I am proud to say I have officially begun making my way through the EU books, and actually met Mara Jade which makes me really happy. Check your local libraries guys, and if they have "Heir to the Empire" read it. it's great.

Chapter 11

When Luke woke up he was quite literally seeing stars. Perhaps that would have concerned most people but for Luke it simply meant he was home in his bedroom. Even at almost 15 Luke hadn't brought himself to remove the glow-in-the-dark stars Nila had put up for him all those years ago.

As Luke tried to sit up he felt a stabbing pain in his head. Damn Kes, the Alliance sure teaches you how to punch. His eye was puffy and probably the shade of deep space, but in a way Luke felt pride. He'd done something good in helping the rebels escape with their lives. Sure they'd ruined the Empire Day celebrations, but really they were right to. It was pretty sick to mark the day thousands of Jedi died with celebrations, especially when it was really just an ode to the Sith Emperor. Besides no one deserved to die the kind of brutal and horrible death they surely would have met had Luke not helped them.

The nausea started to fade, and Luke wandered out of his room. He was still wearing most of the fancy regalia besides the coat which someone must have pulled off before putting the teen to bed. Luke assumed it had been his father, though where he now was Luke didn't know. Usually he'd drop everything to be there when his son was injured, and Luke grew concerned. What if Kes and the rebels had done some real damage? What if Luke had helped them after they killed people? Worse, what if they had blown up the Tie-fighters and Luke's father had still been inside. Did I help the people who killed my father?

Anxiously Luke reached out through his training bond, and felt a great deal of relief knowing it was still there. His father was still alive, and pressed back against their bond, once again testing the new mind speak thing. I am with the Emperor at the moment, but I am glad to know you are awake. I will explain more when I arrive home shortly.

Satisfied with the answer and unwilling to test whether or not he could actually reply to his father Luke just set about finding his droids. He found them in the kitchen, and C-3PO looked ready to fall over when he saw Luke. "Oh master Luke it's so good to see you awake. R2 and I feared you dead when your father brought you in unconscious."

"I'm fine," Luke reassured the fretting droid wondering vaguely if 3PO responded to situations the way a mother did. "And you could have just had R2 scanned my vitals."

If droids could blush 3PO certainly would after the little astromech let out a series of whistles. "Well I know you said he was just unconscious but really you're not known for being reliable."

The astromech let out an indignant response before ramming himself into his golden counterpart. Luke laughed his heart warmed by the familiar sight as he began replicating some food. It was dark outside which meant Luke had been unconscious for quite a few hours. Once again he couldn't help but wonder where Kes had learned to punch.

Luke of course had done none of his homework for the weekend, so he set down despite the pounding headache. He had barely started his essay on the corruption of the Jedi Order when his father walked through the door. "Would you say the Jedi council was more of a democracy or a republic?"

"It was an oligarchy. Whatever Masters Yoda or Windu said went and few others ever even spoke up. Obi-Wan would if I'd pestered him enough on the subject, but I don't think I ever heard some of the others speak."

Luke added the quote figuring Mr. Blue would appreciate it before turning off his datapad and looking at his father. "So what happened? I would like to note that whatever happened could never have happened if I had my own lightsaber mind you."

"I'll note that down," Vader replied moving next to Luke so he could touch the teen's black eye. "It must have been a pilot. Only a pilot punches like that." Luke huffed, but he was secretly glad to imagine Kes as a pilot. At least one of them was living out their dreams. "As for what happened… Do not repeat this to anyone as it is highly classified. The fact is that the attack on the Empire Day ceremonies was not an isolated event. Over a dozen similar attacks occurred across the galaxy. The Alliance is getting bold, especially on planets where they never before had a presence. I will be away more often these next few weeks tracking them down so I was considering hiring a new aid to keep an eye on you."

"Don't bother. With gymnastics starting up again I won't even be home much at night and then I can hang out at Rickon's on the weekend." Luke found life at home lonely when his father was away, yet, in typical teenage fashion, he was also not ready to give up his newfound freedom even if he didn't like said freedom.

His father seemed not to mind, "Very well, but if you find yourself suspended again the living situation will change. The Emperor has offered you a place in the palace, so let's not encourage him to push the subject more."

Luke figured he'd probably die if he had to live near the Emperor full-time, so he whole-heartedly agreed. "Yeah, I'll behave. No more treason." He'd certainly done enough in the past few days. "But just remember to come home sometimes too or the Emperor will say he needs to take me in so my training doesn't lag."

Vader apparently hadn't considered that possibility, but quickly reworked his plan for the rebels to ensure it didn't happen. "You are correct, though the next phase of your training you must do alone anyways."

"What am I doing next?" Luke asked intrigued by the possibility. He needed his father to duel against, but maybe he was going to work with the battle droids more? Luke found it a lot harder to fight back against blasts than another saber, so it was probably that. Suddenly it didn't sound as exciting; those things stung.

"You'll see on your birthday," was all his father offered. "Now get back to your homework and go to sleep. Your head needs rest. I cannot wait until I find the foolish rebels who attacked you; they will long for death."

Luke understood his father's feelings about rebels, but worried for Kes. Kes was a good guy doing what he thought was right, much like Luke's father. Hopefully they would just never meet because Luke did not want to think of the other possibilities.

