Admiral Piett's quarters
The Executor
In hyperspace
4 hours later
Piett walked into his chambers, shut the door, and then heaved a deep sigh of relief.
"Sir?"
Piett waved an irritable hand at his nephew, who had risen from the couch in the main living area.
"You can call me Uncle Firmus in private, Max, it's fine."
"Ok," Max responded cautiously.
Piett shook his head. He had spent years learning to manage Vader insanity, and poor Max had not. Plus there were now two ... what, Vaders? Skywalkers?
"Is everything all right?" his nephew asked, walking over to a drink dispenser. A moment later, Max had a cup of Corellian rum in his hands, which he quickly handed to his uncle.
Piett nodded thanks and poured the rum down his throat without taking a breath.
"Wow," Max said with wide eyes, "that bad, huh?"
Piett groaned and collapsed on a nearby chair. He'd been on his feet all day, his men were on edge, and he was on the verge of commanding a Star Destroyer during an attempted takeover of Imperial Center. He was exhausted.
Of course, only an idiot would go toe to toe with Vader for control of the Empire, but there were high level idiots everywhere.
"Lord Vader brought Skywalker to the bridge two hours ago," he commented to Max, kneading his temples with his fingers.
Max looked startled, "Why?"
"I don't know. I think most of the officers assumed Vader was showing him off. We've been hunting for Skywalker for so long that seeing him in the flesh, in chains, made both officers and men happy. But on the other hand, it was more like a guided tour than a parade of a captive. Skywalker certainly had plenty of questions, and Lord Vader answered many of them."
Max opened his mouth, hesitated, then said, "I assume no one knows that ..."
"No one knows, Max," Piett responded very firmly. "It is still very much a secret, and you will not speak of it anywhere, not even here."
"Ok," Max said meekly.
There was a long silence and then the younger Piett continued hesitantly, "Uncle Firmus, what's going to happen to me?"
Piett heaved yet another sigh, "I'm not sure, Max. You aren't suspected of any treachery. But the situation is complex as you spent considerable time with Skywalker and you are one of the few individuals aware of his ... complex history. I know Lord Vader spoke to you at some length ..."
"He did. And Uncle Firmus, he is really really scary."
"Yes, he is."
Piett rose to his feet and looked straight into his nephew's eyes, "I will do everything I can to keep you safe, Maximus, but the situation is obviously unstable."
Max nodded, looking miserable, "Do Mom and Raina know that I'm ... Ok?"
"Of course!" his uncle said in a surprised tone. "I've been giving your mother vague but reassuring updates for some time. And your family will be meeting us at Imperial Center, so you'll see them soon."
His nephew looked startled, "What? Why would they be coming to Imperial Center?"
Piett shook his head impatiently, "Max, your abduction was the catalyst of a major move against the Yakoska Pirates. Sentients like that are all too willing to strike out in anger and revenge. Your family, our family, was no longer safe on Axxila."
Max's face had whitened slightly at these words, and now he ran a hand through his slightly long hair.
"I really really wish I hadn't gone to the Rancor's Armpit that evening," he muttered aloud.
"I would indeed avoid such establishments in the future," his uncle said in a slightly amused tone.
Vader's Palace
Imperial City
Imperial Center
4 hours later
Ahsoka stepped into the room that she had mentally named as the "Luke Skywalker Memorial Monument."
Mara Jade was sitting on a chair in front of one of the holos, staring at it, a com in one ear.
She looked up at Tano and smiled a little, "The princess is still asleep?"
Ahsoka nodded even as she gestured behind her. A chair floated obediently in and placed itself to Mara's left. Tano sat down on it.
"Yes, and she needs it, so that's good. Did you get any rest?"
"5+ hours. I was expecting to be sleeping on a hard floor, so Luke's so called cell, complete with bed and comfortable couches, was a pleasant surprise. Pleasant and weird. Did you see the little model of an X-wing, complete with R2 unit?"
Tano smiled, "Did you see that the refresher not only has a water cycle, but allows an infusion of minerals from the springs of Naboo?"
Mara grinned, even as Tano gestured at the com in her right ear.
"Anything interesting?"
Mara sighed and removed the com, "Yes, and no. I mean, yes, lots of data, but I can take a break from listening to the excited babble. It's all being recorded anyway. The city is closed off, not surprisingly, which upsets a lot of people. Imperial forces have been ordered to be on the look out for a human female acting suspiciously, early 20's, who is the likely assassin. Vader has given careful orders that all individuals meeting that incredibly vague criteria must not be harmed.
