CHAPTER 18
Darth Vader sat alone in his barometric chamber, free of the helmet that separated him from the rest of the universe. This was one of the only places where he could feel air on his face, breathe without the assistance of that damned respirator, and see with his own eyes. He craved the silence that accompanied him here, the only place silence was possible.
This was a place of meditation, of contemplation—a place where Vader ruminated on decisions long past and schemed to make dreams become reality. Lately all his thoughts had centered on one being: Luke Skywalker, his son, the only person in the universe who was capable of destroying the Emperor. At one time Vader had been capable of doing so, but all that had been lost after Kenobi's treacherous betrayal. Kenobi's and Padme's…
Unconsciously, Vader pressed the activation button on the small device in his hand. A hologram instantly came to life; a young woman speaking passionately in front of the Senate she had so faithfully served, her hair elaborately coiffed and adorned in a gown that covered her entire body but hid none of her exquisite beauty.
This was the only object in his possession associated with his dead wife. Everything else had been purged of his own accord, so Vader could pretend that she had never existed. But of course that was impossible, for she was the entire reason for Vader's existence. He had done everything for her…and had killed her in the process. It was one of the cruelest ironies of his life.
He stared at the hologram for a moment, listening to her impassioned words about preserving the Republic. The Republic—Vader could only laugh as he imagined what his dear wife would think of him now. She would be fighting against him, would kill him if she ever got the chance, and Vader wouldn't have blamed her one bit. After all, Padme had betrayed him in the first place, and he had killed her in return.
And despite all that, he still loved her.
Could a Sith love? It went against everything his master had ever taught him and yet, Vader couldn't deny it. He had never stopped loving Padme, and he knew deep inside that she had loved him until the very end.
And now, thanks to a spy in the Rebellion, Vader was so close to being reunited with his son—another family member Kenobi had turned against him. Luke Skywalker was his son and Vader would inform him of that fact, and then explain everything to him. He'd complete the boy's training and the two would overthrow the Emperor, just as he had pledged to Padme that horrible day on Mustafar. He had asked her to rule the galaxy with him and she'd refused, but he could not imagine Luke refusing such an offer. Vader had felt it already—Luke was so very much like Anakin.
It would be easy to turn him. It had been for Anakin.
A chime rang, the indication that someone had entered Vader's chamber. He reached out with his senses; it was Captain Piett, come to report on the mission's progress no doubt. With one last look at the woman he'd loved, Vader deactivated the hologram and slowly lowered the helmet back onto his head. After twenty years he was still only able to survive without it for a few minutes at a time and only in this chamber. Vader had once hoped that eventually, with enough time, he would be able to heal himself with the Force.
And that was the other cruel irony of his life—the Dark Side, with all its infinite power, could not heal.
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Piett stood nervously, waiting for Lord Vader to respond to his arrival. As captain of the Super Star Destroyer Piett was more than qualified to make his own decisions, but he had learned in his tenure that it was more than recommended to run information of note past Lord Vader before making any mission critical decisions.
After a very long minute, the circular shaped black mass in the center of the room began to separate. Vader sat facing him, the blank stare of his helmet eerily intense. "What is it, Captain Piett?"
"My lord, according to our data the Rebels should be arriving in the system in approximately ten minutes."
"The interdictor and the tractor beams are online?"
"Yes Lord Vader, the Black Asp is standing by at full power and the Executor's tractor beams are ready."
"And Admiral Ozzel?"
"As you requested, Admiral Ozzel transferred to the Black Asp half an hour ago to direct the battle from its bridge."
"There will be no battle, Captain Piett. We are to take prisoners, and that is all."
Piett bowed his head with military precision. "Yes, my lord."
Without another word, the black chamber closed again, leaving Piett to stand by himself in Vader's private chambers. He couldn't help himself; he glanced around for a moment, wondering exactly what went on inside Vader's black prison. He shuddered, deciding he did not want to know, then headed back to the bridge.
He was not nervous about the upcoming mission. The information they'd received was solid and it would be a simple encounter, as Lord Vader had insisted. Still, this group of Rebels was known to be deadly and failure was not an option. Piett ordered the communications officer, Lieutenant Briggs, to open a secure line with Admiral Ozzel.
