Chapter 5

Once they were in relative privacy, his father glanced at the doors into the meeting room, and then turned back to Luke.

"Why are you hosting so many of your classmates? Is there some occasion I am unaware of?"

"That's my biology project team," Luke said. "Remember? The project you tossed into the trash this morning?"

"I recall."

"We were just doing the final planning before we redo the experiments over the weekend. They were supposed to leave ages ago, and then all this happened. Have you found the kidnappers yet?"

"No. Several leads have led to dead ends, and now search teams are focusing on Imperial City. This will likely continue for some hours."

Luke slumped. "Then can I at least take them upstairs to play holo games in my room? The guards won't let us have the HoloNet."

"That sounds like it will result in general disorder and chaos interrupting my nighttime meditation."

"Well, they wouldn't even be here if you hadn't destroyed my—"

His father raised a hand. "Very well. You can discuss the security arrangements for a move to your bedroom with Commander Julius. But first, I suggest you accompany Miss Halifax to the military command office where she can speak with her father on a priority channel. I have alerted the officers to your pending arrival."

Just the thought of getting out of the room made Luke brighten up considerably.

"Okay! Are you going back to ISB?"

"For the moment."

Luke nodded and went back through the doors to call Ophelia. His other friends were quickly cleaning the table, and Juno had thankfully cleared off the viewscreen.

"My father said I can go with you to the military command office downstairs," Luke said, gesturing for Ophelia to join him. "You can talk to your father there."

Ophelia immediately tossed the pizza tray back on the table and walked quickly after him.

"Maybe he can send someone to pick me up!" she said, sounding excited at the idea.

"Is it that bad here?" Luke asked, smiling.

"You really want me to answer that?"

Two royal guards were following behind them, and they gestured for them to wait so they could enter the elevator first. When they stepped out into the administration floor, it was just as busy as it was during the daytime, and the guards had to gesture for some officers to stand back so they could allow them through.

Lev was pacing back and forth in the military command office, speaking on a headset, and he immediately took it off when he saw them.

"Welcome. We're all set up in the comms room, just through here."

Luke sat down at Lev's desk, giving Ophelia some privacy while she spoke to her father. There were several empty caf mugs in a row, waiting for a serving droid to come and collect them. When Lev returned from the comms room, he came over to talk to him, and Luke noticed how tired he looked. He must have been at work nearly twelve hours by now.

"How's it going upstairs?" he asked. "Are your friends behaving themselves?"

"Well … no one has cried yet," Luke said. "But I might be the first if it goes on much longer. Do you think they'll find them tonight?"

"Who knows. But you should probably prepare for a sleepover."

"Right now, they've got us all in a meeting room and they won't let us watch the HoloNet."

"There's nothing to see."

"So when do you get to go home?" Luke asked.

"When the city traffic lanes open up again. But … we do have some bunkrooms down here. I've got a few of the ensigns resting up. I'm doing better than Hicks. He's stuck with his possible future in-laws right now."

The doors to the office opened again, and Commander Julius walked in, carrying a datapad.

"This one's for you, I think," she said, passing it to Lev. She then did a double take at the sight of Luke. "Cupcake! Aren't you supposed to be upstairs?!"

"My father said I could come down with Ophelia so she could call her father," Luke said, gesturing at the comms room.

"Oh. That must have been on that activity feed I haven't had a chance to read," she said. "Everything okay up there?"

"No. Captain Baryuth won't let us watch the HoloNet. Can I take them up to my room to play games?"

"Your father will need to approve that."

"He has. Then he said to ask you about the security arrangements."

She stared at the ceiling, while Lev read over the datapad she had brought. Then he said, "There's a double outer shield and multiple TIE fighter patrols. Reinforced transparisteel on all the windows. They'll be fine."

"I guess we can't keep them in that meeting room all night," she said. "How many guest rooms do you have up there?"

"Several," Luke said. "But when Ben sleeps over, he usually just bunks down in my room on one of those air mattresses from the military supply room. Greein will probably be okay with that. I don't know about the girls."

