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The Sith Lord and the Scientist Section B - Part 3

DAY 14

I lie motionless in my Lord’s arms, knowing he will be leaving me shortly. This will be the first time since he took me from my homeworld that we will be separated by a considerable distance and I want to remember every minute before his departure. Two days, I scold myself, it will only be for two days, Maia, so stop worrying about it. Remember his words to you - there will be times he must be gone and you will have to stay behind. Best to get used to it now, when it will just be for a couple of days.

The Sith Lord next to me stirs and I hear him reset his breathing pattern. Time to put my plan in motion. I want to give him every reason to rush back to my side and have little time to do it in. He will be in a hurry to leave and I do not want to annoy him by making him late. Shifting myself in his arms, I turn to face him. His eyes are open, watching me, and I am sure he is wondering what I am up to.

Before I can lose my courage, I take his face in my hands and kiss him. Not a chaste one like I usually give him - he is the one who has always initiated anything more than that - but an intense, deep and demanding one. He pulls me hard against his body in response, opens his mouth to me, then tastes my own in return as I yield to him. I feel his desire, passion across our bond, and wish he would let me respond in kind. His hand runs through my hair, follows the curves of my body, returns to rest against my cheek as we continue our kiss.

Without breaking away, he tells me in a thought, If this is how you send me off whenever I must leave you, then I will be sure to be gone on a regular basis.

Replying in kind, I tease, I want to give you every reason to hurry back to me, my Lord, my love.

After a few, all too short minutes, he pulls away from me and I know his mind is now occupied with the business the Emperor is sending him on. The covers are tossed aside next, and he disappears into the ‘fresher. While he is attending to his needs, I quickly dress, choosing one of the simple black gowns instead of a more practical tunic and pants. If I am lucky, the Sith Lord will let me accompany him down to the hangar where his shuttle is waiting, like he has done occasionally in the last week when he has had errands and meetings in the nearby space port.

I am quietly waiting for him, seated in one of the chairs, when he returns to put his armor on. My Lord wastes no time in dressing, and when all but his head is covered, I hand him a glass of the drink mix we share. A second and third rapidly follow the first. He has not said a word to me since he left our bed, but I give no hint that this bothers me. Just being near him is enough to keep me content.

The empty glass is placed on the table, and the Sith Lord holds his hands out to me. I happily set mine in his and am pulled up and into his arms. His lips brush mine and his kiss becomes as intense as the one I initiated earlier.

When I tremble a little as his unchecked emotions flood my mind, he tells me, I want to give you every reason, Favorite mine, to be waiting for me when I return.

All too soon he ends our kiss, our embrace, and I hand him the vocoder, mask, and helmet as he needs them. Time for him to leave now.

‘Come with me,’ he orders as he offers me his arm.

I set my hand on his arm and he leads me out of the quarters we share, down towards the small docking bay.

As we walk, he repeats some of his instructions from the previous day. ‘I will return in two days, Maia, and expect you to behave appropriately while I am gone. You will stay in my quarters when you are not in the salle or at one of your other lessons. If you like, you may have a meal in the Female Officers’ Lounge with Lieutenant Keol. I know you two are becoming good friends.’

I can’t stop myself from smiling at his last observation. The petite Lieutenant and I are as unalike as night and day, but we do share a few interests. Mia’s tasks as the Sith Lord’s aide take up much of her time, and I am surprised he has decided to leave her on the Executor rather than have her go with him. Maybe he is taking one of the other officers who shares duties with my friend.

Vader notices my momentary distraction and now that we are alone in a transport tube, allows himself a short chuckle.

‘Perhaps I should rescind my last instruction,’ he teases, ‘since you have so quickly forgotten that I will be gone.’

His words bring reality crashing down around me. I am going to miss him terribly, I realize.

‘I wish I could go with you,’ I quietly whisper to myself.

The Sith Lord hears me and the transport slams to a halt at his touch on the control panel.

‘Maia, I told you before what life as my mate would be like,’ he reminds me, ‘You willingly accepted those conditions. You cannot accompany me when the Emperor commands me to go and nothing can or will change that.’

I regard him quietly for a moment, then admit, ‘No, my Lord, it can’t be changed, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it, either.’

