Star Wars: The Rise of the Sith
Chapter 2
Thanks for reviewing; I'm working on the grammar thing.
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Damian clapped a hand over Nike's mouth and pressed them up against the wall just as a group of droids came around the corner. Luckily they passed by without them seeing, and the he dragged her around the corner.
"You are going to pull my arm out of my socket!" she snapped.
"And that'll just break my heart," Damian muttered. He stopped at a door and began punching in a code.
"Where are we going?" She asked. "I need to find my friends and you're not helping you dolt."
"You are this close to getting thrown out of this space station," he told her. "We're going to my room."
"And why is that?"
"Because," Damian said as the door opened, "I need somewhere to keep you while I go look for the others," he shoved her into the room.
"WHAT?" Nike ran towards the door but it shut on her "Why that intolerable, scruffy…nerfherder!" She screamed and began banging on the door. It opened again and Damian grabbed her and pushed her backwards onto the bed and pinned her down.
"Are you mental?" He asked harshly. All she could do was stare at the man who was on top of her. "You can't go screaming or they'll know you're here and kill you."
"Get off me!" She snapped, recovering from her shock.
"Yes your majesty, now stay here and shut up!" Then he left again. Nike sat up and then slammed her body back on the bed, then heaved a sigh. This defiantly was not turning out as she had planned.
*~*~*~*
"Ben!" Moria hissed. "Sylor!" Somehow they had gotten separated. They had been hiding in a hall when three men, all dressed in black and carrying lightsabers, apparently Sith, had come around the corner. The boys had jumped to one side, Moria to another. She luckily had jumped into another room and shut the door. A few minutes later she immerged and looked around for the boys.
"Where could they be?" She muttered to herself, and then headed off down the hallway to find them. She felt very foolish walking through the hall with the cape swinging behind her, but straightened herself and tried to walk with as much forwardness as possible. She wanted to fit in after all.
"Hey you!" Someone behind her snapped. Moria froze and then turned slowly around. It was a Twi'lek female, purple skinned with blood red eyes. She was dressed all in black, with the cape, but had a golden patch on her shoulder, probably showing some kind of high rank.
"Um…yes?" Moria asked, trying to act as natural as possible. The Twi'lek narrowed her eyes at Moria, and the girl realized that she probably expected some kind of formal address, so she did the first thing that popped into her head, and bowed to the woman, "yes ma'am?"
"Are you one of the new recruits?" She asked, looking the girl up and down, from the top of her curl red head, to her feet that were in too-big boots.
"Yes ma'am," Moria said, unsure of what else to do.
"Capes are given to second years," she said, "go put it back where you found it."
"Yes ma'am," Moria said and bowed again as the woman strode off. She gave a sigh of relief, took off the cape and dumped it in the next garbage shoot she got to.
"Ow!" She heard a familiar voice say, and stopped. Listening closely.
"Jeez Skywalker it was just a sheet," she heard Sylor say.
"No it was a cape and it's heavy," Ben said back. Moria walked over to the garbage shoot and looked down in it.
"Just be quiet or someone will hear," Sylor said.
"Someone did hear," Moria informed them. Startled, they jumped back and she smiled, trying not to laugh. "What are you two doing down there?" She asked.
"Hiding from a group of droids that were chasing us," Sylor told her simply.
"Well get out, we have to get Nike and get out of here," she said.
"I finally found you," Moria felt the hair on the back of her neck go up as someone behind her spoke. She shot around to see a boy, probably Ben and Sylor's age, with black hair and stunning deep blue eyes. He was leaning casually on the wall behind him with a crooked smile on his face. She reached for her lightsaber, but he quickly grabbed her arm.
"There's no need for violence," he told her. "My name is Damian Slayner and I know where your loud mouthed friend is."
"Nike?"
"Yeah, her, now come on."
"Wait!" Ben called. "What's going on up there!"
"Be quiet," Damian hissed, "do you want the whole station to know where you are?"
"Who are you?" Sylor asked.