"Yes, captain?" the admiral's clipped voice came in over the comm. He sounded annoyed and Piett could not really blame him, but one could never be too diligent while serving Lord Vader. Ozzel, apparently, did not agree.
"Sir, I have just reported to Lord Vader. All stations are ready on the Executor. The Rebels will be arriving in approximately five minutes."
"Yes, I know," Ozzel said dismissively. "Our gravity wells are powered up and online. We will snag Vader's precious Rebels."
Piett suppressed a sigh at Ozzel's near-insubordination. He would never understand how Ozzel could be so flippant while serving under Lord Darth Vader. "Yes sir."
"Ozzel out."
Ozzel terminated the connection before another word could be said. Yes, Ozzel was acting far too casual for Piett's tastes. Any mission involving the Rebels that did not go according to plan was sure to result in casualties, and Piett had worked far too hard to let such a fate befall him.
At least he could be satisfied knowing that Vader would be on the bridge for the entire mission and would instantly know if any wrongdoings occurred, and whether or not Piett was responsible for them.
Then again, Piett was the ranking officer on the Executor so if anything did go wrong, Vader was well within his right to blame him.
Well, that is why Piett would ensure that nothing went wrong.
Vader stepped onto the bridge and all eyes immediately turned to him. He ignored them all and strode forward, stopping just past Piett and staring out the viewports. "Did you contact Admiral Ozzel?"
"Yes, Lord Vader. Everything is running on schedule. The Rebel ships should be arriving at any moment."
Almost imperceptibly, Vader turned his head to regard Piett before turning back to the blackness of space. "They are here," he rumbled.
Sure enough, a group of ships appeared from hyperspace in between the Executor and the Black Asp. The noise on the bridge grew as orders were relayed and battle stations were sounded. Vader held up a hand, beckoning Piett to him before the captain could give any orders. "Do not engage the tractor beam yet, captain," Vader said.
Piett's eyes widened in confusion, and he asked the question on his mind before he realized what he was doing: "I'm sorry, my lord?"
"I want to see what he does," Vader said. His answer did not explain anything, but Piett nodded anyway.
"Yes my lord." He turned to the pit below. "Belay the tractor beam until further orders."
"Yes sir."
Piett turned back to the viewport, watching as the Rebel ships scrambled to form some sort of attack plan. They maneuvered toward the Black Asp, ready to start an attack run, before a warning shot rang out from the interdictor's bow. The fighters immediately returned to their previous location in between the two Imperial ships. Piett saw that the larger ship, a freighter, was making a run for it. Piett did not understand why Vader was not ordering their TIEs to pursue, but he had been quite adamant that no TIEs be launched on this mission.
"Lord Vader?" Piett questioned, obviously wondering if the Executor needed to fire its own warning shot.
"Let it go," Vader advised.
Again Piett did not understand, but he did not bother to question this time.
"He's thinking," Vader said, nearly a whisper. Piett almost responded, but something told him that Vader wasn't speaking to him. He stared at the dark figure in confusion for several moments, then an officer called out, breaking their concentration.
"Captain? We're being hailed by one of the Rebel starfighters."
Vader's head immediately snapped up. "Skywalker?"
The communications officer gulped, not expecting to have to report to Vader. "N-no, my Lord. Recognition code is Hapspir, Barrini, Corbolan, Triaxis. Calls herself the Emperor's Hand?"
Piett couldn't see under the helmet, but it was obvious that Vader's face had just spread into a huge grin. "Ah, yes," he rumbled. "The prodigal daughter has returned." He strode quickly to the comm station. "Patch it through, lieutenant. I'm very interested to see what she has to say for herself."
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Luke allowed himself a moment of panic when they were pulled out of hyperspace, then he'd immediately shifted into commander mode, polling his pilots to make sure that everyone was accounted for and no ships had any damage. Mara's voice sounded shaky when she reported in and Luke could sense her anxiety as clear as if she were sitting next to him. He couldn't blame her one bit after what she'd told him about her past life. If the Empire caught her, she'd be subjected to horrible torture and imprisonment for sure.
Well, he wouldn't let that happen. There were ways to disable an interdictor and if anyone could do it, the Rogues could.
