Chapter 6-Decisions and Shivers
Luke watched the unconscious red haired woman known as Mara Jade now sleeping in the room his Father had prepared with Noghri guards to watch her just in case she tried anything. His Father had originally wanted to put her in the Detention Center of the Super Star Destroyer, but Luke had told the Sith Lord that he could handle her, and to let him talk with the troubled woman. Leia had also shown concern for her brother's welfare in this matter considering Mara Jade's reputation despite how much of it was considered to be rumors. However, Luke could feel the Force telling him that he should stay with Mara, and had to trust it in order to find out why it seemed to shiver between them.
Han thought Luke was crazy, going so far as to say the Force was trying to get the kid killed, and Lando was in agreement since Mara Jade was not someone you can simply let your guard down for just because an all powerful "Force" tells you too. Luke didn't listen to them though and only agreed to having the Noghri watch over Mara with him in a less imprisoning environment.
'She shivers with the Force when I'm around her. What does it mean? Father seemed to be conflicted in answering my question about why the Force would do such a thing. Its like the Force is telling me she is the one! But how can that be? I mean...shouldn't I know before anything else?' thought Luke, as he studied the woman before him, and saw Mara moan out lightly with her body now stirring slightly under the covers before.
'What hit me? I remember fighting Skywalker, losing to him of all things, and then Vader appeared...,' thought Mara before the memory the Dark Lord had shoved down her mental throat about the Emperor using her for his own purposes and then throwing her away like she was nothing came up.
"You're finally awake I see," said Luke, as he saw Mara sit up with the sheet wrapped around her before seeing she was still fully clothed, but without her weapons, and saw the Noghri in the room ready to take her down should she try anything.
"Where am I?" said Mara, as she found herself in a room that was not part of the SSD Executor Detention Center area, and saw Luke smirking at her like it was some kind of joke.
"You sound surprised you're here instead of someplace else?" said Luke, as he saw her scowl at him, and heard the growling of the Noghri with weapons ready to fire at the woman should she decide to get jumpy.
"To be honest, I fully expected Vader to kill me, and then throw my body right out of the airlock like so many other officers that have failed him," said Mara, as she saw Luke wince at that since his Father did have that reputation, and heard him sigh at the mention of it.
"Yes my Father does have his moments, but from what I understand, he only does it to the most incompetent of officers since they can possibly risk the ship, and men that serve him," said Luke, as he saw Mara look at him with wide eyes, and then pointing at him with an accusing finger.
"You told that to me before when we dueled! How can you call that crippled man your Father? After all he's done!" said Mara, as she was no celestial being herself, but she didn't do half the stuff Vader had, and now this boy she was facing was the Sith Lord's own son.
"Because he's my Father. Simple as that. I know he's done a lot of damage to the Galaxy just as you have done your own fair share of it, but we both know that he only did it on the command of the Emperor, and has been lied to by the man just like you were," said Luke, as he saw Mara snarl at him, and would have made an attempt to strike him had it not been for the Noghri looking for the smallest of excuses to take her down.
"That monster made it up! Vader faked that memory of the Emperor wishing me to be discarded like some broken blaster," said Mara, as she looked into Luke's eyes, and felt something in her shiver deeply when looking at the blue eyes before her.
"Really? Then how do you explain the sudden increase in your connection to the Force? The Emperor put a Dark Side based barrier around your mind that only he could control at will basically control your connection to the Force as easily as turning the switch of a glow lamp on or off," said Luke, as he felt the pull within the Force yet again, and it seemed to scream at him that he was to be with her.
"Shut up! You're lying! All Sith lie!" said Mara, as she clutched her head, and tried to ignore his words regardless of the truth they held.
"If that is the case, then you should not that the Emperor is a Sith too, and by your words he is also a liar," said Luke, as he saw Mara look at him with shock in her eyes, and then anger at his words since it was clear that she felt some cling of loyalty to the Emperor.
