Chapter 24:

Luke fiddled with the rip in his sleeve, thinking about what had occurred between him and the Emperor, and between him and Mara. Suddenly, he felt a ripping sensation in his mind, and heard the Emperor's voice echo through his thoughts. :Come

Luke got up, instantly, shaking his head, slightly, to try to clear it, and headed back towards the throne room.

As he entered, he frowned, not sensing the Emperor's presence. Suddenly his danger sense was screaming at him and immediately drew his lightsaber and activated it just in time to meet the Emperor's crimson blade. "Good! You are beginning to trust your instincts!"

Luke said nothing in return, the Emperor's only response was a dark smile as Luke began to feed his aggressive feelings.

Luke twisted his blade around to strike at the Emperor's shoulder, who then ducked underneath the blade and chuckled. The Emperor's blade swept around towards Luke, who whipped his own blade up to block. As he did so, however, the Emperor shut off his lightsaber, and Luke's blade rushed towards him, with Luke unable to pull it back. A sudden blast of Force energy knocked Luke's blade away, leaving him weaponless. "You have power, but you cannot control it! If it controls you instead of you controlling it, you are worse than powerless. You lack precision and accuracy. Later, when we are through, go to my Hand, and she will teach you this. For now, defend yourself!"

Luke stretched out his hand, summoning his lightsaber, but it clattered further away from him. "No, we have done enough with the lightsaber for now. A lightsaber is a useful tool, but it pales in comparison to the power of the Force. Anything, anything you can do with a lightsaber can be done with properly applied Force techniques." Palpatine snapped his fingers, sharply, and a series of sensor balls appeared from the shadows. "You say you have been trained in blaster bolt deflection. Lord Vader is quite skilled in energy absorption and diffusion; let us see what you can do."

Luke nodded his readiness, an eager gleam in his burning eyes. He drew the dark side into himself, not sure quite how he was supposed to accomplish this task, but ready to find out. The Emperor closed his eyes, and the training remotes closed in on Luke, the targeting lights blinking rapidly. A split second before it happened, Luke sensed danger from the left, and released a pocket of dark energy in that direction. Too late, though: the laser blast hit him in the shoulder, leaving him with a searing pain there; the remotes were keyed to a very high setting, higher than Obi-wan had used. They weren't strong enough to kill him, but they were extremely painful.

Another ripping sensation seared through his head, and Palpatine's voice told him, ::Pain is easily converted to anger, which you can use to achieve your task.::

Luke realized the truth in his words, and began twisting his pain to new purpose, letting the anger flow through him. Revitalized by it, he turned back towards the remotes with new determination, and began again.

Leia walked down the ramp, slowly, and took a careful look around. There was a ton of vegetation and miscellaneous wildlife, but no sign of civilization at all. She looked down at the handheld scanner, and sighed. No civilization anywhere within the sensor's range. Chewie moaned, softly, beside her, and she nodded. "You're right. There's nothing here, but…. it feels like….. I don't know….."

"Feel like what?"

She spun around, startled. A small, green, bipedal creature was sitting on a log, looking at them quizzically. "Like we're being…. watched? Who are you?"

The little green person chuckled in a curious way. Leia studied him, curiously. She had been many places in the galaxy, but had never seen a species like him before. She wondered, briefly, if he was native to Dagobah.

"A friend! Yes!" he chuckled again. He looked up at Leia with his large eyes. "I am wondering, why are you here?"

"I'm looking for a Jedi Master," Leia said, softly. "I was told I could find him here."

The diminutive creature's eyes seemed to light up. "Yoda. You seek Yoda!"

She raised an eyebrow, surprised. "That's right. Do you know where he is?"

"Take you to him, I will. But first, come. Come!" He got to his feet, leaning heavily on a small wooden cane, and began to limp off into the swamp.

Leia and Chewbacca exchanged glances. Chewie indicated a comlink in his pouch, and she nodded, once. Lando would be able to contact them if anything happened. Satisfied, Leia began to pick her way through the boggy ground after the small creature.