Chapter five
Mara is in danger, Leia thought. Can she really stand up to both Luke and Vader? No, her feelings told her. I have to help her! But how? I'm certainly not a Jedi and I seriously doubt that I'll suddenly become one in the next few minutes. And even if I save Mara, what about Threepio? He's still here somewhere and I have to rescue him to…What am I talking about? I don't even know where to start looking. What am I going to do? I don't even know where I am…The stormtroopers!
Leia snapped awake to see the duracrete deck moving below her and the steady rhythm of footsteps. Her arms hurt, as if they were tightly shackled…or gripped. The floor wasn't moving, she was! With two stormtroopers carrying her by the arms. Slightly lifting her head to allow her to see in front of her but not give up the guise of unconsciousness, Leia spied three troops and an officer leading the way. And at least three stormtroopers had to be bringing up the rear. Not much she could do about getting away unless she wanted to get gunned down…but wait! —She was Vader's prized captive, surely he wouldn't allow one of his officers or lowly stormtroopers to kill her, no matter what. And if she could grab on of her escorts' rifles, she might be able to take a few down with a surprise attack. And with any luck, she could dart into some room or corridor and regroup. It just might work—it had to work. Because if it didn't, they were all pretty much done for.
Here's hoping the Force is with me…
Leia snatched the carbine out of the holster of the trooper on the right and fired on both sides as she fell to her knees. A blue arc caught one man, and then another dropped the one on the opposite side. Leia snapped off another stun blast between two stormtroopers and catching the third. Her next shot was a lethal crimson bolt that struck the officer in the chest.
"Stun her! Stun her!" One of the remaining stormtroopers called. As blue arc's traced the outline of the princess's body.
Leia was on her feet again and slamming into one of the two stormtroopers before her and making for the corner two meters away. Leia twisted back as she ran, blasted the last of the three stormtroopers that had been leading her, and made it to the cover of the next corridor with no time to spare. The first of the other three was around the bend in an instant, but was cut down by Leia's pilfered gun.
Organa took the time to dash into a nearby open room. Inside, she took the sitting officer by surprise then smacked the door lock into activation. There was a soft click followed by the pounding of fists on the door. Leia gripped her blaster tighter in preparation for the entrance, nervous sweat starting to form at her brow.
That had been close, she told herself. And it wasn't over yet. Those stormtroopers, followed by reinforcements, would be through that door in no time.
Leia let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and reluctantly lowered her blaster. The stormtroopers outside had no way of getting in without blasting through the door and in turn risking hitting their runaway prisoner. Besides, Leia was trapped, and they had to know that. They would simply wait for someone to open the door and then they would overwhelm her. But Leia had no intention of letting them do anything of the sort.
Nonetheless, Leia had a few minutes to stop and plan her next move. She turned away from the door and back to the desk that the incapacitated officer had been sitting at. There wasn't much she could use from it…except the data terminal. If she could get into the computer and find some type of map of the station, she might be able to find some other way out of this room—a garbage chute, a hidden passage—something. It was a long shot—Leia wasn't exactly the galaxy's best slicer—but a station map shouldn't be too hard to find. She went to activate the terminal and found it to already be running in standby mode. What's more, the man she had blasted had all ready accessed his security clearance. But as Leia hunted for a map she found his clearance lacking—nothing but a low-level tech.
The former princess of Alderaan began to doubt a miracle would present itself and the muffled orders coming from stormtroopers outside didn't help her stress level. She wished she had Mara with her right now. Actually she wished she could have a myriad of people at her side, all more adept at this kind of situation than her. Where was Wedge, or Lando, or that incorrigible Dash Rendar when you needed them? Where was Ben Kenobi, Jan Dadonna…Han, Chewie, and Luke…? It was terrifying to think that she was completely alone for the first time in some many years. She had been through a lot in the service of the Alliance and had actually come to convince herself that no matter how dire the situation, so knight in shining armor would come a rescue her. But now Han and Chewie were dead—Luke, dead on the inside—and now this mysterious Mara Jade had her own problems to worry about. To think, after all the madness, this was how it was going to end. She was cornered like a rat. But if she had to be a rat, she would be a womp rat and go down fighting tooth to claw.
Suddenly, she saw it.