"I don't think you could expect a Grand Moff's daughter to sleep on an air mattress on your bedroom floor, no," Lev said.

"Don't suggest it, or it will get back to her father," Commander Julius said.

Lev's comlink beeped again, and he put his headset back on, wandering away from the desk.

"I'm leaning towards yes, but I'll discuss your plans with Captain Baryuth before giving my final answer," Commander Julius said.

"Oh, stars," Luke said, hoping the royal guard captain wouldn't make his judgement based on what he'd seen so far. "If he happens to mention a game we were playing … just so you know, it wasn't my idea."

She raised an eyebrow. "You weren't playing anything that involved kissing, were you?"

"No!"

She smiled. "All right, no need to blush, Cupcake."

When she turned to leave, Luke slumped down with his head in his arms on the desk, glad to have a moment of peace and quiet. It was ironic … often he felt too alone when it was just him in his bedroom for hours. But four people was too much, especially with Ben in a mood and Ophelia and Juno glaring daggers at each other.

Some time later, the doors to the comms room opened, and Luke glanced up. Ophelia walked quickly out, her expression neutral.

"How was he?" Luke asked. "Freaking out over your safety?"

"He's fine," she said stiffly. "He's glad I'm here, actually, as he said the Imperial Palace security was second to none." She looked aside. "So what now? We going back upstairs to crazy town?"

Luke frowned, hearing something in her voice she was fighting hard to suppress.

"Are you okay?"

She glared back at him. "What? Of course I'm okay." Even as she said the word, a tear rolled down her cheek, and Luke quickly pulled over a box of tissues.

"How about you just sit here for a bit with me," he said carefully. "No rush to go back."

She ripped a tissue out of the box and dabbed at her eyes, before tossing it aside. Then she sat down hard in the chair, causing it to squeak.

"I guess you'd rather be at home with your family right now," Luke said.

She shook her head. "It's not that. My father … he told me some things he'd heard from ISB. It's too much of a coincidence that they would deliberately target me, and they think they asked Sunny for ideas about who else would be a valuable target. That cafe where they took the girl from? I usually meet a woman there around this time. She used to be my nanny when I was little."

Luke frowned. "So he told them where they might find you?"

She shrugged. "ISB suggested they would have tortured him to get information."

"I just wish they'd find them already," Luke said, looking down.

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for a bit, Luke fidgeting with one of the empty caf mugs, and Ophelia playing with a stress toy she'd found beside the monitor. Then, she said, "Do you remember that thing you said when we first found out he'd been kidnapped?"

"I'm sorry about that."

"I thought the same thing."

Luke stared in confusion.

She met his gaze then. "No matter what you've heard that made you say that, I know much worse."

"So you did dump him?" Luke asked.

She shook her head. "No. I should have. When we first started going out, he was so adoring and funny and he introduced me to all his famous friends like I was someone he was proud to be with. But then, a month in, he started saying things. Just little things at first."

"What things?"

"Mostly about the music or holovid shows I liked. Suggesting they were bad, or shallow, or I had 'unrefined tastes'. Little remarks designed to make me doubt myself. Then one day he said he hoped I knew he was dating down. The next week, it was that I needed to lose weight. Once he said he hoped I appreciated that he was smarter than me."

Luke cringed. "He told a thirteen year old fan that he'd invite her to his hotel if she'd do something about her natural skin pattern. Thirteen! There were Hutts on Tatooine less gross than him."

She nodded. "He often treated fans badly. But I ignored it. I ignored a lot of things. He wanted me to spend all my social time with him and not speak to my friends. He wanted access to my comlink to be sure I wasn't communicating with other guys. He refused to meet my family. His mother called me a spoiled gold digging social climber the first time we met, and he just laughed."

"I can't believe you put up with this."

"I can't either. But … it started good and then became worse so gradually I didn't notice. I thought he'd be just like the person I'd seen on the HoloNet. Maybe I dreamed about being a HoloNet celebrity too." She shook her head. "He used to send a droid over to bring me flowers. He sent the same droid to tell me I was dumped. It was a hard lesson. Men can be trash."

