Disclaimer: I do not own any of Star Wars, the right of ownership of Star Wars belong to Lucasfilm and I guess Disney too. The only thing I own is the characters you do not notice and the plot.
Chapter 17: Evidence & Plans
Mark Alan Zane, along with Padme Amidala Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, Rachelle and the Jedi High council are in the High Council Chamber. The High Council has been down by 2 members since 19 BBY. They have been busy try to find a good replacement with the two empty spots.
"I have found out during our trip to Raxus Prime that the Hutts are working alongside of Darth Vader building weapons and ship. I figure Mace Windu told you this before my arrival late last night. That right there is not the major reason why I call this meeting and invited Chancellor Skywalker and Jedi Knight Skywalker. Rachelle had hacked into the system and pull up a file that had something to deal with attempt of Chancellor, at the time Senator, Skywalker." say Mark putting the fire up on the hologram projector.
"This file clearly states that Darth Vader had found that Vice Chancellor Mas Amedda had asked Jabba the Hutt to send a Bounty Hunter to assassinate Chancellor Skywalker back in 18 BBY." say Rachelle.
Obi-wan looks at them. "Let me guess does this lead to your personal mission of finding Leia?" ask Obi-wan looking at Mark. "I have a hunch which this evidence makes me believe it more. I figure there might be a reason why Darth Vader let Mas Amedda live while he ruthlessly killed the other two people who know the exact location of the three stations. I figure that in order to keep Mas Amedda under his thumb, he is keeping this information to hold over the Vice Chancellor. Why, still remains unclear. I am guess to help get Chancellor Skywalker to step down or sign the Republic over to Darth Vader or for something to have happen to the Chancellor that will make her unable to do her job and he takes over the Republic and hands it over to Darth Vader." say Mark.
Yoda looks at the hologram and up at Mark and the Skywalkers. He taps his stick on the ground to gain attention. "Any evidence of the possible location of young Leia Skywalker, you have, hmm?" ask Yoda. Mark sighs as he shakes his head.
"The current whereabouts of Darth Vader and his empire is unknown. I tried to use the Force to find where Leia is located, oh I get was that she was alive. Then I also try to find Darth Vader, but he must be blocking his presence and Leia's from the Force." say Mark as he looks at the Council.
"The easiest way to stay out of sight from the Republic would be the Outer Rims, Wild Space, or the Unknown Region. Besides the Unknown Region, there are Hyperlanes all through each area of the galaxy." say Shaak Ti as she looks up at Mark.
"You are forgetting that even within the known regions of space there are areas that we do not know. There are countless of planets within our galaxy that we do not even know about. There are parts of spaces that we do not even know about. They could be hiding in front of our noses. Trust me it is possible. Back in my universe, I spent a couple weeks on a planet that Count Dooku was on and he never knew I was there. Let's look at Palpatine or Sidious, whatever you want to call him. He has been hiding on this planet right in front of us." say Mark.
"Very true, that is. Be, hidden nearby they could." say Yoda. Something beeps and Padme was shuffle around in her robe pockets for something. She pulls out Datapad and turned it on. She read whatever was on the screen and looks up.
"There was a Star Destroyer that jumps to Hyperspace from Tatooine few minutes ago. There were reports on Tatooine a guy seems to be killed by a figure in black. This come from the Bakuran scouts." say Padme.
Mark eyes shot up. "What type of Star Destroyer?" ask Mark. "It say it is similar to an Imperator-class Star Destroyer, but the scouts manage to do a scan on it, and none in any of the planets that are align with the Republic nor did the scan conform it being any ships being build by companies that work for the Republic." say Padme.
"Vader." say Mark lightly as he rubs his chin. "Are you sure?" ask Anakin. "Star Destroyers are illegal to be buy unless for military, it is a way to prevent criminals getting their hands on it." say Padme. "So you saying someone build a brand new class of Star Destroyer?" say Anakin shocked. "Either that programmed construction droids." say Mark.
"Still those ships maybe advance but there are nothing like the cruisers." say Mark remembering testing out an Imperator-class Star Destroyers. They were good but not as great as the Attack Cruisers, in his personal opinion.
