Laark deals with the Alliance, Luke and his father reunite, and Anakin wrestles with his ultimate decision.
# # #
Laark hovered as the team prepared for the short journey to the surface of the Sanctuary Moon. What an inappropriate name! There Luke would meet the Great Lord and be taken before the evil Emperor. No sanctuary at all.
He repeated mental scolding as Luke continued to help load the crew's supplies. Siths didn't do things like that for Outsiders! Would Luke ever learn his place?
"Got everything you need?" Lando asked Luke.
Laark approved of Baron Calrissian. He was polite and spoke softly, and he treated Luke with proper respect. However, then Solo cleared his throat. "Hey, are you sure you don't need me along? Just to watch out for you?"
He glared at the Corellian. As if anyone would want Han Solo along to do anything whatsoever!
"You'll better serve the Alliance by piloting the Falcon," Luke said, using some of the diplomacy he'd been taught. Laark beamed at him. Well done, lord!
The crew boarded the captured Imperial shuttle, with Luke lagging behind. Laark slumped, but accepted that it was Luke's destiny to go. Everything will be all right, he reassured both of them.
Luke winked at him. Take care of yourself. Don't give Han a hard time. He's not so bad.
Compared to Palpatine, he's not! Otherwise- Oh, lord, please be careful!
I promise.
And be careful of your father, too.
Laark. What do you mean?
You know. About the Darkness.
Luke sighed aloud. "I know. I will be." He smiled again. "Han, take care of my Lightshiner."
"Yeah, well, as long as he doesn't get in my way," Solo grumbled.
"I shall do my very best to stay out of your way, General," he retorted icily. "I have no more wish to be in your company than you wish to be in mine."
Luke groaned. "Please. Don't give me something else to worry about."
Laark whirled on him, instantly contrite. "I'm sorry, lord! Don't think about me. I'll be fine. General Solo may have poor manners, but I'm certain he'll be a competent guardian for a short while."
"I'm sure he will." Luke grinned at Solo. "Take care of yourself, hotshot. And the princess."
"Yeah," Han said gruffly. "Cover your butt, kid."
Charming.
Luke laughed. "Bye, Laark. See you later."
He hoped so, he really hoped so. Until then he would continue what he'd been doing, praying to Sith to Protect his Skywalker against such a powerful Force user.
Or worse, against two powerful Force users if the Great Lord went into the Darkness again.
He held up his hand, trying to say stop! but Luke only waved before he walked up the ship's ramp.
They watched in silence until the craft had departed, then Solo strode off. Laark frowned and dogged the Corellian's heels all the way to the Com Center.
Once there, he immediately began to explore, peering over shoulders, asking questions, ascertaining the best location to watch the action. Mon Mothma arrived and he studied her covertly, trying to imagine her in bed with the Great Lord. Perhaps she'd looked better a few decades earlier. But he smiled pleasantly when she approached him.
"Jedi Lightshiner."
He cringed at the designation but inclined his head. "Ma'am. The crucial moment is upon us." He was very glad that his father had insisted on lessons in diplomatic speech and elocution. The Lightshiner had to sound good, even better than the Skywalker, because talking was a huge part of the Lightshiner's job. However, when they got home he'd remind the Great Lord that Luke needed further lessons because Skywalkers were required to make occasional speeches here and there.
"Indeed it is, Jedi." Did she have to keep repeating the J-word? "What are you able to sense about the Imperials' intentions?"
Sense? Sith save us, she really did think he was a Jedi. "I'm a Lightshiner, ma'am. I can only sense my lord."
That nasty General Madine appeared. "What do you mean?"
It was perfectly obvious to anyone with half a brain what he meant. "It is my function to serve the Skywalker. I can sense only him."
"Are you a droid?" Madine asked.
A droid? A DROID? Laark pulled himself very straight. "I beg your pardon? What are you implying?"
"I'm sure the general regrets any misunderstanding," Mothma interrupted. "Jedi, can you sense the enemy?"
Laark hesitated. He couldn't, not really, but he could improvise so they appreciated how amazing he was. "The Imperial fleet is still in hyperspace, and the Death Star is waiting." What an unpleasant name. Death Star. Nasty business. What would Outsiders think of next?
"Thank you, Jedi." Mothma turned to that very nice General Rieekan. "Are your pilots prepared?"
"As prepared as a batch of youngsters can be," he said grimly. "I wish they were older."
"We do seem to be relying heavily on youth."
"They're the ones doing the dying," Solo agreed, intruding on the conversation.
"The defeat of Palpatine himself relies on a teenager," Laark pointed out, bristling defensively. People could be so annoying and narrow-minded. He eyed Solo. "And Master Luke won't die."
"He's also not a teenager," the Corellian growled just to be argumentative.
"We certainly are. We're nineteen."
Mothma was ignoring him– a blessing!- and talking to Rieekan. But Solo gave him his full attention, valueless as it was. "Luke is older than that. He joined the Rebellion over three years ago."
"Hrmph." He sniffed disapprovingly. "You shouldn't recruit babies!"