"Don't give up on men just because of one sleemo," Luke said, indignant. "Am I trash? Is Ben trash? Is Greein … well, just overlook that stupid game."

She smiled. "Speaking of Charity Case … what's up with you and him? You're normally inseparable, and he's barely said a word to you."

"It's a long story," Luke said.

"We've got time."

Luke found himself feeling curious as to what Ophelia might say about the situation, so he went through the sorry story, starting with the afternoon they'd been caught practicing shooting in the hangar bay. She listened quietly, nodding in understanding now and then.

"This is the problem when you put someone average in a private school with people like us," she said. "Of course they'll end up feeling like they're not good enough."

"Ben is a great friend and the smartest person I know," Luke said. "He's more than good enough. I will never understand why you think how much money and power someone has says anything about them as a person. Didn't Sunny show how wrong that is?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with average people," she said. "The problems only start when they get jealous and angry about what they don't have. That happens when they are put into environments where what they don't have is constantly put in front of them. Isn't that exactly what's gone wrong with your friendship with Ben?"

Luke felt a pang of frustration then. He wanted to prove Ophelia wrong, but he was too tired to argue.

"Let's head back," he said. "Commander Julius was going to let me take you all up to my room so we can play holo games. There's plenty of guest rooms up there too so you can just hang out in one of those if you prefer."

"That depends on what kind of games you have," she said.

Luke smiled. "Puppy-Droid Racer?"

"You don't seriously own that? Wait, what am I saying. Of course you do."

"It's cute. My astromech droid loves it. Especially when he finds a diamond bone and can blow up all the mutant fleas."

"This is going to be a long night," Ophelia sighed.

The royal guards seemed just as relieved as they were to be getting out of the meeting room. Commander Julius had come up with a new plan for the night in collaboration with Captain Baryuth, and they'd set aside three rooms where they could post guards outside as needed. Luke's bedroom, and two guest rooms further down the hall, near the elevator.

Lev arrived shortly after Luke and Ophelia had returned, accompanied by a couple of palace protocol droids who could assist with finding all the supplies needed for four unexpected overnight guests. They all seemed to be taking it well, apart from Ben, who was still working on his homework and ignoring the buzz of activity.

"Luke, do you think your dad will come back?" Greein asked.

"I hope not," Juno said, adding something to the list of requests for the droids. "I had no idea your dad was so scary, Luke. It's like he's surrounded by an aura of death."

"That's exactly what I've always said," Ben said, glancing up.

"May I suggest that no one refer to Lord Vader as Luke's 'dad' in his presence?" Lev said. "Luke may get away with that occasionally, but I wouldn't guarantee anyone else would."

"So how are we supposed to address him?" Greein asked.

"'My lord' or 'sir' is appropriate," Lev said. "But I wouldn't recommend speaking to him unless he asks you a question first."

"Yes, Greein," Ophelia said.

"But I was just so excited to meet him!" Greein said. "I still can't believe he was actually here."

"The Emperor's here too," Luke said. "But he's always up in the towers and no one ever sees him."

"Don't tell him that, or next thing he'll be trying to sneak up there and say hello," Ophelia said.

"No, I mean, all respect to the Emperor, but Lord Vader is amazing," Greein said. "Did you know he can just point at objects and move them through the air with his mind?"

Juno rolled her eyes. "Who told you that one?"

"It's true! I swear, it's true! Also, he has a lightsaber. Hey, Luke! Do you know where he keeps it?"

"Please don't tell him," Ophelia said.

Luke smiled. "It's on his left, hanging from his belt."

"Does he ever let you turn it on and swing it around?"

"No," Luke said, flexing his artificial hand.

"If he was my dad, I'd be asking him every day if I could," Greein said.

"I can tell," Lev said, patting Greein's shoulder as he walked past. "Luke, let me know if there are any problems."

"Thanks, Lev."

Four royal guards accompanied them in the elevators, so it took two trips, but it was a relief to see them remain in the corridor outside the room instead of inside. Luke went in first, hastily tossing a towel into the laundry compartment and putting his model T-16 away. Greein and Juno wandered around his room, looking at all the pictures, while Ophelia turned on the HoloNet.

