A/N: Welcome to Diadems of Stars, book 2! Please read the first part, Naberrie, to understand this one! The Ghost crew shows up, but you don't need to watch Rebels to understand who they are. Starbridger will be in this story, but it's fairly in the background.
He was the center of attention, yet part of the background. At the center, the star of the show, and yet passively allowing the makeup and dress teams Luke's mother had sent to prepare him for his coronation.
As Luke's face was covered in white paint, and two red dots drawn to frame the traditional red line on his bottom lip, Luke solemnly vowed he would never wear this much royal makeup again. It was utterly ridiculous, and while it served a purpose for very young monarchs to seem both older and ageless, and to provide inexperienced youths a mask while in politics, Luke needed neither. While he had been one the youngest Governors in Naboo's history, he was one of the oldest monarchs ever elected.
As Luke's hair was neatened he kept his head still, consciously not reaching down to smooth the heavy robes he wore. His first layer was a golden long-sleeve shirt that was perfectly tailored to cling to his arms, which was then covered with a sleeveless white robe that fell to his ankles. The collar was high, and the front opening of the ceremonial robe was lined in gold, along with his collar and the arm holes of the garment. Over everything, Luke wore a frankly massive cape, fastened at the shoulders and made of stiff fabric that held it in a shape that came off of Luke's shoulders and flared out. The cape was also white with a golden lining underneath, and gold thread picked out Nabooian constellations on the white side of the cape, echoing the outfit Luke had worn on election night.
As an attendant put the finishing touches on Luke's makeup, Luke's mother and sister broke the spell of calm by striding in through the side door. Pooja wore a floor-length lilac gown that left one shoulder bare and was covered in fabric wildflowers. Her brown hair was caught up in an elaborately braided hairstyle, and Luke absentmindedly wondered how long it had taken to create. Luke's mother provided a contrast in a darker red, satin gown with long sleeves and a pattern of silver diamonds running down the front.
Sola Naberrie looked ready to weep when she paused for a second in front of Luke, before donning a brave smile. "Oh, Luke. You look perfect."
Luke let his walls drop for just a moment, showing his nervousness to his mother and sister. "You think so?"
"Yes, Luke. You look majestic under all that makeup." Pooja giggled a bit. "I can't believe you're going to be king."
"I hardly believe it either." Luke shot a glance at the doors awaiting his entrance.
Sola reached forward and fussed with his cape. "It will be fine, Luke. Your father and Ryoo and waiting in the hall for the coronation. Pooja should be-"
"Mom, I know, professionalism and all, but it doesn't really matter that I'm the senator, everyone knows Luke's my brother." Pooja shrugged elegantly. "I want to be here."
"Thank you, Pooja," Luke tried to thank Pooja, but she just waved her hand and told him to hush.
Sola's eyes filled with tears and she gripped Luke's hands. "Luke, you don't have to do this. Sweetheart-"
Luke gently pulled his hands out of Sola's grasp. "I'm sorry Mom, but I do. I can't let the Empire occupy Naboo."
"But how?" Sola leaned forward with a bit of desperation in her eyes. "Luke, Vader is on his way here, he's more dangerous than you even know, please-"
"I stop him by telling him no. They need my agreement to move forward, and they can't force me to abdicate or put in a vote of no confidence, because Thestoto and Peladc support me and we have a temporary absence in my old seat, and until a new governor is elected in six months, I vote for Theed as well. All I have to do is refuse to cooperate, they wouldn't dare harm me."
Sola laughed wetly. "This is Vader we're talking about."
"And not even Vader can force Naboo to give up democracy if we don't want to, and the people have made their voices known. I will not betray them."
Sola gazed at Luke with distant eyes, and Luke knew she wasn't seeing him. He knew his mother was seeing the ghost of her dead sister in his eyes, as she did whenever he stood up for someone else. It was something Luke's mother had done since he was a young boy. Luke didn't know why his mother saw so much of Padme Amidala in him, Luke was adopted after all, but he never commented on it. There was no reason to cause Sola further grief.
Luke caught his mother's hand. "Mom, I need you, Dad, and Ryoo to stay out of Theed for a while."
"Luke, no, we can't-"
"Mom, please! You pointed out yourself that Vader's coming, and he's ruthless. I need to know you'll be safe. Pooja will be going back to the Galactic Senate tomorrow, but if Vader finds the rest of you… "
Sola searched Luke's clear blue eyes for a minute, then nodded slowly. "I know you have to do this, and you can't have us distracting you. We'll go to the house in the Lake Country for a month. But Luke, there's something I need to tell you-"
An aide appeared, cutting Sola off. "Your highness, they're ready for you."
