Author's Note: For this chapter I assume that Prince Xizor didn't die when his skyhook exploded in "Shadows of the Empire". When I listened to the audio version I was actually cheering Vader on when he sent the Imperial Navy to go blow up the skyhook; it was quite exciting! Ok, maybe it's a tad weird to cheer for Vader (he IS suppose to be a bad guy) but he did it to save Luke, so I guess it was OK. Anyway, it was a lot of fun!!

Prince Xizor

Darth Vader was in his personal quarters getting ready for his meeting with the shrink, Doctor Edmund. The Star Destroyer Executor was now in orbit around Coruscant and still he hadn't received the information he had requested about the doctor. Usually his crew was fast about these things, but either they were slacking off or the information was unusually difficult to obtain. Vader was just attaching his black cape when the comlink squealed.

"Lord Vader," the communications officer on the bridge said. "Emperor Palpatine is on the line for you."

"Put him through." Vader instructed as he got down on one knee and bowed his head.

"Lord Vader." Palpatine's image spoke, one pale gnarled hand reaching out towards him.

"What is thy bidding, My Master?"

"I was informed you lost yet another doctor. I am most displeased with your behavior. You must stop terrorizing the physicians assigned to your ship. They are not as easy to replace as stormtroopers or even bridge personnel."

"I am sorry, My Master."

"Don't be sorry. Control yourself!" Palpatine sighed, his reddish eyes focusing on his unruly hot-tempered apprentice. "You are supposed to be terrorizing those pesky Rebels, not physicians on your own ship! I will try to find another replacement, but the personnel department is saying it's near impossible. You know I don't like being forced to deal with such things personally."

"Yes, My Master. I'm sorry, My Master."

"I have heard rumors of a new doctor being in the area, supposedly from some region unknown to us. I will see if there's any truth to the matter. If he hasn't already been contaminated by stories of your exploits on his fellow peers, I will try to get him assigned to your ship. But nothing had better happen to this one, Lord Vader!"

"I live to obey, My Master."

"You live to drive doctors insane!"

"I am sorry, My Maser. I will try to make this one last longer than a month."

Palpatine waved his hand again. "Go attend your duties."

After the Emperor vanished, Vader rose to his feet and hurried out the door. After collecting his son from the room next door they headed to the shuttle bay. His son didn't look too happy about the whole thing and Vader was sure he still resented the fact that his father thought he was having mental problems. "It will soon be over, Luke."

Luke glanced at Vader. "I still don't think that man's a real doctor."

"He IS in the Coruscant Yellow Pages."

"Yeah, like they really checked his medical license!" Luke grumbled to himself as he boarded the shuttle and settled himself in one of the passenger seats next to the window. The only good part about all this was that he would get a chance to see Coruscant. Growing up in the Outer Rim territory on a moisture farm, he never was this far into the Core before. Sure, he had seen a few worlds since joining the Rebellion, but in a lot of ways he was still the farm boy going to the big city for the first time. And if Coruscant was anything, it definitely was a big city!

The shuttle left Executor and soon joined the lines of traffic heading down towards the planet's surface. Within a short time they landed at one of the Empire's landing platforms reserved for high-ranking officials. "We will take an airspeeder from here."

Luke gazed around with interests at the towering skyscrapers and the hundreds of traffic lanes zooming all around them. Almost every make and model of airspeeder ever built in the galaxy could be spotted here somewhere in the traffic. And the buildings! They were incredible, the tops lost in the clouds while the bottoms disappeared into the dark depths somewhere far below. Popular rumor was that no one alive had actually ever touched the actual surface of Coruscant in thousands of years, that buildings were just built onto older existing ones and that the actual surface had gotten lost somewhere down there long ago. The young Jedi allowed himself the luxury of enjoying the sights while his father drove the fast two-man airspeeder. All too soon Vader put the speeder down and climbed out.

"We are here."

