By Leela Starsky.
CHAPTER TWO.
The Emperor refused the prisoner transfer to Coruscant, much to Vader's surprise. He knew his Master would want to inspect the boy immediately, and was disturbed when the Emperor insisted on visiting him on the Executor. Disturbed because it suggested that his Master was displeased.
The Emperor had a throne room of sorts on the Super Star Destroyer. A large, mostly empty space, which was attached to suites he had never used. It was in this throne room that his Master had insisted on scrutinising Luke Skywalker.
As Vader led his son through the ship to where the Emperor was waiting, he found himself wondering what he would do if his Master chose to kill the boy on the spot. Would he stand by and let Luke die? Could he be that obedient? With the Princess of Alderaan and all the possibilities she represented as his back up plan, Vader decided he could afford to lose his son. He did not want to; sincerely hoped he would not have to make that choice, but he was not prepared to risk his plans at the cost of saving his son.
In front of him, Luke stumbled and was jerked back onto his feet by the officers flanking him. The boy had barely slept since his capture over Tatooine, and was seriously exhausted from pain as well as lack of sleep. At the risk of angering his Master, Vader used the Force to lessen the boy's pain, and watched him stand a little straighter as a result.
For his part, Luke was quite certain he was walking to his death, and was grateful for the ease in his suffering and the small amount of dignity it restored to him. He had been worrying about Leia for days now and found himself wondering if Han had felt something similar as he was led to the carbonite platform. That all-encompassing concern for a loved one about to be left behind. But Han had not known the sort of danger she was in; had not known she was being courted by the Dark Side of the Force. Luke had not felt the dark whisper of her anger again, but he suspected it was still there, simmering beneath the surface, waiting to come pouring out through a crack in her armour.
Luke took a deep breath and tried to quell his anxiety. All that was out of his control now. Now he had to focus on his own soul.
Darth Vader could feel the cool disdain for his son from the officers walking beside him. To them his son was nothing more than a captured rebel about to meet the full ire of the Emperor. He sensed an eagerness in them to witness the boy's punishment and would have liked to Force-choke them for their impudence. But they were neither worth the energy nor the ire such an action would undoubtedly provoke from his Master, and he doubted the Emperor would permit them to stay.
The large doors to the throne room opened before them, red Imperial guards stepping aside to allow them entrance, and Vader directed his son to the dais at the far end. The only thing on the dais was a large chair that looked out through a wall of window, across the planet of Coruscant, which seemed to glow from within like the corusca gems for which it was named. The chair turned towards them as they approached and Vader sensed a lust-filled eagerness from his Master as he contemplated the boy.
"Leave us," the Emperor commanded the Imperial officers, and they immediately bowed and left the room, the great doors shutting behind them.
Luke felt an element of surprise at the advanced decrepitude of the wizened man before him. He had not expected the Emperor to be so old. He was doubly surprised as he felt a cold wave of darkness radiatefrom the twisted creature, and berated himself for his lack of foresight. Of course the Emperor was a Sith Lord; it made perfect sense. As did the man's unflinching grasp on the galaxy.
"So, Lord Vader, you succeeded at last."
Palpatine's voice seemed as ruined as his features, and Luke found himself wondering if perhaps the man was not as old as he appeared, that Dark Force use had taken an unspeakable toll on the Emperor.
Luke watched Vader bow and answer, "Yes, Master."
"Something of a poor specimen of manhood," Palpatine opined contemptuously, and Luke had to stop himself from laughing inappropriately. It was the sort of ironic comment that he could hear Solo laughing uproariously at, and Luke found himself wishing he could share it with the Corellian.
The Emperor leaned towards him a little and said, "I am looking forward to completing your training, young Skywalker."
Luke summoned his courage and looked the man in the eye. "You can kill me," he said calmly. "You can kill my friends. But you can't kill what we stand for. And one day you'll die. And your Empire will die with you."
Palpatine laughed. A hacking demented laugh. "Die? I have no intention of dying, I can assure you."