"Just get up here and I'll explain everything."
*~*~*~*~
"Fifty six bottles of beer on the wall, fifty six bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, fifty five bottle of bear on the wall. Fifty five bot-"
"You're only on fifty five?" Nike turned over on the bed and glared and Damian, but then brightened when Moria, Ben, and Sylor stepped out from behind him. Nike got up and ran to hug her friends.
"What took you so long?" She cried, then instantly recoiled from Ben and Sylor, "and why do you smell like garbage?"
"It's a long story," Ben said, "so how do we get out of here?"
"I don't know, ask him," Nike nodded to Damian.
"There's a secret passage from here to F compound," he said, "from there you can take one of the ships and get out of here. I'll turn off the shield generator for you."
"First off, I don't trust you," Nike snapped, shoving a finger in his face, "and secondly we need our droids."
"Yeah," Ben said, "Dad would never speak to me again if I left Artoo behind, and who knows what Threepio would do."
"I'll get your droids," Damian said, "just stay here."
"Hey Dame," Ben said as Damian turned away.
"Yeah?"
"Is there any way we'll get our ships back?"
"I wouldn't count on it," Damian said, and then he left. Ben turned back around to see his cousin glaring at him with her arms crossed.
"What?" He asked.
"Dame?" Nike said the word as if it tasted bad. "Dame? I cannot believe you called him Dame."
"Why?" Sylor asked. "Ben shortens everyone's name…we all do actually."
"No, we shorten or friends' names," Nike said, "not the name of the Sith Lord's son."
"Well it's not like he wanted to be stuck here, he wants to become a Jedi and do good," Ben said.
"Oh yeah, and I suppose he told you that," she muttered.
"No," Ben informed her, "I sensed it in him."
"Oh," Nike muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "And your senses are sooo accurate and all."
"More accurate than-"
"I really would rather not listen to your little argument about the Force right now," Moria told them. Nike flopped back down on the bed, Ben and Moria sat in chairs, and Sylor spread himself out on the sofa, none of them speaking, and all of their thoughts taking them to far off places.
*~*~*~*~
Damian made his way to the smoke filled A compound where the X-wings were waiting. As he was leaving a group of battle droids were escorting four astromech droids out.
"Hey you," Damian said, stopping to talk to the leader of the group.
"Yes, your excellency?" the droid said in his robotic tone. Damian rolled his eyes with the formality and went on.
"Are those the droids from the Alliance pilots?" He asked.
"Yes, they are." A little R2 unit beeped loudly.
"Well I am to take them to Lord Reth," he said.
"Are you sure, we were told to-"
"Do you doubt my word?" Damian asked dangerously, and smiled when the droid backed up in fear. Luthor would have chopped the thing to pieces at questioning him, but Damian just let them think he was as evil as his brother.
"Oh, no your worship," the droid said, bowing, "here you are." The group left, leaving Damian with the four droids.
"Alright you four, let's get a move on," he said, and turned to leave. The droids wouldn't move. "Alright," he sighed, "now all of you, you can't run off with those bonds, and you can't just sit there forever, now come on or do I have to drag you." The R2 unit made a few rude sounds.
"Excuse me, but if you'd ever like to see Ben, or Luke or whoever again, I suggest you get to moving," Damian told the droid, then turned around and made his way back. It beeped loudly, but followed, and the other three went on right behind it.
A group of new recruits, probably about twelve at the oldest, walked by them and looked curiously at the droids. Damian gave them his more superior-the-thou raise of the eyebrow and frown, and they quickly looked away. He smiled with satisfaction, and continued on his way. When they got back to his personal corridors the droids filed in, in a single line.
"Artoo!" Ben cried, jumping up from his chair. The droid whistled happily, thrilled at seeing familiar faces.
"Ah, so the loud one's yours," Damian said, "I thought it's be Nike's."
"Oh, har har, aren't you hilarious," Nike snapped. The little orange droid rolled over to Nike a beeped loudly. "Shut up Zero I didn't want to leave you."
