AN: Thank you to smeagol's preciousss for reviewing. Since this reviewer is still alive you can all safely assume that I don't bite and I have nothing to bark about except the lack of reviews.

Chapter Two: Friends and Enemies

Luke and Leia were sparing when the Freedom's Sister landed. Anakin looked on and admired his daughter's progress. Leia was a quick learner and a morning's worth of work had her relying on the Force to tell her where her brother would strike. Combat training of her own told her where his defenses were weak and if she wasn't exactly holding her own against Luke, she would be soon. She had built on the bond that had been established at Bespin and could now communicate with Luke voicelessly.

Ship landing. Leia's mental touch rang through Luke's mind as they continued to slash and parry. Her voice in his head was clear and crisp, like a meadow after a light rain as opposed to his father's resonating voice, which reminded Luke of dawn coming to a deep canyon.

I feel it, he replied, subtly showing Leia how to get more complicated messages across. The pilot is strong in the Force. He abruptly cut the spar short, receiving a small open sore where Leia followed through with her last slash. They both turned toward the ship. A petite Twi'lekk leapt nimbly from the single-man ship, careful to keep her hood over her head. She crouched as she ran, glancing tentatively from side to side and testing the Force in a way that made it clear she feared pursuit. Anakin stood when he saw her and began to meet her halfway.

You know her? Luke asked his father.

In response, Anakin sent an image. The Jedi Council a few days before Vader began his persecution Most in attendance were holographs from far star systems where the war had sent them, but a few were there in person. Sitting with them was a Jedi Master, her face younger, but unmistakably the same woman that was now approaching them. She looked sad, but serene her expressive eyes were calm and still. The same woman not much later. She was no longer calm and her grief could be seen clearly. She fought with a first-person opponent bearing a red lightsaber. Vader. The images were disturbingly distant. Anakin was thinking and referring to the actions of Vader in the third person, as if Vader were a faceless and frightening enemy rather than an equally frightening depth in his own soul.

The woman came closer. At this range, Luke could see under the hood to the bright, almost fiery red skin beneath. She was a rare color for Twi'lekks, the particular shade being a combination of parentage and early or prolonged exposure to the particularly harsh sun over Letha, a small sun-side continent on the planet of Ryloth. Her emerald-green eyes contrasted beautifully with her skin. She was small and well muscled right down to the tips of her lekku as only Twi'lekk dancers could be. Although he could not see them beneath her hood, Luke knew her lekku were expressive, even sensuous in a serpentine fashion. The thing that caught and held Luke's attention, however, was the double lightsaber that bumped slightly against right thigh with every crouching step. She noticed them watching and straightened. Her hands slipped into her voluminous sleeves and the two cuffs seemed to merge into one continuous cloth. Through and obvious act of will, her eyes stopped darting in all directions like those of a prey animal.

Anakin took a step toward her, "Master Mar'isu," he greeted her, bowing from the waist. Each of his hands clasped the wrist of the other, effectively giving the impression of an Old Republic Knight greeting a Jedi Master. As he began to straighten, Mar'isu caught onto his shoulders in a lightning quick move, putting all her tiny strength and powerful will into keeping him there. Only the face plate of Anakin's armor kept their foreheads from touching as their eyes locked gazes.

Leia winced as Mar'isu's nails screeched along the plates covering Anakin's upper arms. "If that were flesh, she would have drawn blood," she muttered to her brother.

Luke didn't answer. When Mar'isu grabbed Anakin, her hood fell back from head. Instead of two lekku, she only had one lek. On the right side of her head was the stump of a lek that had been severed.

Mar'isu stared long and hard into Anakin's eyes. She seemed to be searching his face for something she was afraid to find. At last she spoke, a soft, quiet and above all serious voice. Yet no mater how low she spoke, she would be heard, that much was clear. She had the lilting accent of her people and the assurance of a well taught aristocrat. "Vader is dead; that is good Ana'kin."

Anakin rose back to his full height as she released her grip. He nodded. "It is good to see that Vader's life work remains unfinished. Are there any other Jedi still alive? I wish to make amends."

Mar'isu thought back. She had watched Vader slaughter Yaddle and her own Padawan in the same battle in which she had lost her lek. Only Obi-Wan had saved her from death. "Obi'Wan?" she guessed aloud, "last I knew he was headed off to some hermitage on a desert world. We all tried to convince him to stay on Coruscant, but he said it would be dangerous, that he had too many secrets to keep. He could have -"

The haunted look in Anakin's eyes stopped her. "My former Master is no longer with us," he said pain audible in every word, "Vader killed him."