Luke glanced around, assessing the battle situation before issuing a plan of attack. For some reason Luke couldn't figure out, no TIEs had been launched. The only thing keeping them from jumping to hyperspace was the interdictor. The Executor hadn't even enabled its tractor beam.
Well, that would make escape much easier.
Luke turned his attention back to his comm. Everyone had reported in and was in the green…except for Zurel. Luke suppressed the panic rising up inside him again. "Rogue Twelve, do you copy? Rogue Twelve, do you read me?" Nothing but static. "Artoo, send a message to Twelve's astromech—"
Luke flinched as a new voice came over the comm. "That sleemo!" Zev's voice was as harsh as Luke had ever heard it.
"What's the matter, Two?" Luke checked his sensor board and saw exactly what Zev was referring to. His heart nearly fell into his chest as he saw Rogue Twelve flying unchallenged towards the Executor.
Dack was next on the comm, his young voice full of panic. "He sold us out! That lying son of a Hutt sold us out!"
"Cut the chatter, Rogues!" Luke hated being harsh when they'd all just been horribly betrayed, but he couldn't let their anger and panic get the best of them now. They had to concentrate if they were going to get out of there.
First things first. He opened up an encrypted channel to the Falcon. "Han, get the hell out of here now."
"I'm already running, kid. You sure I can't convince you guys to join us? I think Leia's about to snap my head off."
Sure enough, Luke could hear Leia's protests in the background and he had to smile. "Negative. You go, we'll cover you just in case."
"May the Force be with you, Luke."
He didn't have a chance to respond before the Falcon got out of range of the gravity well and jumped to hyperspace. Good-bye, Leia.
Since the only thing keeping them in realspace was the interdictor, it needed to be taken out. Luke immediately formulated a plan. "Alright Rogues, listen up. We need to disable the interdictor. Form up by flights and start your attack run on my mark. On my second mark, launch torpedoes toward the bridge. Got it?" He didn't even wait for a response before he banked toward the interdictor. The other Rogues followed him, getting into formation like they were doing another drill. Luke armed his proton torpedoes and took a deep breath—
A warning from the Force sent him barreling to the left, almost clipping Dack's S-foils. "Evasive action!" he shouted. There was chaos for a moment as turbolaser blasts came firing out of the interdictor. Luke checked his instrument panel and saw that everyone had gotten out of range before the ship's lasers blasted them all to pieces.
"What the kriff!" Wedge exclaimed. "What the hell are they playing at?"
"I have no idea," Luke answered.
"Should we try to make a run for it?"
"No; the SSD would blast us if we tried. They want to keep us here, but they don't have TIEs out and the tractor beam isn't on. I don't get it. It's almost like…" Luke couldn't finish his words—it was almost like Vader was testing him. Well, he'd show Vader just what Luke Skywalker was made of.
Luke.
Luke jumped, looking up above him as if that would somehow allow him to see the voice that had just spoken to him. Ben? he gasped, wondering if his old master had once again come to save the day.
But it wasn't Ben. It was Mara.
Luke couldn't sense her exact words, but the meaning was there: Do you trust me?
What kind of question was that? Of course he trusted her. He'd told her before. Why was she asking that now?
Her presence again brushed against his, persistent. I need to know. Do you trust me, Luke?
He closed his eyes, reaching out out to her in reassurance. You know I trust you.
He could feel her heavy sigh. Then please, whatever you hear—know that I never wanted to lie to you…and I'm sorry.
What! Mara?
She didn't answer and he began to panic, thinking that she was going to do something rash like sacrifice herself so they could escape. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice the blinking light on his instrument panel. Finally, Artoo tweeted to get his attention. "What's that, Artoo?"
The droid beeped again. Mara's astromech had sent over an encrypted frequency. Luke keyed it on and heard her voice; he went to speak but Artoo informed him that it was audio only. So he sat back and listened.
She was hailing the Executor, using some sort of recognition code, and the officer was letting her through! Could her old contacts get them out of his mess? He was about to praise her for her brilliance—
When a voice he utterly despised came through his headset, filling him with pure rage. "Emperor's Hand. We've been expecting you."
Luke's eyes widened. Vader was talking to Mara—he knew her! Was that why she was so concerned to tell him the truth about her place in the Empire? She knew that Vader had killed his father.