"We need to get out of here," Moria said, "now."
"I agree," Damian said, "this way, please." He led them into a back room and through a door, out onto a room that overlooked a small hanger. There were a few starships in there, and no droids.
"The F compound isn't guarded," Damian explained, "because all these ships don't work."
"Um…so how are we going to get anywhere?" Sylor asked.
"See that Y-wing? Well it was made back when the Empire was around, it should get you to your space station," he said, "as long as you don't jump to light speed."
"That's impossible," Nike snapped, "there aren't any weapons on that and no light speed, we'll be killed!"
"Have some faith," Damian said, clapping a hand on her shoulder.
Nike gave him a mean look and said, "Faith? In you? You have got to be kidding."
"Nike doesn't have faith in anything," Ben said.
"Shut up," Nike snapped, and punched him in the arm.
"Alright," Damian said, "there's a comlink in the ship, once I deactivate the shield generator I'll contact you, and you get out of here."
"Get it," Sylor nodded, and Damian left them.
"I don't trust him," Nike said.
"You don't trust anyone," Ben informed her, and jumped over the balcony to the ground below. Sylor and Moria followed right after. Nike sighed, and swung a leg over the side of the balcony, then both legs, then slowly slipped down until she finally had to drop to the ground. The droids took the long way down a ramp.
In the Y-wing, Nike took her place in the pilot's seat, with Ben beside her as the copilot. Sylor and Moria sat in the seats behind them. The droids rolled on and Ben shut the door.
"Alright," Ben said, "let's get this hunk of junk moving."
Nike picked up the comlink, "Hey Sith Jr."
"Yes, your worship."
"Where are you?"
"Entering the shield generator room."
"Well step it up a notch, I wanna get out of here," she said.
"Stepping," he replied. "Alright, I'm typing in the coordinates."
"Coordinates?" Nike asked. "The shield generator has coordinates?"
"Yeah," Damian shrugged, "as if someone would be stupid enough to sneak around on the siding of the wall trying to jump to the shield generator to turn it off," Nike frowned. "No, wait, that already happened didn't it?"
"I was not going to jump to the shield generator," she informed him bitterly. She heard him give a short laugh.
"Alright, you guys better get ready, the shields are coming down in five, four…" Nike fired the engines. "Two, one, and they are down!"
"Let's go!" Nike declared, and shot the old ship out of the space station.
"Thanks, Dame," Ben said.
"No problem," Damian said. Nike moved the ship as fast as it would go, trying to get as far away as possible, as quickly as possible. "Better move fast," Damian told her, "or they'll catch you."
"Thanks for the tip," she muttered sarcastically.
"Uh-oh," Damian said.
"What?" Ben asked.
"They're announcing your departure, the droids are getting in their TIEs, so I'd suggest getting out of there now."
"We've got six on our tail!" Ben cried, looking at the cockpit simulator.
"Go faster!" Damian cried.
"This isn't the Millennium Falcon Damian!" Nike snapped. "This is as fast as it goes without light speed!"
"What's the Millennium Falcon?" Nike ignored him and made a sharp port turn around one of the fighters. The fighter chased after her, and slipped under another fighter, causing the two to crash into one another.
"Well that was good, there's only four left," Sylor commented.
"Not for long, look," Moria pointed to where many more fighters were filling out of the space station. "There's gotta be at least twenty."
"Just get out of the shield zone!" Damian snapped.
"We need to get out of here," Moria cried.
"We need help," Nike said through her teeth.
Help, Ben called out with the Force, Dad, Mom, Jacen…anyone…help…hear me please.
*~*~*~*~
"They had to have some kind of communicator on them," Luke reasoned as he walked through the halls of Calrissian Space Station with Mara, Jaina, Jag and Threepio, with Launie and Lane following.
"If they did then it would have been confiscated by the Sith," Mara replied.
"Not if they somehow got passed the Sith," Luke told her.
"Possible, but not likely," she told her husband.