Luke took a leaf out of Han Solo's book and sneered at the withered man who looked so near death already. "Even you're not that strong," he said.
Palpatine hooted derisively, "Oh, but I am, young Jedi." He leaned eagerly towards Luke. "I have clones prepared and waiting for me to move into." Luke regarded him with arrogant disbelief and the Emperor chuckled. "You don't believe me, do you?"
"I don't doubt you believe it."
"He can do it."
Luke glanced at Vader, the Dark Lord's quiet words causing a whisper of doubt to cross his mind.
"You cannot comprehend the power of the dark side," Vader added.
"If you two are anything to go by, I'd say it chews you up and spits you out!" Thank you, Han! Thank you for attitude!
He must have hit a nerve because Palpatine scowled and hissed at him.
"Besides," Luke added smugly, "we all know how unstable clones can be." Perhaps Palpatine was already a clone? Maybe that's what the problem was? Where the madness came from?
Palpatine leaned back into his chair. "Your sister has provided the solution to that problem."
Vader and Luke both looked sharply at the Emperor and he cackled at them.
Luke felt Vader probe his mind and looked at him as the Dark Lord asked suspiciously, "Sister?" As far as Luke knew, he had no sister, and it was obviously news to his would-be father.
"The child she is carrying has an unparalleled sensitivity to the Force," the Emperor said, then gloated, "The child will be mine." He smiled wickedly. "Will be me."
Luke suddenly remembered the Spice-induced vision he'd had of Solo's red-haired daughter almost three years ago, during his mission with Han and Leia to Galadan. And all at once he knew. Knew without a doubt, and he almost staggered. Leia? Leia was his sister?
The Emperor leaned towards him and said, "You've seen her, haven't you?"
Luke looked up at him, haunted by the image of the child, and Palpatine grinned delightedly. "You have! And you know."
Luke looked away, feeling something akin to panic. No. Not Han and Leia's child! "No," he murmured, then met the Emperor's eyes once more and repeated carefully, "No."
Palpatine smiled maliciously and touched one of the many controls on the arm of his chair. A door on the far side of the room opened and Leia was roughly led in by two stormtroopers. Looking at her, Luke was shocked by how ill she looked.
He watched her sum up the situation in a second and label herself'coercion'.
She shouted, "Luke, don't do it!"
The Emperor laughed and she was led across the floor to them. No one could see the Dark Lord's face, but Luke could feel Vader's shock at the revelation that the Alderaanian Princess was his daughter. Luke did not know how it was possible, but it explained Leia's latent Force talent.
At a signal from the Emperor, the stormtroopers let her go and left the room. Leia ran the rest of the distance to Luke and, ignoring the various pains throughout his body, Luke hugged her like he would never let her go.
"Are you alright-?" he started, but she cut him off.
"The worst they can do is kill me," she said into his ear. "Whatever it is they want you to do, don't do it."
Luke looked at her without letting her go. She was carrying Han's child and Han was who-knew-where. They didn't even know if he would survive. Luke searched, but could sense nothing of the child through the Force. Too early, and he suspected Leia herself didn't know. The thought of the Emperor taking the child filled him with fear and loathing.
Luke took a deep breath and crushed her to him again. She was his sister.
"I love you," he told her and Leia frowned. He let her go and turned to face the Emperor. "Alright," he said. "You have me. Let her go."
Palpatine regarded him incredulously for a moment, then burst out laughing, "You think you can bargain?"
"I'll do whatever you want," Luke said darkly. "Just let her go."
"No!" Leia shrieked.
"You are mine," Palpatine snapped, stabbing his finger at the young man. "She is mine. The child is mine." Leia frowned and Luke could almost hear her shocked thought, What child? "It's almost a pity the child isn't yours," the Emperor continued. "It would have been most amusing if all of us were Skywalkers."
He cackled and the look Leia gave Luke clearly said, What is the insane bastard raving about?
"In fact," the Emperor went on, "I may even marry her." He scowled at Vader. "Your father ran off with my last bride and you were the result. Seems fitting somehow that I take his daughter." He paused then added, "And grand-daughter."