A short time later, the droids returned with air mattresses, bedding, pillows, and towels, and Luke set up a pillow nest in front of the holovid. No one protested when he loaded up Puppy-Droid Racer, and soon Greein and Juno were laughing as they raced their little droid puppy avatars around the track, picking up bonus bones and dodging fleas. Even Ben was lured out of his mood enough to take over from Greein when he went to the refresher, and Ophelia joined in when Luke found his extra controllers.

An hour later, Luke happened to glance over, and he noticed Juno was busy making up an air mattress alongside his study desk.

"You don't have to sleep in here," he said. "There's two guest rooms down the hall. I was told to let the guards know when you shift down there so they'll send up another two for the door."

"I don't want to sleep in a room by myself," Juno said, her eyes wide. "There are kidnappers loose in the city."

"There's no way they could possibly get in here," Luke said.

Juno still looked anxious.

"She's scared of Lord Vader," Ophelia said, causing Juno to glare in her direction.

"I am not!"

Luke was about to suggest she and Ophelia share a room, and then he realized immediately that was a bad idea.

"Besides, this is really comfy," Juno said, flopping back on the mattress. "Ophelia can have a guest room. She'd faint if she had to sleep on an air mattress."

"You know nothing about me," Ophelia said.

"Okay," Luke said, raising his hands. "Well, if everyone is going to bunk down in here then I'll need to get the droids to bring more bedding."

"Go ahead," Ophelia said. "Get a mattress for me."

"Are you sure?" Luke said. "There's a really nice guest room—"

Ophelia just glared at him, folding her arms, and Luke backed away. "I'll get them to come up now."

"Can we have more snacks, too?" Greein asked. He was furiously trying to beat off a flea, while Ben was way ahead on the track.

Luke obliged, and the droids soon returned with more bedding and a selection of snack food and drinks. His bedroom was looking like a sandstorm had been through it by now, but at least no one was crying.

He dragged his study desk over to beside his bed, making more room for Juno, and used it to organise the glasses and bowls. When he turned around to ask Greein what drink he wanted, he found Ophelia was rifling through his clothing drawers.

"Ophelia!"

She pulled out a pair of bright orange pyjamas with silver polka dots. "Where did you find these monstrosities?" she asked.

"Put those back," Luke said.

"I need to find something to wear to sleep," she said. "Stars, look at these." She pulled out a pair of tan pyjamas with banthas. "This is like something a kid would wear."

"I no longer fit those!" Luke protested.

Then she rummaged deeper and pulled out a black t-shirt. She actually smiled when she saw what was written on the front.

"Ha! This is actually pretty funny." She turned it around to show the others, who all snickered when they saw the words. You think you've got problems? My father is a Sith Lord!

"I wish my parents were Sith Lords," Greein said.

"No, you don't," Luke said, moving over to take the shirt from Ophelia. He tossed it towards his bed, and then opened up a different drawer. "You can find some more t-shirts in there."

"My folks are so boring," Greein said. "Their entire day is controlled by their scheduling assistants."

"My father can be plenty boring too," Luke said.

"Never."

"All those things you've heard about … the lightsaber duels, the space battles, the epic ground invasions … that's only a small fraction of what he actually does. Some days he just reads reports and then meditates on the nature of the Force."

Greein's holographic droid puppy ran into a puddle then, and made a whimpering noise, before pausing to shake.

"Come on, that puddle was tiny!" Greein complained.

"He's only a little guy," Juno said. "You're supposed to jump over those puddles."

A chorus of celebratory barks sounded as Ben's puppy trotted over the line, and Greein's one rolled over in defeat.

"Can we play something that wasn't meant for five-year-olds now?" Greein asked, putting his controller aside. "Speaking of epic battles, have you got Haunted Forest?"

"Yes, I couldn't get past the second level and gave up," Luke said, holding out the two soda bottles for Greein to choose. "Maybe you can figure it out."