"Also, it sounds like most of the government officials are terrified that Vader is returning and taking control, but no one is stupid enough to overtly stand in his way. Ysanne Isard is the most manipulative of the lot; she definitely will support Vader openly, but undermine him subtly. She's very skilled in that area."
"She framed her own father, didn't she? And he was executed?" Tano asked.
"Yes; they were involved in a power struggle, one which Palpatine enjoyed watching from the sidelines. He loved pitting his servants against one another, or putting them in impossible situations to watch them flounder and fail."
There was a frown on Mara's face and Tano kindly changed the subject.
"So what's this?"
Mara looked straight at the holo in front of her, which showed Luke Skywalker standing in a darkened chamber surrounded by a variety of alien beings.
"Jabba's throne room. There must have been cams running."
"So I understand you met the twins on Tatooine, but I never heard the details."
Mara laughed softly, "No, both are merciful enough to not tell the story very often, because it's embarrassing. But I don't mind telling you."
"You don't have to."
"No, it's fine. I know you'll understand how life is in proximity to Skywalkers. Palpatine sent me to Tatooine, to Jabba's Palace, to assassinate Skywalker."
"I wonder why?" Tano mused, "Luke's very strong ..."
"I don't know. Fear, perhaps? Or it may have been a test; if Skywalker died at my hands, he wasn't worth recruiting? Who knows what was going on in that disturbed mind. Anyway, I couldn't get a good shot in the Palace itself, but got on board Jabba's Sail Barge which was accompanying Skywalker, Solo, and the Wookiee out to the Sarlacc Pit."
"The Sarlacc?"
"Yes, a great big monster buried in the sand, with a gigantic mouth, complete with teeth and slimy tentacles, ready to eat people. Jabba liked to throw certain prisoners into it, in this case an irritating Jedi Knight who killed his pet rancor and his friends. The local lore says that a sentient is digested inside it for a thousand years."
"Ick."
"Yeah. Skywalker and company were on the skiff, all ready to be thrown in, and I followed R2D2 up to the side of the barge. I figured he had to be part of the plot since Skywalker had given him and the protocol droid to Jabba as a gift. So I was standing there, just waiting for the party to begin, with every intention of interfering and killing Skywalker, and that stupid astromech stunned me!"
"R2?!"
"Yes, he's just way too feisty and independent for a droid. He obviously decided I was a threat to his master. He knocked me out before the escape even began!"
Ahsoka chuckled even as she shook her head, "He was a character during the Clone Wars, and 20+ years has made him even more eccentric. So then what happened? You obviously didn't die with the rest of Jabba and company."
"No, I woke up in the midst of complete chaos. I ran up with blaster in hand to find Skywalker fighting Jabba's minions on the top deck. I jumped up onto a railing and prepared to shoot Skywalker from behind, and that stupid little droid stunned me again! He had just come up with a whining Threepio in tow, and I was knocked unconscious into the sand. Luke had sensed I was a trained Force sensitive so on their way out, after blowing everything up, he had me retrieved. I woke up on Dagobah, my bond with my Master frozen, and with that pointy eared, green irritation speaking fractured Basic at me."
Tano gazed at her for a long moment, lips twitching, and then succumbed to a roar of laughter. A moment later, Mara started laughing as well.
"What's so funny?" Leia asked, wandering in while rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Mara was telling me about when you met her. Sounds epochal."
Leia nodded and smiled, her eyes on the red haired girl, "Yes, it was, but I'm sure you agree that it all worked out in the end."
Jade stopped chuckling and her face grew solemn, "Third best day of my life. Yesterday, when Palpatine was killed, was the second best day."
"And I know what the best day of your life was," Leia said with a wink.
/
Main Living Room
Top Floor
Darth Vader's castle
24 hours later
With a soft groan, Darth Vader trudged into his main living room, if it could be so termed. It didn't have elegant furniture or expensive window coverings or elaborate art, but he spent a reasonable amount of time here. Almost as much as in his hyperbaric chamber.
A large desk, complete with a very large chair, sat in one corner. A tidy dozen battle droids were hanging in alcoves along the walls, waiting for Vader to carve them apart.
Tonight, however, sparring was not part of his schedule. He was exhausted. Today's activities hadn't been too physically strenuous, actually. As Admiral Piett had so accurately predicted, there was considerable unrest on Imperial Center when he arrived in the Executor. But once he had descended and killed and dismembered a few bold souls (Ysanne Isard had been the first to go) and ordered the arrest of a number of other high ranking individuals, the city had subsided into a fragile peace.