Mar'isu nodded solemnly, refusing to ask where when or why. Anakin's grief was true enough. He regretted killing Obi-Wan and that alone kept her from prying. Mentally, she scanned the Jedi council, a body that had accepted her as a member only two days before Vader forced them to disband. There was Mace Windu who, for all his mastery of the Force and the lightsaber, was not strong enough to resist Vader. Ki-Adi-Mundi, whose second heart had failed him some years back. One by one all the Council Members had fallen before the chances of fate and Vader's assault. All save one. "Yoda," she said looking up. "He would be the only Council Member left alive. He must be living, he could survive anything." Even among the senior Jedi Masters, who had seen Yoda walking about leaning on his gimmer stick and frail looking, Yoda's extreme old age and wisdom lent him an aura of immortality. The legends of his youth were epic and grand, filled with feats that only the strongest of Jedi could accomplish and his endurance was a well established fact.

"Not even he," Luke whispered drawing attention to himself. He looked up into Anakin's eyes. "Yoda died of old age a few days ago, Father. He held on long enough for me to see him again before he died. He was the one who sent me to face you again. He said I would never be a true Jedi until I did."

Mar'isu nodded toward Luke, noticing a welt on his bare chest as she did so. "You are hurt." It was not a simple observation. Luke started to protest, but she stopped him with a hand. A Force-scan of his physical condition caused her to wrinkle her brow in concern. "There are hurts here that you will have to heal. Greater hurt than another could relieve, but this," she indicated the lightsaber wound, "this I can deal with." Gently, she ran two fingers along the wound. Under her touch the redness and swelling diminished. Luke gasped inwardly. He hadn't seen skin fold over a wound like that since he'd himself and Leia with the Kaiburr Crystal. He looked into Mar'isu's eyes. The corners of her mouth curved into mischievous smile. Her gaze flickered to her lightsaber. Looking down, Luke noticed, for the first time, the faintly glowing red stones set into the hilt, shards of a precious stone that was lost now to all.

Anakin, who was still in his own little world, continued. "Then as far a as we know, there are only four Force-sensivtives left in the galaxy." The sadness in his face broke everyone's heart. He really hadn't realized that Vader had been that thorough. Surely other Jedi had escaped as well, and he wished to all the powers in the universe that they would reveal themselves someday. He didn't blame them for hiding, just wished they would be a little quicker to realize the threat was over. But if wishes were water, Tatooine would be an ocean and the Jedi Order he knew had been terrible swimmers.

Mar'isu frowned slightly, her lek wriggling in confusion. "Forgive, Ana'kin," she said her uncertainty evident in the heavier accent, "but I only know of three. You, myself and the boy."

Anakin let a hand fall on Luke's shoulder. "Luke Skywalker is my son," he proudly informed her of the obvious fact. "My daughter, Leia is also Force-sensitive."

Leia's face colored slightly whether from embarrassment or anger at not being introduced immediately was not certain. She stepped foreword and curtsied as Mar'isu bowed to her.

"Leeyaor'gana," the Twi'lekk addressed the Rebellion leader. "Forgive. It was you I truly came to see. I came to inform you that the Emperor ordered the Imperial fleet to mass around the Death Star, and that the Death Star was operational but," she gestured to the sky indicating, by extension, the debris in orbit about the sanctuary moon, "I come too late."

Leia gave her a bright, diplomatic smile. "We appreciate your effort, and my name is Leia."

Mar'isu shook her head he lek wiplashing violently. "Oh no, Leeyaor'gana, your name is too beautiful to turn into meaningless syllables. Your name as I say it means "strong beauty". Leiaor'gana means nothing."

Leia smiled again, a true smile this time. "Leeya, then."

Anakin cleared his throat and spoke up now that formal exchanges were finished. It was a bit awkward asking this of a woman who still hated his guts, but if Mar'isu was correct, then there was no time to lose. "I have a favor to ask you, Leia. I want you to train as a Jedi. If there are only four Force-sensitives left in the galaxy, then every one of them needs to be fully trained."

"You didn't care about that when you were murdering Jedi babies in their crèche," Leia shot back, instantly regretting her words when she saw the pain in both Anakin's and Luke's expressions.

"Please, Leia," her father begged.

Mar'isu perhaps more in tune with Leia, since she was a female, bowed to Leia and put her arm around her shoulders, no easy task since Leia was a good three centimeters taller. "Your father is right Leeyaor'gana, you must be trained." She tilted her head in a quizzical manner, "It would not be so difficult training under me, would it? It is long since I had a Padawan. Soon I will be too old to teach and then all my knowledge that I have gained over my long life will be lost."

Leia gave Anakin a sideways glance. "If the alternative is training under him, no it would not be so difficult."