The next day at school everyone was talking about the attack. Only one Tie-fighter had been ruined and it had been empty at the time, but the fire spread to the parade floats and Palpatine and Vader had both gone up in flames. It had been much worse on other planets; there were at least ten dead across the galaxy.

Luke tried not to think of the attack, but it was difficult considering everyone wanted his opinion on it. More than one kid had picked up on Luke's seat of honor at the ceremonies, and they figured he had to know more.

"They probably wouldn't be asking you so much if not for your eye," Rickon pointed out when Luke complained to his friend. "You should get Leah or one of the girls to give you some cover-up. It looks nasty."

Luke was pretty sure Leah didn't wear make-up and that he would never ask any of the other girls, but there was probably some in with his mother's stuff. She'd worn super elaborate makeup as queen, and had to have something Luke could use. He just hoped there was some how-to on the Holonet because he was not going to ask someone how to use the stuff.

"Can't you just spread the rumor that I was being annoying and you punched me?" Luke was whining a bit, but you're allowed to do that when everyone in school is talking about you, again, and you're talking to your best friend.

Rickon quickly shook his head, probably worried his dad would believe the rumor, but Leah came up behind them and placed a hand on Luke's shoulder. "I can tell everyone that I punched you if you want. What's it going to be, you got defeated by some rebels or a girl?"

In the end the whole school was talking about how Luke had used his epic Force powers to try and stop over two dozen rebels before one of them knocked him out from behind and then proceeded to kick the unconscious Imperial in the eye. It was about the best story Rickon could come up with on such short notice, but people believed it and moved on to asking Luke other things.

(Really he wished they'd just stuck with the rebels.) "So I couldn't help but notice you got to sit in the Emperor's box," Jes mentioned during Naboo class. "My father didn't recognize you in that clothes, but I knew you of course. That's a great honor."

"Yeah," Luke agreed with a shrug. "He invited my father and I but then my father ended up doing the Tie show so I was there alone. We didn't talk much if that's what you're thinking."

Jes rolled her eyes; obviously that wasn't what she was thinking. "You really are daft sometimes Luke. You looked like a Prince up there with the Emperor! Half the kids around here thought you were some visiting dignitary and I haven't been correcting them for your own sake, but you've got to consider the position."

Luke didn't know what the position was, but he did know Jes only spoke to people she thought would help her. "Look it was just an outfit. My mother had a lot of money before she died; her whole wardrobe is like that. The Emperor wants people talking about it, wondering what it means. Don't fall into that game Jes, court is a nasty place from what my father says."

"But you are the prince, aren't you?" Jes asked clearly exasperated. "You're going to be Emperor someday; my father says it all the time. And after the play on Friday everyone knows for sure you have your father's skills so…"

"Yes, I am technically the Prince. Yes I have the Force, I don't know what you want from me!"

Jes threw her hands up in exasperation before stalking away clearly too annoyed by Luke missing her point to care about insulting the future Emperor. Luke wasn't insulted though, simply confused, and he decided he needed to ask Leah what the girl was going on about.

"To be honest that is a bit too vague for even me," the girl answered over lunch. "I mean it was like she didn't even know what she was trying to get at. I suspect though it probably has something to do with the fact that as prince you'll be expected to marry well. Jes has mentioned before that her dad may only be an Admiral, but her Uncle is the King of a few mining planets and he doesn't have kids."

So in the boy's locker room they talked about blasting things, and in the girl's locker room they discussed who Luke might marry. It wasn't hard for Luke to guess which of those conversations was actually about the more deadly thing.

"But no one does arranged marriages anymore," Luke pointed out. He'd never, ever, ever heard of something like that happening, not even on Tatooine. "So why would they even think that?"

Leah rolled her eyes, eternally fed up with Luke's naivety. "It's not legal to disown a child who doesn't like the marriage you've pick out, yeah, but there are a lot of people obsessed with royal bloodlines still. The Elder Houses are ridiculous when it comes to their rules and such. Plus lots of people in Court still marry for money and status, even if they're choosing to marry someone richer and more important than them. Most parents don't need to arrange anything, just point their kids in the right direction and tell them to climb."

And apparently some thought they should be climbing all over Luke. He really, really, really didn't like that thought. Also he was wondering how he'd never heard about this in the 4 years he'd been on Coruscant. Sure he was doing more 'princely' things now, but Jes had obviously been thinking about this for a while. It's weird.

"Well I don't care about money or status. I'm going to marry the woman I love."

"An admiral idea, but I will say the money is more likely to last. And you'll marry whoever the Emperor tells you to marry if he tells you to marry someone. He never forced your father to marry even when there appeared to be no heir, so he probably won't care who you marry so long as she's not a rebel or something."

There was a hidden meaning in Leah's words that Luke missed completely. He was too busy thinking about how there would have been no point in asking Vader to marry when he couldn't physically have kids after Mustafar. Luke had no such issues (thank the Force), but apparently that created a whole new set of issues.

But would the Emperor really do it? Luke was still too young to marry and by the time he was old enough Palpatine could very well have died. Luke knew his father would never expect him to marry politically, but what if Palpatine hadn't died? What if he actually was thinking about who Luke should marry? Could he really say no to the Emperor?

Luke shivered at the thought vowing just to not think about it. It was not a problem yet, and there was not even a guarantee it would be a problem. It was best if Luke just forgot about the worry until it was something he actually had to face. He was very good at that.