"Actually," Threepio said, "Master Luke was hardly older than Masters Ben and Sylor when he battled the Empire."
"That's true," Luke said, "but it's still no reason for us not to go out there and get them."
"But if they're still in the New Death Star," Jaina said, "then there's no way we could get them. If they somehow got the shields down and somehow-" She stopped and looked back at uncle, who had stopped and was looking searchingly into the air.
"Uncle Luke?" She asked.
"Ben," Luke said, at little more then a whisper. "Ben…he's…he's trying to reach me."
Dad, please hear me, we need your help, Ben was saying. Luke searched for his son with his mind, trying to feel Ben's presence, and then, without a word to his confused companions, he took off down the hall.
"Luke!" He heard Mara call, but he kept running towards the command room.
"I believe Master Luke has lost his mind," Threepio observed, but the humans ran after him, and so the droid reluctantly followed.
"Luke what is it?" Mara asked as they entered the command room.
"I know where Ben is," he said as he began punching coordinates and figures into the holonet and datapad.
"You do?" Mara, Jaina, and Jag all said in unison.
"Yes, he's calling me with the Force," Luke explained, "if you listen you may hear him too, well, Mara and Jaina at least."
"And us," the twins muttered.
"I just need to find their signal," Luke finished. He rolled a knob around, and the voices from different comlink signals filled the room. "Just listen for one of their voices." They all toned in carefully, trying to listen for a familiar voice, and then it came.
"Calrissian Space Station-"
"That's them!" Mara, Jaina and the twins all cried together. Luke rolled back to them.
"-Moria Skywalker, we need your help, we are under attack-OW! NIKE WATCH IT! Jeez…I repeat, this is Moria Skywalker, Calrissian Space Station, please come in."
"Moria!" Luke cried, trying to get his daughter's attention.
"This is Moria Skywalker," the girl repeated, "Calrissian Space Station please come in."
"MORIA!" Luke yelled again.
"This is-Nike, I don't think it's working, the signal on this bucket of bolts can't be that great, we'll never be able to contact them."
"Moria, you dolt," Mara declared, "you are contacting us!"
"…Mom?" Moria sounded surprised.
"Moria!" Mara called, not sure if her daughter could still hear her or not.
"Mom! Mom it's you! HAHA! Ben I got her!" Moria declared happily.
"Will you stop screaming?" they heard Nike snap, "I'm trying to concentrate."
"Are you all together?" Mara asked.
"Yes, we're in some jacked up Y-wing with no weapons and no light speed out in the middle of nowhere with TIE fighters halfway up our butts," Moria cried.
"We are not in the middle of nowhere, I know exactly where we are," Nike snapped.
"Yeah," Sylor muttered, "about two nanoseconds from death."
"We need backup," Moria said, "they have us outnumbered and they have lasers."
"Can you give us some coordinates?" Luke asked.
"Um…no," Ben said, "this stupid ship has nothing on it that works"
"We're entering the asteroid field," Nike said.
"What?!" Ben cried. "Are you crazy?"
"It's safer in there then it is out here," Nike snapped.
"We're gonna die!" Sylor moaned.
"Stay in the field," Luke said, "hide near one of the bigger asteroids until we get there."
"Got it," Nike said.
"You're all insane," Moria wailed.
"Watch out!" Ben cried.
"I was twenty meters away from it, jumpy," Nike said exasperatedly.
"They're still following!" Moria cried.
"Yeah, but now we at least have a chance," Nike reasoned, "as long as help gets here soon."
"We're on our way," Jaina said.
"I'll stay here an keep talking to them," Mara offered, "the rest of you go."
"Actually," Jaina said, "I think I should stay here, the rest of you go." Mara looked at her curiously.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Of course I'm sure," Jaina said, "now get out there and get my sister back so I can clobber her on the head."
"We'll be back soon," Jag said, and gave his wife's hand a squeeze, and then the three pilots ran out. Launie tried to follow.
