled by the prospect of talking to her a little, he walked closer to her door,
then knocked. At first, nothing happened, then her door finally slid open.
"Mara?" he called uncertainly.
She was facing the window of her quarters, her dark form contrasting quietly
with the light-blue colors of hyperspace. "Have you ever had the feeling that
you are this close to finding an answer to your worry," she inquired, not
turning around toward him yet raising her hand into view while keeping her index
mere centimeters from her thumb, "yet can't find it?" she concluded, dropping
her hand once again.
"All the time," he nodded knowingly as he noticed that her bunk was undone
already. "What's troubling you?" he inquired as he stepped closer to her.
She slowly turned toward him. "Have you noticed something strange about today's
incident with the Interdictors?" she queried seriously.
He could only raise his eyebrows in confusion. "Not really," he admitted
honestly.
She shrugged and turned away from him once again. "Then I might just be jumping
at shadows."
"Don't underestimate your intuition, Mara," he advised her seriously. "What
caught your attention?" he prompted her knowingly.
"Their disposition," she answered. "Normally, Interdictors are positioned
'along' both sides of a vector in order to offer as wide a restriction field as
possible, thus truly entrapping their prey. Today though, they were facing
us..."
"Which means that we were either dealing with incapable," he nodded as he slowly
understood what she was worried about.
"Or else with someone who only wanted to slow us down."
"But who, and why?" Luke frowned in confusion.
"Exactly," she nodded slowly. "How could they know that we were travelling along
this vector, especially since we changed direction after we contacted Coruscant?
And why not truly slow us down by leaving us in a state of disrepair?.. Or
taking us prisoner for a while. They had everything that they needed to manage
this," she pointed out seriously. "If the destroyers had come in faster and
closer, we would have been done for."
"I know," he conceded. "Could we have spies inside the ship or the group?" he
suggested seriously.
"They would have left a signal of some kind on the monitoring devices of the
ship between our last stop and then. I," she then briefly hesitated, "I already
checked the communication registers. Nothing was sent out of either ships
between those."
Suddenly feeling uneasy with the other option that was left to them, Luke waited
for Mara to complete her thoughts. "I don't like what I'm thinking about either,
Skywalker," she informed him seriously, having obviously felt his sudden worry.
"However, if we take the facts at face value, we can only deduce that we're
dealing with a Jedi. And who would be powerful enough to do this..."
"But the Emperor," Luke half-whispered--- then shook his head in denial. "He's
dead, Mara. I saw it happen. You felt it. His spirit is prisoner around Endor."
"But we know that he knew about cloning," she reminded him grimly, as if his
answer had been what she had needed to accept her conclusion. "What if..?"
Luke reflexively took hold of her biceps. "Mara," he said seriously, "look at
me. We would know if he were alive," he stated adamantly. "Besides, why would
he stay hidden for so long?" he commented more reasonable. As he gazed in his
friend's eyes though, he understood that she knew more than she had told him.
"What?" he asked her seriously. "What is it?"
"I," she began, averting his eyes, "I'm having nightmares about him once again,
Luke," she barely whispered loud enough for him to hear her. "And he berates me
for befriending you. For..."
"Mara," Luke interrupted her gently even as he brought his fingers under her
chin to make her look up at him once again. "This might only be your old self
that is trying to resist the changes that you have chosen for yourself. If it
were the Emperor, he would have done it the moment that you saved my life---"
His friend suddenly turned away from him, as if unable to face him anymore.
Even though she didn't say anything, he understood that she 'had' dreamt of the
Emperor before today.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her more glumly.
"I couldn't, Luke," she apologized, "I didn't want to face the fact that he
could still be alive, not after finding out how he had lied to me for all those
years," she hesitated slightly, "and about you. I should have told you though,
I know this now, I'm sorry" she apologized again. "I began to hear his voice
again the first night that I went to your place for training. Then, the next
day, you taught me about the mental shields and I never had those problems
again. I thought that it had only been a spirit problem," she tried to joke,
but her voice choked on itself in grief and worry, "However," she continued more
steadily, "after seeing what happened today..." She turned around to face him
once again. "I'm afraid that he's using me as a homing beacon, Luke. I can't
stay with you, not even to fight against him."
"If we are dealing with him, Mara," he countered reflexively.
As she listened to her friend's new argument, Mara felt her heart sink in her
boots as the unfortunately-familiar voice filled her mind once again, as if
talking about it had weakened her shields. She tried to block him out once
again.
*Aren't you a clever 'Jedi', Jade,* her former master's voice grated in her
mind. *You should know that you can never defeat me, no matter how far you run,
nor how fast.*
She reflexively looked into her best friend's eyes, searching them for support.
Thus, she found the strength to not endanger him in any way. Her friend
deserved a break, and she knew just how to eliminate the immediate danger of the
Emperor from around him. "I have to leave, Luke. Besides," she added quickly
before he could argue with her once again, "if a war is truly coming, the
Smuggler's Alliance will need leadership to continue to exist. Otherwise, it
will be lost forever."
She moved toward the door ; Luke silently followed her. Thanks to her different
experiences with her friend, she could feel that he wanted to give her several
reasons for not leaving, but in the end, they both knew that it was for the
best.