"On to more pressing concern then rather what type of ships are better. What is your or our next plan of action?" ask Mace. "We know have evidence against Mas Amedda, we can use that to start an investigation on him." say Mark. "How are you suppose to do that, he just left the planet couple hours ago." say Anakin.
Everyone looks at Anakin. "What did you do?" ask Obi-wan sensing something was off. "I may or may have not place a tracer on the Vice Chancellor's ship." say Anakin as he rubs the back of his neck.
Padme smiles as she looks down. Deep down inside her she knows she should be angry with her husband for doing something like that but with her daughter's life on the line, it couldn't make her happier. "No harm done, it a tracer that can track him through Hyperspace?" ask Mark. "Yes." say Anakin.
"Since the Vice Chancellor is not on the planet visit his apartment and office." say Mark. "I could visit his office. I could make it seem like I want to get something that he left me." say Padme. The lift door opens and Luke came running.
"Daddy! You said you going to teach me a bit about the Force." say Luke as he runs to Anakin. Anakin picks his son up. "I will, first I have a meeting." say Anakin.
"We could get the either the Coruscant Police, Republic Security Force, or one of us." say Obi-wan. "Hopefully there will be a lead to Leia there." say Anakin. "We also could head to the place he is heading and spy on him." say Rachelle. "If he goes into Hyperspace that will make it harder for him to be tracked until after he gets out of Hyperspace. You can get lucky." say Mark as he waves his hand as he explains.
"I thought Master Skywalker say that it was one that can be tracked through Hyperspace." say Rachelle looking at her mentor. "There are two kinds. There are ones that allow to be track through Hyperspace, there are ones that will work after it drops out of Hyperspace. While back, I think it was when I was youngling. The problem with Tracers is all the power a ship must go to go into Hyperspace the speed and the charge, was enough to short-circuit them so they when they get out of Hyperspace it would not send signal due to the damage it has suffer." say Mark.
"Wait these tracers is that new. I thought those kind of tracers was used before 1,000 BC." say Rachelle. "No there have been attempts of making them and some of them worked and some of them did not work. It wasn't until after 100 BBY that there was some advancement. The newest ones are those that can send signal through Hyperspace." say Mark.
"I put the one that does not track while in Hyperspace, but still works after it drop out." say Anakin. Mark crosses his arms and look down to his feet. It looks like he was deep in through for a few seconds.
"What we should do, is see if we can find any evidence within the Vice Chancellor's apartment. Chancellor Skywalker, since she has access to the Vice Chancellor's office should check there. Anakin you keep track on the Vice Chancellor's location. Let me know when he goes into hyperspace, when he gets out, and when he lands on a station or a planet." say Mark.
"What are you going to do?" ask Padme. "I think I am going to meditate. Darth Vader just made a mistake. I am going to see if I can find any information through the Force.
"Mark didn't you teach the twins that skill you learned?" ask Obi-wan. "What skill?" ask Mark. "The one that you can use your connection with the Force to send out a beacon to a group or a single person?" ask Obi-wan.
Mark eyes widen. He had forgotten all about that ability. He hardly ever had to use it. The last time he used it was in 17 BBY when he was tracking down a criminal who manage to hurt Mark greatly in the Coruscant underground. "Yes, but there is nothing I could do until she use that ability. With her connection with the Force being so strong, it should be easy to set. Most likely, she will target you, Anakin or me, because out of everyone in the Jedi Order she trusts us a lot. So keep your connection to the Force open. I want some Jedi go with Chancellor Skywalker just in case." say Mark as he stands up and throws the dark brown Jedi robe that he had thrown over the back of his chair.
Leia Skywalker was thrown down onto the ground in front of Darth Vader. Her clothes are dirty and ruin, her usually neat and sometimes braided long brown hair is messy and look like it haven't been brushed in weeks. Also, the clothes that once fit her well seem to be a couple sizes two large on her.
"You are stubborn, hardheaded." snap Darth Vader. "Yeah, Mommy says I get that from my Daddy." say Leia weakly but still being defiant as she lays there on the ground. Darth Vader shakes his head and has a trace of a smile on his lips. After weeks of torture and only small amounts of food, this 4-year-old girl is still being defiant. "I sense some of the traits you get are from your mother. She was a Senator and now a Chancellor so she has to be stubborn and hardheaded too." say Darth Vader getting on one knee and look at the girl.