"Hold it you," Jaina said. Her daughter sighed and turned back around. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Um…"
"Exactly what I thought, get back in here and you can help me," Jaina told her.
"But Moooom," Launie whined, "I'm nine and a half years old, that's almost ten, which is almost a teenager, which is practically twenty, twenty year olds are aloud to be in a squadron." Jaina could only laugh at her daughters reasoning.
"Well I'm so glad you guys are having so much fun while we're dying," Sylor snapped.
"Don't worry, Luke, Mara, and Jag are on their way," Jaina reassured them.
"Who's worried?" She heard Nike mutter.
*~*~*~*
Leia Organa Solo settled into the seat next to her husband's on the Millennium Falcon and sighed exasperatedly.
"You okay?" Han Solo, her husband, asked her.
"I just don't think I can take much more of this," she sighed. "I would like to be able to see one of my children grow up, but no, it's one thing after another forever, I just want a few years of peace in the galaxy."
"We all do," Han said with a crooked smile. She smiled weakly back at him and he kissed her lightly.
"Well at this point, even I'm beginning to hate politics," Leia sighed, "so I don't know how you're feeling." Han laughed lightly.
"I'm just glad your meeting with the senators was short so we can get back to the space station," Han said, "I don't feel like I'm doing anything helpful in Coruscant when the war is going on other places."
"I understand completely," she said, "and I hate leaving Nike with Luke and Mara all the time."
"Yeah," Han said, "I doubt the gray hairs Luke is getting are from any of his children." Leia laughed and shook her head. Nike was a handful, there was no denying that, she just hoped that her daughter hadn't caused too much trouble for everyone at the space station.
*~*~*~*~
"Those kids are causing us a lot of trouble," Luke said as he, Mara, Jag, and a small group of X-wings came out of light speed and came upon the asteroid belt.
"Yeah well," Mara said from her ship, the Jade Shadow, "we can deal with that later, for now let's just find them."
"Nike," Jag said on the comlink, "where are you?"
"In the asteroid field," she stated dryly.
"More specific."
"Well, if you can see the TIE bombers, then you're pretty close to us," she told him.
"I don't see anything except asteroids," Jag remarked.
"Dad, can you feel for us?" Ben asked, and Luke could practically see Nike rolling her eyes by the way she sighed at the statement.
"I'm sick of this," Nike snapped, "I don't like hiding, can't we just-"
"No," Mara said sternly, "you are going to stay on that rock until we get there, unless of course you would like me to contact your parents and get their opinion on the situation." Nike shrunk down in her seat, thinking about how badly her parents would kill her when they found out about what she had done.
"Is there anyway we can keep this entire day off the Leia/Han radar?" Nike asked.
"Heck no!" Ben cried. "If I get in trouble, so does she!"
"Sorry kid," Luke said, "besides, I doubt that they would fall for 'Nike didn't do anything while you were gone'."
"This sucks," Nike muttered. A TIE bomber dropped a blast right over the cave that they were hiding in, and caused their ship to rock and them to fall out of their chairs.
"Just hang on," Luke said, "we'll be there shortly."
"There!" Jag said when he saw the TIE fighters and bombers not so far away. "Starboard side, towards that big asteroid."
"I see them," Luke said, "everyone, full attack."
*~*~*~*~
Even with all the explosions and yelling and commands going on Nike felt as if she was alone on the quietest, most decollate planet in the galaxy. She knew what was going to happen. Her parents would come back, learn of what she had done, and she would be shipped to boarding school on Coruscant with Threepio.
Boarding school. An all girl boarding school that was on Coruscant for the daughters of wealthy families. When she was twelve, after she had stolen the Falcon and had tried to fly through the streets of Coruscant at light speed (bad idea), her parents had basically told her that if she ever did anything like that again she would go to boarding school and learn etiquette until she was eighteen.
This was hardly appealing to the girl.
Finally, all the noise stopped, and Mara called to them on the comlink.
"It's all clear," she said, "now get up here so I can see your faces when I ground you." The children moaned, but Nike turned the ship out of the cave and into the air, where she saw the ships waiting.