The security commander stepped lively into the mass of stormtroopers collected at the sealed entrance to the nondescript technician's office. The white armored sentinels had been given the order to stand down wait for further orders. He came to a stop at the face of the one bearing the insignia of a captain.
"Where is she?" He asked crisply, blacked gloved hands at rest behind his back.
In a voice utterly indistinguishable from any of the others, he replied, "The prisoner has locked herself inside that office, sir. She's cornered."
A triumphant grin crept across the face of the officer. The rebel had caused a lot of bloodshed in the last half hour. He would have thought the infamous Leia Organa would be more resourceful than that. Honestly, he didn't see what Lord Vader saw in her. She was just another idiotic rebel. "You are certain she is in there?"
"Positive, sir."
"Very well. Set for stun and have your men fire the second they get the chance."
"Yes, sir."
The officer signaled to the pair of technicians he had brought with him and the two set forth overriding the locks. The stormtrooper captain likewise gesture to his men to prepare for the moment they would have to take the prisoner by force. When all was set, the techs looked to their commander for authorization to open the door. Suddenly remembering that Organa was armed, he quietly stepped away from line of fire. He nodded.
The door popped open with a click. The squad of stormtroopers snapped their rifles up but did not fire. The security officer frowned, and then slowly walked into the doorway. The stormtrooper captain followed him without a word.
"Trooper, rifle," The officer commanded.
The stormtrooper handed over his weapon without a second thought. The officer switched the setting back to LETHAL and pumped a crimson bolt into the chest of the incompetent soldier. "Damn clone," the officer murmured as the other fell down dead with a thud. He spun around to face the others and said angrily, "Inform all units that the prisoner has escaped into the ventilation system and could be on any level now."
Lord Vader would not be pleased.
"Copy, sir. Widening search for prisoner." The patrolling stormtrooper replied. Though Leia couldn't see the troops from the vent in the ceiling, she was able to discern that there were four currently walking this corridor. But that was no guarantee on the number in the accompanying halls. For now, she was safe—relatively safe—and could afford the luxury of waiting until they passed.
The stormtrooper's comlink switched-off. "We're all ready patrolling the halls, what else does he want?"
One of the others answered, "I don't know," his voice decreasing steadily as they passed on. There was nothing for the nest few moments and Leia decided it wouldn't be smart to stay up in the shafts forever. Besides, she had work to do. First, she was going to find C-3PO. Second, they were going to find a way off this station. And hopefully, third, leave with the mysterious Jedi Knight that had come to rescue her. Leia couldn't help but fear that Mara was in real trouble having to face down Luke and Vader—something Leia knew she could never do. But there was time to worry later, as seemed to always be the case in her life. She had found her way to droid maintenance level in hopes of finding C-3PO and that was what she needed to do now.
Quietly, she slid the cover off the ventilation hole and dropped the few meters down to the deck. As soon as her feet hit, she dashed for cover behind a supply crate and readied her pilfered blaster carbine for use. Even if she managed to completely avoid all the stormtroopers on the level—a miracle she couldn't depend on—she still had no idea how to find Threepio. As dangerous as it sounded, she needed to find the floor's security station and access the holocams. That ought to at least point her in the right direction. But where was the security station? It was all one question after another. To find Threepio, she needed to find the room he was being housed in. To find that room, she needed to find the security station. And to find the security station, she needed to…be a stormtrooper? It was risky—too risky for normal circumstances—but that was hardly what this was. Leia wasn't merely trying to escape the clutches of the Empire, but now she had to rescue her rescuer. She knew Mara had to have risked all to get to her, so Leia had to do the same. Leia needed to pull-off the same trick that Han and Luke had four years ago. As crazy as it sounded, Leia needed to find one of the stormtroopers and assume his identity long enough to accomplish her goals. Easy, except she had no idea how she was going to do that, she was a bit too short for a stormtrooper(as Luke had been when they had first met), and it was next to impossible to do it without attracting any attention. Doing the impossible was more a feat for Han, Luke, Wedge Antillies, or this Mara Jade—not her. She couldn't do this alone.
Think, Leia, think, she told herself, there's got to be ways around this problem.
