Death Star II Mobile Battle Station
With the coronation quickly approaching Luke didn't have time to research the Holocron, if that is what it truly was, or look for a new home for Han and Leia. They were confined to their dignitary suite until further notice, and he didn't think they would mind being there until a more permanent home could be found. He still didn't like the deal he made with Han involving the extension of his sentence, but he could understand him wanting to remain with Leia.
He did tell his father about the bargain and was surprised by his reaction. "I don't like the idea of this smuggler dictating how my daughter will spend her sentence."
They were in Luke's office on the Death Star Bridge. The mobile Battle Station was currently in hyperspace on its way to Coruscant where the coronation ceremony would take place. Luke was confused over his father's objection. "You don't want Han and Leia together? Was it because Han was a spice smuggler?"
Vader shook his head. "I have no objection of my daughter's choice of companion. The man is willing to add thirty years onto his sentence to be with her. He obviously loves her. What I don't like is the idea of them being abandoned on a wilderness planet. There are risks involved and she was not consulted."
Luke leaned back in the chair. He was sitting at the room's conference table while his father paced the length of the chamber. "You think Leia would prefer serving in an all-female Imperial prison to living with her lover on some uninhabited rimworld planet?"
Vader stopped and turned his gaze to his son. "Planets that are uninhabited are that way for a reason. Either they are completely undiscovered, or they are unfit for habitation. Look at some of the known sparsely populated planets: Hoth, Mustafar, or Florrum. One's an ice planet, the other is a lava world, and the last has acid flats with sulfuric geysers. To find a planet with no civilization would mean placing your sister and the smuggler onto a world that nobody wishes to colonize. That only happens when survival is far too difficult."
"Oh," Luke stared at his hands folded together on the table in front of him. "Should I tell Han I can't do it."
"No, I will take care of the situation."
Luke's eyes narrowed. "How so."
"I will find a way to keep the two together and safe." Vader finally lowered himself into a seat. "Leave it to me."
Luke wanted to question his father, but he didn't want to give the impression that he didn't trust the man. "Yes, father."
Vader gave a nod of his head. "Are you ready for your speech?" He was referring to the coronation speech that would also double as an address to the Empire.
"Yes. I wrote it up yesterday. Mara gave me some suggestions. I edited and will send it to your datapad later today for your approval."
"Good." Vader leaned back in the chair. "I look forward to watching you lead." Luke smiled slightly. "Do you think I'll be a good emperor?"
"I believe so, but even the best leader with the most noble intentions can be undermined by devious subordinates. Keep your eyes open for backstabbing and treasonous people within your court." Luke's father paused and then said with some mirth in his voice. "You don't want to end up sucked out into the vacuum of space."
Luke laughed at his father's reference to the way he became emperor. "I'll keep that in mind." .
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Galaxies Opera House, Uscru District, Galactic City, Coruscant
The coronation was conducted at the Galaxies Opera House, an immense wrap-around auditorium with four balconies and a sitting capacity of over one hundred thousand people. The coronation portion of the ceremony went as planned. There was the ceremonial removal of Vader's gold frilled cape and the placing of a new, and much shorter, cape onto Luke's shoulders. Luke was sworn in and then Mara was introduced as his wife, and now, empress. The last part of the coronation was his address to the empire.
Luke strode nervously over to a small podium on the stage. As he made the short walk he went though some Jedi meditation techniques his father had taught him, but despite his best efforts his stomach was doing anxious flips. He was told the greatest phobia in the universe was public speaking, followed by fear of heights and ice spiders. Right about now, Luke would rather face a cluster of ice spiders on the side of a cliff than make this public address.
He made it to the podium and activated the datapad built into the top of the lectern. He had the speech memorized but he didn't trust himself to not freeze up due to a major case of the nerves. He looked up at the huge crowd attending the historical occasion and swallowed hard. Flying around Luke, as if he needed more distractions, were over a dozen holojournal droids filming the event. He was told the broadcast would be transmitted to all corners of the empire with an estimated sixty trillion citizens watching the coronation live. Luke had a hard time wrapping his mind around that number...sixty trillion! And, he was told, that was a conservative estimate.
When he had reached the podium there was raucous applause from the people in attendance. Luke wasn't sure if they were truly happy with the change of leadership, or they feared reprisal from the former Emperor if they didn't exhibit the proper enthusiasm. Luke waited for the clapping to subside, cleared his throat, and addressed the galaxy.