"I guess we better get this over with." Luke sighed but climbed out. The building in front of them looked a bit worn down but otherwise still in good condition. Straightening his back, Luke walked up to the door bravely and went inside, Darth Vader following him. Just within they found the typical waiting room of any doctor found throughout the galaxy: two rows of inexpensive chairs and a receptionist's desk along with a rack of reading material.

A side door opened and the white-haired doctor stuck his head out. "Oh! You're here. Your son can come into my office while you fill out these forms."

Vader watched Luke disappear into the doctor's office and glanced down at the forms attached to a clipboard he had been handed. As he suspected, it was the usual thing asking family history and what form of payment would be used. He had just started filling out the first line when the outer door opened and someone walked in. Vader lifted his eyes from the form as warning bells from the Force rang in his head.

It was Prince Xizor!

"YOU!" Xizor exclaimed loudly in shock and anger. "What are you doing here?"

Darth Vader quickly rose to his full height, the forgotten forms falling to the floor with a loud clatter. For long months he had thought this deadly rival of his dead and now here he was standing before him in the flesh! How in the Force had the Dark Prince, master and owner of the powerful crime syndicate Black Sun, survived the destruction of his skyhook by the Imperial Navy? Was he once again trying to kill young Skywalker for revenge of some incident years ago? "What I'm doing here is none of your business. But if you wish to continue breathing I suggest you leave immediately."

Xizor smiled, revealing perfect white teeth. Prince Xizor was a Falleen, an intelligent species that had evolved from reptiles instead of mammals. His skin had a greenish tint to it and like all members of his species; he was incredibly handsome with a long topknot of dark hair jutting from his otherwise baldhead. One advantage he had over humans was his incredibly strong natural pheromones. With them he could control humans while they remained unaware he was affecting them. His body was incredibly sculpted and strong, something he was quite proud of. The only weak spot he had was Vader. His hatred for the Sith Lord was intense. "I will do no such thing, as I have as much right to be here as you do."

"What are you smiling at?" Vader asked.

"Well, it's obvious that you finally decided to seek professional help. Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

Anger surged through Vader at the rude insult. "There's nothing wrong with me!"

"Really? Than why are you here?" Prince Xizor asked, his complexion taking on a more ruddy color. "One doesn't come here for entertainment value, you know."

"Your pheromones won't work on me."

"Denial is always first. One never wants to admit there might be something wrong." 

"And I already said there is nothing wrong with me!" Vader repeated, his hands balling into fists. How he would love to strangle this vile Prince Xizor and be free of him forever more!

"So you are still in the denial stage."

"I … AM … NOT!"

"Yes, firmly in the denial stage." Xizor smiled again and settled himself down onto one of the cheap plastic chairs and crossed one leg over the other. "Be assured, it will pass. And if not, well, they got all these great little pills."

"Nor do I need any pills."

"Oh, of course you don't!" Prince Xizor winked an eye at Vader, then leaned towards him and whispered. "Don't worry. I won't tell the Emperor if you won't."

"Are you attempting to blackmail me?"

"No, of course not!" Xizor rolled his eyes, laughing. He patted the blue scratched plastic chair next to him. "Why don't you sit down? We can chat while we wait to see the doctor. I was here yesterday and I feel sooooo much better already!"

"I am NOT here to see the doctor!" Vader crossed his arms over the blinking lights on his chest panel. This was an unexpected problem and one with no easy solution. Nor matter how much he wanted to; he just couldn't strangle Prince Xizor. Before when he had ordered Xizor's Skyhook destroyed he had an excuse for Palpatine. This time there would be no excuse and perhaps the Dark Prince was still in Palpatine's favor. "Do not say that again."

"Oh, you have it really bad!" Xizor held out his open palm to Vader, his entire arm shaking and vibrating. "What kind did he give you?"

"What are you referring to?"

"The PILLS!" Xizor shouted as he suddenly leaped from his seat towards Vader, his long black topknot flying up into the air.