"Wait a minute." Solo grabbed his arm. "Are you saying that Luke is only nineteen now?"
"Please release me, general." He waited until his arm was freed, then inspected his sleeve for any dirt or creases. "That is what I said, is it not? I am not in the habit of repeating falsehoods."
"Shit."
"There's no need for vulgarity."
Laark!
Are you eavesdropping, lord? Shame!
"No wonder he acts like a kid sometimes," Solo muttered to himself.
Such an obvious and rude comment didn't deserve acknowledgement. Still, Laark sniffed before turning his back.
# # #
"We can't do it the way we planned," were his son's first words to him as they met in the corridor of the Sanctuary Moon station.
The words dismayed but didn't surprise Anakin. He'd never felt assured that Luke would stick with the plan once he was away from his father's influence. Those Rebel friends of his had corrupted him again. If only they could communicate mentally, if he could use Force influence on the boy– but Palpatine would sense him then, and until the confrontation he had to protect knowledge of Luke's involvement at all costs.
"I'm glad to see you, too."
Luke looked startled, then smiled. "Sorry. Hello, Father. It's wonderful to see you again."
"And you don't want to do it the way we planned."
"We were wrong. We were so wrong!" Luke seemed almost eager. They paused at the far end of the walkway, away from the curious eyes of the stormtroopers, and faced the darkness of the forest.
"It's too late to change our plans, my son. There is not enough time to debate-"
"Listen to me." Luke laid his bound hands on Anakin's black-clad arm. "You said that you set the Darkside loose from Sith, gave it to Palpatine, and you thought that I was meant to return it to Sith. But in the treecave, Palpatine said something to me about the Light, about its feeble powers. I think he's afraid of it– and afraid of it in us."
"I don't understand how this reasoning affects our plans. What is your point?"
"My point is that we can't destroy him by turning his Darkness against him and returning it to Sith because– " Luke paused for emphasis. "Sith doesn't want it back. That's what It's been trying to tell me. We have to disperse the Darkness. And, Father, what's the only way to eliminate the dark?"
He gazed down at this curiously earnest son of his. "With light?" he answered reluctantly, feeling like a schoolchild.
"Exactly!" Luke looked pleased with his response.
"With lightsabers?" Anakin teased.
To his surprise, his son appeared to consider the idea. "I hadn't thought that literally." Luke pursed his lips. "I don't think so. We can't use violence to destroy him."
"Enough." Abruptly, he lost patience. "You are being ridiculous. Perhaps you are planning to ask him nicely if he will kill himself? Or if he would be so kind as to vanish like Kenobi? Your foolishness will destroy us and the rest of the galaxy. You will cease this nonsense. Come along."
"It's not nonsense, and I'm not going anywhere until you agree to do it my way."
"Now you may add insolence to your list of sins against your father." Anger coiled in the pit of his stomach. "I have dreamed of this for years. I am not strong enough to do it alone, I need your assistance. You cannot defect now."
"Did you ever try to destroy him?"
The memory was always at the back of his mind, greedy and demanding and punishing. "Once." He couldn't suppress a slight shudder. "And you see the result." He gestured to his Dark Lord garb, the life support equipment that he needed to survive when he was away from Sith.
Luke's lips parted in surprise. "The Emperor did that? I thought-"
"It was Palpatine. Long ago. I tried and failed. I will not fail again."
"No, you won't fail." The irrepressible eagerness was back. "Don't you see? It wasn't you who failed, but your method! Adding my strength to your method won't make any difference– we'll both fail. We have to destroy him with Light. Both of us, burning brightly, can lighten his Darkness until it dissipates."
"A fine philosophy, my son, but lacking in the practical area. How do you propose we make this 'Light'? With torches?"
Luke clicked his tongue. "You're being deliberately obtuse. With the Force, the true Force. With Sith Itself. You must turn back to the Light, Father, as I have done, and renounce all your desire for the Dark. When I returned to the Alliance, I committed Dark acts carelessly, thinking I was acting for a higher purpose. Even when I understood what had happened, I couldn't undo them entirely. I made what repairs I could and now-"
"What are you blithering about?" he snapped. "We don't have time for this nonsense. The longer we delay, the less time we will have to escape the Death Star before your friends destroy it."
"I'm talking about our Dark powers– altering memories, invading minds, all the crimes you commit in the name of the Empire– we both must stop. We must be pure to accept the Light."
Only the fact that this was his son stopped him from rejecting such outrageous ideas without consideration. But Luke was so sincere, so fervent- Anakin turned away and walked to the other side of the glass corridor, watching the reflection of Darth Vader blend into the forest night until it vanished. He stared until he could almost see the face where the helmet had been. The idea seemed absurd, yet what if Luke was correct about his previous failure? Was the reason he had failed to destroy Palpatine not because he lacked the strength but because he had used the wrong powers? If his Darkness was not stronger than Palpatine's, then what of his Light? Palpatine had no Light powers at all; would that not give a powerful advantage to Light users?