A few corridors later, she heard him call the hangar bays to have a y-wing
prepared for immediate departure. Next, he warned the bridge to take them out
of hypersace, then he resumed his companionable silence with her.
Both knew that the events were forcing their hands and that they couldn't change
them this time.
For their safety, as well as the survival of everything that they had worked for
either for a long, or short time, they had to part company once again.
No matter how much their friendship had recovered in closeness throughout the
past day.
******
They finally reached the hangar bay. Luke guided Mara to the Y-wing bay, then
sadly watched her as she checked her ship before she disappeared inside the
ready room to put on a flight suit.
Strange, he reflected, how he had gone from being afraid of her to liking her
very much once again. This time, his feelings for her were tempered, less
ravaging, yet his love for her was slowly resurfacing from under the cold wall
of fear that he had been wrapping around himself until... well, before his bath
in cold water, he smiled slightly to himself.
Perhaps it was because he knew that Mara did love him, or perhaps because her
wonderful personality was making him forget almost everything that the false
Mara had told him and made him do to himself. She had not been Mara,.. not even
in her worse days as the Emperor's Hand, he thought with growing confidence in
his best friend.
However, loving partner or not, the Will of the Force was still for him to
become a true Jedi, he reminded himself seriously. He had to put a plug on his
heart, on his overwhelming feelings for people or things. He had to reach a
state of Serenity.
He dimly admitted to himself that such a state did not appeal to him that much,
but consciously, he accepted his Destiny once again and forced himself to simply
appreciate his friend as a good companion, someone on whom he could 'always'
count.
Someone he would miss, but would not allow himself to miss too much either. He
would balance even 'this' feeling for her, he resolved seriously.
The object of his thoughts finally came out of the ready room. "If something
extremely important happens, farmboy, you know how to reach me, right?"
"Will you still be on Myrkr?" he asked her while she walked past him to check on
an engine of her ship.
"If I'm not, try Karrde, or the Mystril Guards. They will know where to find
me." She completed her check up, then faced him one last time.
"I... I wish you didn't have to go, Mara," Luke admitted honestly, dimly
berating the farmboy for his emotional outburst ; he worked on his self-control
once again.
"Me either," she answered him, then moved closer--- and hugged him.
While part of Luke's brain balked at the thought of where that could lead him
once again, another, still surviving part of his heart answered with a hug of
his own. "Take care of yourself, Mara," he entreated her earnestly, "We'll
figure out whoever is behind this, I promise."
"Take care of yourself too, Luke, and keep me posted on the evolution of your
search. I'm going for now, but," she pulled away and locked her emerald-green
eyes on his. "I might come back if the situation changes."
And then, whoever was masquerading as the Emperor would learn to not play tricks
on her, Luke understood. He involuntarily winced in sympathy for whoever was
behind all this. "I'll keep you informed," he promised her. "You, or your
contacts," he then added with a smirk.
With a last exchange of gazes, she turned around and climbed aboard her ship.
Luke reluctantly moved away from the snub fighter. His friend waited until he
was far enough from her to not be affected by her energy blasts, then activated
the repulsorlifts. Outside, the surrounding space was normal once again.
Seconds later, Luke watched her exhaust fire as it quickly disappeared amongst
the dots of the stars--- then she made the transition into hyperspace and was
gone for real.
Forever?, Luke wondered uneasily.
He admitted to himself that he hoped not.
******
However, his wish didn't seem very powerful. The moment that Mara left him, the
situation steadily worsened. When his still small group wasn't ambushed on
their way back to the rendezvous point, they were receiving messages from Leia
and the high command to help this or that planet that was undergoing an attack
by a minor group of imperials.
Thus, it took him almost two months to rejoin his sister and friends, two months
during which he divided his time between his renewed functions of commander and
his meditations to gain stronger self-control.
The more the imperials seemed to wake up from their year-long sleep, the more
serene and in control Luke grew until nothing much mattered to him, not even the
dark cloak that he had begun to wear only to keep himself warmer. He also
didn't wince anymore when people called him Master Skywalker instead of his more
preferred 'Luke', or 'Commander Skywalker' addresses.
Once he reached Da Soocha though, he briefly took a break from all this 'master'
business to celebrate his friends' safe escape from Coruscant, but the moment
was short-lived and quickly forgotten.
More missions came up, calling for his, and the others' services once again.
Thus, with or without his friends, he led their troops into rescues of besieged
people and ships, then into hit-and-run tactics against the feuding imperials.
One night, as he contemplated the sad sight of renewed war, he admitted to
himself that they truly were back to being the Rebellion now, although the
Empire was also warring against itself now. He also was nowhere close to
finding a way to reassure his friend about her Emperor's worries, and his lack
of answer about who was behind the sudden resurgence of the Empire greatly
annoyed him.
On Byss, the Emperor cackled mirthlessly. His plan was proceeding as he had
foreseen. While his feuding troops were distracting the Rebels and young Jedi,
he was overseeing the last preparations for his rightful return to his Empire.
TBC in Aftermath
'Copyright' 2002/2003, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)