Then it hit her. It was obvious how to get a stormtrooper secluded long enough to incapacitate him—aside from the unacceptable but more obvious reason. All she needed was a bit of luck on her side once again.
Stealthily making her way through the corridors, ducking behind crates and dashing around corners, Leia was quick to find what she was looking for: A refresher station. Now it was a waiting game for a stormtrooper that needed to relieve his self. And for Mara's sake, Leia wished that it wouldn't be a long one. A long handful of minutes dragged on and Leia began to fear that her plan was foolhardy when footsteps sounded on the deck. Voices could be heard, but the bearers were not yet close enough for her to here.
"…did you even check the 'freshers? Huh?" the voice was that of a young man. Leia didn't dare risk a glance at who it might be.
"Yes," That was a stormtrooper. "The entire floor was swept and there are patrols covering every corridor."
"Then there's no reason to believe this prisoner's in there."
"Again," the stormtrooper continued. "I advise you to return to your work station where it would be safer."
"So how about I just go right here on the floor? Huh? Give you bone-heads a spill to clean up."
"Hold it," Another stormtrooper recommended.
"Hold this," the young man countered. "Now out of my way."
The door to the refresher station could be heard to open and silence followed. Then the stormtrooper sergeant spoke to the others. "Forget him, then. Come men, we have a prisoner to search for."
"Yes, sir," Two others replied. They marched off down the corridor.
Leia decided she would have to make due with whoever was in the fresher and moved when the way was clear. The door hissed open and Leia entered. Across the room, standing at a urinal was a black uniformed technician a bit taller than Leia. She quickly inspected him and decided that with the cap pulled down firmly over her hair, she just might be able to pass as a young male tech—if she avoided contact with anyone. What's more, she realized, this man might know the way to where C-3PO was being held.
The man zipped his trousers and casually turned around to stare directly in the muzzle of Leia's blaster. He gasped and went completely still.
"Looks like you should have taken the advice of those stormtroopers, Grade Six," Leia said, noticing the man's rank insignia on his chest.
"Don't kill me," he begged.
"That depends. If you tell me what I want to know, I might be in the mood to spare you."
"Anything!" the cowardly tech asked.
"An old model protocol droid was brought in yesterday—a gold Threepio unit. Where is it?"
"I…I don't know."
Leia pressed the muzzle to the man's eye ball, causing his to repeat, "I don't know about a protocol droids. Uh, uh, we got a few new GNK power droids two days ago. I—"
"One…"
"I don't know!" The tech whimpered.
"Two..."
"Please don't kill me! Help! Help!"
"They can't hear you. Three…goodbye."
Leia feigned pulling the trigger, fearful that the man really didn't know about C-3PO and was telling the truth. She couldn't really kill him if he knew or not—Leia was no murderer.
"Wait! I think I remember now," the man suddenly yelped. "Just please don't kill me!"
"Talk!"
"Uh, we got an old gold protocol droid from security. Standard procedure was to melt it down because it was obsolete, but Lord Vader had an interest in it and we got a message from Moff Jerjerrod that the droid not be touched."
"Where is it?"
"Its in storage down the hall. Unit Four-Two-Seven. Now please don't kill me!"
Leia put down the gun and the tech relaxed with a sigh. In that instant, Leia swung the weapon back up and pistol-whipped the tech across the face. Leia heard bones crack as the tech fell to the floor.
Unit 427, Leia reminded herself. She had seen that, along with a wealth of other storage units on her trek over here. That was to be her next stop. But first she needed a change in apparel.
In moment s the unconscious man was stooped-up, half-naked, on the commode inside a refresher stall. Leia pulled the black cap of the uniform over her haphazardly bundled hair and checked herself in the mirror. Clad in the black imperial uniform, Leia couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach at the thought of joining Luke and Vader. She would make them pay for all this one day. She would avenge the deaths of Han, Chewie, and every other Rebel that had died because of the Empire. They would have justice…one day. That she was sure of.
In an instant, light became dark and nothingness became consciousness. Seethreepio's photoreceptors came alive and quickly focused on the very feminine looking imperial officer before him. How odd that the Empire would hire such young human beings. Surely they had all their fill of officer candidates. Perhaps this one was some form of prodigy. Curious indeed, the droid thought.
"Threepio," The officer called to him.