Then Vader's words to her registered, and his heart turned to ice...
Emperor's Hand? What the hell?
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The instant Mara saw the Executor, she knew that she couldn't hide anymore. The Rogues would never get out of there alive, no matter how well they could fly. This was an ambush set up by Vader with insider information. He'd come prepared—interdictor and all—to keep them trapped until he finally had enough of his game and brought them in with the tractor beam. Mara wondered who he was looking for—her, Luke, maybe the both of them. But it didn't matter. This was it. This was the moment she hadn't known she'd been preparing for since she'd joined the Rebellion.
She listened as Luke tried valiantly to give orders to take out the interdictor, but the warning shot had taken them all by surprise. They couldn't get anywhere near the interdictor to try to take it out, and they had no desire to move closer to the Executor, in range of its tractor beams. The Falcon, thank the Force, had managed to escape to hyperspace without any pursuit. Mara couldn't fathom what Vader was playing at, but she knew that he had a plan and that it ended with the capture of Luke Skywalker, the pilot he'd been searching for since Luke had slipped through his fingers after the evacuation of Yavin IV.
Well, she wasn't the Emperor's Hand anymore but if one thing was true, it was that Mara Jade always made her own plans.
"Red," she said firmly. "There's a file in your system. It contains a list of Imperial fleet override codes. I need you to establish a connection with the interdictor's computer and upload the third code on the list. Can you do that?" She didn't know if the codes would still work, but it was her only shot. She'd acquired them on one of her missions and had committed them to her impeccable memory. On a whim, she'd uploaded them into her astromech right after joining the Squadron. She had to pray that fleet bureaucracy had kept them from being altered since then.
The astromech blurted proudly, causing Mara to smile as she glanced at her instrument panel. Her droid was happy to accept a challenge. She knew there was a reason she liked him so much.
There was another tweet; the code still worked, but the upload would take four minutes to cycle through. Mara checked her chrono. They'd already been out of hyperspace for two minutes. Vader would be tiring of this game any time now.
Now, it was her turn.
She reached out with the Force and gently brushed against Luke's mind, sending him a question: Do you trust me?
She could sense his confusion but he affirmed that he did, of course he did.
Mara had never felt such a dull ache in her heart before, knowing what she was about to do would destroy Luke. But she had no other choice if she wanted Luke to survive, free of Vader's clutches.
"Red, I need you to hail the Executoron an encrypted frequency. After you do that, send the frequency to Artoo Detoo, audio only."
Luke deserved to know the truth, and this was the only way she'd be able to tell him. She could only hope that he would understand.
Almost immediately, a clipped, Imperial voice came over her comm. "Rebel X-wing, this is the Imperial flagship Executor. Stand down or we will be forced to fire upon you."
Mara suppressed a laugh; these lower-level officers were always so arrogant. "Tell me, officer, to whom am I speaking?" she asked, putting all her old power behind her words.
"Rebel X-wing, I repeat—"
"I heard you the first time. I don't answer questions unless I first know who I am addressing."
There was a pause. "This is Lieutenant Briggs, communications officer on duty. I repeat, stand down or—"
"Thank you, Lieutenant Briggs. You can dispense with your concern. I need to speak with Lord Vader immediately. My recognition code is Hapspir, Barrini, Corbolan, Triaxis."
There was another long pause and Mara could almost hear the young man gulp over the comm. So it seemed that her old code hadn't been eradicated after all…
Finally, the officer came back online. "And your name?"
Mara took a deep breath. "He knows me as the Emperor's Hand."
"…One moment, please."
She leaned back in her seat and sighed. It was done.
Three more minutes for the upload to complete…
"Emperor's Hand. We've been expecting you."
Vader's voice was the only encouragement needed to revert back to her old mindset. It was easy to do so while talking to Vader, the man she despised, the man who'd betrayed her. "Lord Vader. I must say that it is a pleasure to speak with you again."
"Don't try to fool me, girl. I remember Dantooine. You betrayed the Empire."
"I remember that day as well, Lord Vader. If I recall correctly, your troops took unprovoked shots at me, the Emperor's Hand. I don't think that the Emperor would be very pleased to hear about that, do you?"