Vader did not flinch, but Luke noticed the Dark Lord's hands form into fists and a realisation hit him. Anakin Skywalker had loved her; had loved their mother. Whoever Darth Vader was now and whatever he had done, Luke knew that the man he had once been had loved their mother. It was something Luke hadn't even realised was tormenting him, but to know that he had been conceived with love… That Vader was capable of it or had been… It took the edge off the horror Luke had been suffering since the awful revelation on Bespin.
It occurred to him that, from the Dark Lord's reaction, he still loved her. Somewhere, in the depths of Vader's soul, the man who was his father still existed.
Leia wasn't making head ortail of any of it. Father. Bride. Daughter. What was the lunatic babbling about? What she did understand, or what she thought she did, was that Luke had just pledged himself to Vader and the Emperor in an attempt to save her. And that was unacceptable. The galaxy would not survive another Dark Jedi.
Her final thought was, Forgive me, Han, then she twisted with a speed and agility he would have been proud of, snatching Vader's lightsabre from his belt, igniting it and slashing it through the space the Emperor occupied in one fluid movement.
Except that he wasn't there any more. But the chair was sparking spectacularly.
Palpatine, livid that she had got so close, raised his hands and lightning flew from his fingers and enveloped her. Screaming, Leia dropped the lightsabre and fell to the floor, writhing in agony.
"No!" Luke cried, rushing to help her, and heard himself scream as the lightning enveloped him as well. "The child!" he begged, hoping to appeal to the Emperor's own desires. "The child!"
The lightning stopped abruptly and Luke slumped across the princess in a vain attempt to protect her should the Emperor start spitting lighting again. Never in his life had he seen such a display except in fantasy or science-fiction holos. Was that a strictly Sith power? Was Vader capable of it? And why hadn't Yoda and Ben warned him? Luke summoned the energy to lift his head in time to see the Emperor switch his glare to Vader.
The Dark Lord seemed to hesitate a moment then bent and retrieved his lightsabre. Luke tightened his grip on the princess as Palpatine moved a step closer to peer at them. The Emperor made a derogatory sound in his throat then turned to Vader.
"Keep control of your offspring, Lord Vader, or I shall have to kill them."
He stormed from the room and Vader called for medics. Luke was sure he could have walked, but Vader would not let him, forcing him onto the second gurney after they had both seen to Leia's.
Looking at her now, as they pushed her gurney out of the room just ahead of his, Luke could see she was barely conscious. Leia, his sister. Sighing, Luke closed his eyes and wondered how she would take the news. Considering her reaction to finding out that Vader was his father, Luke didn't think she would cope very well. As for the child she was carrying… She and Han had finally sorted out their differences it seemed.
Luke couldn't help feeling a certain level of irritation towards the missing Corellian. Although he had wanted his two best friends to acknowledge their feelings for one another for a long time, Luke was peeved that they had been careless enough not to prevent a pregnancy. Leia would be mortified when she found out, he was sure and yet, with Han missing, would be determined to keep the child. Han on the other hand… Assuming he survived his carbonite prison, Luke was worried how Han would react to the news.
As for the Emperor's plans… Luke was determined not to let them come to fruition. Somehow, he would have to get himself and the princess off the Executor and out of Coruscant space.
He opened his eyes as they entered the medcentre and saw them transferring the princess to a permanent bed. He heard her try to protest as they bound her wrists to the bed, then she slipped into unconsciousness.
Luke sat up, straining to hear the instructions Vader was giving the medic treating Leia, but was distracted when he realised that he was being scanned himself. This medic didn't look at him once, concentrating instead on the information displayed on the small scanner in his hand as he waved it back and forth across Luke's body. He spent a relatively long time focussing the scanner on what was left of Luke's right arm, then turned to Vader as the Sith Lord approached and pronounced, "He is well enough to attempt the surgery."
Luke looked warily at Vader and the Dark Lord explained, "You are being fitted with a cybernetic hand."
"What about Leia?" Luke asked looking across at the princess' bed. "What are you going to do to her?"