Leia look at the facemask of Darth Vader. "Daddy and Uncle Mark will hurt you!" snaps Leia. "You think your pathetic father and your so called Uncle Mark will be able to save you. I have been blocking both mine and your Force signature from the Force so that they cannot track you." say Darth Vader. "Daddy and Uncle Mark are two of the best Jedi." say Leia glaring at Darth Vader.
"You think your "uncle" is great. Do you know he is a murderer? You want to see what your "uncle" did to me!" growl Darth Vader as his mask split in part to reveal his highly burnt and scarred face. There is a deep slash going across his fast where a Lightsaber slashed at him. The face scares Leia greatly. She crawls backwards a bit and put her arms over her eyes.
"That is not even the worst of it. Your "uncle" then cut off my legs and uses the Force to push me across a pit of lava, which burned my body. This whole armor is not just an armor it is now a part of me! Tell me, do you think your "uncle" is so great and good as you take him to be! He's as bad as me! He killed people. So did your father. What makes them different then me! Let throws your mother, Padme Amidala Skywalker into the mix. Do not think she is perfect angel who wants peace. She has killed people. All your family and friends are murderers." say Darth Vader as he looks at Leia with his Sith yellow eyes.
"They are good! They kill because those people were bad! You are bad!" shouts Leia. "Oh, such a degrading term. No, you haven't seen bad yet. You know what, if you think your "uncle" is so great, I would love to face him again. Your "uncle" is no match for me!" say Darth Vader as he uses the Force and move Leia arms down so she stares into his damage face.
Darth Vader focuses the Force and brings out Leia's worst nightmares and thoughts. Leia begins to cry and shake a bit, as she faces many of her fears at once. This is a Dark Side ability of the Force called Force Fear. "Let see how you are after you relive your nightmares without any breaks." laughs Darth Vader as he sits down in his throne and watch in enjoyment as Leia shakes, cries and screams in pure terror.
His mask slides shut to hide his face as looks upon the little girl living her fears on the floor of his throne room on the Star Destroyer. He has to admit that it is becoming fun to try to break the little girl into becoming a member of the Dark Side. He can tell she can become a powerful ally with how strong she is in with the Force. Be a good replacement if Darth Destria ever betrays him, but so far he have not sense any thoughts of betrayal from his apprentice. Then again, she trusts him to help her find out her past, which if he has his way. She will never learn everything about her past.
Mark is in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Which is a room within the Jedi temple that seems to be full of nature? There are small waterfalls, trees, grass and planets. It is a good place to relax and meditate, or also a place for the younglings to play in the small rivers and lake from the waterfalls. Mark was sitting on his knees on a rocky ledge near a waterfall overlooking the room. He has eyes close and his hands on his knees.
He has been like this for an hour trying to gain more information on Leia. He was about to give up when he sense intense fear from her, but it still did not give off a location. The fear that Leia is having is not natural, the Dark Side of the Force is behind it. It was very strong. It was so strong that Mark almost falls off the ledge as he falls down. The fear was so strong that it made his heart race and knocks him out of his meditation. Right before he fall, he sees an image of Darth Vader sitting in a throne watching Leia shakes, cries, and screams in fear.
Mark stands up and places his left hand on a pillar of rock beside him to balance. Even through he cannot sense Leia's fear anymore, he is still slightly shaken up. Darth Vader does not want to kill Leia or use Leia to get to Padme. If that would be it then he would have either killed her by now or have someone contract Padme with demands. Those maybe side plans, but the major plan was to turn Leia to the Dark Side. He also sensed that Leia have been defiant with Darth Vader through weeks of torture.
When he sense that before he stop meditating, he was surprised. All the torture that Leia went through would have make most grown people break easy after having suffer weak. Mark cracks a smile as he looks down to the ground. Leia does take after her father and mother, more of her father than her mother.
"Just keep on holding on Leia, do not give up. We will save you." say Mark as he tries to slow his breathing down. He wants to get Darth Vader even more. You have to be very low to torture a little 4-year-old girl for weeks on end. To be honest, Mark is not very surprise. He thought the Darth Vader in his universe might be bad, he has a strong feeling that compare to Darth Vader of this universe, he was dead wrong. This Darth Vader might make the Darth Vader of his universe look like a very mean dog than a Sith.