Imperial Palace, Coruscant

"My father is not going to kill you," Luke assured Mara as they walked arm-in-arm down the palace halls to Emperor Vader's throne room.

"Maybe not," she whispered. "Maybe he'll only lock us in a room until we provide him with a grand-sith."

Luke chuckled. "For an average person, confinement and unlimited conjugal visits with someone that is extremely sexy, doesn't sound so bad."

"Maybe not for you."

A grin slipped across his lips. "I was the sexy one in that scenario." He laughed when she pushed him away in a huff. "I'm joking."

As they neared his father's throne room the number of Imperial officers and Stormtroopers passing through the corridors increased. They all gave him a wide berth until they came to the throne room door where two red armored Royal Guards stood at attention.

Mara and Luke stopped in front of the men flanking the door and Luke smiled as he recognized the guards through the Force. One was Sergeant Matta, a former Death Trooper, who was tasked to train Luke in hand-to-hand combat. The other was Corporal Dyer, a skilled pilot who taught Luke how to fly a Tie-Fighter. "Morning Gentlemen, nice to see you two again. Is my father in a good mood today?"

The taller man shrugged his armored shoulder. "We're alive, sir, so he's not in a foul mood."

Luke laughed at the joke...or at least he thought it was a joke. Before he could respond the guards opened the double doors and announced their arrival. "Your Highness, Supreme Commander Skywalker and Master Trader Mara Jade have arrived."

Luke turned to Mara and gave her a reassuring smile before they entered. His father was not on his throne but standing in front of a holoprojector analyzing what looked like detailed interior schematics for a starship. He flipped off the projector and turned to face Luke before speaking in a deep, baritone voice. "I was told you wished an audience, but there was no indication as to why?"

Luke halted a few meters from the Sith Lord and untangled his arm from Mara's before smiling at his father. "Must a son have a reason to visit his father?"

Emperor Vader approached. "A good son doesn't, but you usually have a reason."

Luke broke out in a wide smile as he closed the distance between them and gave his father a friendly hug. The Sith Lord raised his arms in surprise before giving his son a tentative pat on the back. "That's enough," Vader grumbled. "Your head almost hit the buttons on my chest plate. You want to turn off my ventilator?"

Luke took a step back and shook his head. "Why do you have buttons on your chest armor that can turn off your life support?"

"I didn't make the suit; I just wear it." Vader groused while observing his overly exuberant, smiling son. "Why are you in such a good mood?"

Luke blushed not wanting his father to know his disposition had something to do with the mind- blowing sex he had for the last couple days. "I ah..." Luke gave a furtive glance to Mara before continuing. "Mara and I had a change in our relationship...for the better."

When Luke didn't elaborate, Vader asked, "Can I assume congratulations are in order?"

Luke stared at his father dumbfounded. It wasn't a stretch for his father to assume he and Mara were having a sexual relationship, but why would he congratulate Luke about that? Did his father believe he was a virgin until now? He opened his mouth to say something but Mara's voice in his head silenced him. 'He's asking if we are engaged to get married! Not congratulating you on getting laid!'

"Oh," Luke said out loud before regaining his wits. "We're not engaged or anything. Our relationship is not that far along. We just started dating."

Vader made a humphing noise. He gazed down at Mara. "I'm glad to see that my son has put your skills to good use."

Luke could feel the shock and then anger building up in Mara. He was confused by her reaction at first, but he quickly cleared up the misunderstanding, "Father is referring to your help with my response to the Rebel's propaganda." Then through the Force he finished his sentence. 'He's not thanking you for kriffing his son.'

"Oh," Mara whispered before smiling at the Sith Lord. "You're very welcome, Emperor Vader."

There was a long pause between the three before Vader spoke again. "I sense you are communicating through the Force."

"Yes...and that is what we wanted to talk to you about." Luke turned to Mara. "We've experienced a type of Force bonding. Not only can we mentally talk to each other, but we often can see each other's thoughts. Sometimes it is like we are one person." Luke paused as the memory of the last time it occurred swept over him giving him a shiver. "Can you tell us why this is happening?"

Luke took a step back as he felt anger building up in his father. "I am not doing this to you. I promised I would not interfere in your life, and I have kept that promise!"