"Thank you for your warm welcome. It is truly an honor and a privilege to serve the people of the Empire." There was more applause and he waited for the room to go quiet before continuing. "I realize many citizens of the realm may be wary of their new leader. I am, after all, a former rebel. There is nothing I can do that will change that fact. What I can do is work diligently to improve the lives of all sentients in this galaxy and, hopefully, I will one day prove myself worthy of your trust. This is a new and daunting endeavor for me. Although I have served as Supreme Commander of the military, the thought of leading the empire's approximately 100 quadrillion sentients is...well, I guess the best word is... intimidating. Luckily, I won't be alone. My wife, the Empress, will support me and I will have the assistance of my father. In addition, I have the support of the planetary governors, sector commanders and Grand Moffs."
Luke drew in a long breath before continuing. "This coronation is not simply a change of leadership, but a change of vision for our people. For decades the galaxy has been at war. My greatest hope is to usher in an era of peace for our people. Not only peace, but prosperity for all: human, near human and aliens alike.
"Most of you have seen or heard about the massive mobile space station in orbit above Coruscant. You are probably wondering what my plans are for the station. The station's construction was ordered by Palpatine, and it was no doubt going to be used to squash any insurrections or threats to his rule. Under my command, the station will be retrofitted for deep space exploration. There are an untold number of uninhabited worlds waiting to be discovered in the Unknown Region...planets that can bring new jobs and opportunities to people struggling to make a living.
"In addition, the discovery of the Katana Fleet will generate millions of employment opportunities for Imperials in two major ways." Luke raised a finger. "First, the renovation of the fleet will employ tens-of-thousands of highly skilled workers for years." He raised another finger. "Second, each Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers requires a crew of over sixteen-thousand. We located almost two hundred Dreadnaughts. This will require over three million new crew members. To help train the additional crew needed I have authorized the construction of a new Imperial Service Academy on the planet Var-Shaa."
He looked to the people in attendance. "My father's reforms have resulted in the closure of labor camps, galactic health care, and free undergraduate college and vocational training. He also opened opportunities for non-humans in the Imperial military and has offered paid internships for in- demand careers. I intend on building onto those reforms, expanding programs and restructuring old and inefficient government agencies. My job as Emperor is to serve all people within the Empire with the foremost goal of making your lives better." Luke smiled out to his audience. "There are great challenges in front of us, but also untold opportunities. With your help we will make our new Empire the greatest government the galaxy has ever known."
The audience burst out into enthusiastic applause and through the Force he could tell that, for the majority, they were truly excited about the future. He raised a hand and waved. "Thank you."
He turned and walked to his father and Mara who accompanied him down a spiral staircase a large room under the stage and out of view of the audience.
Mara wrapped an arm around her husband and kissed him lightly on the lips. "You did great."
"I was impressed," Vader said with a deep chuckle. "I could feel your nervousness through the Force, but you maintained control over your voice. You are emperor and you carried yourself as such."
Luke took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "That was my first big challenge as emperor." He smiled tautly. "Only about a million more to overcome."
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Royal Palace, Galactic City, Coruscant
Emperor Skywalker looked over the plans of his father's future vacation home on Naboo. It didn't surprise Luke that his father would want to spend his remaining days on his wife's home planet—a place where they were married. What did surprise him was Vader was renovating Emperor Palpatine's private mountain retreat. It was a heavily fortified complex overlooking the city of Moenia to the east and a large and picturesque lake to the west.
Luke glanced up from his datapad to face his father. "Why would you want to live in Palpatine's former haven?"
They were in the Vader's quarters in the Coruscant Imperial palace. His father was seated in his large, cushioned chair while Luke and Mara lounged on his couch. Although the apartment was traditionally the home of the emperor, Luke was not about to kick his father out of his quarters. Luke and Mara took up residence in the luxurious dignitary apartment down the hall.
"It is impenetrable," his father explained. "It is built on a sheer cliff face and there is a shield generator to protect from aerial bombardment. I am having workers gut the palace and install an entirely new interior."
"Good," Mara said wryly. "You want to make sure you get Palpatine's 'old man' smell out of the carpets and tapestries."
"Indeed," Vader replied with a chuckle.
Luke gazed at the blueprints with a curious expression. There were the usual rooms found in luxury homes: a massive kitchen, dining area, bedrooms with adjoining baths, a home theater, game room, library, but there was also an indoor pool and gym—something that wasn't there originally. "Father, why are you installing a home gym and pool in the building? Your limbs are cybernetic, and I am fairly certain you don't swim."
"I am hoping I will one day be able to entertain grandchildren," his father shot back.
"Oh," Luke said while glancing over to Mara.
Lord Vader didn't miss the furtive glance. "Do you have something you wish to tell me? Am I to be a grandfather?"
Luke shook his head but smiled. "No...but we started trying."
Luke could feel a surge of elation through the Force, but his father's body language remained stoic. After a long pause he finally spoke. "Do not delay. I am not getting any younger and my suit needs replacement...something I may not survive."
The smile slipped from Luke's face; the thought of his father's mortality was always disheartening.