"GET OUT!" yelled Mara, as she pointed to door behind him, and saw Luke's eyes held a form of sadness in them that for some reason hurt her.
"I want to talk to you later. I know you can feel what I'm feeling in the Force and if the Emperor taught you anything is that you should follow it above all else," said Luke, as he left the room with the Noghri staying to keep watch inside while another set were outside the room.
Mara snarled and threw the pillow at him even though she knew it wouldn't hit him even if she used the Force to make the object go faster before letting her upper body collapse onto the bed. Turning her head at the Noghri in the room, she glared at them in the hopes they would leave, but she had to remind herself that they were warriors, and servants of Darth Vader that never failed the Sith Lord. The only ones that could make them kneel was Darth Vader and right now her glare to them was as about as intimidating as a that of Tsuken Raider's war cry aimed at an angry Rancor.
Turning her face away from them, Mara felt like an angry child at her actions, but felt they were warranted for what Vader's son told her, and while their seemed to be truth to his words...she just couldn't face it right now.
'He's right about one thing. I do feel a stronger connection in the Force then I have before in all my years serving the Emperor. Could he be right? Was I nothing more then a mere puppet to the man I served without question up until now? Just a tool? An extension of his being that serves him so long as I have a purpose in his eyes?' thought Mara, as she used the Force to bring the pillow to her bed while the Noghri watched cautiously at her actions, and continued to watch as she buried her face in the pillow to give herself some privacy.
(Executor-The Bridge)
Whether he was Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader, the man behind the mask had always enjoyed looking out at the stars, and found them to be most soothing to stare at. It was like the Force would echo from each star, slowly sending their cosmic energy to him, and whispering in a language that he couldn't understand yet understood at the same time.
"What are you thinking about?" said Leia, as she approached him, and ignored the looks she was getting from some of the officers staring at her since they knew who she was.
"Many things. What could have been. What should have been. What I've lost. And...what I have found," said Vader, as turned to look at Leia, and saw she was still having trouble looking at him since he did spearhead the interrogation of her on the Death Star.
"Since coming here, I've wanted to ask you something, but I know its personal for you, and in a way it is for me too," said Leia, as she saw him turn fully to face her, and felt like she was asking death in its physical form for an answer to a question it may or may not want to answer..
"About your Mother," said Vader, as he could read her mind to that much of a degree, and how his daughter knew she was adopted since she was 10 years old though kept the fact that she knew from Bail.
"Yes. I've seen her in my mind when I was a child. She was happy, but sometimes she was sad, and I could never understand the reason," said Leia, as she saw her Father look away, and she could sense that he was debating on what to tell her.
"The Clone Wars was a very stressful time for us. She was always happy to see me upon my return, but sad when I was sent off to a life threatening mission, and then the fear of our relationship being discovered also loomed on the horizon," said Vader, as he saw his daughter look at him in shock, and the fact that they hid their love from everyone around them.
"It was a secret?" said Leia, as she suspected, but to hear it from her Father himself was something else entirely, and sensed grief in him.
"A secret that killed. Do you know that Jedi cannot marry? Cannot love? That Jedi were practically forbidden to be Fathers or Mothers? That the mere idea of even forming an attachment to another outside of apprenticeship is blasphemous in eyes of the Jedi Code? I loved your Mother from the moment I met her when I was child and long after even when she died giving birth you and Luke. I have never stopped loving your Mother and I will swear that to you no matter what!" said Vader, as his hands clenched to the point where had they been real, would have been bleeding, and he would bee feeling pain.
Then again, Vader was always feeling pain throughout his body, and this would most likely have been ignored.
"I never knew. When my...adopted Father spoke of Jedi, he never mentioned anything about such things being forbidden, or anything even remotely close to that topic," said Leia, as she wondered if being with Han was even possible now, and the same with Luke being with that certain someone if he ever met the woman.