The golden droid suddenly became aware that he was not looking a boyish male, but of a familiar female. "Mistress Leia? Is that really you?"
"Threepio am I glad to see you," Leia replied with a warm smile she thought was impossible at this point.
"Oh dear, it is you! Thank the Maker that someone came to rescue you me. Oh, I thought I was deactivated for good!"
Leia shook her head. "We don't have much time. We have to get out of here and find a way off this station."
"Why yes, of course. But what about the others?"
Leia sighed. "It's just us, Threepio. I'll explain when we have more time. Right now we have to move."
"Oh, dear…"
"Just act natural and no one will bother us. We're just a technician and his droid. If anyone does stop us, let me do the talking." Leia explained to the Seethreepio as they briskly walked the corridors that would lead to the nearest hanger bay.
"But, Mistress Leia," the droid said quietly so no one else could hear, "how will we get a ship without causing alarm? Surely a Grade Six technician does not have authority to fly a shuttle."
"Don't worry; I've all ready though of that. The only problem will be convincing the guards that I'm a man."
"How will you do that? What will you do if he recognizes you?"
"I don't know," she shook her head. "I don't know."
The entrance to the level's hanger came upon them sooner than Leia would have liked and the two went through nervously.
Two stormtroopers stalwartly stood just inside of the door to the massive grey and white hanger. A Lambda-class imperial shuttle sat quietly on the durasteel deck a few dozen meters away. Its lowered ramp likewise guarded by stormtroopers.
"State your business," The one on the right said, his blaster carbine clenched against his chest.
"I…" Leia coughed and dropped the pitch of her voice a few octaves deeper. She knew enough about acting to know not to try too hard to sound male and that young men with core-accents tended to sound more feminine than others. "Grade Six technician reporting. I've been ordered to update the navigational systems of that shuttle."
"One moment please," The trooper replied. His helmet's internal comlink clicked on and he relayed the news to the control station above. Leia couldn't hear what was being said back to the trooper, but she didn't need to. She all ready knew that the officers had received no such orders to allow her, or rather him, to see the craft.
The stormtrooper revealed as much to he a moment later.
"My orders come from the Death Star commander himself, sir. I am to overall the computer systems of his personal shuttle."
"This is not Moff Jerjerrod's personal shuttle," the other trooper said angrily.
"Nonsense. I have the information right here…"
Leia reached into her tunic and snapped up the tech's hold-out blaster pistol hidden there. She fired twice, catching the troops point-blank in the chest armor. The second the bodies were out of her line of sight, Leia fired at the stormtroopers guarding the shuttle. Up above, the imperial officers struggled to call for help.
"Run, Threepio!"
It hadn't been the most brilliant of plans but Leia had been fresh out of good ideas. Now if they could only get in and take off they could swing around and rescue Mara from the clutches of Vader and Luke.
Up the ramp and into the cockpit, Leia raced to fire up the ships engines. Threepio was right behind and came in with limbs flailing in panic. "Oh, we're going to be destroyed for sure!"
Leia took the pilot's seat and brought the ship online. Just then, Threepio let out a loud yelp.
"Mistress Leia, look!" he pointed to the door they had come through, now filled with stormtroopers. "What ever shall we do?"
Leia didn't panic and came up with an idea she was sure she'd laugh about if they got through this. Sit down in the co-pilot's chair and take the control stick."
The droid did as told.
Leia brought the shields and weapons systems up and ready, then commanded. "Aim the guns at them and pull the trigger underneath your index-finger!"
"But I can't fire on living beings, it's against my programming!"
"Then fire around them! Just keep them from coming near here!"
"But Mistress Leia!"
"Now, Threepio!"
Two sets of crimson beams fired from the twin laser cannons mounted atop the ship. They slammed into the bulkhead above the door and caused the stormtroopers to scatter less they be struck by a weapon that was designed to hull starships. More volley's followed, all the while Threepio cried, "Oh, dear. Oh, dear!" But it was working, the stormtroopers, as much as their numbers may increase, could not come near the ship. Their return blaster fire merely bounced off the shuttle's shields. A few minutes more and the ships engines were fired up and ready for use. Leia hit the repulsor, retracted the landing gear, and spun the ship one-hundred-eighty-degrees to face the magnetic containment field.
