Chapter 22: Dark Forces
The next morning, Mara woke up at the crack of dawn. She entered the hut's small kitchen area to find Luke and Brea talking over cups of caf. Luke smiled when he saw Mara enter the room and rose to greet her. He placed a small kiss on her cheek "Good morning, my love."
Mara gave Luke a small smile, thankful to finally be back with her fiancée rather than in Jabba's palace. "Good morning to you too, Farmboy." She sat down at the table and leaned into her sister conspiratorially. "You didn't let him make the caf did you? I'm not in the mood to swallow down that sludge he brews."
Luke shifted his eyes toward Mara and gave her a mock glare. "I heard that."
Mara folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her chair, smirking at Luke. "Good. Then maybe you'll start brewing something decent for a change."
Luke rolled his eyes and chose not to respond to her comment, turning to Brea. "So Mara tells me you agreed to train as a Jedi."
Brea nodded toward her future brother-in-law as she took a sip of caf from her mug. "I did. I need a fresh start. A chance to start my life again away from…him."
Mara looked up at her sister. She was still bothered by what her sister had said the previous evening, but had chosen not to press the issue at the time. They had both been through enough the day before. "Speaking of the walking corpse, why did you say last night that we're going to need all the help we can get?"
Brea stilled and set down her mug on the table. She didn't like being the bearer of bad news, but they needed to hear what she knew. "The Emperor has come up with a plan to eliminate the Jedi once and for all."
Mara raised an eyebrow. This wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Palpatine was obsessed with crushing anyone who opposed his absolute rule. "Isn't he always doing that?"
Brea let out a deep breath and continued. "That's true, but this one has me worried. He's been searching out Force sensitives. When he finds them, they are given a simple choice: join him and learn about the dark side or die. He plans to create a dark order to counter any fledgling Jedi who pop up. He's also building another Death Star. He even had the audacity to double the fire power."
Luke's jaw dropped when he heard this. The Emperor was an egomaniacal tyrant, but this was just absurd. "Twice the fire power! The first one destroyed a planet!" Mara placed her hand on Luke's forearm, silently telling him to relax. The Jedi took a deep breath to relax himself before continuing. "We have to get this information to the Alliance. If the Empire's started work on a new Death Star, we have to find it before they can finish construction. The galaxy can't go through that again."
Mara turned to face her fiancé. He was only looking at half the picture. The Death Star was a bigger threat to the galaxy as a whole, but a Dark Jedi army would likely be a more immediate problem for them. "And what about that Dark Jedi army he's building?"
Luke sat with his hands folded in front of his face, formulating a plan. "There isn't much we can do about those he's already found right now. Our best bet is to find any Force sensitives that we can before he can get to them. Non-human worlds are our best bet. I doubt a mixed species army would mesh well with his 'New Order'. Brea, do you know how he's finding these Force sensitives?"
Brea thought for a moment before responding, trying to remember what she could about her meetings with the Emperor and his Dark Side adepts. "Most of them were brought in by a woman, one of his earlier Dark Side recruits. I never saw her face since it was always hidden under a hood, but her voice gave me chills. She kept talking about how he needed her to find the lost children. The woman is certifiably insane."
Mara responded bitterly. The Emperor was already gathering up the lost children Yoda had wanted them to find. "She'd have to be. Luke, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Luke nodded in response to his fiancée's question. "She knows where to find the children the Jedi hid away when the purges started." He clenched his prosthetic hand into a fist, frustrated with the turn of events. "We're already a step behind." Luke could feel the anger building up in him so he took a deep breath and unclenched his fist dispelling the negative emotions.
Brea's head shot up as she a thought dawned on her. They could be in trouble soon. "Wait, I just remembered. Palpatine scans planets he finds of interest from time to time looking for raw Force talent. Since I didn't check in last night, it's likely he did a scan here."
Mara's eyes grew wide as she realized the implications of what she said. "If he scanned the planet, he knows we're here and that means he felt…Ben." Mara's heart sunk at the thought of the Emperor taking her little boy.
Luke jumped to his feet, worried for his son's safety. "Mara, get the transport fired up and tell R2 to prime my X-Wing. I'll go round up the others and tell them to get the Falcon ready for take off. We're leaving."
Mara jumped out of her chair and set off for the door. As she stepped outside, the morning sun nearly blinded her. As she put up her hand to shield her eyes from the light, she muttered to herself "I have a bad feeling about this."
Mara was out of the transport as soon as it set down on the sandy soil, not waiting for the ramp to finish its descent. Luke followed closely behind intent on getting his son and leaving the system as soon as possible. His Force sense told him that danger was close and quickly drawing closer. Ben's eyes lit up when he saw his parents enter the main room of the Darklighter's farm. Mara leaned down and opened up her arms in greeting to her son. The excited boy ran to her and Mara drew him into a hug. "I missed you sweetie."
"I missed you too, mommy!" Ben turned inquisitive eyes towards his mother. "Who did you find while you were gone?"