Luke met Pooja and Sola's eyes. "Later, mom."
But there never was a later. The coronation itself went off without a hitch, as traditional as possible yet different because of the lack of handmaidens (there had been no time to train any and Luke wasn't sure if he wanted body doubles as his bodyguards in the first place) and instead of discussions of fashion and politics that usually surrounded Nabooian coronations, there were whispers of rebellion and Vader.
After Luke had pledged his allegiance to Naboo, promising to keep his planet alive in the midst of the approaching Imperial occupation to canny ears, the Nabooian coronation crown was set on his head. It was perfectly circular, silver inlaid with diamonds and Nabooian sapphires, and had many small points sticking up at the top. It fit around the crown of Luke's head like it had been forged for him, and for a moment Luke felt the hands of his predecessors resting on his temple. Then he straightened from his kneeling position and the spell was broken.
"All hail King Ancora!" Naboo's senior historian announced.
"All hail King Ancora!" the people in the throne room echoed solemnly.
"All hail King Ancora!" the Nabooians in the streets outside the palace screamed joyously, setting off fireworks in an uncharacteristic display of hope in Imperial times. The palace guards did nothing to calm or stop the celebrators in the street, knowing that the stormtroopers would be arriving soon. It was best to let their neighbors enjoy this victory while they could.
It all went wrong at the feast afterward. Luke, now crowned King Ancora, presided in the seat of honor, the head of the table, the seat Luke would occupy for the rest of his time as King. Bitter lines divided the officials partaking in the food, polite battles raging between Imperialists and Naboo loyalists down the battle lines of the table. The supporters of the Empire took what they could out of the conversations, knowing that they had been defeated, but the loyalists also held a tone of desperate defeat, knowing as well as Luke Naberrie- no, Ancora- knew that Vader was on his way.
Conversation and the soft music of the hall came to a screeching halt as the large doors flung open. The black storm of Vader marched in, flanked by stormtroopers from the 501st, Vader's fist, and heralded by the rasping of Vader's respirator.
Luke met Vader's eyes, separated by the long table, and steeled his nerves. This was the beginning of the end, and he faced the dark fate that he had run for. Gathering his courage, Luke glanced at his parents, letting them know to leave Theed as soon as they could and stood to confront Vader.
"Lord Vader. Welcome to Theed." Luke took an even tone characteristic of past Nabooian monarchs, meeting his adversary with all the grace he could muster while masking the animal fear that Vader's black mask inspired.
"Naberrie-"
"Ancora." The air in the room seemed to desert the bystanders, watching their newly-crowned, short, golden-haired king interrupt the right hand of the Emperor.
"What," a black, angry utterance. Vader was clearly furious at the unanticipated resistance.
"I have been crowned King Ancora, Lord Vader. According to Naboo, until I retire from office my name is King Luke Ancora. But please, let me welcome you to Naboo properly. It would not do to let a guest such as yourself stand in the doorway. We can continue our discussion in private" Luke stood and began making his way to the nearest exit to the dining hall. As Luke left, he met a few key politicians' eyes to give them more strength. "Please, ladies and gentlemen, continue. This is a day of celebration for Naboo."
Luke was acutely aware of Vader's dark shadow following him down the hallway. Luke couldn't explain how if he was asked, but Vader gave him a disturbing feeling, the best Luke could describe it was as if Vader was a dark rip in reality. Luke shook off his fanciful thoughts as he entered one of the many formal sitting rooms in the palace, alighting with as much grace as he could on a chair, gesturing for Vader to take a seat in the chair opposite him.
Vader, of course, remained standing.
"You will sign the agreement, Ancora." Vader hissed. "You have no choice."
Luke prided himself that his insides only shivered a bit as he retorted. "I think not, Lord Vader. I do not have to honor my predecessor's agreements and I was elected because the people have faith that I will not allow Naboo to be occupied."
"You have no choice, Ancora. Naboo will be occupied with or without your consent, but your cooperation will keep the transfer of power peaceful."
Some part of Luke solidified and turned to iron. "No. You know just as well as I that the Emperor cannot be seen to be committing violence against his homeworld, and the Emperor does not want to make me a martyr. If the Emperor does not want to risk more worlds defecting to the Rebels, if he does not want his own homeworld defecting to the Rebels, he cannot take my planet by force."