"Fire at the magcon field projector." Leia commanded.
Seethreepio did so and with a few shots, caused the artificial atmosphere to collapse, opening the ship hanger to the dead of space. The great suction flung the ship and the troopers out into the void. But Leia allowed the ship to go with the flow until they were away. Once she was certain they were at a safe distance, Leia spun the shuttle around and headed back towards the Death Star.
"Mistress Leia, what are you doing? We just left the Death Star. Why are we returning?"
"We have to go back for Mara."
Mara flew from where she had been standing and violently slammed into the bulkhead behind her. She was sure she heard ribs crack over the sound of her scream of pain. She remained against the bulkhead, a meter off the floor, as if she were stuck to it. In reality it was the work of Darth Vader's mastery of the Force.
The Dark Lord of the Sith was furious at her victory over the overconfident Skywalker. For the first time since she had met Vader, he was acting out of pure, unbridled emotion. His anger and hate were swelling so large that Mara could almost taste it. It was not a good sign for Mara Jade.
"Perhaps you are more powerful than I thought, Assassin," Vader's tone masked his rage well. "I now understand what your master saw in you."
Mara could feel an invisible vise-like grip on her wrists, ankles, neck, and chest. With each of Vader's words that contracted to a great degree than loosened, sending enormous jolts of pain through Mara's body.
"Nonetheless, you are too weak to be a real threat to anyone. Much the same with your master."
Without warning, Mara flew across the room, smacking the ground just in front of Vader and sliding along the polished deck. "He claimed to be a master of the Sith arts, but he had no concern for our traditions. That infidel was no better than the Jedi he so hated."
"He was strong enough to make the most powerful Jedi ever lick his boots," Mara taunted between labored breaths. Slowly, all her joints aching, she began to stand. But Vader wouldn't have it. In an instant she was flung onto another bulkhead, all ready stained with the blood of the stormtroopers she'd killed.
Vader turned to face her. "Always two there are. A master and an apprentice. No less and no more."
Mara felt her windpipe tighten slightly, not enough to cut off her short breath, but enough to torture her. She wanted to grab at the unseen hand around her throat but her hands were completely restrained.
"A true Sith Lord needs no assassin to do his bidding when a capable apprentice is at his side."
Mara pushed passed her slow gagging to ask, "Is that what this is about...Jealously, Vader? I thought Sith…were above it."
Vader's rage surged even higher, fueling the uncontrollable blaze that was his dark side power. His right hand snapped up and projected a crackling manifestation of that power. The Force-Lightning flooded into Mara and set her insides on fire. The blue-purple bolts danced around her body and slowly sapped away her life force.
"I can feel your pain, assassin. Beg for your life and I will quickly end this frivolous game once and for all." The onslaught let up so that she could answer.
Mara smiled, thought it pained her to do so. Never before had she felt such pain. But the odd thing was that it didn't matter to her. She didn't care if she died here or not. Leia would escape and somehow learn to use her own powers and one day she would destroy Vader and Skywalker. Every second Vader spent with Mara bought Leia one more second to get away. "Funny…I was about to say the same thing to you, Lord Vader," she forced a chuckle.
Vader swung his outstretched arm and Mara was slammed into the bulkhead opposite the hanger's magcon field. She was dropped, and then was ripped away from it to land at Vader's feet. She got to her knees just as Vader ignited the scarlet blade of his lightsaber. "Now you join your master…"
Mara's eyes went wide in excitement at what she saw beyond the Sith Lord. She looked up into the soulless eye pieces of his helmet and gave a bloody toothed grin. "Not today." She looked past him and nodded.
Outside the magnetic containment field, a white Lambda-class shuttle hovered. Upon Mara's signal, the duel set of twin laser cannons sounded their fury and collapsed the magcon field completely.
The atmosphere in the hanger was sucked out with incredible strength and furiousness. Mara shot past an unmoved Darth Vader and the floating unconscious body of his Force-held son. She used what she could of the Force herself and guided her body into the now open bay of the shuttle. The landing ramp had been closing before she had got inside and it was only a handful of moments before the hatch had sealed and cabin repressurized. Mara hit the bulkhead of the shuttle with the same force she had suddenly grown accustomed with. She couldn't help but laugh at the thought of it all being over.