Mara could not keep the shock she felt off her face. Ben was much more in tune with her emotions than they had thought. The boy was something else when the Force was involved. "You'll see." Ignoring her son's annoyed expression at her non-answer, Mara picked up Ben in her arms and turned toward the room's exit, leaving Luke to thank the Darklighters for their hospitality.
Luke let out a nervous breath and turned to the Darklighters. He hated to leave so abruptly, but there was very little time left. "Jula, Silya, thank you so much for your help in watching Ben. I really hate to do this, but we have to leave immediately. We've managed to attract some…unfavorable attention and I want to leave before we bring any of that attention to you, too."
Jula Darklighter nodded to Luke. Being in the Rebellion was sure to carry some risks. He couldn't do anymore than hope for the best for the nephew of a couple of old family friends. "We understand. You and your family are welcome here anytime."
Luke nodded his gratitude and gave the couple a small smile before turning to leave. He stopped in his tracks, however, when he saw Mara return with Ben. "We've got company. There's no way we're getting out of here before they land. Troop carrier, probably holding about a dozen stormtroopers."
Luke stretched out with the Force, looking to confirm Mara's suspicions. He sensed the troop carrier completing its landing cycle and reached in. He broke off his scan quickly when he noticed something more. Luke's eyes snapped open and he made eye contact with Mara with a hard expression on his face. "Two dozen stormtroopers and a pair of unknown Sith." Luke turned to their hosts. This was his fault, but there wasn't anything more he could do other than go out and take the fight to the Imperials. "Stay in here. We can handle this. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry." Jula answered Luke with a solemn nod, accepting his apology and Luke turned, setting off on a jog for the building's exit.
Mara crouched down to be eye to eye with Ben. "I want you to stay in here with the Darklighters. We'll be back soon." Ben nodded to let his mother know he understood, but couldn't help but show worry on his face. Mara closed her eyes and kissed her son on the forehead before following Luke out of the building. The Emperor would not have their son.
Luke exited the Darklighters' home to see the rest of their group with weapons drawn watching the ramp of the troop carrier lower. He quickly formulated a plan based on what he knew about the coming attackers. "Leia, Brea, use your lightsabers to set up a screen. Han, Lando, Chewie, go for the stormtroopers with your blasters. Mara and I will take the other two."
Han looked at Luke incredulously. "You'll take the other two, what are you talking about?" Han's question was answered when he saw two figures in black cloaks descend from the ship, leading the stormtroopers. "Sorry I asked."
The two dark figures ignited a pair of crimson lightsabers as stormtroopers marched out of the shuttle two by two. One of the cloaked figures drew back their hood to reveal a man with a Sith tattoo on the left side of his face and jet black hair. His eyes were focused on Luke as he barked out orders to the stormtroopers. "Find the child. Kill the others…" He pointed his blade towards Luke and Mara standing at the front of the group of defenders "…but leave the two in the front for us."
The second figure drew back their hood and the raven haired woman underneath stared at Mara with fiery orange eyes. "Yes, the honor of killing the last of the Jedi Knights will be ours."
The two dark figures rushed forward as the stormtroopers opened fire. Four lightsabers sprang to life as Luke and Mara rushed to meet their foes head on. Leia and Brea's blades quickly became blurs in front of them as they called on their ability in the Force to deflect the oncoming barrage of blaster bolts. Han quickly dispelled any doubts that his sight was back by picking off three rushing stormtroopers with the same number of shots to the chest of each. Chewie howled and raised his crossbow laying down fire to pin down the stormtroopers by their landing craft in order to allow Lando to pick them off with the sniper rifle he held.
Luke swung his lightsaber in front of him in a series of quick, tight arcs in order to block the flurry of slashes the dark man rained down upon him. He swung his blade low, looking to take his opponent out at the legs, but the man leaped high into the air somersaulting over his head. Luke ducked and brought his blade over his head to intercept the crimson saber of his foe. The dark man landed and used his momentum to spin low to the ground, slashing for Luke's knees. Luke jumped over the blade and swung at his opponent's arms while still in midair. The Jedi Knight landed and the Sith was on his feet. The two began circling each other, probing for weaknesses…but finding none.
Mara ducked a high slash from the female Sith and brought her violet blade around to take out her foe's legs. The woman back flipped away from the attack and brought her weapon over her head, swinging it in a wide arc at her opponent. Mara rolled to her side and quickly brought her weapon up to intercept a slash at her side. Their blades locked and sparked against each other. Mara twisted her wrist and released her weapon from the Sith's, quickly slashing for the woman's stomach. Her blade was blocked and Mara pushed at the Sith with the Force pushing the dark woman off balance, causing the Sith to tumble to the ground. Mara cut low at the woman's head but only managed to fuse the sand beneath into glass as her foe rolled away. The Sith was quickly to her feet and the two held their weapons at ready, preparing to begin anew.
Inside their home, the Darklighter family was distracted by a small explosion at the back of the building. Through the Force, Ben sensed the danger his parents were in and walked out the nearby door. He wanted to help. The Darklighters turned around and did not see the boy they were watching. They hurried out of the room when they didn't find Ben anywhere. As the scurried through the corridors of their home, they could be heard grumbling "Definitely Luke's son."