"That is not your concern," Vader replied coolly.
"She's my sister!" Luke spat vehemently. "She is my concern!"
"Shall I have him restrained?" the medic asked Vader.
"Do you need to be restrained?" Vader asked him and Luke scowled.
"That depends on what you plan to do to my sister."
The medic must have decided that Vader could handle him, because he moved away into another room.
"You are rashly accepting of the claim," Vader said carefully.
So Vader was having trouble accepting the fact that Leia was his daughter, Luke thought with some irony. But Luke could feel the truth in Palpatine's revelation as much as he could feel the truth in Vader's. Leia was his sister, he had no doubt, but he surmised Vader would want DNA confirmation of her parentage.
"Maybe you should look up Solo's genealogy while you're looking up Leia's," Luke suggested sarcastically. "So you can be prepared for what their child will be like."
Luke felt an intense spike of anger from the Dark Lord and came to the swift conclusion that Vader was anything but impressed with the princess' choice of partner.
"You disapprove of Han," Luke said quietly.
"I disapprove of the Princess of Alderaan allowing herself to be defiled by Corellian slime," Vader said harshly.
Luke squashed an automatic impulse to leap to Solo's defence, knowing that Vader would refuse to hear it. Instead he asked hotly, "Who are you to tell her who she can and can't love?" He slipped off the repulsored gurney and walked over to Leia's bed. She was still unconscious and looked very pale, and it occurred to him that she was still wearing the snowsuit he'd last seen her in on Hoth. He touched her face gently and searched again for any sense of the child she was carrying in the Force, but still he felt nothing. Part of him hoped the Emperor was wrong, for Leia's sake, but Luke's memory of his Spice-induced vision strongly suggested otherwise.
He turned and looked at Vader who was standing at the end of her bed, then glanced at the cast covering the stump of his arm and sighed. "Let's get this over with," he said.
…..
Leia struggled to consciousness, found herself strapped to a medbunk and immediately started straining against the straps holding her down despite the pain in every one of her joints. A 2-1B med-droid moved into view.
"There is no need to panic," it told her. "You are safe-"
"Let me go," Leia demanded.
"The restraints are for your own safety-"
"Let me go!" Leia shrieked, struggling desperately.
"Please calm down or I will be required to sedate you."
She caught sight of Vader approaching, a human medic at his side, and wondered if the Sith Lord could feel her terror. She suspected he could and wondered what sort of kick he got out of it.
"I want a complete genetic test done on the princess and the child she is carrying," Leia heard him tell the medic, and felt her heart lodge in her throat.
Child? They thought she was pregnant? Why would they think that?
"There will be a risk to the embryo-" the medic was saying.
But there is no embryo…
"A complete genetic test," Vader repeated.
Why did they think she was pregnant?
"Yes, Lord Vader."
Leia suddenly felt dizzy as she tried to wrap her brain around the concept and wondered for a moment if this was some sort of bizarre response from Vader feeling her 'Force bonding' with Han on Cloud City. How could she be pregnant? Solo had assured her he was using contraception!
Abruptly the Emperor's words came back to her – The child will be mine! And somehow it all made horrible sense. The nausea, the vomiting, the amenorrhoea. Goddess, no…
"You will inform me personally the minute the results are available," Vader said.
No, I can't be! Leia was verging on panic. He told me… told me he was safe…
He lied, came the horrible voice in her head. The one that lay in wait to gloat at her, 'I told you so!' But it doesn't look like you'll be pregnant for very long, it added.
"Yes, my Lord," the medic assured him. "They should be available by the time Skywalker comes out of surgery."
Luke was in surgery? Then she remembered, Of course… his hand… Vader and the medic moved away and she could hear the medic calling instructions to his staff. Preparing, she thought. Preparing to take her child. She had no doubt that was Vader's intention. The child will be mine, the Emperor had said. Palpatine wanted her child so Vader was going to take it from her for him. Take it from her and grow it in a tank. Palpatine's new plaything.
