Anakin sat wearily at the controls of Alpha 1. He, Padmé, Luke, and Leia had left Alderaan for Courescant one hour previously, and it had been very, very, early. Luke, Leia, and Padmé were all asleep in the passenger area, and he felt like sleeping too, but knew someone had to stay at the controls. He yawned, the plan for today was to get to Courescant and that he would go talk to the Jedi Council. This was why they had left so early. They wanted to get to Courescant today rather than the next day. All four of them had woken up early, said goodbye to Bail and Ambre, and left.
Anakin wasn't sure what he would say to the council... He knew they would be forgiving, but he didn't think they should be... He would have to tell them all about how he had turned to the dark side 5 years ago, and how he had recently turned back... He would also have to tell them about Mara leaving... He just didn't know what exactly to say... He was thinking about all of this when the door to the cockpit opened.
"Dad?" asked Leia, rubbing her eyes.
"What is it, Leia, why aren't you asleep?" he asked her smiling.
"I can't sleep its to cold," she said, coming over to him.
He picked her up and put her on his lap. "Space can be cold," he said
Leia nodded, "I know," she said yawning. "I've flown a ship all by myself before,"
"Have you?" asked Anakin trying to hide his smile.
"Yes," she said, "I like flying, but I don't like it when it's cold,"
"I don't like it when its cold either," he said, "But I've gotten used to it by now,"
"When I fly..." she yawned, "I always..." she trailed off as sleep over took her.
Anakin smiled at his daughter's sleeping form. He didn't dare move now.
~*~
Obi- Wan had been flying his ship manually for hours, but he just couldn't find Mara. Tracking people through hyperspace was so difficult. He was now trying every system that she could have possibly gone to. That vision he had had was quite startling. He hoped nothing had happened to Mara! If something had... Well he didn't even want to think of it...
She had only been his padawan for a short time, but he really did feel like they had bonded quite a bit in such a short amount of time. He shook his head and keyed in the coordinates for the next system. He didn't know how, or when but he would find her! He vowed to do so, no matter what!
~*~
3 hours after Leia had left, Padmé had awoken and found that she was nowhere to seen, and that Luke was still asleep. She forced herself up and walked into the cockpit. She smiled at what she saw. Leia and Ani were asleep together. She looked at one of the screens in the cockpit. 3 more hours until they were on Courescant. She kissed each of them on the cheek lovingly. She was so glad to have a family of her own.
Of course she had always had her Mother, Father, Sola, Ryoo, and Pooja, but it just didn't feel the same to her. Now she had her husband back, and both of her children. She smiled brightly. She was so happy now. She'd have to comm. her parents when she was back on Courescant and tell them what had happened. Only God knew how they would react... They had been so angry with Anakin when they had found out what he had done. Now she wasn't sure if they would forgive him.
~*~
"We must erase everything that you have learned, Mara," said Palpatine in a raspy voice.
Mara nodded uncertainly. She had spent the night on this ship, and had then been summoned by the Emperor for training. She wasn't so sure about this.
"First off," he said, "You will construct a new light saber. This one works fine, but we don't want any ties with the Jedi,"
"Yes sir," said Mara, addressing him how she thought was obedient.
He narrowed his eyes at her. Blue lightning shot out of his finger tips at her for a split second, and then stopped. "You will address me as Master,"
Tears began to form in Mara's eyes, "Ye- Yes Master," she said.
"Now then," he said, "Jedi, they attack without any anger at all, they attack calmly, which I find infuriating. You will now do the opposite. When you strike something down, strike at it with all the anger you have pent up, unleash it,"
"Yes Master," said Mara gritting her teeth.
"Practice on these droids," he said, as 3 battle droids filed into the room with a wave of his hand.
A look of fear passed over Mara's face. She ignited her light saber calmly. And when the Emperor saw this he struck her with lightning. "USE YOUR ANGER!" he bellowed.
Mara glared daggers at him and did exactly what he said. She would prove she could use her anger. She struck one droid straight through the middle. Then she slashed another diagonally from the shoulder down, and then struck the third down as she finished her sweep from the second one.
"Good, good," he said cackling. "Now, perhaps a more challenging foe would be in order?"
"I can handle anything," Mara spat, still on a rush from having struck down the droids.
The Emperor smirked, "We'll see about that," he said, "Lets see how you can handle say... 10 battle droids?"
"Of course I can," she said.
He waved his hand and 10 battle droids walked in. Mara didn't hesitate at all. She was starting catch on. It was so much easier to fight this way, rather than the way she had been taught at the temple. She threw one of the droids back with the force just as she struck two down with her light saber. She got into the rhythm of the droids and found she was quite successful. Then she stood out of breath, droid parts laying all around her.
"That's all we'll do on that for now..." he said, "You may go,"
"Yes Master," said Mara confidently.
He struck her arm with a bolt of lightning. "Don't get to confident with your abilities,"
Mara held her arm, tears stinging at her eyes. "Yes Master," she said as she turned and left.
~*~
"We're here! We're here!" Luke cried in amazement. He stared down at Courescant. They had just entered the traffic stream, and he was amazed at the fact that everything was... Grey.
"Its not that amazing," said Leia frowning. "Its just a Courescant,"
"I've never seen anyplace like this before... Well except for in books, but that's about it,"
"Courescant is the capital of the Republic," said Leia, "This entire planet is one big city,"
"Wow," Luke murmured under his breath. 'Leia may not think its amazing, but I sure do,' he thought to himself.
_*_
AN: Yay, I finally finished this chapter! I've had so much homework and have had no time to write! Sorry for the wait! Updates will become more frequent when I'm out of school (June 5th) Hope you liked it! Review please!
- Sarah -