Disclaimer: All recognizable Star Wars characters belong to George Lucas and not to me and I don't make any money off of this either. Wish I did…I'm broke. Lol
Author's Note: Thanks to all my 'fans'. I've been writing still…just with someone else while in college. Be sure to check out those stories under author name Layjinn. We've worked really hard for a long time on some of these. This is also my first solo fic in a while so if it's rough in the beginning I apologize in advance. Send feedback!! I live off of it!!
Jedi Master Luke Skywalker fidgeted in his all black Jedi outfit. He still could not believe that he was now married…and to a wonderful woman at that. She was kind, sensitive, determined, courageous, and completely able to hold her own against virtually anything. He could not believe she picked him.
Almost as if she could read his thoughts—perhaps she could—Mara Jade, now Skywalker, turned and smiled at him from across the reception hall. Her brilliant red hair threw rosy shadows across her white wedding dress as her green eyes questioned his somber mood.
Luke sent her a reassuring thought and she turned back to what his twin sister, Leia Organa Solo, was saying to her about the conclusion of the wedding. He supposed he should bring his attention back to what the men around him were talking about as well.
To his surprise, they were not chatting about the wedding that had just ended, but at a new threat rumored in the Republic hierarchy.
"…destroyed twenty settlements in the last four months," Luke's good friend, Wedge Antilles was saying. The brown haired man gestured with his empty glass toward the direction of the Senate building on Coruscant. "The bureaucrats have no idea who is behind it or why."
Chewbacca, his fur immaculately groomed, growled a question which Han Solo, Luke's best man and brother-in-law, translated.
"Good question, Chewie. He wants to know how many worlds have been hit and if there seems to be a pattern to these attacks?" Han Solo, looking as uncomfortable in his dress uniform as Luke felt, said as he had a droid refill his glass.
Wedge shook his head. "No definite numbers have come in but an estimated four worlds all in the same sector. Intelligence is working on possible patterns."
Pash Cracken, whose father ran the New Republic's Intelligence, shrugged, his red locks swinging with the movement. "I haven't heard anything from Dad. They're pretty stumped."
Luke frowned. "Surely these attackers should be leaving some clues behind in their multiple attacks. We just haven't found them or know what they mean yet."
All heads turned toward him when he spoke and a few faces blushed.
"Sorry, kid, we shouldn't be talking about this at your wedding," Han apologized, swigging his drink down in one gulp.
Wedge's blush was still on his cheeks as he added, "Yeah, this is a celebration, not a Council meeting." He glanced around to find Winter and Iella near Mara and nodded a signal to his wife.
Iella clapped her hands together to interrupt the buzzing of conversation. "Everyone! It's time now for Mara to throw her flowers. Single ladies, please group together over here." She pointed near Mara.
Mara sent a look of exasperation at Luke. She had not wanted a huge or fancy wedding, and if the truth was told neither had he. But Leia had planned the wedding, with Mara's blessing, and so both bride and groom had to suffer through the events until they could both be finally alone.
Laying in his arms later than night, Mara reached out to brush a lock of hair from Luke's face. His eyes were closed but she knew that her husband was not asleep.
"Luke, what is it that's bothering you?" She asked in her throaty voice.
Luke opened one eye to gaze at her briefly and then he shut it again. "Just something Wedge brought up at the reception. Have you heard anything through the smugglers about mysterious attacks on settlements?"
Mara thought for a moment. As second-in-command to Talon Karrde's smuggler group she learned a lot of things through fringe channels that the Republic hierarchy did not. Racking her brain, she came up with nothing. "No, but that's not unlikely. I've been so busy getting the wedding plans finalized, and keeping your sister from destroying our wedding, that I haven't had much of a chance to talk to Karrde lately. Why do you ask? Has something happened?"
He sighed and propped himself up on an elbow to gaze down at her with his ice-blue eyes. He filled her in with what little he knew and then said, "It disturbs me. So far, there seems to be no motive for these attacks. If I focus into the Force to try to get a reading of the flow of the future, everything is muddied and unclear—which is not unusual. What is disturbing to me is the fact that I do sense malevolence behind it all but I cannot locate it."