"That's the ship you're riding in?" Jag asked. "I'm surprised it made it out of the space station."
"Shut up," Nike snapped.
"Board onto the Shadow," Luke ordered, and Nike did as told.
"Now that there's no chance that we could kill ourselves," Ben said, "they're not going to be nice."
"I'm aware," Sylor said.
"Hey kids," Jag said, hardly able to keep the humor from his voice, "good luck."
"Gee, thanks," Ben muttered. When they boarded the Shadow, the kids took their time getting to the cockpit, where Mara was. When the ships were out of the asteroid field, they finally entered the cockpit timidly.
"All of you sit," Mara ordered sternly, her back turned to them. They obeyed immediately, sitting on the first things they reached, whether a chair or the floor and quietly awaited their doom.
*~*~*~*~
"Calrissian Space Station, this is Han Solo, requesting opening of the Main Hull," Han said over the comlink.
"Dad!" Jacen's happy voice answered.
"Jacen?" Han said, surprised, "I thought you were in the Outer Rim with Danni."
"No, we came back here," Jacen answered, "we wanted to help out."
"Where's Padme?" Leia asked.
"She's here too," Jacen said, "she wanted to see her grandparents."
"Well how sweet," Han said, "the whole family came out into the war zone to see us."
"Well, that wasn't the only reason, there's a lot more," he said, "but I'll explain all that with you when Luke, Mara, and Jag get back."
"Where are they?" Leia asked.
"I'll let Nike explain."
"Uh-oh," Han said, and Jacen laughed.
"Well, the Hull's open and the twins want to see you, so hurry up," Jacen said.
"Sure thing, see you soon," Han replied, then sighed.
"I wonder what she did this time," Leia said.
"I just hope it's not bad enough that we have to send her to boarding school," Han said.
"You think she'll ever forgive us if we do?" Leia asked.
"She may be over it by the time we're dead," Han replied.
*~*~*~*
When they landed on the space station, Mara turned to the children for the first time. They all saw the murderous look in her eyes, and sunk down.
"Get to the command room and wait for me and your father there," she told them sternly. They all nodded and ran off. In the command room they sat side by side in chairs, awaiting their punishment.
*~*~*~*~
"Leia," Luke greeted his sister, "it's so nice to see you, and so soon." She smiled and hugged him. Mara, Luke, Jaina, Jag, the twins, Jacen, Danni and Padme all met them in the main compound.
"Well the meeting was short," she said.
"And successful?" He asked hopefully.
"Yes actually," she said, "everyone agreed that we need to take full action against the Sith."
"Well that's good," Luke said.
"We can talk about this later," Han interrupted, "I want to know what my daughter did."
"It wasn't just your daughter," Luke said, "but mine too, and my son, and my apprentice."
"Ah, the blockhead four," Leia said, "So what did they do?" Han and Leia listened as Luke explained to them what the kids had been up to, with Launie giving her little tidbits along the way.
"And now their in the command room awaiting their punishment," Luke said.
"Does this mean that Nike has to go to the boarding school?" Launie asked. Leia and Han exchanged glances and sighed.
"We'll decide that in a minute," Han said, "first I think we need to have a long talk with her."
"I think we'll go back to our room," Danni said, taking Padme's hand.
"But Mommy!" The little girl cried, "I want to stay with Daddy!"
"Not now, you'll see him later," she said, then picked up her daughter and carried her away.
"Well," Jaina said, "since Jacen's sticking around to beat down on his apprentice, I guess I should too."
"Can we come?" Launie asked.
"I don't want to go!" Lane cried.
"No you can't," Jag said, "you're going to come with me and help me with the Queen." Launie smiled and followed her dad, but Lane hesitated for a moment.
"Come on Lane!" Launie called. Lane looked at her sister, and then at her grandparents, who were watching her curiously.
Should we tell them about forgetting Nike's Birthday? She asked her sister.
