Chapter Five

Leia woke up the next morning and sat up, noticing that she seemed to be the only one awake. They'd stayed up fairly late into the evening talking about the inconsequential things that make up a life. Anakin, with a shy glance at mother, had talked about the first time he'd met Padme when she'd walked into his master's shop in Mos Espa looking for spare parts, and he'd asked her if she was an angel. It was obvious from the glances and his tone of voice that Anakin was still very much in love with mother. But as for mother's feelings about father, Leia had a harder time figuring them out.

The revelation that her father had been a slave on Tattooine made several things clear to Leia. First, it was obvious why he had been so easily manipulated by Palpatine--once a slave, always a slave. That was a particularly harsh thing to think about one's father, she realized, but it was true. In Anakin's case, judging by the things he had said, his owner had been pretty much a father figure to him. Because of that, anyone who treated him in a similar fashion felt "right" to him. Obviously, Palpatine had taken advantage of this weakness of Anakin's to control him.

It also explained why Vader had been so adamantly against slavery. It was, Leia admitted to herself, one of the few things she had admired about Vader--at least before her visit to the first Death Star. She looked over at where Anakin lay sleeping on the ground, and noted how peaceful he looked. She smiled briefly, and then, moving slowly so as not to wake Han who was sleeping close by, stood up and walked away from the group.

I've come to accept him as my father fairly easily , she thought. But why? Losing his memory doesn't excuse his previous behavior.

Perhaps it's because you wanted to find you father as much as Luke did? asked the voice that had talked to her last night.

Why would I though? she asked. I had Bail as my father, and I wasn't living with an Aunt and Uncle who didn't like my father even being mentioned. I don't have any reason to obsessively want a father. She paused. Are you going to tell me who you are, now?

The voice seemed to laugh in her mind. I suppose I should at that. I am former Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. I'm the one that found and freed Anakin, and then insisted that he be trained as a Jedi, even after the Jedi Council had denied it. I was Obi-Wan's Master, and the reason that he wound up training Anakin. The voice had gotten sadder sounding as it spoke.

So why are you in my head? she asked.

As I told you last night, I took it upon myself to watch over you, much as Obi-Wan was watching over your brother. You seemed to be the more sensible of the two, and wouldn't need quite as much watching over as Luke did.

Leia laughed. Do you still think that way?

Not exactly admitted Qui-Gon.

Their conversation had carried Leia out of sight of the rest of the group. It was a beautiful morning, with Naboo's sun low in the sky, and a cool breeze promising moderate temperatures for the day. It was very relaxing and disarming, which is why, even with Qui-Gon's warning shout of Leia, watch out! , she did not react fast enough to prevent something from impacting the back of her skull hard enough to knock her out.

When she came to, with a pounding headache, she found herself dumped unceremoniously in the passenger seat of an old landspeeder. Her hands and feet had been bound, but otherwise she was unharmed.

"Oh, we're awake are we?" said a female voice.

Leia tilted her head so that she could see the speaker, even though the movement sent pain shooting through her head. "Ummph," she groaned, "did you have to hit me so hard?"

The speaker moved around so the Leia could see her. She was a woman about Luke's height with brilliant red hair. "Well, no, probably not. But given your family background, I wanted to make sure I captured you."

"Family background?" asked Leia.

"Sure, Princess Leia Organa, or should I say Organa Skywalker? You're related to two very strong Force users, and I didn't want to take any chances," the woman replied.

"Who are you?" asked Leia.

The woman glared at Leia. "Well, thanks to you and your Rebellion, I'm nobody. But I used to be the Emperor's Hand, his personal assassin."

Leia swallowed nervously. "I thought that was Vader's job?"

"There were things that my master didn't trust Vader with. My master never really trusted Vader, you know. He always suspected that Vader would try to betray him."

"So why are you here?" asked Leia.

"To carry out my master's final command: kill Skywalker." replied the Emperor's Hand. "I suspect that capturing you will bring them to me--your father and brother won't leave you in danger."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Leia. "Palpatine's dead. There's no reason to follow his orders anymore."

At that question, the woman's face twisted strangely. "I...I have to follow my master's orders." Her eye's turned inward with remembered pain. "I must or I will be punished. There is no choice."

"How can he punish you? He's dead."

The woman still seemed strangely distracted. "No, death has no meaning to him. I will still...oh, master, please! I did the best I could!" She half-crouched with her hands raised as if to ward off a blow. "No! Please! Stop!"

Strangely, Leia felt nothing but pity for this strange woman. It was obvious that Palpatine had hurt her greviously at some point.

She's still dangerous though. said Qui-Gon in her head.

I know that. But I can still feel sorry for her, can't I? she thought.

Qui-Gon chuckled. How like your mother you are--although, to be honest, I didn't know her that well--not like Obi-Wan and Anakin did. For a politician though, she was definitely better than most.

Leia kept an eye on the red-headed woman. She seemed to still be reliving whatever Palpatine had done to her. Why didn't you know her that well? she asked Qui-Gon.

Quite simply, I died. I was defeated by Palpatine's first apprentice during the battle to reclaim Naboo from the Trade Federation. he replied.

Can you tell the others what's going on here? I don't want them caught by suprise.

I'll see what I can do. Just relax and go with what this woman wants. I doubt that she's going to hurt you.

Alright. she thought.

Qui-Gon's presence went away.

Leia looked over at the woman who had ceased her painful recollections and was loading stuff in the back of the landspeeder. Satisfied with her packing job, she climbed into the pilot's side of the speeder and started the engines.