Mara frowned, shadows from the window playing across her face. "You can't sense at all where this malevolence might be even remotely stationed at?"
Luke shook his head in mute frustration.
Mara was not happy about this news at all. Luke was one of the most powerful Jedi she had ever known—and she had known quite a few. When she had been younger, she had been personally trained by the Emperor and was called his 'Hand' as she completed duties for him from lightyears away. She had been around Darth Vader—Anakin Skywalker—and the Emperor for many years and had seen both of their powers at work. Through the years, she had gotten to know Luke as well, and through quite a few dangers together had seen just what he could do with very little in the way of training in the Force. If he could not sense this trouble very well, then it sent a chill down her spine.
"I…" She started to say but was interrupted by Luke's comlink. "Who is that on tonight of all nights?" She demanded irritably.
Luke smiled apologetically to her and flipped it on. "Skywalker here. What's going on?"
To his mild surprise, Han's tense voice came back to him. "Sorry, kid, Mara," he said. "I need you both to come to the Imperial Palace's Communications Room as soon as you possibly can."
Luke glanced at Mara, at the way her eyes narrowed with concern. "On our way," he responded. He smiled at his wife. "Shall we get dressed first?"
She tossed a pillow at him and then stood to search for her gray flightsuit.
Han, Leia, Admiral Ackbar, and several others in high positions in the New Republic command stood, their body positions as tight as their mental senses, as Luke and Mara strode into the Communications Center of the Imperial Palace.
"What seems to be the trouble?" Mara asked, as usual getting immediately to the point.
Leia gestured to the screen they were all facing, her hair disheveled from being roused from bed as well at this late hour. "A transmission came in for Luke. Admiral Ackbar was on duty and called us first since it is your honeymoon. I thought it wise to let you both see this right away." She nodded at the Calamarian, who immediately started the message.
An aging man's face appeared, the dark brown hair almost gray. His skin was wrinkled terribly—something that both Luke and Mara remembered about the Emperor. With a sneer, the man pointed at where Luke should be standing were he where the receiver usually stood.
"Master Skywalker," the man greeted, sarcasm dripping from his tone. "Perhaps you remember me? I hope you remember all of your students who leave your precious Academy. Now that I've jogged your memory, I want to show you something…"
The screen blanked out for a moment, and then Luke found himself watching a peaceful scene of people in simple clothing going about their daily chores of living. Children played and laughed, though he could not hear them. Women smiled and men playfully swatted at children who wandered too closely to where they were reaping in a field of food. It was a scene of joy and delight, a simple harmony of life…and with one blindingly bright flash, it was all gone. Nothing was left of the field or even the people but a black smear on a tortured landscape. They were just…gone.
The man reappeared. "Do I have your attention, Master Skywalker? I thought it only fitting to celebrate your wedding and joy with the exact opposite—pain, fear and death. How dare you have a right to happiness when all I have is nothing!" He panted for a moment, regaining control, his brown eyes blazing. After a minute, he continued, "I will continue to deliver these wedding presents to you and your lovely wife until you meet me on Helska in two week's time. And, no, you will not be able to feel their deaths in the Force, Master Skywalker. I have learned much that you did not teach me. I am shielding their deaths from you to keep you from knowing how many innocents are dying because of your happiness. You have two weeks to get to Helska. If you are not there, many more will die and this time you will feel it all." The transmission ended.
Leia turned to face her brother. "Who is it? Do you know, Luke?"
During the transmission, Mara had held his hand to give him a physical touch of reassurance. Now, he pulled his hand away from her to cross it over his chest, fighting against a sense of despair and horror.
Very quietly, he answered, "I know who it is. It's Brakiss."
Mara stared at him. "The one who learned under Kueller for a while?"
Luke nodded. "The one and same. I had hoped he escaped his hate; that was the impression I got from him that last time, anyway."
"What are you going to do, kid?" Han asked. The question had obviously been on everyone else's minds for they all turned to him.
Luke gestured helplessly. "What else? I'm going to Helska."