He was halfway through filling up Greein's glass with the selected drink, when the refresher doors opened, and Ophelia stepped out. Greein and Ben immediately turned to stare, causing Luke to glance over as well. She was now wearing the Sith Lord t-shirt, which fit her surprisingly well, and a pair of black and red boxer shorts that Luke remembered buying some time ago.

"Ha! Nice," Greein said.

"Are you wearing my underwear?" Luke said, aghast.

"Relax, you hadn't even cut the tags off yet," Ophelia said. "Besides, they're comfy. Why is boy's underwear so much more comfortable?"

"Is there another pair I can wear?" Juno asked.

Ophelia tossed her a second identical pair. "It was in a two-pack."

Luke covered his face, wondering if having his female classmates wear his underwear was going to be one of his most embarrassing memories from his teen years. Greein just patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, Luke. I definitely won't tell everyone at school about this."

When Juno returned from the refresher, now wearing the second pair of boxers and a t-shirt with an astromech droid on the front, she crawled over Luke's bed to avoid walking in front of the holovid. Then she discovered Ophelia was on the other side of it, attempting to make up her own bed.

"Ha!" she said, pointing. "You've never made a bed in your life, have you?"

Luke turned around and could see what Juno meant. Ophelia had attempted to stuff the base sheet under without folding the corners properly, and now it had slipped out on one side and bunched up on the other.

"Shut your nosy face," Ophelia said.

"Luke!" Juno said. "You need to summon the palace servants to make Princess Ophelia's bed!"

In response, Ophelia picked up a bowl of popcorn on the study desk, and upended it all over Juno's neatly made bed. Then, all hell broke loose as Juno screamed in anger and flew at Ophelia, claws extended. The two of them tumbled back over Ophelia's badly made bed, sending another bowl of popcorn scattering all over the floor.

"Woo! Girl fight!" Greein said, just as Luke dived to separate them. He'd just managed to drag Juno back, when he lost his own balance and fell onto Ophelia's bed, knocking her back in the process. Then, the doors slid open, and the two royal guards barged in, pikes extended.

"Perfect!" Luke said, scrambling back to his feet. "Give me that!"

He attempted to grab the pike from the nearest guard, but the man stepped back, and stumbled over Greein's drink. It splashed all over the bottom of his red robes and pooled on the carpet. The second guard moved to restrain Juno, but she picked up a handful of popcorn and tossed it at his helmet.

"Don't do that!" Ophelia said, shoving Juno sideways. Luke grabbed the back of the shirt in both hands to hold her back. This caused her to step back onto some of the spilt popcorn in her bare feet, resulting in some loud swearing.

"Ophelia!" Greein said, grinning. He was trying to soak up the spreading pool of soda with a towel. "I didn't even know you knew those words."

"I don't believe this," Luke said, looking around at the general chaos. And to think he actually grew up wishing he wasn't an only child.

Any further internal lamenting was ended by the sound of artificial breathing in the doorway. The guards turned around and straightened to attention. His father looked from the one with a spreading soda stain on his robes, to the other, who still had pieces of popcorn clinging to his tunic, and then stepped to one side and gestured for them to leave the room. They seemed only too eager to do so.

When his father re-entered the room, the girls immediately fell silent. Greein popped up from the floor and appeared in front of him before Luke could stop him.

"Lord Vader, sir! I've always wanted to see a real life lightsaber. I've read all the old history books about them and it would mean everything to me if I could just see one and hear the sound it makes when—"

"Young man," his father said, in one of his more quiet, dangerous tones. "The sight of my lightsaber is also a sign of your imminent death."

Ophelia was closer to Greein than Luke, and she carefully navigated the fallen popcorn, and then grabbed him by the back of his tunic, tugging him back from the potential source of his imminent death. Unfortunately, during this movement, his father got a good look at her current attire.

"Miss Halifax," he said, still in the same tone. "Unless you want me to adopt you, I suggest you change immediately."

"Can you adopt me?" Greein suggested, even as Ophelia quickly pushed him back towards where Ben was crouched down behind a beanbag. She paused to grab a replacement t-shirt on the way.

Finally, he turned his gaze towards Luke, who quickly raised his hands. "This isn't as bad as it looks."