"Where are we going?" asked Leia.

The woman looked over at her. "Somewhere up in the mountains, where it'll be harder for them to find us. I don't want to make it too easy for them."

Leia nodded. "Look, do you have another name? I refuse to call you the Emperor's Hand, or even 'hand'. It sounds really stupid." She was amazed at her bravado with this apparently dangerous, disturbed woman, but somehow she sensed that the Emperor's Hand wouldn't hurt her.

"I suppose that you could call me Mara," answered the woman, "that was my real name, Mara, Mara Jade."

"Okay. Mara." said Leia, easily. "So, how did you wind up working for Palpatine anyway?"

Mara looked over at her. "I don't want to talk about it." Her eyes glinted dangerously. "How about we just ride in silence for awhile, okay?" She turned back to her driving.

Leia sighed and tried to make herself more comfortable in the cramped position she was in.

"Anakin!" said an urgent voice in his ear.

Half-asleep, he murmured, "Go away, Master Qui-Gon. I need sleep."

"Anakin! You must wake up. Leia's in danger!"

"Hunh? What? Leia?" Anakin snapped awake and sat upright. He opened his eyes and was amazed to see the glowing shade of Qui-Gon Jinn standing over him.

"Master Qui-Gon? What? What did you say about Leia?" His voice, louder than normal, had awoken everyone else, and they looked in amazement at the ghost standing amongst them.

"She has been kidnapped by a woman calling herself the Emperor's Hand. I don't believe this woman means her any harm--her targets seem to be either you or Luke."

"How did this happen?"

"I wasn't being observant enough," answered Qui-Gon wryly. "I was so involved in the conversation I was having with Leia that the Emperor's Hand was able to sneak up on us both and knock Leia out."

Anakin growled and picked up his blaster rifle. "Come on, let's go get her."

"Anakin?" asked Qui-Gon chidingly, "a blaster rifle?"

Anakin looked briefly ashamed. "I lost my lightsaber on the Death Star, and I haven't had time to build a new one."

They were interrupted by a comlink's ringing tone. Padme snatched it up. "Hello?" she said.

"Let me speak to a Skywalker," snapped a woman's voice.

Padme looked around at the rest of the group and then said, "you are speaking to a Skywalker--Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker."

"Oooh, we've got mommy on the line," sneered the voice. "Does mommy miss her little girl?"

Padme looked around at the others. Most of their faces reflected disbelief at the childishness and silliness of the taunts. "Who am I speaking with?" she asked carefully.

"This is the Emperor's Hand." snapped the voice. "If you ever want to see your daughter again, come to the following coordinates--she reeled off a set of planetary coordinates--and make sure that you bring all of the Skywalkers with you." The voice paused. "Oh, and one final thing, you won't be able to use that junk heap you came here in to come after me. I'm afraid I disabled it and those two droids of yours. Ta ta..."

"She touched my ship?!" snarled Han. "When I get my hands on her..." Chewie roared in agreement.

"That was the Emperor's Hand?" asked Padme. "Somehow, I expected someone more--more professional. She sounds like a cheap holothriller villan."

"Yes," said Qui-Gon. "Leia and I had noticed that she seems a bit unstable. Perhaps Palpatine's death has affected her in this way."

"Great!" said Luke, "a mentally unstable Imperial assassin is holding my sister hostage. And here I thought we were just going to have a nice quiet family reunion." He frowned. "What does this Emperor's Hand look like, anyway?"

"She's about your height, with brilliant red hair." answered Qui-Gon.

"That's the woman from my vision," exclaimed Luke.

"Vision?" asked Anakin.

"Yes, while I was waiting for everyone last night, I had a vision of a woman that looked like who you described. I was having a lightsaber fight with her, but for some reason I didn't want to kill her." Luke paused, wondering if he should mention the vision with her and the baby, but decided against it. "...and then Han pulled me out of it."

Qui-Gon looked at Luke piercingly for a moment, almost as if he could see the thoughts that Luke was hiding, and then said, "Hmm, apparently she is important to you in some way. Do you have any idea what triggered this vision?"

"Well, I was reaching out through the Force, trying to find Leia, and I felt this dark presence hovering around the edges of my perception. It's when I tried to narrow down what it was that the vision occurred."

"Interesting. So the Force was trying to give you some warning of her presence here."

"I guess so." said Luke, "I probably should have paid more attention to it, but it seemed to be occuring at some point in the future, and you know what Master Yoda always said..."

"Always in motion the future is!" chorused the two living and one ghostly Jedi in the room. The levity died as quickly as it was born as the seriousness of the situation re-asserted itself.

"What are we wasting time sitting around talking for?" asked Han. "Let's go get her!"

Chewbacca growled agreement.

"He has a point," said Luke.

Everyone began to pick up their weapons. "I'm afraid that my time here has ended." said Qui-Gon. "It takes a great deal of energy to manifest this way, and much as I would like to, I cannot stay."

"Anakin, I am more proud of you than you will ever know. And you, young Luke, are a credit to your teachers. Be safe, my friends, and may the Force be with you." He faded out.

"Who was he?" asked Luke.

"That was Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn," answered Padme.

"Yes. Obi-Wan's master and the Jedi that rescued me from slavery on Tatooine. He was killed battling a Sith during the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo. That's how Obi-Wan wound up training me--it was Master Qui-Gon's dying request." added Anakin.

Everyone had finished gathering up equipment at this point. "Alright," said Han, "Let's go get her."