A Glimmer of Hope

(4 ABY)

The Emperor looked down at the black-clad woman kneeling before him. "You have sensed what will soon come to pass!"

It was no question. He knew she had perceived some of what the future might hold for her Dark Lord. Had Vader told her about his son? Most likely he had. Another thought crossed the evil despot's mind. She would be as perfect a match for the son as she had been for the father. Should the need arise to sacrifice Vader in order to draw his son to the dark side, he could surely convince her to accept Luke in his father's stead as her lover. Their union would in time produce the powerful offspring he had in vain hoped would result from her passion for Vader. A child from them would provide the perfect solution for his physical problems for soon he would need a strong young body to move his evil presence into.

A wicked smile played around the Emperor's thin lips as he motioned Serina to rise.

"You may remain in this room, but where nobody will be able to notice you. And be warned, should you try to interfere, using the Force or otherwise, I will personally ensure that it won't happen a second time."

The threat was quite palpable. Serina was quick to ensure the malignant ruler, that she would refrain herself from any such action.

"Thank you, my Emperor." With another deep bow, she turned and walked back toward the center of the tower. She had noticed a service catwalk above their heads and followed it past the open shaft containing the turbolifts into the left lobe of the quadripartite structure. Just a few moments later, she had climbed the stairs and was edging her way soft-footed back toward the main throne room, when a chime announced the arrival of the turbolift.

As she watched from above, the turbolift door opened to reveal her Dark Lord side by side with his son, now a Jedi in his own right. A smile touched Serina's lips as her gaze followed the young man - now dressed in black just like his father - on his way to face the Emperor. She remembered the bright, lively boy she had met many years earlier on Tatooine when she had unintentionally stumbled across Obi-Wan Kenobi.

What had been Luke's purpose in facing Vader? Had it truly been compassion for his father like the Emperor had suggested? Would it be his doom, or had he been able to stir the Anakin in Vader, even if only a little bit? The coming minutes and hours would show. She could feel the turmoil in the young man's soul, but she was careful not to use the Force to probe either him or her master. The Emperor had been quite serious about her interfering and she was not about to let her curiosity get her killed at his hands. With a shudder of anticipation running through her body, she remained in the shadows, waiting for history to take its course.

The battle raging in the void of space outside of the Death Star was fierce and horrible, but it could not cause Serina to divert her attention from the spiritual battle taking place right in front of her. So far, the Emperor's taunts had not yet succeeded in enticing any foolish action from Luke. But Serina knew it would be only a matter of time before the young Jedi would yield to the hate and anger growing in him.

Then the Emperor started his heaviest attack on Luke's soul yet. With a throaty cackle to goad the young man even further into desperation, he gave the order to employ the Death Star's powerful laser beam to decimate the rebel fleet. The order to use the battle station against the sanctuary moon, should Leia and the others succeed in their attempt to destroy the shield generator, broke down the last resistance Luke had to offer. Giving in to the dark emotions in him, he reached for his lightsaber through the Force. It rattled for an instant, then it flew toward him. He caught it, igniting it on touch, and swung it downward at the Emperor. But in that instant, Vader interposed his own blade between his son's and his master. With growing horror, Serina watched the fight commence.

Luke was strong; she had known all along that Vader might underestimate the strength and skillfulness his son had acquired since their last fight in Cloud City. She had warned him once, but he had pushed her concern aside.

And yet, it became obvious quickly that Luke didn't want to fight his father. After a few moments, he disengaged and leaped to the same catwalk Serina had chosen as her vantage point. Quickly, she scooted back a few more feet behind the corner and tightened her own mental shields to reduce her presence in the Force. To distract either one of the combatants at this point could change the outcome of the fight considerably.

But Luke was concentrated solely on the armored figure below him. "Your thoughts betray you, father," he called down at Vader. "I feel the good in you, the conflict."

But the Dark Lord was quick to deny that claim. The whole catwalk shook when he hurled his lightsaber at one of the support struts. The section where Luke was standing tore loose and came crashing down. The young Jedi tumbled downward and disappeared below the steps leading up to Palpatine's throne.

Luke did probably not even realize what impact his words had upon his father, but Serina noticed the ambiguity creeping into Vader´s intentions, felt how the purity of his evil was being compromised as he started searching for his son in the shadows below the platform. However, the dark side still held a firm grip on Vader´s soul and he would use everything, even the most hideous thought to achieve his purpose.