"Bail Organa never knew because we made sure no one ever did know about us living together. Had the Jedi Order discovered our relationship, I would have been cut off from the Force by the Jedi, and expelled from the Order. Eventually the news would be out with all our enemies from the Clone Wars sending their loyal servants after us to exact their revenge while the Jedi ignored us like we were yesterdays Holo-Net news," said Vader, as he knew that during the Clone Wars he had made many enemies, and Padme had many more from wanting peace to end.
Padme could survive, but Vader knew that he could not, and his children would be taken from him the instant they showed Force potential whether he wanted them to go or not.
"You don't know that," said Leia, as she always believed that Jedi were understanding, and use diplomacy first before using the Lightsaber.
"I didn't? You don't know the Jedi Order like I do my daughter. They speak half-truths and riddles when they want to keep secrets from you. Remember what Obi-wan told Luke regarding me? He wanted Luke to kill me, but knew that if Luke knew I was his Father that my son would not have the courage do it, and would try to use reason rather then a blade. The same for you and Bail keeping everything about your real family a secret knowing that the truth would change everything he had done to keep you as his own child," said Vader, as he would never forgive Obi-wan for that, and wished the old man was alive now so he could kill him all over again.
"That would make sense. I was always told I had a flare for politics, which from what I've come to understand about my family tree I got from my Mother, and that means Luke had inherited your side of the family," said Leia, as she didn't want to see her brother turn into some ruthless Sith Lord like her Father, and sensed the man next her knew what she was feeling too.
"Luke has much of both his parents inside of him just as you do Leia. Do not be afraid of your heritage and learning all that you can from it. I sense you are afraid to use the Force, but you must conqueror your fear, and trust in yourself to make the right decisions that comes with that power," said Vader, as he went to check on Luke, and see how things were going with Mara Jade.
'I know I shouldn't be afraid of the Force, but after seeing Vader, and Luke using it...how can I not?' thought Leia, as she looked out at the stars, and wished she could listen to the Force like the rest of the family could.
Though in order to do that, Leia also knew she would need training from them, and the thought of learning the Force from the Dark Lord of the Sith was not very...appealing.
(With Luke-Training Room)
Luke sat mediating on the events that happened with Mara, as he found her to be quite enticing even if she currently hated his guts, and still had some form of loyalty to the Emperor. He was sure that would stop once Mara had some time to herself, as he knew that she was a smart woman, and while the truth hurt...the lie hurt much worse.
"Jade is not being as cooperative as you thought she would," said Vader, as he came into the training room, and saw his son trying to search for answers in the Force.
"She's trying to come to terms with the truth Father. So did I when I found out about our own relationship. What she needs is time," said Luke, as he sensed his Father was not exactly pleased with his answer, but respected the decision all the same, and would let things play out.
"Be warned my son. The Emperor trained Mara Jade to be a skilled assassin to survive even without using the Force and while you have been honing your skills...it could prove to be deadly if you lower your guard with her," said Vader, as left his son to think about this, and do a bit of mediation himself.
'He's right. Even if Mara denounced the Emperor doesn't exactly make her a friend either, but if I don't try then what's the point of even doing anything, or listening to the Force for that matter,' thought Luke, as he sighed at the way things were turning out, and decided to take a breather before paying Mara a visit again to see if she cooled down.
Though he highly doubted it.
(With Mara Jade-Some Time Later)
Mara kept herself covered underneath the bed sheets with the pillow over her flowing red hair to cover her face, as she didn't want the Noghri seeing the tears descending from it. Mara had been hit with the silent realization that everything she had done for the aged Emperor had been all been done in the name of a loyalty founded on lies The very drive Mara had in serving the Emperor to one day stand proudly by his side, as his second-in-command had been halted in a single moment, and destroyed by the very person she was trying to take that position from. Not only that, but the Sith Lord's own son had taken pity on her the Emperor's Hand of all people, and was doing everything to be some kind of ally or friend.
Had the whole Galaxy turned itself upside down?
"Still thinking about what we talked about earlier?" said Luke, as he entered the room, and saw the woman's current state on the bed.