Vader's fists clenched. "You dare admit to collusion with Rebels-"
"I admit to nothing, Lord Vader, so do not presume to put words in my mouth!" Luke shot to his feet, fists clenched to mirror Vader. "Neither of us are fools, and this act does not become us. I will not bow to the Emperor's wishes because Naboo will not bow to him, and I serve Naboo before all else!"
Though Vader was as made of metal as ever, Luke somehow felt shock from him. "You dare-"
"I dare!" Luke's fire roared higher, and somewhere he heard the hum of lightsabers and the cries of war. "I dare to keep my planet independent and safe! I am the sovereign King of Naboo, and I will not bow to your threats, Lord Vader!"
Vader stood stock-still, surveying the freshly-crowned monarch still wearing his ceremonial robes and crown jewels defiantly lifting his chin, and his frozen heart trembled. The dark lord heard echoes of a woman's voice, proclaiming the sovereignty of the very same planet he stood on to another servant of Palpatine. For a moment Vader saw a woman with brown eyes in the place of the blue-eyed youth that stood in her place, wearing the same face paint.
Desperately trying to recover, Vader snarled, "This is not over, King Ancora." He swept out of the room with as much dignity as he could.
Luke stared after him, collapsing on the seat he had recently vacated as his legs turned to jelly after his confrontation with Vader. Why had Vader left? By all accounts, speaking out like that should have angered Vader, and yet…
All Luke had felt was grief and pain.
Luke shook off his shock, and wearily made his way to his new royal bedroom to ask the assistants waiting there to help him take off his makeup. He had one more task before he could rest, no matter how tired he was.
Slipping down to the ship hangers, Luke made his way to his usual meeting spot with Han, but as expected, the Millenium Falcon wasn't the ship resting in the hanger. This ship was also a freighter, but was diamond-shaped rather than circular and was bigger. Colorful paint could be seen through the entrance of the main ramp, which was guarded by a large, furry, purple creature and a man about Luke's age, with dark skin and black buzzed hair. As he approached, Luke could see that the human had two scars on his cheek.
The two on guard duty straightened, and the dark-haired man called out, "Do you need us to take a message?"
It was a prearranged statement, and Leia had told Luke the expected reply for this meeting. "Yes, you're my only hope."
For once, Luke didn't need the person using that particular hanger to be a messenger, but the fact that the crew of the ship was his only hope was true.
The purple alien stayed at the foot of the ramp while the human lead Luke into the ship, into a common area that held a Mandalorian woman with purple hair, a green-skinned Twi'lek woman in pilot's fatigues, and a brown-haired man with a burn scar across his eyes that were milky white, marking him as blind.
The Twi'lek woman looked at Luke's guide. "Specter 6?"
"He's our contact, he got the code phrase right."
The woman extended her hand to Luke, and he shook it. "I'm Colonel Hera Syndulla of the Rebel Alliance. This is Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus and Sabine Wren, and you've met Ezra Bridger. The Lasat outside is Garazeb Orrelios. Care to tell us your name?"
Luke brought his hands up to push back the maroon hood shadowing his face. "Of course, Colonel Syndulla. I am King Luke Ancora."
Ezra Bridger gasped, and if Luke didn't know better he would have sworn that Syndulla and the blind Jedi exchanged glances. Sabine pointed at Luke. "You mean that you, our contact, is the new king of the planet?"
Luke smiled wryly at her. "Yes, Leia and I have been friends since childhood. My family always supported the Republic, and even though it no longer exists, we now support the Rebel Alliance."
"You need our help?"
Turning to Kanan Jarrus, Luke replied. "Yes, I-I don't know how much you know about the situation…"
Ezra laughed, and Luke found himself staring at his dark blue eyes for a moment before he shook himself out of it. Get a grip, Naberrie- no, Ancora…
"Just assume we don't know anything."
Luke inclined his head to Ezra, raking his eyes over the other man's hardened arm muscles in the light of the ship. "I was a Governor of Naboo until last week. I ousted the last Queen of Naboo in a vote of no confidence to try to delay her signing onto the occupation of Naboo by the Empire. When the vote actually went through, I realized the other Governors were either outright Imperials or were too weak to stand up to Vader, so I ran myself, promising the people that I wouldn't let Naboo be occupied by the Empire." Luke laughed weakly. "I suppose I lived up to my promise. Less than an hour ago, Vader tried to threaten me into agreeing to the occupation and I told him to go to hell."
"What?" Ezra looked at the young man in front of him. They were the same age, and yet the ruler of a planet seemed much older, the beautiful sky-blue eyes holding a timeless wisdom. "You told Vader to go to hell?"