At my concession, he restarts the transport tube.

Being apart from him is the one thing I dread. Separation anxiety, my scientific brain identifies. Definitely something I have never had to deal with before. I do my best to bury my feelings, my thoughts on this, not wanting to delay his departure any longer, knowing that he will stop again to lecture me further if he feels it necessary.

All too soon we are at his shuttle and he gently removes my hand from his arm. To my surprise, the Sith Lord lifts a hand to my face, caresses my cheek with his fingers in farewell. Then he is gone, heading up the ramp into the ship, cloak floating after him. I remain where I am, watching as the shuttle lifts from the deck, flies from the hangar, and eventually becomes indistinguishable in the distance. He will be joining the Devastator shortly, then jump out of system to wherever the Emperor’s business requires him to be.

I hear footsteps behind me now, and turn to see Mia coming towards me. She must be under orders to accompany me wherever I need to go on ship, and decided to let my Lord and I have a private moment before he left. The Lieutenant smiles at me, then we are walking back to his quarters. A few times along the way, I look over at her and wonder. My friend has been his aide for almost a decade. If anyone knows how the Sith Lord really feels about me, it would be her, yet she has never given any indication that this is the case. And, I think to myself, it would be dangerous for her to let on if she did know, given how careful he has been to conceal the truth.

When we reach Vader’s quarters, Mia follows me inside.

 I give her a questioning look so she tells me, ‘My lady, his Lordship told me to stay with you until after the Devastator has left.’

‘Why?’ I can’t help but ask.

I don’t need a babysitter. Having her look after me when I had that hysterical fit two days ago, while the Sith Lord was interrogating a prisoner, was bad enough.

‘Your life-bond,’ Mia admits.

I stare at her, surprised. ‘He told you about that?’

‘Someone had to be told, and he trusts me more than any of the other female officers on board,’ my friend confesses. ‘You have never been more than a system apart and Lord Vader doesn’t know what the effect will be on you with the much greater distance you will be separated by today. I have orders to stay with you in case there is a problem.’

‘And who will look after him?’ I wonder aloud.

It is Mia’s turn to stare now. I guess I should keep my worries to myself. Hopefully the Sith Lord has enough sense to look after himself.

The comm chimes, and Mia goes to my Lord’s office to answer it. I follow her, but as I reach the door, I feel the bond I share with him stretch, thin. My balance goes off-kilter and I stagger sideways, falling against the wall before letting myself slide to the floor. The sensation is not painful, but completely disorienting, like having part of myself pulled along with him as he moves farther away from me. I can still sense him in the distance and can’t help wondering if what he is experiencing is as unsettling as what I am. Something to ask him, I decide, once he has returned.

The instant my friend steps from the office she drops to her knees beside me. I keep my eyes closed, not sure if I am steady enough to open them yet, and certain that I need to stay put on the floor for a few minutes longer. She rests a hand on my forehead, then stands, heads into the private section of the Sith Lord’s quarters, only to return a minute later with one of his spare cloaks over her arm. Mia carefully wraps me up in it, sits beside me on the floor and waits.

‘I feel horrible,’ I tell her, ‘like I am being pulled in two directions.’

‘His Lordship thought this might happen because your bond is very strong,’ Mia reveals, ‘but he did not want to tell you and have you worry about it.’

‘How typical,’ I grumble, ‘he never lets anything out unless it’s necessary, and his over-protectiveness is beginning to annoy me. He should have told me about this himself.’ I look over at my friend. ‘I am not a child, Mia, but he sometimes treats me like one.’

She is silent at my confession. Perhaps I have over-stepped some invisible boundary, broken some rule with my comments, but at the moment I really don’t care.

‘Help me up,’ I ask her, ‘I need your help to get back to the bedroom.’

‘Not yet, my lady,’ Mia states, ‘you are still too unsteady for that.’

I close my eyes and rest my head on my knees. She obviously has her orders and intends to follow them to the letter. No point in arguing either. Past experience has shown me that my friend is just as stubborn as the Sith Lord can be when I try to get my own way. Letting out an exasperated sigh, I resign myself to doing as I am told.