"Whoa, wait, wait, wait!" Luke said quickly, trying to quell his father's anger. "We didn't even know that was possible. We thought it was some strange occurrence in the Force." When he felt his father's anger diminish Luke ventured a question. "Can a Force user do that?" He pointed to Mara. "Could somebody manipulate us into having this bond?"

Luke heard his father take a long mechanical breath before he walked over to his throne and sat down heavily. "It is possible, but it is a Sith skill."

Luke gave a sigh of relief as he approached his father. "Then it must be the Force, because you are the last of the Sith and you said you're not doing this." When his father didn't respond Luke continued. "You are the last of the Sith, right?"

"That is debatable."

Luke's brow went up. "How so?"

Vader looked down at the floor. "I never felt my master's death."

Mara walked up next to Luke. "I told you. I didn't feel his death either."

Luke threw up his hands exasperated. "Really? He's dead. A Force-user can't live in a vacuum."

"His body may be dead," Vader said slowly, "but there is a belief that powerful Force-users can maintained his or her conscious even when release to the flow of the Force."

"Like a ghost?" Mara ventured.

Luke's eyes went wide. He never told anybody about his visits from his former master. He also never questioned Obi-Wan's ability to manifest as a spirit. Did the Sith have the same capabilities? Even if they did, what harm could the spirit of Palpatine bring upon the living, unless...he looked to his father. "Can a dead Sith's spirit possess a person?"

"It is possible," Vader admitted. "Emperor Palpatine was strong in the Force...and he was an apprentice to the late Darth Plagueis. Palpatine and Plagueis studied Force-bonding and transferring consciousness into another body. Unfortunately, if Palpatine perfected this skill, he did not pass that knowledge on to me."

Mara gazed at Emperor Vader in shock. "Do you think Palpatine is alive and trying to create this bond between me and Luke? And if so, why?"

"The emperor was fascinated with something called a dyad in the Force." Vader paused in thought before continuing. "His Master, Darth Plagueis, attempted to form a dyad with Palpatine, who was his apprentice at the time, but that failed. When I was a young Jedi, Chancellor Palpatine discovered that many on the Jedi Council believed I was the prophesied Chosen One. He thought he could form a dyad with me if I could be turned. He manipulated my fall to the darkside, but, once again, he failed to form a Force bond with me, his apprentice." He stood and walked toward Luke and Mara. "If he lives, he might attempt to form a bond between you two and then take possession of one of your bodies."

Mara made a face. "Ugh."

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "But we don't know if he lives or not. We may be getting worried over nothing."

Vader turned and walked to the back of the throne room gesturing for Mara and Luke to follow. To Luke it looked like his father was walking toward a bare wall, but as he neared a hidden panel slid open leading to a dark corridor. As Luke followed his father into the hidden space, he noticed Mara was no longer next to him. He stopped and looked back to his lover. She was standing at the entrance with a haunted look on her face. "Mara?"

She took a shuddered breath. "I can't go in."

Luke was confused. "Why not?"

She shook her head. "I don't know...I just can't."

Vader doubled back and stood next to his son. "Palpatine must have given her a command to never enter his private domain. It is buried deep within her subconscious." He glanced over to his son. "I am curious as what other subliminal commands the emperor might have immersed within her brain."

"Can his commands be overridden?" Mara asked nervously. "And does the fact that I still obey mean Palpatine's alive?"

Vader moved past his son and approached her slowly.

"Father..." Luke became worried. If Vader saw Mara as dangerous—an agent of Palpatine that could be activated—would he kill her? "Don't hurt her."

The Sith Lord looked back to his son. "Do you not trust me?"

Luke's mouth opened and then closed not exactly sure what to say. After a moment of consideration, he opted for the truth. "Umm...I trust that you will do whatever you believe is best for you and possibly me, but that doesn't mean she's safe if you see her as a threat."

"You are correct, but I do not see the Emperor's Hand as a threat just yet." He turned his attention back to her. To Luke's relief she did not show any aggression toward his father but stood motionless and silent. "If the command was to not enter without the emperor's permission, we may be able to override. If the command was to not entire unless Emperor Palpatine allowed it...it may take more time purging that command from your head."

"Okay," Mara said softly. Her voice was steady, but Luke could feel her anxiety increasing as his father neared her. "Is this going to hurt?"