Struggling frantically against her bonds, uncaring that she was rubbing her wrists raw, Leia felt a horror and fear greater than any she had ever known.
"Please be still," the 2-1B med-droid said.
They had taken Alderaan from her, then Han, and now they were going to take all she had left of Han. She had not planned the pregnancy, but it was becoming more precious to her by the second.
"Please be still," the 2-1B med-droid repeated.
Desperate and outraged, Leia screamed her frustration and terror at the droid, "Let me go!"
"I will be forced to sedate you," the droid said, producing a hypo. "You are harming yourself."
"No!" Leia shrieked, lunging away from the droid. But her arm was still bound and the droid pressed the hypo against her wrist. "No," Leia begged. "Please!" But heard the hypo discharge despite her plea.
Her screams had attracted the attention of the medic who approached her bed, irritation evident on his face.
"I have sedated the patient, Sir," the 2-1B told him, lowering the bed to a horizontal position as Leia slumped slightly with the forced relaxation of her muscles.
The medic grunted his acknowledgment and leaned over to look hard into the princess' eyes. Leia was aware but unable to do anything sudden with her muscles.
"Please..." she begged. "Don't take my baby…"
The medic frowned then turned to the 2-1B. "What did you give her?"
"Standard dose of nesavarbol, sir."
The medic grunted his approval then told the droid, "We'll do the procedure here. Give her five minutes then put her under."
"Yes, sir," said the droid.
"Please," Leia begged, fighting the sedation to gain the medic's attention once more. "Please don't do this."
The medic eyed her warily for a moment, then walked away.
Leia felt an unreality descend over her. Like the one she had experienced after Alderaan's destruction. Totally helpless and powerless. Soon would come the blessed numbness she had longed for after they had taken Han. She closed her eyes and the tears came unbidden. Trickled out from under her eyelids. I'm sorry, she told the Han she carried in her heart. I'm so sorry…
…..
Vader walked away from the protesting princess feeling no compunction whatsoever. He had to have genetic proof for the claims the Emperor had made, and the fact that his Master wanted the princess' child so badly meant that he had to have the genetic data for that as well.
The idea that the Princess of Alderaan could be his child had floored him completely. If it was true, it meant that his wife had been pregnant when she'd left him and he couldn't help wondering if she'd known. Vader had always been irked by the speed with which she'd married Bail Organa, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that the daughter she delivered soon after must have been conceived prior to their bonding. But it had never occurred to him that the child might not be Organa's. That the child was his.
And while it explained the young woman's ability to touch the Force, he was concerned about the impact it would have on his plans. Particularly if the Emperor succeeded in his plan to possess and inhabit the infant she was carrying. That could well make his Master invincible.
Vader headed for his private chambers, deciding that a little time outside his suit would help to clear his mind. Then, by the time Luke came out of surgery and the data on the princess was ready for him, he would be able to make whatever decisions the data required of him. Even if it meant terminating his own daughter and the child she carried. With any luck the tests themselves would terminate her pregnancy and then it would no longer be an issue.
…
When Leia woke she didn't know where she was, and it took a few moments for her memories to make any sort of sense. She ached all over and her mouth tasted terrible. The room she was in was completely foreign: certainly not a cell. She was in a comfortable bed, hell; there was even a viewport! A viewport through which she could see jewel-like Coruscant hanging in the sky, accompanied by its ever-present blaze of traffic.
She started to sit up and felt a rush of moisture between her legs, as well as sharp pain in her lower back and abdomen. Leia automatically reached down to see what it was and felt a resurgence of the heartsick numbness when she saw the blood on her fingers.
It was over. They had taken her child.
Overpowering nausea launched her towards what she hoped was a 'fresher and she spent several minutes vomiting into the sani'. Then she matter-of-factly stepped out of the blood-stained surgical gown she'd found herself in, leaving it where it fell, and stepped into the shower stall.
It was a real water shower and yet she stood beneath its soothing warmth, barely aware of it. Thinking about the child she would never know. Maybe one day, when the Emperor decided to parade his new plaything around… she would look at that boy or girl and know… Know it was hers. But that child would never know her. Would never know Han.