Yet Palpatine had destroyed all the Jedi despite their vast powers. How could a father and son hope to do what thousands of Jedi could not? "We are only two. We are not strong enough."
"One is strong enough if he has faith," Luke whispered.
He wanted to laugh and cry. Luke was nearly delivered into the hands of the Emperor and still he spouted unrealistic, romantic clichés about faith. Young fool. If Luke would not fight, he would be destroyed. They both would, because Anakin Skywalker knew he would have no taste to continue his bleak life if his only child was sacrificed.
"The Jedi had faith." He pressed his palm on the glass. His mirror-self did the same. His mirror-self had stalked into the Jedi Temple, and they'd thought it was Anakin Skywalker come to save them.
But it was only a reflection.
"And Palpatine had you to counteract their Light. If you stand with me, he has no one."
Anakin closed his eyes, tired of looking at his other self. If Luke would not support their plan, what choice did he have? And maybe, just maybe—
"I met a girl."
"What?" He turned around. "You what?"
"Met a girl– woman," Luke corrected. "Devlin Starsinger, the one I'm supposed to bond with."
He snorted. What an extraordinary boy he'd produced, so full of surprises. In the midst of an argument about their impending deaths and the possible destruction of the galaxy, Luke came up with such an inanity.
"I have foreseen our children," Luke added quietly.
That stopped him. His son's foreseeing powers had grown as he'd studied on Sith. If Luke had foreseen offspring, that meant that he would live and prosper. "Always in motion is the future," he countered, unwilling to surrender to hope so easily.
"I know. But it wasn't an ordinary vision. It was like the ones I saw when I was inside Sith."
An experience he would never share or understand. Still, Luke's future depended on what they did now, here, at this moment in the great cycle of time. They could change their lives, the galaxy– everything. He closed his eyes and listened to the hideous sound of his respirator. His life support, hated but necessary. Like Palpatine. Like...the Dark?...or the Light? When bound together they made a pallid shade of gray without spirit or life, so it had to be one or the other, never both. His son thought it should be an easy decision. Perhaps Luke believed some of what he'd been taught by his father, that there was little difference between the intent of the Dark and the Light. He believed it himself sometimes. Other times there appeared a vast gulf, one he'd never been able to cross. To accept the Light would mean giving up the Dark, the source of his power, the reason for his life Outside. On Sith he was not Dark. On Sith he was the Great Lord, the feared lord, the-
Feared. It brought Alin to mind. The fear he used to see in his Lightshiner's eyes. He'd almost forgotten; it had been so long ago. Was the fear gone or had Alin learned to disguise it? He felt hot with shame and regret.
"My life has been devoted to the Dark."
"Always?"
He didn't take time to consider his answer. "No. Not always." Before, when he'd had her, before he'd killed her with his curiosity and his lust for foolish explorations, before he'd taken her Outside and led her to death– before then, he hadn't been a slave to grief and rage and Darkness.
That's what it was, he knew. Slavery. All this power he was so proud of, all this control– what did he do with it but Palpatine's bidding? Perhaps the old Masters were right when they taught that the Dark path led nowhere but to sorrow and despair.
But it was all he knew.
"You are asking me to try to give up everything I have ever held dear. To try to change my basic philosophies and beliefs in an instant. To never be tempted-"
"No, Father. There is no try. Do or do not. Accept the Light. Control the Darkness within you. Banish it. This time let me lead and you follow. Believe in the Light. Believe in me."
"Fool," he declared affectionately, touched to the core by his son's words. There had to be a reason why Sith had chosen Luke for special treatment. Maybe this was it. Luke was right about one thing: his previous attempt to attack Palpatine had failed. Why reuse a method that had proven inadequate? If they were going to die, at least they wouldn't die in a repeat of his last performance. He made a characteristically abrupt decision. "Very well. We will do it your way."
Luke's face lit up with a grin. "Thank you, Father!" It was obvious that only the presence of distant stormtroopers prevented him from grabbing his father in a hug.
"I hope you'll thank me later," he said dryly as he escorted his son into the lift that would take them to the landing platform, dismissing the soldiers with a gesture.
"Me too. By the way," Luke murmured as the doors slid shut, "did I mention that we won't be ruling the galaxy afterwards?"
"Shit," Lord Vader muttered.
"There's no need for vulgarity!" Luke giggled– the child actually laughed! "And, Father, did you know that Laark's only nineteen?"
"What does that have to do with-"
"Did you?"
"I do not keep track of the ages of-"
"But that means I'm only nineteen, not twenty-one like we thought!"
"Congratulations," he said shortly, before discerned the implication. Then he realized how very young Luke was, why he had seemed so immature at times– and how dangerous it was to expect this baby to confront and defeat Palpatine.
The doors slid open, and they stepped out into the balmy night air. "So maybe that makes a difference about my mother. Maybe you remember who she was?"
"I hardly think-" He stopped. Twenty years ago, there had only been her. But she'd died. There was no way Luke could be her child. It had been quite some time before he'd been with a woman again. Did that mean...?
Anakin looked over at the boy who was climbing into the shuttle. Did that mean Luke was not his son?