"And I recall you returning fire and leaving on a Rebel ship. You have been missing in action since that time and are speaking to me from a Rebel X-wing. It is obvious that you have betrayed the Empire. The Emperor will reward me greatly for your return."
"Is that so, Lord Vader? Did the Emperor ever say to you directly that I had left the Empire?"
"He did not need to."
"No, you just assumed because it fit your needs, isn't that correct? Oh Lord Vader, you're getting sloppy in your old age." She had never been so forward with the Dark Lord before, always fearing that it would get her in trouble with Palpatine, but now she didn't care—and she loved it.
"Tread lightly, Emperor's Hand, I will crush you where you stand—"
"No you won't, Lord Vader, and I will tell you why." Pausing for a breath, Mara glanced at her timer. Two more minutes. Quickly she sent instructions to Red to relay her hyperspace calculations to the rest of the Rogues, and for them to prepare to jump to lightspeed. Her comm immediately began blinking, indicating one of the Rogues was trying to open a line, but she ignored it.
She turned her attention back to Vader. "You will work with me because I have what you want—Luke Skywalker."
Vader's hesitation was all the proof she needed that he hadn't yet confided his secret to Palpatine. That would work to her advantage. "What, you think he doesn't know about Skywalker?" she scoffed. "Oh Lord Vader, you are more naive than I thought. Where do you think I've been all this time? I was assigned by the Emperor to infiltrate the Rebels, find Luke Skywalker and gain his trust, then lure him into a trap. How do you think you obtained the information about this mission?"
One more minute...
"The data was obtained from a spy in Rebellion."
"And who do you think planted the idea in his head that defecting from the Empire had been a bad idea after all, and that turning in Rogue Squadron was the perfect way to abscond himself of any punishment?"
"The spy mentioned nothing of working with the Emperor's Hand!"
"Of course he didn't. I wouldn't be so foolish as to blow my cover. I work discretely, you should remember."
"We will see."
"You will, and you will do as I request if you want Skywalker's cooperation." Thirty more seconds. She had to stall... "Keep Skywalker, but let the other Rogues go."
Vader actually laughed at her request. "Now I know that you are lying, you stupid little girl."
"I'm not lying, Lord Vader. Listen to me, Skywalker and I are close, very close. He will be more agreeable to your proposals to join the Empire if you let his friends go. If you kill them all, he will despise you even more."
"And what about you, Emperor's Hand?"
"I stay because Emperor desires it. And because I know Skywalker, and he will most definitely fight against you if any harm comes to me. He trusts me, and he will listen to me."
"Is that how things are between you?"
"As you know, I am very thorough in my work."
"Indeed you are. But you know that I would never agree to let the Rebels go."
Mara sighed. "That's too bad."
The timer hit zero.
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Luke listened to the conversation in stunned silence, almost unable to comprehend what he was hearing. Mara—his Mara, the Mara he wanted to be with more than anything, the Mara who'd struggled to fly circles around everyone since she'd become a member of Rogue Squadron, the Mara who'd stolen his heart—knew Darth Vader. She'd worked with him, even though the two seemed to have nothing but a hostile relationship. But most importantly, Vader had called her the Emperor's Hand. She'd referred to herself as the Emperor's Hand.
Luke had never heard the term before, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what it meant.
She hadn't been a mere Imperial agent. She'd worked directly for the Emperor.
Luke didn't know what to think. Why hadn't she told him?
His attention was brought back to the conversation. "That's too bad," Mara was saying.
Suddenly Artoo began trilling loudly and Luke glanced at his instrument panel, shocked once again—the interdictor's gravity well was gone!
"Oh my stars," he gasped. His mind automatically snapped into control. There were hyperspace coordinates in his navicomputer, sent from Red. Luke grasped his hyperspace lever. "Rogues, go to hyperspace, now! Jump! Jump!"
They were gone before he could finish his last word.
Everyone except for Mara.
She wasn't going to leave. Luke realized what had just happened—she'd deliberately stalled Vader so he wouldn't enable the tractor beam. In the meantime, she'd somehow disabled the interdictor. Luke checked his sensors again. The gravity wells were still offline; surely the systems were overloaded.