"No." By now the Sith Lord was only an arm's length away from her. "Do you recognize me as the rightful Emperor of the Imperial Worlds? Do you pledge loyalty to me, Emperor Vader?"

Mara looked up and gazed at the Dark Lord questioningly before realizing Vader's intentions. "I do." She dropped to a knee supplicating herself before the emperor. "I am a loyal imperial and recognize your sovereignty over the Imperial worlds." She cast her eyes down. "What is your bidding, Emperor Vader?"

He motioned with his hand for her to rise. "As emperor I am ordering you to enter my private domain."

Mara rose to her feet and slowly walked to the secret entrance. She hesitated long enough to take a deep breath before she stepped forward and crossed the threshold. She turned and smiled at Luke. "It worked! I did it."

"Don't be too pleased," Vader said as he walked past to lead them deep within the hidden chamber. "Once inside, you are not going to like what you see."

.

.

Imperial Palace, Coruscant

Vader led them down a long, dimly lit corridor. Mara was familiar with most secret passages within the Imperial palace, but this clandestine passageway was unknown to her. She found it amazing that Emperor Palpatine was able to place a 'Do Not Enter' suggestion in her brain when she didn't even know this place existed. Vader was right to wonder what else the emperor did to her. It had become apparent that she was subject to at least one Force suggestion, and a memory rub after it was lodged into her brain. Did she have some hidden last command tucked in a corner of her mind just waiting to be activated?

As they silently moved down the hall, she scrutinized her surroundings. The passage was somewhat new construction, probably no more than twenty years old. Unlike the diamond inlaid marble tiles found in the oldest parts of the palace, these floors were made of a special duracrete that mimicked the look of black onyx. The walls were of the standard imperial design: dark grey, metallic with translucent wall panels located every five meters or so. There were no doors along the corridor, just a long hallway ending with a turbolift. As they arrived at the end of the corridor the lift doors silently slid open. They entered the small, enclosed area and the Emperor turned and pushed a lone button on the control panel. Obviously, this was a dedicated turbolift going down, but to where she didn't know.

She looked over to the Sith Lord and wondered what he meant by 'you are not going to like what you see'? She had a thousand of questions she wanted to ask, but she reigned in her curiosity. She knew Emperor Vader was not the type of person to field queries. She would just have to wait and see. She glanced over to Luke who was standing between her and his father. Mara could sense he was a little concerned for her safety and probably positioned himself to protect her if Vader suddenly had a dark side epiphany and decided she should be killed. She mentally scoffed. Farmboy wouldn't stand a chance against his father in a real fight, but it was a sweet, albeit hopeless, gesture on his part. All she could hope for was this fatherly love Luke professed his father had for him was extended to her as a courtesy to Luke.

Either the turbolift was slow or they were going deep into the bowels of Coruscant. She figured the latter. If Palpatine had a secret hideout it would be deep enough to withstand a planetary bombardment. After a very long descent the doors opened. She wasn't sure what she expected to see, but it obviously wasn't a medical facility/laboratory.

"I thought this might be Palpatine's bunker," she said in surprise as she stepped off the lift with Luke and his father. She turned to face Lord Vader. "Obviously, I thought wrong."

"I was just as confused when I first came here with a squad of my best troopers." Vader led them past long tables cluttered with centrifuges, microscopes, refrigeration units, microbiological incubators, and other precision instruments. "I had seen the emperor retreat through the passageway, but I was also forbidden from entering...until I became the emperor."

The place was empty. She couldn't tell how long it had been abandoned since small cleaning droids scooted across the floors and levitated over equipment sucking up dust and debris. As she followed Vader around the corner she sucked in a breath.

Cloning cylinders!

"This was a cloning laboratory," she whispered. "Who was he cloning?"

"Who do you think?" Vader ran a gloved hand over a smashed cloning chamber. The transparisteel tube had carbon scoring and what looked like telltale lightsaber strikes through it. The droids had cleared the rubble off the floor, but the destroyed units were never replaced. "Emperor Palpatine had five clones of himself in various stages of life floating in these tubes." He turned and gazed at Luke and Mara. "I had my men destroy the laboratory and imprison the cloners. Under interrogation it was confirmed that he intended on taking over one of his clones upon death."

"But you killed them," Luke asked his father. "The clones, that is."

