Hey all! Hope allis going well where ever you are!
Draven Star: Luke is 20 and Laila is 18, in time line wise, it's a little bit after A New Hope, but obviously some things have changed around a bit!
elven-cat2: I know some things seema little bit confusing right now, but I'm going to bring it all out later in the story, why Luke doesn't know who Vader is, did he blow up the Death Star, what about Ben, or why the Empire doesn't know who Luke is, all that good stuff! LoL Hope you're enjoying anyway!
And now for...
CHAPTER 5: BEING SITH-LIKE
Laila looked at Vader, a look pure shock on her face.
"You want me to do what?"
"You must bring Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side." Vader said simply, as if it was no hard task at all.
"You must be joking! Bring Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side? He's like a freakin' god to the Rebels! You know he won't even think about the Dark Side, let alone cross over to it!" she yelled, obviously still upset about her new task.
The door to Vader's office slid open suddenly and Emperor Palpatine shuffled in. He took his place besides Vader and gave Laila a stern look, "Well, if you're not up to it, then I guess you'll be a mere apprentice your entire un-Sith-like life."
"My entire life?" Laila said uncertainly. She definitely did not want to be under Vader's command her whole life.
"Yes." Vader replied, "And you'll never be real Sith, ever, and-"
"Leave us, Vader. I wish to speak to Laila alone." Palpatine interrupted, never taking his yellow eyes of Laila. She cringed under his gaze, never being one for sagging skin herself.
Vader looked a little startled but bowed and quietly left the room.
Palpatine took a seat behind Vader's desk and motioned for Laila to sit down in the plush chair, normally for business makings. Laila sat down hastily, not wanting to prolong this meeting any more than necessary.
"Emperor Palpatine, sir, Highness, Excellency-" she began, not knowing what exactly to call him.
"Oh, get on with it!" he said to her harshly.
"Um, yes sir! I mean, oh, whatever. I know how badly you want to bring that Skywalker kid to the Dark Side, but I'm just not sure I'm the person to do it. I mean, I'm good, but not that good. Why not have Lord Vader do it?" she suggested, half hoping he would take the bait.
"Lord Vader, eh? I don't know if that's such a good idea, Laila," he said standing up and moving around the desk to where she sat, "Let me put it this way: you don't complete this task, I ban you from being a Sith, even an apprentice, got it?" he smiled cruelly down at her.
Laila felt her cheeks burn with anger, not only was she embarrassed, but she hated that Palpatine could just order her around like that.
"And how would you suggest I go about achieving this task?" she asked through grinding teeth.
"How should I know, getting your Master was easy, all I had to do was get him to think his precious "Padme" was going to die, worked perfectly. Try it that way, use your feminine instincts." He said chuckling. If Laila had had no will power, she would have strangled him right then and there.
"Yes Master." She stalked out of the room before she did something irrational. She checked her comm. link and saw she was already late for her sparring lesson with one of Vader lackeys. She sprinted to the gym, the anger at Palpatine boiling up inside her as she burst through the door.
She ignited her lightsaber within milliseconds and was already advancing on her opponent before he had even noticed she had entered the room. The red crimson glowed off her maniacal face.
Luckily, her opponent was a quick one, and used to Laila's anger spasms. He hopped and ignited his own training saber and started blocking her blows expertly. Vader scarcely had time to dismiss his droid before the sparring had started. He smiled from beneath his mask as he felt the hatred surge through the room, all coming from Laila. He basked in its coldness. He didn't know what Palpatine had said to her, but he would have to find out. From the corner of the gym he heard Laila's comm. link beeping. He walked over and answered with a bored "hello". He froze when he heard his son's boyish voice over the intercom.
"Laila? Are you all right? You're starting to sound like that freak who was following you around all day, who is he anyway?"
"Sorry but Laila can't answer right now, however, the freak who was following her around all day can." Vader answered. He heard his son gulp.
"Um, I'm sorry! I just thought, I don't know, I'm sorry." Luke mumbled.