Finally, he picked up on Luke's weak spot. How Luke had found out about his true relationship to Leia, Serina was not sure. It would surely have been better had he not known yet at this time. Had Obi-Wan told him? Or had he finally figured it out on his own? It did not matter. The thought of Vader turning his twisted, misguided cravings on Leia accomplished what no goading from the Emperor had been able to.

"No!" Luke reignited his lightsaber and attacked his father. With growing horror, Serina watched as Luke's fierce attack forced Vader to retreat. She could feel the humiliation Luke inflicted upon him turn to bald anger crying for revenge.

But it was to no avail. He was pushed back further and further, first to the foot of the stairs and then onto the bridge that crossed the vast shaft to the power core. Driven to his knees, the Dark Lord raised his blade to block yet another onslaught, but Luke slashed down cutting off Vader´s right hand at the wrist.

Trembling, Luke stood above his father, the point of his glowing lightsaber at the Dark Lord's throat. An iron fist gripped Serina´s heart. She barely dared to breathe as she gazed down at them. Would the young Jedi give in to the temptation, would he succumb to the dark side and kill his own father?

Vader didn't dare to move with Luke's blade so close to his throat. His mind sought frantically for a way to turn the situation around again, but for once he couldn't find one. Then he heard the Emperor's cackle as Palpatine made his way down the stairs toward them.

"Good, your hate has made you powerful," the malignant ruler admonished the young Jedi. "Now fulfill your destiny and take your father's place at my side!"

For a long moment, Luke stared at his artificial right hand. Then his gaze wandered to the mechanical stump where his blade had cut off the lower portion of Vader's right arm. As the young Jedi pondered how much his own path had already started to parallel his father's fate, the Dark Lord's thoughts wandered back to another time and another fight…

Obi-Wan had crumpled to the floor far below the place where they had been fighting Dooku, force-pushed like a missile into the hydro-foamed permacrete wall so that pieces of it collapsed onto him. But Anakin didn't have time to check on his former master's well-being. He had to take care of Dooku and free the chancellor. A few more moments of intense battle, then their lightsabers clashed. Across the sizzling blades, the Sith Lord taunted the young Jedi, "I sense great fear in you. Fear and hate. But you don't use them."

At first, the remark threw him off balance, but Palpatine's barked order to use that fear finally opened his eyes to the true source of power. And he used that revelation and dropped all Jedi restraint. As he drew from the well of dark side power inside his heart his fear turned into a formidable weapon of utter fury. With renewed intensity, the fight with Dooku resumed.

Until it was suddenly over. First blocking the Sith Lord's strike high above his head, he stepped aside and pulled his own weapon out of the way allowing momentum to complete the downward swipe of his opponent's blade. With unstoppable speed, Anakin moved his lightsaber over and under Dooku's now outstretched arms and pulled it upward, cutting through both forearms with one fluid motion. The Sith Lord's lightsaber shut off immediately and tumbled through the air while the count sank to his knees in front of him. Anakin caught the Sith weapon with ease and ignited it, crossing both blades, red and blue, at the throat of his captive.

"Good, Anakin! Good!" the chancellor's praise at first elated him. But the next words caused him to hesitate. "Kill him, kill him now!"

" I'm not allowed to..." he tried to reason with Palpatine. Or did he reason with himself?

"Do it! Now!" the man shackled to the chair behind him barked. It was not only an order. It also granted permission to do what the emotions at the bottom of his heart had desired all along, emotions he was no longer willing to deny.

With a hiss, the blades uncrossed like scissors.

… it had been his first cold-blooded murder. The Tusken raiders who had killed his mother had never really counted as such. But it had not been his last. Although it had taken him some time, once the chancellor had revealed his true identity as the Sith Lord they had been seeking all along, he had quickly realized that his fight with Dooku had been a trap from the start, a trap to draw him to the dark side. What had begun in General Grevious' quarters had a few short months later been finalized on the fiery shores of Mustafar, leaving him burned to a smoldering husk, forever condemned to live in an armored bodysuit.

And now, now Palpatine was busy working the same trap on his son. But Luke's life, no matter how strongly his path had started to parallel his father's fate, could never match up to Anakin's. For thirteen years, the Emperor had nurtured a friendship with the fatherless boy, who had given up a loving mother in favor of the Jedi Order. He had fueled his doubts about the rules that had been imposed upon him, had helped him conceal his relationship to Padme and the pregnancy that had resulted from it. In the end, he had even promised him a way to avoid the loss of his wife his visions had foreshadowed.

