Chapter 23:

The Millennium Falcon dropped out of hyperspace near Dagobah, and Lando guided the ship down towards it. "We're supposed to look for a Jedi Master here?!? There's nothing here! The place is a swamp!"

Leia sighed. "I know, Lando. But Obi-wan said it was here, so here we are." She looked out at the planet, thoughtfully.

Chewie roared, suddenly, and the sensors and controls on the Falcon began to go haywire. "What th—?! What's going on?" Lando yelled, and struggled to regain control as they began to plunge through the atmosphere. The ship crashed through the trees, and "landed" partially in, partially out of a patch of soggy land. Lando leaned back in his seat, heavily. "Great. As if it couldn't get any better."

"Maybe you'd like it back in your cell?" Leia snapped, exasperated with Lando's complaining. She got up and stormed out of the cockpit, preparing herself to go out and take a look around.

Darth Vader stood on the bridge of the Executor, cutting a particularly imposing figure. He was furious, firstly because his daughter had escaped, secondly because the Emperor permitted Luke and Mara to have contact with each other, and even travel together. Reluctantly, Vader absorbed his irritation and turned it to focus on securing his daughter.

An officer nervously came up to Vader, and said, "No luck tracing their hyperspace vector so far, milord."

Vader didn't turn around, but slowly clenched his fist, the officer's throat contracting accordingly. Vader continued to crush the man's neck, even after he died. As he did so, he addressed the captain of the Executor, his voice ominous. "I….do….NOT….want to hear reports of failure, Captain. Until you have something definite to go on, I don't want to hear any more reports, unless I ask for them. Is that understood?"

The captain nodded, wordlessly. Vader tossed the body aside, and stormed off to his quarters, leaving the rest of the crew to nervously go back to work.

Luke followed Mara down several hallways, before finally arriving at their destination. "You'll be living here while at Imperial Center," Mara informed him, shortly, and turned to go.

Luke hesitated for a moment, then caught her arm. "Mara, a moment." She turned and raised an eyebrow, questioningly. Their eyes met, and Luke said, softly, "I know your true feelings, Mara. You try to hide them, but you can't."

Mara blushed, furiously, and glared at him. "I- I don't know what you're talking about, Skywalker," she snapped, and stormed away, leaving Luke standing there, smiling slightly to himself.

Mara stormed into her quarters, furious, and more than a little embarrassed by what had happened. Luke never failed to make her angry, and yet, somehow, she couldn't dislike him, much as she tried. It annoyed her that she let him get under her skin, but there was little she could do about it. She wondered if the Emperor had said anything to him about…. about it, and if so, what he had said.

Emperor Palpatine sat in his throne room looking out over Imperial Center, thinking about young Skywalker. He had more potential than any other apprentice he had before, even than his father in his… current condition. The Jedi attempted to train him and failed, they were just as pathetic as ever. Now that Lord Vader had told his son the truth about his parentage, the lies that the Jedi had told him, they had created the very source of Luke's anger and resentment. And to add to it all, Luke's own sister had betrayed him, adding to the building darkness inside him. It was Luke's destiny to become a Sith Lord... it was his destiny to one day rule the Sith Empire, of this he was sure. He knew that Luke would become the Dark Lord of the Sith, he knew that Luke would become more powerful than any Sith has ever been, in fact, he knew he would be the most powerful Force user of all time.