"It's…ok…Luke," Vader stressed his son's name, liking how it sounded, even in his own
electronic voice. He had a sudden yearning to know more about him, and he decided what would be the perfect way to get Laila to talk to him and complete her mission. Even he thought it was a little too much for such a young Padawan to bring someone over to the Dark Side.
"Uh, Luke, Laila's…um…washing her…hair right now, but she'd love for you to come down and chat. Maybe do lunch?" Vader waited impatiently for Luke's answer.
"Sure!" Luke said a little too excitedly. "I mean, sure, I think I could fit her in." he said a little calmer.
"Perfect! Come around 1:30 tomorrow. Don't be late." He said in a menacing tone. He dropped the conversation and placed the comm. link back in its place among Laila's things and turned his attention back to the intense spar match going on.
"Ah!" Laila shrieked and flew forward at her opponent with everything she had. She was furious with the Emperor, just what did he mean when he said, use your 'feminine instincts', had he lost it? She didn't have any feminine instincts, she was a Sith for Force's sake!
Her lightsaber flashed in front of her face as she swiped it back and forth, doing spins, flips, everything to throw her opponent off; but neither one of them missed a beat. At long last, Laila had fallen to the floor, Zach, her opponent ready to strike her down when Laila did a very cool trick, one she came up with and called the "Push Kick Move".
With Zach standing above her, she Force pushed herself behind him (still on the ground) and tripped him with her right leg so he fell onto his knees. As he was falling, Laila kicked up her left leg and knocked his training saber out of his hand. She jumped in front of him and caught his saber in her left hand. She held both sabers at a cross between his head.
"Give up?" she asked cruelly, still upset with Palpatine.
"Yes," Zach replied. He waited for her to move the sabers, but she didn't, she just stood there, staring down angrily at him. At least he nervously asked her, "Could, you, uh, move the sabers?"
"What makes you think you can tell me what to do? Well, you can't!" she screamed, and before Vader could rush over to stop her, she and moved the sabers together in a slicing motion and sabered off his head.
"That will show you, Zach," she spat down at the now headless body. Vader looked from the lifeless body, to the lifeless head, to Laila, and back again. He couldn't believe what she had just done.
"What were you thinking?" he shook her shoulders. Laila removed herself and glared at him.
"I was doing the Sith-like thing to do. He had no right to tell me what to do, and that was his punishment, besides, its what you would have done." She countered, hands on her hips. Vader thought over what she had said. Yes, it was an impressive move, she had no remorse, which was good, overall she was correct, and it was the Sith-like thing to do. She had executed her plan, if she had had one, perfectly.
"Perfect." Vader growled.
Laila breathed heavily, sweat trailing down her face, she was still staring at Zach's decapitated form, no sadness at all over her most competitive opponent.
"Come," Vader pushed her lightly towards the hallway. He called for a medical droid to come in and clean up the mess.
As they were walking to their separate chambers, Vader decided to tell Laila of her new plans for tomorrow.
"I have arranged with young Skywalker for you two to have lunch tomorrow at approximately 1:30 pm. You should use that time to find out as much about him as you can. Leave no stone unturned, you hear? I need, I mean, you need to know as much about him as you can. Report back to me after your date and tell me what you found out." He sighed, he had almost spilt the beans, but Laila seemed to be very distant.
"Laila, did you hear me?"
"Yes! Geeze, get off my back will ya? I got it, find out as much as I can and report back to you. Anything else Your Worship?" she huffed.
Vader went through his mind to make sure there wasn't anything else, "No, just make sure you find out what happened to his family on Tatooine, and who his parents were, and how he found Ben, and-"
"Ok! Basically, just find out everything?" she smirked at her old Master.
Vader took in a deep breath, "Yes, everything. And anything that will bring him to our side, especially his dislikes and what ticks him off."
"Got it." They had come to the fork in the hallways where they would split off. As Vader walked down the left hallway he hear Laila mumbling, "Now what will I wear?"