Mara needed serious medical attention but knew she could get no help until the shuttle was safely in hyperspace. She pushed back her aches and pains and by sheer will alone stood-up and made her way to the cockpit. Inside were a black-uniformed Princess Leia Organa and her gold protocol droid co-pilot. She said nothing to the two and bent in to dial up a hyperspace course for them to use.
"This…will take us…back to my cruiser…"
With that, she fell to the floor and was consumed by weariness and pain.
Mara snapped awake as she hit the floor of the imperial shuttle and found that her pain was completely gone. It was at that point that she realized that she was no longer in the cockpit of the shuttle but rather in a pristine void filled only by her and a diminutive alien resting on a cane.
"What do you want now?" Mara asked. "We have to get out of here."
"To begin Leia's dark training?" The late Jedi Master Yoda asked her.
"I'll train Leia the only way I know how: As a weapon to destroy enemies. Whether its with the light side or the dark is none of my concern, Jedi."
Yoda looked down at the floor in disappointment. "So much could you accomplish, if only you were willing."
"Listen," Mara implored. "I won't let her become like them, if that's what you're worried about. I'm not a Jedi and I'm not a Sith. I'm just an assassin. And the way I see it, training Leia as one will be advantageous."
"Help you I can, Jedi could you become." Yoda pleaded. "Jedi, Leia must become if she is to be trained in the Force. For if trained as you say, then an agent of the Sith she will surely become—like her brother and father."
"I won't let that happen!"
"Control it, you cannot. Control yourself, you cannot. If confront Vader and Luke she does, she will die and so will you. No match, are your skills compared to Vader's. Luke will grow strong. A master of the Force is Vader, but you are not. If oppose the Sith is your wish, do so as a Jedi!"
"I can't become a Jedi! I can't betray my master!"
"Gone, is Palpatine!"
Mara offered no retort to that statement.
"Searched your heart, have I. Darkness lays there…"
Mara didn't—couldn't disagree with that statement. She was a weapon of Emperor Palpatine, a master of evil. To do the bidding of such a vile person required moral flexibility—some could say a capacity for evil. Mara really didn't know if she was evil or not. It never really mattered to her. It had always been about serving her master's wishes no matter what. No matter what the expense to her soul.
"…but within it, also a great capacity for good," Yoda proclaimed. "You need only accept my help to fulfill that capacity. Through me, know you will how to train Leia as a Jedi. You need only accept your destiny."
She could feel it down in the pit of her soul that everything he said was right. Try as she might, Mara could never truly accept the atrocities the Emperor committed and had her commit. She wasn't evil like him and he had always made her believe that that was weakness. Mara couldn't afford to be weak, less the Emperor find her usefulness at its end. But a Jedi? She had been raised to hate the Jedi and everything about them. The Jedi were nothing but bleeding-heart zealots who would rather contemplate there actions then aide the galaxy. That was why Palpatine said he had destroyed them.
A tear ran down Mara's cheek as she considered the man she so idolized. She realized that she had never believed a word of what he said.
Mara looked up at the small Jedi Master. How so much wisdom fit into such a small body, she couldn't fathom. "I'll do it…"
Yoda gave no cheer of success or sound of elation. Merely he nodded his white bristled head in acknowledgement. He looked at her with confidence. "A gift, I have for you. A technique you will learn to do yourself soon. A healing trance, your body has been in. Your injuries, they will be healed."
With that, Mara's connection was broken and she vanished into nothingness. Yoda stood alone in contemplation for several moments before he was joined by two other Jedi of the past. The two Jedi materialized as if from no where and stood before the diminutive master.
"Can she really be trusted with such a serious task?" The dark skinned, bald-headed Jedi Master Mace Windu asked.
"Have no other choice do we. A grave mistake has Obi-Wan and I made."
The white-haired Jedi Master beside Mace nodded grimly.
"What of Kyle Katarn?" the skeptical Windu asked.
"Much time will there be until he begins his path as a Jedi. Too much time we will lose as the Sith grow stronger," Yoda explained. "Katarn's destiny lies upon a different path than Mara's. Indeed, a rebel is he, but from Mara Jade, Leia will learn how to destroy the Empire."