A loud cracking of twigs from the forest caused them all to spin around. Five lightsaber blades hummed into existence as an athletic red-head stepped from the forest.

..........................................

Mara Jade approached the clearing with practiced stealth. She had landed her Headhunter in the clearing blasted by the destruction of the shield generator and hiked the rest of the way. Voices in the clearing made her freeze in her tracks. She reached out with a tentative Force probe. Since the Emperor died, her Force powers had been waning, and she hesitated to trust them. There were four people in the clearing ahead. She would recognize Vader's Force signature anywhere. One was a nonhuman. Two others. A man and woman, but their Force-signatures were eerily familiar and disturbingly similar. So like each other. So like Vader, so close. Family. Vader had family?

Mara shook the confusing tangle from her thoughts and edged closer. The Twi'lekk Jedi that she had tracked on Coruscant was there. As was Leia Organa and the blonde man who haunted her dreams. And standing nearby with a proprietary hand on the stranger's shoulder was Vader. She knew it was Vader from his Force-signature despite the fact that she could see his face, a pasty-white lattice of scars, and that his armor had been replaced by what looked disturbingly like rewelded stormtrooper armor. Mara grinned in predatory delight. Good, she thought, I can kill Vader now and take the rest back to Palpatine. He will be so pleased that I've caught Organa . . . The thought ended as reality caught up with her. She couldn't take them back to Palpatine; Palpatine was dead. The half heard conversation also finally registered. The Twi'lekk had just asked Leia to be her Padawan because Leia's father was right. Mara's mind kicked into overdrive. Leia Organa was Force-sensitive, a newly discovered Jedi just beginning her training. The cascade of deductions continued. Leia's adoptive father was dead on Alderaan, and the only man there old enough to be a father was Vader. Thought slowed as the realization that Vader and Leia's father were one and the same person bubbled to the surface. Vader had a daughter? That mechanical monstrosity had actually managed to get a woman pregnant?

Mara's smile returned with a devious edge. Killing Anakin Skywalker now would strike a blow deep into the heart of the Rebellion. Not only would she remove the Rebellion's most specific knowledge of the Empire, but she would also cripple their leader with grief over her father's death. Her common sense stopped her from shooting Skywalker then and there. With her ship a good day's hike from here, there was no way she could kill Vader and clear the planet before they shot her down. Driven Mara Jade might be, but she didn't have a death wish. "Swiftly, Silently and Above Suspicion." The slogan her instructors had drummed into her head from the time she was old enough to understand it suddenly seemed at war with itself. There was no way she could kill Skywalker silently. But she could either opt for Swiftly or Above Suspicion. Finally Above Suspicion won out, which meant she needed to gain the trust of four Jedi without revealing that she was there to kill one of them. Taking a moment to set a mental barrier in place that would prevent Vader from reading her thoughts, she stepped forward, cracking every twig in sight to announce her presence. She put on a curious-but-brainless face as lightsabers swung to meet her, getting just a slight surprise when the Twi'lekk Jedi activated both ends of her saber. Playing her role, Mara strode boldly up to Skywalker.

"So, Vader, who were you fooling around with twenty years ago? Anyone I know?" she asked with a significant glance at Organa. She took secret delight when Skywalker flinched away from the sound of his former name.

Organa's lips thinned into a tight line, but she deactivated her lightsaber in the face of this obvious non-threat. "Who are you?" she demanded. "And what interest would my father's personal life be to you?" So she admitted her parentage but didn't seem happy about it, interesting.

"I'm a petty dignitary who was kept around court because she was cute. I'm also a one-woman rumor mill," Mara lied putting an annoying amount of pep behind her voice. She held out her hand to Organa and smiled through the introduction. "Name's Jade, Mara."

Organa managed to smile and shake her hand despite the disdain radiating from her. "Mara."

Mara turned to the stranger, putting on the practiced coy face of a courtesan. This guy screamed innocence and would probably take the bait. "I don't want to sound forward or anything, but I've been dreaming about you. What's your name?"

"Luke," the blonde man answered. The way he was staring confirmed that he was hooked and hooked bad. The disdain from Organa quickly blossomed into disgust. That was a good sign. Organa and this Luke were obviously close. If she could gain Luke's trust, she would be in Organa's camp. "You got a last name to go with that, tiger?"

Luke opened his mouth to respond, but Anakin's mental voice cut him off. Do not tell her you are a Skywalker.

Why?

She lied about who she was. And I do not know why she is here. Luke took the hint.

"Just call me Luke." He gestured her closer to him and Mara slipped easily into the crook of his arm. A smile played across her lips, she was as good as in.