Come with me, his father sent, over their mental link. Then he turned around, striding back out the door.

Luke sighed, and then pointed at Greein. "Just make sure the girls don't fight while I'm gone."

"Sure thing, Luke," Greein said, smirking.

Luke moved quickly after his father, deciding the best plan would be to get this lecture over with as soon as possible.

When he entered the corridor, he found his father had dismissed the guards entirely, and was now waiting a few meters past the door. His arms were folded across his front in an interrogative way.

"Were you boys fighting?" he asked.

"Boys? I was breaking up a fight between the girls!"

"Why are the girls in your room? Move them to a guest room immediately."

"They didn't want to be alone."

"There are two of them."

"If they're in a room alone together, only one will be alive in the morning!"

"It is not appropriate to have young women in your bedroom at your age."

"Listen, I don't know what teenage Jedi got up to in this place, but the only thing the boys are doing in there is playing holovid games, while I try and stop a civil war breaking out between the girls."

His father breathed for a few cycles, and then said, "Perhaps you do need a weapon."

Luke smirked. "If you're offering me your lightsaber, I wouldn't say no."

"I can assist in a less lethal way."

"At this point, I'll try anything," Luke said. "Just please don't embarrass me. Please."

"I thought that was my job."

Luke raised an eyebrow.

"I will also send Artoo to assist you. The stress will be too much for Threepio."

"Yes, Artoo would help," Luke agreed.

He had a feeling he might be making a mistake, but regardless, he led his father back to his room. The others were quickly trying to make the room look a little less like a thermal detonator loaded with popcorn had gone off. Ophelia was now dressed in a more respectable shirt with the Galactic Bandits logo on the back. They stopped what they were doing at the return of his father, and Ben and Juno began to shift away.

"Fall in, all of you," his father ordered, gesturing to the space in front of him.

What followed was a messy scramble in which it became clear not all of them knew what was meant by 'fall in', as Ben tried to sneak into the refresher, and Juno somehow imagined she could blend into the corner. But after some urging from Greein, they were soon in something vaguely resembling a line.

"Now," his father said. "You will finish cleaning this room and then be in bed with the lights and holovid off by 22-hundred. There will be no more junk food and no more fighting."

The others all managed a 'yes, sir', sounding suitably contrite.

"I will be across the hall. If I hear one more hint of misbehavior coming from this room, the perpetrator will be spending some time in the brig. Am I clear?"

The others responded with another round of 'yes, sirs', now sounding terrified.

"Dismissed."

They turned back to resume cleaning up the popcorn, and his father left them alone, causing Juno and Ben to sigh with relief.

"Where's the brig?" Greein asked, sounding more interested than he should.

"There is no brig!" Luke said. He considered it, and then said, "At least … I'm pretty sure there's no brig in the palace. There is a detention center near the main ISB office."

"Let's just not find out where the brig is," Ben said.

"Yes, good idea," Luke agreed, sweeping a tray of popcorn into the trash. Ophelia was doing a pretty good job cleaning it, so he decided to be kind and make her bed properly for her, and soon it was looking much better. He finished by putting one of the Imperial Flag blankets over the top, and then checked on Greein's progress. He and Ben were laying out their own beds in the space in front of the holovid, leaving a path through to reach the refresher.

Just when the room was reaching a respectable state again, the doors slid open, and there was an immediate intake of breath from his friends. But it was only Artoo on the other side, chirping away.

"Boy, am I glad to see you," Luke said, relieved. "Artoo, these are my friends. You know Ben. That's Juno, Ophelia and Greein."

Artoo beeped in greeting, and then rolled over to Luke's side, making a questioning whistle.

"Everything's okay right now," he said. "And … we've got a bit of time before he said we have to go to sleep."

"Haunted Forest?" Greein suggested. He was busy going through Luke's game collection.

The droid nudged Luke's leg and beeped out his own suggestion, and Luke smiled, patting his dome. "Sorry, buddy, you missed Puppy Racer. But plug yourself in and you can play as the haunted mouse droid."

Artoo made a derisive chirp.