"I killed all of them here. It is unknown if more laboratories exist scattered among the galaxy."

Mara walked past the cylinders to a backroom. When she opened the door, the lights flicked on automatically. "These weren't for cloning."

Luke walked over to what she was looking at. In the room was a medical birthing chair with stirrups. Mara turned and gaped at Vader. "Was he impregnating women? Or was he stealing newborns? It was one or the other because I know he wasn't running a kriff'n woman's health center."

Vader chuckled darkly. "According to one of the scientists, he was experimenting on pregnant women. The cloners weren't certain what he was doing but reported that he would simply stare or lay hands on the women's extended bellies for up to an hour."

"He was doing something with the Force," Luke ventured.

"Yes," Vader said. "Most likely he was attempting to manipulate the midi-chlorians count of the fetus...possibly attempting to grow his own version of the Chosen One...since I wasn't the answer to his Dyad quest."

Luke shook his head in confusion. "I am not quite clear as to what exactly is a dyad and what the hell are midi-chlorians?"

Vader slowly turned to face his son. "The Jedi believed midi-chlorians were needed for a person to touch the Force. The more a person had, the stronger they were in the Force. They were believed to be microscopic symbionts located within our bodies...possibly sentient."

Mara laughed thinking it was a joke, but immediately realized her mistake when she felt a spike of irritation from the Sith Lord. Vader was dead serious. "Sorry...the concept that we have intelligent organisms living in our bodies seems...fantastic."

Vader walked over to the birthing chair and looked down upon it. "I thought the same. I...I dislike the idea that something is controlling me. I had the highest Midi-chlorian count the Jedi Council had ever seen...over twenty thousand. That is why they thought I was the prophesied Chosen One."

Mara walked around the chair, studying it. "What was the prophesy?"

"The Chosen One would bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith." Vader lingered in thought. "I often wondered why the emperor, knowing the prophecy, decided to risk turning me?"

"He was neutralizing a threat," Mara offered.

"Possible."

"Wait," Luke said while rubbing his temples. "Do you mean to say the Jedi thought there were little intelligent creatures in our body controlling us? How would these creatures come to a consensus as to what to make us do? It would have to be like a hive-mind? Like the mythical Killiks?"

"The Killiks weren't mythical," Vader assured his son. "They disappeared, but they were once real. But no, I don't think they are like the Killiks, but perhaps something like the Taurills." Vader fell silent before he stalked out of the room. "Discussions on the nature of the Force can wait. The point is Palpatine intended to possess a body after his death...and I believe at least one clone escaped."

Luke followed his father out of the room. "Why do you think that?"

"During my interrogations it was revealed that the women were impregnated by one of Palpatine's clones. A failed clone...one that was not a Force Adept. The cloners said he could be found in the Imperial harem, but when I went there, he had escaped along with the women."

Mara groaned. "So, there is a Palpatine clone wandering out in the universe and who knows how many little baby Palpatines."

"There's an Imperial harem?" Luke muttered before being elbowed by Mara. He looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry, it is just a surprise."

She shook her head in frustration before her eyes went wide. Her gaze shot up to the Sith Lord. "Emperor Vader...when did Palpatine start this breeding program?"

A cold chill ran down her spine as she felt Vader hesitate to answer. She had seen holovids of Palpatine in his youth on Naboo. He was a handsome man, with cleft chin and fiery red hair. "Is Palpatine my father? Do you know?"

Luke gazed at his father looking pale, waiting for an answer.

"No, he is not. The program started a few years after you were born."

A pained expression crossed Mara's face. "Palpatine said he didn't know my age. I don't know how old I am, so how would you know?"

The Sith Lord took a deep mechanical breath before turning to the Emperor's Hand. "You are approximately three months older than my son and the emperor is not your father. That much I can tell you."

She looked at him stubbornly growing furious that her past was hidden from her for so long. "How do you know that much?"

"Because not all the younglings within the Jedi Temple died during the purge. The ones too young to have been indoctrinated by the Jedi were brought to the emperor to serve him." As he gazed at her she thought she felt a bit of remorse from the Sith Lord leaking out through the Force. Vader let his words sink in before continuing. "Before Palpatine became emperor, you, Mara Jade, were destined to become a Jedi Knight."