No, Launie answered, We'll let Nike do it, it's her business anyway.
I just feel bad that she's gonna get in trouble when she feels so rotten, Lane said. I just wish that they had remembered.
They're grown ups, Lane, we can't expect too much.
I guess you're right.
"Alright you two," Jaina said, "you can have your private conversations later."
"Yes ma'am," they said together, and then turned to leave. Before they left though, Lane turned back to her grandfather and narrowed her eyes at him. Han looked confused and taken aback, but Lane just gave him a rude, disgusted look.
"Lane!" Jaina gasped, thoroughly surprised by her daughter. That was something she wouldn't have even expected Launie to do. But her daughter ignored her, held her chin high, and marched after her sister.
"What's with her?" Han asked.
"Beats me," Jaina replied, "but it looks like Jag's taking care of her disrespectfulness."
"OW!" Lane cried. "DAD! OW!"
"Anyway," Mara said, "I've been waiting all day to beat down on my children and you all are holding me up."
"Let's get this over with," Leia sighed. The group made their way towards the command room.
*~*~*~*~
Nike watched as her three companions shifted uneasily and twiddled their thumbs. She was very happy that her parents were gone, at least her punishment would be postponed until later. That thought though, was diminished as soon as Han and Leia were the first people to walk through the door. She felt her stomach hit her feet.
Mara, Luke, Jaina, Jacen, Han and Leia all stood there, looking at the four children. Han crossed his arms and glared at his daughter. She looked sheepishly at the ground.
"I want to know," Leia said, "whose idea this was." All three of them turned their heads to the floor, and tried to give glances to each other, trying to figure out what to say.
"Nike?" Leia asked, trying to get an answer.
"Ben?" Mara said, "Sylor?" Neither boys answered. "Ah, Moria." The girl tensed, and held her face to the floor. "Look at me," Mara ordered, and slowly Moria raised her head to look into her mother's eyes, "Moria, I want to know whose idea it was to go to that space station, and I want to know now."
"Um…it was…" Moria stammered. "Um…it was my idea." Han snorted and rolled her eyes.
"If this was her idea then I'm Darth Vader," he snapped. "I know exactly whose idea this was-" Nike held up her head to meet her father's gaze, "-and she can go ahead and pack her bags because she's taking the next ship to Coruscant."
"WHAT?!" Nike cried, standing up. "That is completely unfair! You can't send me to that stupid boarding school!"
"We told you that if you messed up again then you were going to Coruscant," Han told her, "and you messed up, you messed up big time, and now you're going to pay for it."
"Pay for what?" Nike cried. "Standing up for what I believe in? Is that such a crime?"
"I will not have this conversation with you," Han said.
"Why not?" She asked.
"Because, I said something and what I say is final."
"Why?" Nike cried. "Why can't what I say be final?"
"Because you're just a kid and I am your parent and I know what's best for you!" Han told her. Nike rolled her eyes. "And so you're going to that boarding school until you're eighteen, so go get packed for the next five years of your life!"
"And going to boarding school is good for me?" She cried.
"If it'll keep you out of trouble, then yeah, it is!" Han yelled. "But then I also know you happen to like to get in trouble anywhere you go!"
"You don't know anything about me!" Nike screamed.
"Don't use that tone with me!" Han yelled back in extreme fury.
"What tone?!" Nike screamed back. "You just want to send me away so that I won't be in your way! It's not fair!"
"Nike," Leia said, trying to be the voice of reason in her family, "we aren't sending you away, we're just putting you where you'll be safe. We're doing this because we love you." Nike's fists were clinched and her whole body was tense. Everyone else in the room had taken a step back from the screaming Solos.
"Well I hate you," Nike said at barely a whisper through gritted teeth. This took both Han and Leia a moment to register, neither of them having had any of their children say they hate them before. Nike stormed out of the room, and everyone stepped out of her way. She stopped at the doorway and turned to her parents.
"Oh yeah, and by the way, it's four years," Nike snapped.