All that was to be expected, and he had handled it with ease. The problem was his son. Not that Luke was being openly difficult. He had been a completely obedient and compliant prisoner except that he still completely refused to discuss his mysterious twin sister's identity. He and Vader had even enjoyed a discussion on X-wing versus TIE Fighter capabilities. But ever since the Executor had emerged from hyperspace, Luke had been broadcasting his emotions across every psychic bandwidth, to the point that Vader's head was literally throbbing.
The Sith knew, of course, what Luke was doing. He was letting his mysterious sister know that he and Vader were in range, and he was also drowning out Vader's ability to probe for the girl's presence. The feelings broadcasting from his son were incredibly powerful: love, worry, fascination (Vader had glimpsed an image in the youth's mind eye of the bridge of the Executor. Who knew what facet of his ship's mechanics had so inspired his son?), irritation with being confined, longing for dweezel sticks, and a host of other rapidly changing feelings and emotions.
It was overwhelming.
The only possible solution was to knock Luke out, but based on the fierce light in Luke's eyes when Vader had locked him into his luxurious cell a few minutes ago, that would not have been accepted peacefully. And Vader was too weary mentally to seek out his daughter anyway.
Tomorrow was another day. He'd deal with his difficult son, and wayward daughter, tomorrow.
"He generates a truly incredible amount of noise!" he muttered aloud.
"He really does," a female voice commented from behind him.
Darth Vader spun around, his hand snatching his saber. No one should be in this room!
His concealed mouth dropped open incredulously. Mara Jade, thought to have been killed more than a standard year ago, stood just inside the side door to his main living quarters, a lightsaber hilt in her hand.
"Jade," he ground out in rising fury, "how did you get in here?"
The girl shrugged insolently, "Hidden passages, of course, built with the palace. You didn't imagine that our former master actually trusted you, did you?"
He shook his head just slightly, more out of incredulity than disbelief. No, Sidious had not trusted him, he knew that. But … former master? Did that mean Jade had turned on Palpatine?
His eyes scanned Jade's form and mind, seeking clues. Her mind was a closed bunker, her shields impregnable through the white noise of Luke's emotional broadcast. Her face and form were much the same as when he had last glimpsed her several years ago, when they had crossed paths in Palpatine's Throne Room here on Imperial Center. She had aged slightly, of course, but she was very much the beauty she had always been, mid – 20's, flowing red hair, green eyes …
His thoughts stuttered to a halt.
Mid-20's.
Luke's age!
Moons of Iago.
"You … you're my daughter?" he stuttered through the vocoder.
A look of disbelief, then horror, stormed across her face, "Your daughter! No, of course not!"
He took a deep breath in relief, then another one, then another. Mara Jade would have been the very worst possible …
"Unfortunately, I am your biological daughter," another voice stated drily. A familiar voice.
He spun around, then froze in distress and incredulity.
No.
Leia Organa of Alderaan stepped into the room through another entrance, her magnificent hair piled high, her eyes flashing with Padme's fire, a lightsaber hilt in her own hand.
No no no no no.
"No," Vader said aloud, numbly.
The dark haired woman stepped forward, her expression as cold as Hoth's ice caves, "I assure you, Darth Vader, I am no more pleased than you are."
Multiple streams of thoughts ran through his dazed and confused mind. The Death Star. The interrogation droid. The destruction of Alderaan. Tarkin. Bespin. Her love being lowered into the carbon freezing pit …
"Luke, would you please stop!" Leia suddenly said aloud and telepathically.
In an instant, the telepathic noise dropped to nothing, and all three Force sensitives heaved a long sigh of relief. For a minute, all was quiet as their respective brains settled down.
"That brother of yours," Mara said with a sudden smirk.
There was a sudden clanging and all three individuals looked up suddenly to see a cooling grate detach, then fall to the ground. A moment later, Luke Skywalker, free of shock collar and cuffs, dropped gracefully to the ground.
"What about her brother?" Luke inquired mischievously.
Vader was almost done being surprised, and then he was surprised again.
"Tano," he growled. The Togruta female emerged from the same grating (with slightly more difficulty, as she was larger than Luke) and dropped to the floor. In an instant, both of her lightsabers were in her hands.
Part of Vader's mind dwelled on the reality that the situation was rapidly getting out of hand. Most of him was merely flummoxed.
"Luke!" Jade said, her face taking on an expression of adoring relief.
"Mara!"
The two strode toward one another and, as Darth Vader watched with (thankfully hidden) widened eyes, embraced and began kissing passionately.
"Lava flows of Mustafar!" Vader muttered aloud.
"If it's any comfort," Tano said with a feral grin, "they are married."
Vader bit his lip so hard it hurt, "No, that is no comfort."