Mara reached over and squeezed Luke's hand trying to lighten the mood. "We will work diligently toward that goal...night and day if we must."
Luke blushed as he stood and pulled his wife to her feet. "I guess we should get back to work." The couple chuckled as Vader let out an exasperated sigh.
"You are the one who brought up the subject," Mara reminded her father-in-law as they walked out the door.
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~One year after the coronation~
Luke leaned forward in his chair, moved his hands to the small of his back and pressed, cracking the tension out his spine. He had spent the last hour in his Royal Palace office working on his address to the empire. He typed a few words on his datapad and then stopped before deleting what he wrote. After another half hour he abandoned his datapad and stood to pace and organize his thoughts. So much has happened in the last year that he wasn't sure what he should include in his address.
One thing he should mention was the status of the Death Star. The Death Star II Mobile Battle Station was officially renamed the Skywalker Deep Space Exploration Station. Prior to becoming Emperor, Luke had his doubts about the station surveying the unknown region thinking it impractical. It wasn't that the station would be ill suited for the job. On the contrary, the Death Star was large enough to have all the amenities of a small world on board. Unfortunately, the unknown region was unknown because there were very few hyperspace lanes traversing the area. Without hyperspace lanes a voyage using sublight engines would be so slow that it would take lifetimes to explore the region.
Grand Admiral Thrawn had a solution. He would ask the Chiss government to provide Chiss Force-navigators, also called ozyly-esehembos, to safely find passage though the area. In exchange, the Empire would reconnoiter for any Grysk in the region.
According to Chiss legends the Grysk were a nomadic warrior race of sociopaths skilled at manipulation. Grand Admiral Thrawn was of the belief that the Grysk had the ability to probe minds and could somehow control the populace of planets. Luke didn't know if this was a Force ability, but if it was, then the Grysk could basically do a Jedi-mind-trick on a population and manipulate entire civilizations to do their bidding. The thought was terrifying.
The threat of the Grysk was the reason the Chiss had not utilized their navigators to expand their territory into the Unknown Region. They did not know if the Grysk knew the location of their homeworld of Csilla and they did not wish to risk catching the attention of the warrior race and inadvertently lead them to Chiss territory.
The Chiss government obviously had no problem letting the Empire take that risk because they provided three navigators. Since the Chiss oxyly-esehembos were prepubescent females, they would be accompanied by three adult female caregivers. Vah'nya, being a former navigator, was selected for one of the positions.
This was a perfect situation for her because Commodore Vanto was promoted to Admiral and given command of the Exploration station. The Mobile Battle Station's previous commander, Admiral Soontir Fel, requested transfer to the fleet so he could spend some much-deserved time with his wife, Wynssa Starflare.
The 'exploration' of Vanto and Vah'nya relationship obviously had positive results since Luke was told they were engaged to be married. Luke really hoped their relationship was on firm ground because once the space station left it was not scheduled to return to the core for five long years. The launch date was still six months out, so the couple might marry prior to departure.
He promised the Chiss government he would keep the existence of the oxyly-esehembos a secret. Therefore, Luke would have to come up with some cover story to explain how this large exploration station was going to traverse across the unknown region without known hyperspace lanes.
The status of the Katana Fleet was a subject he wouldn't need to dance around. So far twenty Dreadnaughts had been refurbished and were being used as training ships. The completion of the new military academy was still two years out, but the damaged Corellia Academy had been fully restored from the Resistance attack.
Everything else that happened this year was more of personal interest to Luke. Karrina Shotts was medically discharged from the Imperial Navy and joined Talon Karrde aboard his luxury yacht they named Finder's Fee and have spent the last few months traveling to exotic luxury destinations throughout the galaxy. Aves and Chin took over Karrde's merchant business (along with a million- credit donation from Talon) and continued their trading contract with the Imperial military.
Han and Leia remained in confinement within the dignitary quarters aboard the Death Star. Luke questioned his father about their situation and was told a special facility was being built for the couple. Luke tried to get more details out of his father but all he would say is Leia and Han would not have any complaints. Leia was his daughter, and he wanted the best for her. Luke could sense the truthfulness of his words, so he did not try to pry more information from him. Luke believed his father might have kept Leia and Han confined on the Death Star to ensure the two were compatible and capable of enduring each other's company for decades. Luke was certain they could. During the year he had occasionally visited Han and Leia. They looked happy together. Luke did not know if Han told Leia about their bargain, and he refrained from bringing it up. He didn't want to make things difficult for the smuggler in case he later changed his mind.
Luke sat back down at his desk and resumed writing. He would talk about the booming economy, the Katana fleet, the mission to the unknown region, and probably the biggest news...the Empire would soon have an heir to the throne...the Empress was pregnant.