"What?" Han asked.
"It's four years until I'm eighteen, not five," she said, "you see, it was my birthday two days ago," her parents faces fell with sudden remembrance. "Anyway, I don't want to hold up your lives anymore." And then she left. Sylor, Ben and Moria all sunk in their seats.
"Now you three," Mara said, "have yet to be punished."
"Um, since it wasn't our idea can we just not get in trouble?" Sylor asked.
"Do I really need to answer that?" Mara asked.
"Probably not."
"You're going to Coruscant," Luke said, surprising everyone.
"What?" Ben cried.
"You heard me," Luke said, "you were just as in the wrong as Nike was, and you will be punished as much as she was, although it should be more because you are training to become Jedi."
"But Corusant?" Ben cried. "We need to stay here! We can help! We-"
"Like you helped today?" Luke asked. "Not only did you waste valuable time, with your recklessness you put your sister in danger." That stung. Everyone knew how protective of Moria Ben was, and saying something like that had to hurt. Ben clinched his fists and looked at the floor, trying to control his anger. Sylor looked at his feet, ashamed of himself, and Moria was on the verge of tears.
"Go pack," Luke sighed, and Ben instantly got up and left the room, Sylor at a more hesitant pace. Moria got up and began to leave, but stopped in front of her parents.
"I'm sorry," she said meekly.
"It's okay," Mara sighed, running her fingers through her hair, "it wasn't your fault." Moria turned to her Jedi Master.
"Mistress Jaina," she said, "I'm sorry that I screwed up."
"We learn from our mistakes," Jaina told her, "that's how we grow." Moria nodded and gave a small bow, then left. But she wasn't thinking about mistakes or leaving, she was thinking that for once she wished it had been her fault.
*~*~*~*~
Nike, Ben, Sylor and Moria stood side by side at the space port with their parents. It was the day that they were to leave to Coruscant.
"Be careful," Mara told them, "and listen to what Threepio tells you."
"Yes ma'am," the children said.
"Finally!" C-3P0 declared, "I am in charge!"
"Power hungry, much?" Nike asked. Zero, who was beside her, whirled in agreement.
Mara and Luke hugged their children goodbye, and Han and Leia looked at theirs.
"You got everything, kid?" Han asked with a weak smile.
"Yeah," Nike said, taking a step away from them, showing that she was nowhere near forgiving them.
"Well…" Han sighed, it hurt him a lot that her had to send Nike away, he just wished that she could see that, "the ship for Coruscant is all the way down the hall to the right, in the last terminal."
"Got it," Nike said shortly, then threw one bag over her shoulder and grabbed the handle of the other one. "Alright, let's get this show on the road," she called as she walked off.
"Bye," Moria said, and followed her counterparts.
"Oh dear me!" C-3P0 cried, "Wait for me!" They all walked on without saying anything, until Moria suddenly burst in front of the group.
"Alright, we're out of sight!" She said, poking her head around Nike to make sure.
"What?" Nike asked. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about not going to Coruscant!" Moria told them.
"What?" C-3P0 and the humans cried together.
"There's a cargo ship leaving for Tatooine in ten minutes that we can catch," she explained.
"Tatooine?" Nike asked.
"What's there?" Ben said.
"Goodness gracious no!" The droid cried. "You stop this nonsense at once!"
"Yes!" Moria said excitedly, "if we go to Coruscant then we're out of the picture for good! But I have this feeling! Tatooine is where we need to be!" The four humans looked between each other as C-3P0 objected loudly.
"I think we should do it," Sylor said.
"I'm in," Ben agreed.
"Let's go," Nike said with a smile, "good job Skywalker, didn't think you had it in you."
"Yeah well, you know," Moria shrugged.
"That is it! I am putting my foot down! I refuse to be apart of this-" Ben switched the droid off.
"Thank you," Nike said relived.
"Let's go then," Ben said. Sylor picked up C-3P0, and Ben grabbed his bags, and the group headed off to the Tatooine ship, and their destiny.
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