Han.
Leia found herself sobbing suddenly, awash in an insurmountable grief. How would she tell him? And why had he lied? Leia felt an intense flash of anger towards Solo and then felt guilty for being angry with him. How could she feel angry with him when she missed him so desperately?
She refused to believe that it had all been an act on his part, an elaborate plan to bed her. Han loved her; she knew that, had felt him in her soul. And she had been prepared to risk pregnancy to fulfil her desire to be with him, but he had assured her he was sterile! Why would he do that? Why would he deliberately lie to her?
It suddenly occurred to Leia that perhaps he hadn't. That he had honestly believed himself to be chemically sterile. That perhaps the contraceptive had failed.
A goddess-given child, she thought sadly. On Alderaan all children were considered a gift from the goddess, but unplanned children especially so.
And now hers was gone. Ripped from her body almost before she had been aware of it. For a moment, burning hate like nothing she had ever experienced coursed through her. Vader had taken everything from her. Her home, her family, Han. And now… this. Her first child. She hated Vader so deeply, so wholly, that it became a palpable force in her belly. A force so strong that she wanted to cherish it, wanted to hold it in store until she had to face him again so that she could hurl it at him and hopefully kill him with it.
The urge to vomit gripped her again and she purged onto the floor of the shower. Watched it spiral down the outlet with the water and her urge to fight for the greater good. Bent over as she was, she could see the blood trickling down the inside of her legs, and the Rebel Alliance became meaningless. For Leia Organa the fight had become completely personal and she would not rest until she had killed Darth Vader or died trying.
…..
While coming to terms with the genetic data he'd received on the princess and her embryo, and waiting for the Imperial data base to tell him what he needed to know about Han Solo, Vader found himself thinking about the Princess of Alderaan. The discovery that Leia was not just Padme's daughter, but his as well, had left him with a deep sense of loss and betrayal. And he couldn't help feeling that everyone had known except him. Yoda, Kenobi, the Emperor, even Bail Organa must have known! But not one of them had told him. Not even his wife…
The scope of the deception fuelled the Sith Lord's anger and he breathed deeply, focussing it into a dark Force thathe could use to enhance his personalcomfort out of his life-support suit. It was swiftly followed by a second dark wave and it took Vader a moment to realise that this one had not come from him, but was instead directed at him.
He deduced the source immediately.
The princess was awake and angry at him.
Examining the whisper of dark anger from the princess, Vader decided that he would have to train her. He had suspected her of having a natural Force talent, but he wanted that talent bound to him, not wasted on some useless pastime like the Rebellion. But her pregnancy would make training her difficult; would divide her loyalties, and once again Vader found himself mentally cursing the Corellian who had created the problem.
He glared at the file loading onto his screen. His request from the Imperial archives for the most recent data on Han Solo had, of course, produced the Bespin file. Vader had no desire to watch the Corellian bed his daughter again and hurriedly moved to the next file. Nevertheless, the princess' profession of love for Solo as he was being lowered into the carbonite replayed in Vader'spersonal memories, and hefelt a moment of disquiet.
The next file had been recorded on Tarkin's Death Star; it showed the Corellian and his Wookiee friend, with Luke and the princess hurrying down a corridor. Vader moved to the next file.
This recording was of Lieutenant Han Solo's court martial and the expression on the young Solo's face was one of cold, hard anger.
Vader requested genetic data and the imagewas replaced with text information. A moment later several images appeared. Family records. Biographical details about Perron Solo, Alandra Solo, and their sons, Han and Brennon Solo.
Brennon Solo was currently living on Corellia, an active member in Imperial Intelligence, and had a family of his own. Perron's whereabouts were not known, and the mother had died of unknown causes many years prior.
With a shock, Vader realised he recognised their mother. Recognised her as one of the Corellian Jedi who had stood against his Master during the Purge of the Jedi.
Vader remembered killing her himself.