"If she is not seduced during her training." Mace countered."… I don't trust this Jade."
Yoda looked up at the image of his old friend, "Trust me, do you?"
Mace Windu grimaced and gave a defeated sigh, "You know that I will always stand by your judgment, master."
Yoda looked to Obi-Wan Kenobi. "We overestimated Luke's ability to understand the evil of the Empire. Perhaps with Leia's training being conducted by a former emissary of that Empire, Leia could be made to comprehend the gravity of her becoming a Jedi. This is something I do not think she could learn from Kyle Katarn or any other."
"Then it is agreed?" Yoda asked.
Mace crossed his arms, "I still have my misgivings about this…but if you say that it will work, I will support your decision." Mace conceded.
"Leia must become a Jedi at any cost. Her life now outweighs that of half the galaxy's inhabitants. Mara Jade can protect her until she is capable." Obi-Wan answered.
"Agreed, it is. A Jedi, Leia will be…"
The flickering of the blistering Death Star reactor core cast ghastly shadows on the two figures positioned before it. All other lights in the Emperor's Throne Room had been extinguished and the only light came from the blazing reactor core a hundred meters below. Luke Skywalker had waited his entire life for this moment, but only realized it a few days ago. All his life Luke had wanted to know his father. Not just know his father but be a part of his life. Luke wanted to stand beside his father and joyously consume any information his mentor would have. He had had this dream when he was younger, back on Tatioone when he thought his father a dead navigator on a spice freighter. He wanted it even more when Ben had told him of his Jedi heritage. And now he had it as his father's apprentice. Not as a Jedi, but as a Sith—a true warrior of justice and order. Days ago he had surrendered to the imperials on Endor in the hopes of turning his father from the dark side. But when Vader came to collect him he felt that that might be impossible. Indeed, on the shuttle ride to the Death Star, it was Darth Vader had shown him the truth of his ways. Luke understood now why the Jedi had to be destroyed and the Sith had to rule. The Jedi were weak hypocrites. They were master mediators, but they refused to use their abilities to save their beloved Republic. They claimed to be the champions of all people despite their position, but instead sacrificed the lives of the "expendable" when it meant saving one corrupt politician. At ten thousand strong they could not keep order in the galaxy. When the galaxy was falling apart from Palpatine's schemes, they continued with their practices instead of adapting to best serve the public.
They ignored the true power of the Force. In a thousand generations the wisest of Jedi Masters could not come to the obvious conclusion that to achieve true power, sacrifices had to be made. What sacrifices the Jedi did make only served to protect their order, not the people. Beings are creatures of emotion and to deny that was foolish. The Jedi denied their emotions because they ruined judgment. The Sith believe this also, however they were able to focus their emotion into their power, channeling it so that it did not affect their actions. If emotion was to be avoided, then why wouldn't the Force manifest itself in droids? Because it was to be embraced, not shunned. Because of this, the Sith gained true power and true insight. The Force was a gift that the Jedi squandered because they were too affixed to old traditions to ever try anything new. Their destruction was the will of the Force. Luke could feel that much in the Force.
Darth Vader approached without a word. He stopped and stared down at his son, saying, "The Empire can only survive as long as there are two Sith: a master and an apprentice….A Jedi stands before me."
Standing on a railed catwalk directly over the reactor core, Luke unclipped his Jedi weapon with his only hand and held it over the flashing pit to his side. Without further wait, Luke released his handmade weapon into the bluish abyss below. The metallic cylinder it the core and disintegrated with a crack-snap. Along with it he methodically stripped articles of clothing and sent it into oblivion with the lightsaber. When he was down to nothing but his undergarment, he stopped and kneeled before his father and master. His last vestiges of being a Jedi gone, Vader continued.
"You have intentionally killed your confederates and remorselessly crippled the Rebellion. You have shown nothing but spite for those who had trusted you and betrayed the last of the Jedi Knights. You, who are a true Sith Lord. Together, as master and apprentice, father and son, we shall bring justice and order to the galaxy and end this misguided Rebellion against the true rulers. Do you accept these duties?"
"I do." Luke said.
"Then the Jedi Luke Skywalker is dead. Arise and be reborn as a Sith, my Darth Malice…"