If this wasn't so serious, Luke would be tempted to laugh at this, and was still tempted to if the fact that Mara could kill you with a hairpin stopped him. Instead, Luke used the Force to raise the pillow off of Mara's head, and as he expected the woman grabbed it to keep it on her head.
"Go away Skywalker! I don't want to talk to you," said Mara, as she still wasn't ready to face the boy, who for some reason made her feel strange inside, and she didn't know how to feel about it.
"You didn't say please," said Luke, as he finally got the pillow away from Mara with a little more use of the Force, and made it float away from the red haired woman now sitting up looking ready to Force Push him right through the door.
"You're making me really angry Skywalker," as she looked at Luke with anger in her eyes, and saw the Noghri getting ready to fight.
"Could you two leave us alone for a moment. I think Mara and I need to have a personal talk," said Luke, as he looked at the two Noghri, and the two alien warriors looked at him before each other with concern.
"Your Father would disapprove of this Son of Vader," said one of the Noghri, as he did not want anything bad to happen to Lord Vader's son, and bring the wrath of Lord Vader down upon them.
"I'll take full responsibility if anything happens," said Luke, as he saw Mara's sharp green eyes narrow at him, and he knew that she would try something the instant they left the room.
"As you command Son of Vader," said the second Noghri before the two left and it was just the two Force users in the room.
"You are going to regret that Skywalker," said Mara, as she got out of her bed, and glared heavily at the playful blue eyes staring back at her.
"Maybe, but I like to live dangerously," said Luke, as he felt...alive he suppose was the best choice of words here when around this woman, and the Force kept calling out to him to do more.
"More like stupidly!" said Mara, as she tackled him to the ground, but Luke kicked her back, and she grappled with him while he was trying to get back up to prevent just that.
"This coming from the woman, who won't embrace the truth about the Emperor, and still wishes to be his loyal pawn," said Luke, as he saw Mara snarl at him, and was now using the Force to make him submit.
"I'm going to make you eat those words Skywalker and then I'm going to throw what is left of you at your Father's feet!" said Mara, as she felt him resisting her power with his, and became a contest of physical strength along with that of the strength from the Force itself.
"So you do renounce the Emperor?!" said Luke, as he was able to push Mara back though it took considerable effort, and realized this woman's potential was incredible.
"That's none of your business!" said Mara, as she fought back, and kneed Luke in the ribs before spinning the boy onto his back while looking him dead in the eyes.
"I think it is since my Father intends to kill the Emperor and restore order to the Galaxy upon taking the throne," said Luke, as he saw Mara still looking at him with burning eyes with wild hair that acted like it was a living fire that could not be tamed.
"There is nothing wrong with the Empire," said Mara, as she ignored the fact that she was in a very compromising position while on top of Skywalker, and trying to ignore the huge tremors in the Force with each passing second she unknowingly moved her face closer to his own.
"Oh no! If people so much as say one bad thing about the Empire, even so much a joke, they are taken from their homes, and sent to Kessel to work in the spice mines. How is that fair? You yourself have seen the cruelty of the Empire with an Emperor, who has always approved of it, and even now wish to defend despite knowing that its wrong. I can feel your emotions through the Force Mara and I know you know that I am right," said Luke, as he was inches from her face now, and the Force seemed rage around them like an unseen storm howling at the close proximity their faces were now in.
"You...know...nothing!" said Mara, as she feel herself being pulled closer to Luke with each passing second, and it was in that instant the woman known to an elite few as the Emperor's Hand gave into the sudden desire that the Force seemed to be doing everything in its infinite power to make the two do one simple thing.
It was in that very instant, the two Force users looked into each other eyes before they suddenly kissing each other with a passion neither had felt in their life, and it was in that single moment a blast of immense power equivalent to a Supernova went off that seemed to explode from the Force itself.
(YAY! I hope you like that chapter. I felt I should end it there since I couldn't think of anything else to write and seemed like a good place to end it. What do you think? Until next time...PEACE!!!)