He immediately called up her file, having to go through several security walls to do so. She was Corellian, but had come from nowhere. Her parents were nobody. And she had been trained as a Jedi. Alandra had defied the Jedi Council edict to marry Perron Solo, in much the same way as Anakin Skywalker had defied them to marry Padme Naberrie. The Solo's had then returnedto Corellia and produced two sons. Alandra had been working for CorSec during the Purge.
Using the Force, Vader recalled the woman's face in his memory. He remembered the taste of her fear as she had fought him, not for herself but for her family. Remembered the depth of his hatred and scorn for her concern at the time. Scorn because, in his mind, the Jedi had just robbed him of his own family.
Little did he know that they had not just taken his wife and son from him, but his daughter as well. Vader sighed and wondered what he would have done had he known.
The comm. interrupted his reverie and he answered the call without activating the visual display. He had no intention of displaying his face to anyone.
"Yes, Admiral Piett?"
The voice on the other end displayed only the slightest hint of nervousness. "My Lord, you asked to be notified as soon as Skywalker woke."
"Thank you, Admiral."
Vader switched off the comm. and activated the re-application of his suit.
…
Leia stepped out of the shower stall wondering if she would have to rip up her sheets to use as sanitary padding and checked the cupboard beside the sink for toiletries. In complete contrast to her experience on the Falcon, it was full of every sanitary device she might need as well as a selection of underwear.
When she returned to the main room, it was obvious that someone had been in there while she was in the 'fresher. Probably a droid. Her bed was freshly made and there was a tray of food on the table.
They were feeding her. Not her usual experience when in Imperial custody.
Curious, she checked the cupboard beside the bed and was almost amused to find it full of clothes. Food, clothing, toiletries… Were they courting her? Yet, despite the comfort and amenities, Leia was very aware that her room was no less a cell.
Pleased to be rid of the hated snowsuit finally, she helped herself to a long navy dress. It was seriously plain and practical, with an almost masculine feel and doubtless the epitome of Imperial fashion. Dressed, she forced herself to do her hair: plaiting then winding it around her head.
Despite the smell of the food aggravating her nausea, Leia sat at the table and forced herself to eat. Who knew when they would change their minds and stop feeding her?
….
Luke looked up from his new right hand to the dark figure opposite. Vader had spent the afternoon teaching him self-healing techniques to hasten his recovery and, as a result, his new cybernetic hand was interfacing with his arm extremely well. But, until the medics removed the nerve block that was stopping him from feeling the pain of the join, they would not know for sure whether he had full feeling in it or not.
Luke had been inquiring about Leia's well-being since waking up after his surgery, yet Vader had consistently refused to discuss her. Vader, Luke decided, was having as much trouble coming to terms with the revelation that Leia washis daughter as Luke had had with the discovery that the Dark Lord was his father. He also suspected that Vader was as disturbed by the Emperor's plans for the princess, or more particularly the child she carried, as he was.
"Will Palpatine kill her?" Luke asked, and was surprised when Vader replied softly, "Not yet."
So Leia was still pregnant. Whatever tests had been performed on her had not changed that. "Not while she's carrying the child he wants, anyway," Luke muttered sourly.
Vader regarded him for a moment then nodded.
"Is Palpatine a clone?" Luke asked.
"No."
"That's what you've been waiting for," Luke said, with sudden insight. "Waiting for him to move into a clone so you can kill him."
"He will be weakest at the moment of transfer," Vader admitted.
Abruptly, his father's words on Bespin came back to him. You can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. And Luke realised with dismay that it could well fall to him to kill the child. Kill Han and Leia's daughter. Could he do that? Could he sacrifice their child for the good of the galaxy?
Together we can rule the galaxy as father and son.
Luke closed his eyes, wishing he could ask Ben or Yoda for guidance. Yet could he trust them if they gave it to him? Luke felt sure that killing the child would take him down the same dark path as his father, yet could the galaxy survive an Emperor reborn and even more powerful?
Could he kill Han and Leia's child?
Luke looked straight into Vader's eyes and said in words that brooked no argument, "We have to get her away from here."
….