The emperor wants me to produce a child, you have been selected to be the mother of that child",
" Yes my lord I know"
Vader turned facing her and she felt her breathing slowing, she started to gasped for air.
"Don't ever interrupt me again woman" Vader hissed.
He slowly realised his forcegrib on her neck again and she gasped for air ...Vader continued
" This is Palpatines idea, and I do not care on bit for this, so stay out of my way woman, you have to stay in my quarters
but I do not want to see or hear you unless I ask , understand, give me the slightest excuse to kill you and I will!
Maria just nodded
With that he turned leaving the rooms and Maria on her own!
Bens eyes snapped open, and found he was more angry than anything else, that monster, he felt guilty for leaving him alive, but then he remembered Maria, she did not look like a beaten up slave that feared for her life, quite the contrary as a matter of fact!
He wonder if he might be seeing the future of this woman, but then he never had visions before, and then he remembered the way she stared at Luke ,who actually did look a lot like Anakin.
No this woman had seen Vader, and she saw something in Luke she recognised, that was the only explanation.
Ben went back meditating trying to connect with her- it was no problem at all, she was not strong enough to keep her shields in place when she slept, the scenery had change once again, or it was actually pitch black, she was sitting on something, all there was a sound of someone moving around somewhere in the dark, the figure moved towards Maria standing right in front of her, a cold metallic finger touched her cheek turning her head upwards, she still could not see a thing, then he talked it was Vader, or as Ben noted, Anakin's voice
Like this isn't this the best, in the dark there you can't se me"
My lord, if I may …..yes go ahead ….. I always found that one finds things you can not see a lot more frightening than what you can actually see.
There was something that sounded like a low chuckle
Vader answered from right beside her " yes , very true, but tonight I need the dark!"
She was pushed backwards on the bed quite roughly, Vader moving in after her, then she felt a pair of lips on her neck..
Ben sprang up, he did NOT want anymore of this, no way, what he already had seen was enough to give him nightmares the next 10 years! He almost felt sick, no more prying in other peoples minds tonight. He went to bed trying to get some sleep, but it did not work, his mind was racing, why did things always have to get so complicated, it was bad enough when they had just been running from the empire now they where running from the empire AND having Vader's wife onboard!
The next morning Ben went down for breakfast very early, he could not sleep anyway, when he entered the kitchen he saw he was not the only one awake, Luke sat I the kitchen alone.
"Morning", Ben said trying to sound more awake than he was, "morning", Luke said, while he kept starring down at the table
Ben stared at Luke…. " ok what's wrong"
I haven' t slept all night, I was having these insane dreams every time I tried to sleep,
"About what", Ben asked, not really wanting to hear the answer
Luke's face went bright red, and he looked away, "no it's not important"
"Yes it is" Ben said, "tell me!"
Ok , Luke cringed, its that woman, I was dreaming of her , I…..ehm was in bed with her, it was quite wild, he looked up quickly, smiled a nervous smile, looking quite like he would rather be somewhere else!
Ben looked quite horrified, oh no he did not need this, "Luke will you please stop thinking about her, you do not want to get involved in this " Luke looked like he was about to argue, when Maria stepped in, she smiled at them and asked for some breakfast , before Ben could react Luke was on his feet, getting her something to eat.
Ben smiled at Maria, but she did not return it, instead she walked passed him towards the table, and as she past she whispered " stay out of my mind Jedi" and he was almost sure he saw a yellow flicker in her eyes.
Ben was horrified, this was a disaster, in the meantime Luke had return with breakfast to Maria, she smiled at him , and then started talking to him, "thank you, I am sorry I forgot, what was it your name was?"
"Luke"- he answered
What's it just Luke?
Ben flinched but didn't have time to stop him for answering.
"No it Luke Skywalker"
She nodded and smiled, then looked up at Ben who was standing in the middle of the room looking as if he was prepared to kick her of the ship this very moment, right into space.
Then he heard a voice in his head, it was her, "take it easy Jedi, I have no need for him to get on a wild chase after either of you, so I won' t tell, unless I am forced to- just get me to Alderaan fast!"
Ben spoke out loud, "don't worry, we are going there as fast as we can, but I will be 5 days."
What, 5 days, what's no good- no no, I need at communicator , right now! She got to her feet, walking towards the cockpit, Ben ran after her turning on his light sabre, she stopped and turned looking at the light sabre with a worried look.
No you don't understand, I need to contact him, tell him I am alive , or else someone is going to pay for my disappearance- an he tends to go a bit overboard!
Ben remembered that day on Mustafar when he last saw Anakin, or Vader, and he did kind of go overboard then, he did not want to know that he was like now!
"Follow me", he said, entering the cockpit , where Han sat, "she needs to send a message, it is quite urgent", Han waved towards the transmitter.
"It's only audio", he said
She went to it and entered a long series of numbers, when waited.
Yes?
"My lord , its me Marie, the transport was attacked but I am safe, I am on some private freighter on my way to Alderaan, we should be there in 5 days."
The relief in the other voice was apparent to everyone, "I will be there to pick you up myself, are you unharmed?"
"Yes I am fine , I have been treated good, my lord, there are other people in this room listening to this conversation."
"Hmm, we will continue this talk when you arrive at Alderaan, they can expect a reward for their trouble".
With that the transmitting was broken
Han looked quite happy, a reward was something he understood, but he did not want to explore this husband of hers further, whom she called "my lord" and he sounded almost like …Vader?
Ben was beyond worried , he needed to talk with this woman before he let her of the ship, he had to know if she turned them in the second she was with him or if she was indeed telling the truth- he projected that thought at her – her head snapped in his direction.
Yes but not now! She projected back