Mara had allowed them to escape and rather than return to the Rebellion and face the people she'd lied to, she was going to stay and face Vader alone.
He was right. She wasgoing to sacrifice herself for all of them, after all.
He couldn't let her do that. It was still true—he trusted her. But more than that, he needed to know the truth. She was the only one who could answer his questions. He needed answers, more than anything.
He took his hand off the lever.
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There was chaos on the bridge of the Executor as the Black Asp's gravity wells went offline and the Rebel starfighters jumped to hyperspace. Vader's fists clenched as he watched his son slip away once again…but then he realized that two fighters had stayed behind, his son in one of them, and the Emperor's Hand in the other.
He smiled. Perhaps Jade was right, and the Emperor's Hand would be of more use than he could possibly imagine.
But for now, he had to ensure that Luke did not escape. "What happened to the other ships?" he bellowed.
Piett stood nervously before him but answered as calmly as possible. "They escaped to hyperspace, my Lord. It appears that the Black Asp's gravity wells went offline."
"Why have they not been repaired!"
"I...I'm not certain, my Lord. We are contacting the Black Asp to ascertain the situation."
Vader shook his head. He was almost certain what had caused the interdictor to go offline. There was only one person capable of disabling and overloading the system. He would have to speak with the Emperor's Hand about this later. But for now... "Get Ozzel on the comm, and activate the tractor beams!"
"Yes my Lord." Piett turned to the pit below. "Activate the tractor beams."
The young officer nodded. "Tractor beams activated. We've got a lock on the fighters, captain."
Vader again turned to stare out the viewport, watching as his son was brought into his clutches.
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Mara switched on her comm, opening another connection to Luke, and began yelling profusely. "What the hell are you doing!"
"Staying here with you," he said without hesitation.
"Luke, don't be a fool, you need to go now before the tractor beams bring us in! They'll be activating them right now!"
"I'm not leaving you, Mara."
"This is not the time to be a hero, you need to go!"
"It's not about that at all. It's perfectly selfish—I want answers, and you're the only one who can give them to me. So I'm staying."
Suddenly Red began squealing, and her X-wing lurched. She looked down at her instrument panel, dread settling over her.
The tractor beams had locked onto them. They were trapped again. She slammed her hand against the instrument panel, hot tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. "Do you know what Vader will do to you? This is the stupidest thing you've ever done!"
"Probably. But I was telling the truth—I trust you. Plus, I'm your CO. I can't leave without you."
"Dammit, Luke!" She let out a harsh scream, cursing the reckless man who had stolen her heart. The man who had made her feel more whole than anyone else in her entire life. The man who shone through the Force, and believed in her.
She couldn't let Vader capture him. Vader would destroy him.
She hadn't planned to escape this trap. She had planned to stay and face the consequences of leaving the Empire. Her training had prepared her for anything, even torture from Lord Vader. She'd survive this.
But she couldn't bear the thought of what they'd do to Luke.
There was no other option. She had to escape and face the consequences of her lies in the Rebellion—for Luke. She couldn't live with herself if Luke was captured, killed, or even worse, molded into another Dark Side creation. She couldn't let that happen.
She wouldn't.
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Luke stretched out with the Force, feeling Mara's horror as he insisted on staying with her along with her deep concern with what would happen to him once the Empire captured him. It was all he could sense from her—worry about what Vader would do to him. She did not care at all what would happen to her if she stayed. She was prepared to take the fall.
He was angry at her for lying to him, not to mention deeply hurt. He couldn't understand why she hadn't confessed the entire story. He would have understood. He would have accepted her. He did accept her, despite everything that had just been revealed. He still cared for her deeply. He always would.
And she cared for him. He felt it now, more strongly than ever. Perhaps it took facing the Empire head-on for him to finally accept the full extent of her feelings for him. He'd always been self-deprecating, thinking that she could never care for him as much as he cared for her, and brushing off everyone's compliments and praise of his abilities.
But now, staring at the Super Star Destroyer and knowing what waited for him on the other side, he finally felt the true depth of Mara's feelings and could no longer deny that they were meant to be.
Despite everything that was about to happen, he had to smile.
Perhaps she felt it too, because her voice came through again, just as confident as she'd sounded while talking to Vader. "Do you still trust me?"