Some traitorous part of Luke fluttered at the attention. "Not so impolitely, but yes. I told him that he couldn't force me to cooperate because the Emperor can't be seen forcing his homeworld into submission, but at some point, the embarrassment of my resistance will outweigh the political repercussions of subjugating Naboo. When that happens- well, it won't matter what I say, I'll become a political hostage to keep Naboo and its allies in line." Luke found himself a step closer to Ezra. When had that happened?
The moment was broken by Kanan leaning forward. "I see your problem, but what can we do?"
Luke took a centering breath. "I can't- I won't ask you to fight Vader. That's my battle. What I do need is your help to gather information, spy. I've heard your crew is one of the best of the Rebellion?"
Hera's smile was proud and fierce. "We are."
"Good." Luke took a deep breath in, then released. "I need you to pass information to the Rebellion, what you gather and what I can get you on Vader. I need you to advise me and be my contacts in the Rebellion. I've also been warned by Leia that the Empire might try to assassinate me to get rid of me quietly. She said you'd be able to help…?" Luke trailed off questioningly.
Hera nodded back. "We could send one of us in with you to be a bodyguard."
"That could work. I don't have the traditional bodyguard handmaids, and I've made it clear that I don't want them. I want my people to trust me, and even though impersonators are a time-honored tradition on Naboo, I can't keep their trust with the usual ambiguity that surrounds the monarch. However, I am expected to have some form of protection, and I could say that you're a bodyguard from Coruscant that my sister recommended to me."
"Will Vader recognize Ezra?" Sabine asked.
"No," Ezra replied, "I look very different from when I last saw him. I was only fifteen then, and I've gotten much better at shielding. Vader shouldn't be able to sense me."
Luke stared at Ezra, fascinated. "You're a Jedi too?"
Ezra favored Luke with a roguish grin. "Yep. Kanan taught me. My training should keep Vader from sensing that I'm a spy, so I can stay with you."
"This could work," Luke said, with a new hope creeping into his voice.
Meanwhile, Vader was in his own meeting. The arrogant voice of the petty politician that Vader was being forced to work with invaded Vader's momentary peace of mind.
"Of course, the boy will cave when faced by the true might of the Empire, Lord Vader-"
With a sigh, Vader turned to study Governor Mernic. "No, Governor. I have met Ancora's kind before. He is an idealist with a cause, and they are not easily intimidated. The boy is unlikely to give in."
Mernic sputtered. "Then-then dispose of him!"
Vader rounded on Mernic, his anger flaring up. "You do not order me, Governor! I take orders from the Emperor, and him alone! You failed to secure Naboo, and made it necessary for me to oversee the impending occupation!"
After a few deep breaths from his respirator and Mernic quaking before him, Vader continued. "The king will not be killed. Not yet. There is something about him…" Vader shook off the contemplation. "Find out what you can on the boy. There must be something to exploit."
With that final word, Vader stormed off to ruminate on the new frustrations brought on by the young king.
Mernic pulled himself together and beckoned to his two loyal assistants. "One of you, hire the bounty hunter Boba Fett to take care of the young king. The other should obey Lord Vader's order to look into Naberrie. Vader may not be willing to dispose of our young King Ancora…"
Mernic glared at the coronation image of Luke Ancora that had been hung earlier that night.
"But I am."
A/N: 3.5k words is pretty decent, if I do say so myself. I'm sure you're wondering: why Ancora? Well, Luke had to have a new name as monarch of Naboo, and he's certainly not presumptuous enough to take Amidala when he thinks he's her adopted nephew that she never met. Because Luke is the new hope in A New Hope, I wanted a word that at least tangentially means hope. According to Google Translate (not reliable, I know), Ancora means anchor, support, refuge, or hope in Latin, and that's what Luke is to his people. Also it starts with an A like Amidala.
I'm a simple girl and I love Starbridger. I'm new at writing romance, and haven't had many relationships myself, so please give me advice on how I'm doing. If I'm laying it on too thick, please tell me, I will certainly scale the romance back a bit. For that matter, please tell me what you thought of Vader too, I'm not very sure about his characterization, especially because I'm writing from Luke-as-king-of-Naboo's perspective.
And yeah I enjoy my OCs too much to let them totally fade away, and Mernic is scheming!
Thanks to brookeyy14, princesselsaamidala2, ChloeSkywalker7791, squirtlee16, Topaz Leaves, and S-Wanderer999 for their wonderful reviews!