"I do not have any pills." Vader remarked as he backed away from Xizor. It was obvious the Falleen was not acting normal at all. He should have been furious at him for destroying the skyhook and it wouldn't be past him to blame the destruction of his palace on Vader as well. Yet Xizor wasn't mentioning any of these things.

"Give me the pills! I know you got them hidden on you somewhere!" Xizor ran at the Sith Lord and snatched the end of his long black cape, throwing it over his masked face. He then started to search frantically for some pocket on the black armor where Vader might have hidden the imaginary pills.

"Get away from me!" Vader growled in his best command voice. He reached out for the Force and used it to send Xizor flying across the small waiting room. "And for the last time I don't have any stupid pills!"

Xizor picked himself up from where he had crashed into the plastic chairs, breaking several. "You're a greedy hog! You want to keep all the pills for yourself!"

If this was how Xizor was behaving after just one visit with Doctor Edmund, he had better rescue his son before Luke was turned into a pill-crazy drug addict! Turning his back on Prince Xizor, Darth Vader marched into the doctor's office. What he saw inside shocked him. Luke was lying on a sofa with what looked like a metal colander strapped to his head. Various bolts and wires emerged from the top of the colander and disappeared into the ceiling. Doctor Edmund sat on the edge of a leather chair, his eyes closed and his fingers at his temples.

"What are you doing to my son? I didn't authorize this treatment!"

Upon hearing Lord Vader's voice, the doctor opened his eyes and leaped to his feet. He hurried over to the Dark Lord of the Sith. Taking both of Vader's gloved hands in his, the doctor started to dance around in a circle while hopping excitedly up and down. Vader had no choice but to turn around as well or get his arms twisted out of their sockets.

"It worked! It worked! Another one of my inventions worked!" The doctor shouted excitedly as he continued to hop.

"Stop that hopping around!" Vader demanded and attempted to grab the doctor with the force. He succeeded and the doctor's eyes bulged out. "What did you do to my son?"

"N… nothing!" The doctor managed to gasp. "I … tested him … with … the cards. He's … fine!"

"Than what is that on his head?"

"My … mind reading … device!"

Darth Vader released the doctor and watched as he collapsed to the floor, gasping for air as he rubbed at his sore throat. Vader understood that the device hadn't worked at all. Instead Luke had used his Jedi abilities to read the doctor's mind, making the doctor think it had worked. Stepping over to Luke, he undid the leather strap and removed the crazy contraption from his son's head. "So he is cured?"

"Cured? How can I cure him when there's nothing wrong with him?" Doctor Edmund asked as he backed away from Darth Vader.

"The ghost…"

"Oh!" The doctor said as he inched up to an open window. "You need an expert in the paranormal."

"The … paranormal?" Darth Vader asked, not being familiar with the term.

"Sure. Maybe you could get someone to perform an exorcism, like a priest." The doctor gripped the sill with both hands.

"A priest? Where would I find one of those?"

"At a church or temple."

Anger surged through Vader, his vision turning reddish. "The ghost IS a dead 'priest' and used to work in a temple!"

"Oh-uh!" Doctor Edmund leaped through the open window and ran for his odd-looking airspeeder. It was large, black and had a tall round stack built on the front end. Jumping in he took off, a dark cloud of soot spewing from the stack's top.

"Great!" Vader fumed. "Now what am I going to do?"

Prince Xizor appeared in the doorway, a wild look in his eyes. "Hand over your pills!"

To be continued….

Well, I hope you thought that was funny! In case it's not clear, Xizor started to go see a shrink because he had trouble accepting all that had happened at the end of "Shadows of the Empire". He lost his castle and skyhook in the same day plus his loyal droid. Sorry to any fans of Xizor; it's not meant to be taken seriously. I guess the doctor made his problem worse! Maybe it reacted badly to his Falleen system and well, it's not like he has a license! I just couldn't resist having Doc make a guest appearance here. Can anyone guess who he is?