"You know that I do."
"Do you trust me to leave with you?"
He closed his eyes and heard another voice in his mind—Obi-Wan. His old master told him to trust his feelings, rely on his instincts, and listen to the Force. And the Force was telling him to trust Mara.
It always had.
The tractor beam had them, but the gravity wells were still offline. If they had only had this conversation before the tractor beams could come online...if they could only get out of the tractor beam now...
An idea popped into his head. It was the only way he knew of to get out of a tractor beam. It would be risky but there were no other options, and if he could destroy the Death Star, he could pull this off. "I think I know how to get out of here."
Mara paused for just a moment. "Proton torpedoes?"
"Yes. Can you do it?"
"Just tell me when."
"Get ready to jump." Luke set his coordinates, armed his proton torpedoes, gave Artoo the instructions, and took off toward the Executor. Alongside him, Mara did the same.
He didn't look at his instrument panel, nor listen to Artoo's wails telling him that it was time to fire the torpedoes. He only listened to the Force. He could sense it everywhere, inside himself, inside Mara, inside Vader. He felt Mara's reassuring presence brush against him. He stretched out with his feelings, and listened.
The Force answered.
Artoo reverse-triggered the acceleration compensator. At the same moment Luke pressed down on his trigger, sending his two proton torpedoes towards the Executor. He yanked on the flightstick and the X-wing flew upward.
For one moment, the tractor beams holding them weakened as they tracked the four torpedoes launching toward the huge Destroyer. It was all that they needed. He yanked his flightstick hard and dove away from the Executor, going into evasive maneuvers to keep the tractor beam from grabbing onto him again. His X-wing sped alongside Mara's and his hand settled on the hyperspace lever.
He glanced to his right and their eyes met through the blackness of space. Go!he sent to her.
Trusting her to keep her word, he pushed forward on the lever.
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The explosion outside the viewport was temporarily blinding. Piett threw his arm up to block his eyes from the brightness. He heard Vader yell behind him and stiffened, hoping beyond hope that the unthinkable had not just occurred.
But it had. The X-wings jumped to hyperspace, leaving the space around them empty but for the two Imperial ships. Piett stood absolutely still, watching Vader out of the corner of his eye while still trying to maintain control of the bridge. "Lieutenant Briggs, are we online with the Asp?" he inquired.
The young officer could barely meet his eye. "Yes, captain."
"Patch it through to my station," Vader ordered, still staring intently out the viewport. Then he turned, his cloak billowing behind him, and strode towards the large viewscreen in the corner of the bridge. Piett followed, partly out of duty and partly out of morbid curiosity.
Ozzel's nervous face appeared before them. He didn't even bother with the regular pleasantries. "Lord Vader, our gravity wells were disabled…our engineers were unable to ascertain and fix the problem—"
"Admiral, you are as clumsy as you are stupid. There is no excuse for not immediately enacting the backup gravity wells."
"My lord, the system was overloaded! There was no way to fix the problem!"
"There is a way to fix every problem, admiral. This is the third time you have cost me my prize. It will not happen again."
"My lord…?"
Suddenly, Ozzel doubled over, clutching his throat and croaking as he opened and closed his mouth, trying and failing to gulp in much-needed air. Piett stared in disbelief as his superior officer choked to death by an invisible hand. He had heard stories of Vader's abilities, but had never seen anything like this before...he was asphyxiating a man across the vastness of space!
And Vader paid the admiral no mind. "Captain Piett?"
Piett stepped forward, still unable to take his eyes off Ozzel, who was still croaking and clutching his throat. "Yes my lord?"
"Contact the rest of the fleet. We will rendezvous at our scheduled location and the Executor will then travel on to Imperial Center."
"We will depart at once, my lord."
On the screen, Ozzel's face turned red and he keeled over, soundless and motionless. Piett had to remind himself to breathe. After a long moment he turned back to Vader, who was watching him intently. "See to it…Admiral Piett."
Without another word Vader left the bridge, escaping to the solitude of his chamber. Piett was left alone to clean up the mess and monitor the bridge, the ship, and the fleet.
He glanced back at Ozzel's lifeless body, and took a deep breath.