But - he realized with a start - Padme's survival had never been part of the Emperor's plans. It had all been a lie, a ruse. How could he have never seen it with the clarity his probably last moments granted now? All Sidious had been seeking was a powerful apprentice to help him implement the downfall of the Jedi and the rise of a Sith-ruled Empire. His defeat in the battle with Obi-Wan had caused his new master to continuously seek a replacement. But Vader had defeated them all. Until now.

Now his son was facing that same decision, that same temptation, offered by the same Sith Master. What would he do? What choice would he make?

High above them, Serina was anxiously awaiting the young man's next move. Feelings of utter relief flooded her when Luke hurled his lightsaber away and proclaimed, "Never will I turn to the dark side! You have failed, your Highness. I am a Jedi like my father before me!"

The Emperor's glee from moments before turned to rage as he unleashed the full twisted power of the dark side onto the young Jedi. The blinding white bolts of energy coursed over and into the young man's body tormenting him beyond reason.

Serina noticed that Vader had struggled to his feet beside his master. She could sense the growing turmoil in his soul although the Emperor seemed to be oblivious to it. Would the Anakin in him succeed to cast off the chains of the dark side to rescue his son, would the small spark of light in the evil Sith Lord burst forth as a strong flame like the gatekeeper of her Jedi Holocron had prophesied so many years ago?

When the Emperor increased his assault to finally finish off the young Jedi, Vader suddenly turned upon his master, grabbed him from behind, and carried him to the middle of the bridge. The lightning, now no longer directed at the crumpled figure of Luke, tore into the Dark Lord. As if it was her own body, Serina could feel the bolts tearing into the life-support system, fusing the delicate circuitry at various places. And yet, her heart was suddenly flooded with a lightness, a joy she could barely contain. She could feel the light break through the darkness of Vader's betrayed, misused, and violated soul. She felt his breathing getting labored, his heart starting to beat at an irregular rate, but nonetheless, he advanced. With his last strength, he held the despot's body high over his head and hurled him down into the abyss. Seconds later, a rush of blue air billowed out of the shaft into the throne room.

Vader had collapsed at the edge of the chasm, ready to follow his master into death, but Luke crawled over and pulled him to safety. Both lay there, too weak to move, too moved to speak.

When the realization that the Emperor was truly dead finally hit home in Serina's mind, a flood of memories washed over her: a lonely hut on the edge of the Jundland Wastes on Tatooine, a Jedi Master agreeing to help her protect her unborn child, the insight she granted him on how to achieve just that, the crash of the escape pod some months later, being picked up and brought to the med center in Bestine, the delivery of a healthy daughter, Dara she had named her, giving the girl into the care of the Jedi Master and allowing him to alter her memory as they had agreed upon. Her daughter was alive and safe on Taanab! And she was finally allowed to remember it. An incomprehensible joy filled her soul; then her gaze fell on the crumpled figures at the other side of the throne room.

At last, Serina felt free to leave her hidingplace. Using the Force to slow her descend, she jumped down from the catwalk and rushed to their side. Time was getting short. She would see what she could do to get them all off this ticking time bomb. Kneeling down beside the entwined figures, she gently touched Luke at the shoulder. He would be all right, she sensed, he was just weak and exhausted, but the Emperor's brutal attack would not leave any permanent damage if he was allowed to get the rest he needed. Then she turned her attention upon her Dark Lord.

She did not have to touch him to know the futility of the situation. The lightning bolts had damaged his life support system beyond repair. The mask still held the required pressure, so his lungs had not yet collapsed, but he was already not getting enough oxygen anymore. The internal cyborg mechanisms that had enabled him to move normally were no longer functioning either, he would not be able to walk or move on his own. His heart was still beating but quite irregular and it would be only a matter of time before it quit. She reached out with the Force to strengthen him by feeding any energy in her reach into him. Death was inevitable, she realized, but perhaps she could delay it by a few moments. The thought of Vader dying threatened to paralyze her, but she pushed it aside. They had to get off this battle station before the rebels managed to blow it to pieces.

"Luke, we got to move! The station is going to blow soon!" Her pleading, forceful words caused the young man to stir. Finally, he looked up at her.

"Who are you?"

"There is no time for this right now. We need to get out of here! Quickly!" She grabbed his outstretched hand and jerked him to his feet.

"We have to carry him," she motioned at Vader's unmoving form, "he can't walk anymore."

How did she know that? Briefly Luke wondered about the strange woman that had seemed to appear out of nowhere. But she was right, there was no time left. Reaching down he pulled his father's heavy body first to a sitting position, then, with Serina's help, he hauled him up between them. It would be a long way down to the shuttle hangers and their time was running out fast.