Fifteen minutes later I am still on the floor. The odd disorientation has faded, and I can still feel the Sith Lord, if distantly. I wish I was allowed to touch our bond, just this once, to reassure myself that my love is safe on the other end. This is one thing that I won’t do, though. He might become angry with me if I did, given that he has expressly forbidden me to do it.

Mia touches my shoulder so I look over at her again. She’s quite worried, judging from her expression and the odd fleeting emotions I am picking up from her. I close my eyes again. Do I feel steady enough to try and get up? If I am to keep to my lesson schedule I need to be in the gym to meet Commander Thirsk in about two hours.

‘Mia,’ I finally say, ‘I really do need to try and get to my feet.’

She reluctantly nods and stands, letting me take one of her hands to help pull myself up. I sway a little, then impose a bit of control over myself. The shakiness disappears so I take a careful step, then another, slowly making my way into the private part of the Sith Lord’s quarters. Mia never leaves my side, but she does not touch me or come too close, respecting my personal space and need to do this on my own.

When I reach the bed, I let myself sink down onto it, exhausted.

‘You need to rest, my lady,’ Mia orders.

I consider my options, then tell her, ‘I will rest for the next hour and a half, then you will come and wake me up. Commander Thirsk will be annoyed if I cancel my lesson with him. My time in the salle practicing forms I can move to this evening.’

She starts to protest, so I give her one of the looks the Sith Lord gives me when I am being stubborn. Her mouth snaps shut. Oh. So it works when I do that too. Cool. Something to remember for the future. Maybe I should try it on him as well just to see what happens.

‘I will do as you want, my lady,’ Mia concedes, obviously not happy with the situation.

It occurs to me then that Vader left her behind, deliberately, to look after me, and that if anything does happen to me, she will be the one on the receiving end of any punishment he decides is warranted.

‘Mia, if you program your private comm frequency into my comlink, I promise I will call you immediately if I am too tired or unsteady,’ I reassure her.

I do not want my friend to be hurt because of my stubbornness.

She is still not pleased with my decision, but does not argue with me. I point to the shelf above the bed where my comlink is set, and once she has done as I asked, I wave her from the room. To my frustration, Mia refuses to budge.

‘You must not be left alone, my lady,’ she insists. ‘I will stay while you sleep.’

At this, I finally give up. She obviously is not going to risk angering Vader by not following her orders. My nightgown is on the floor where I dropped it earlier, so I pick it up and proceed to strip off the dress I am wearing. Mia watches a moment, then quickly turns around to give me some privacy. That’s funny, I think, she’s as shy as I am. I drop the formal gown on the floor when I am finished and lie down on the bed to sleep, using the Sith Lord’s cloak as a blanket. The Lieutenant seats herself at the table and waits.

Her voice wakes me just in time to dress for the session with my combat instructor. I am steady on my feet now, and feel completely normal, except for that odd sense of great distance between the Dark Lord and myself. A quick change into tunic and pants, and Mia is leading me to the gym.

‘You have recovered, my lady?’ she asks as we turn down the hallway beside the salle.

‘Yes, Lieutenant,’ I reassure her, ‘I am fine now. No lasting effects, it seems.’

‘Then I will return in an hour to take you to the TIE Simulator room,’ Mia decides.

Even though I have arrived early, the battle-scarred commando is already there, waiting for me. He gives me a measuring look, then turns to Mia, raising an eyebrow at her. Obviously my friend is not the only one who has been told to keep an eye on me today.

‘I’m fine, Commander,’ I tell him, starting to get a bit annoyed. ‘I don’t need to be coddled.’

‘Very well, my lady. Today we will work on how to escape if someone grabs you from behind,’ Thirsk decides.

An hour later I have been repeatedly tossed about, and managed to escape the Commander’s grasp only a few times. He is much stronger than I am, and my attempts to match his moves and technique are having no effect against him. Frustrated by my lack of success, I decide that being polite and civilized is just not working. The next time Thirsk grabs me, I react like a wild cat and bite down hard on the hand he has firmly over my mouth. He gives a satisfying sounding yelp and loosens his hold enough that I am not only able to get away, but also put him off balance and knock him to the floor before running to the designated ‘safe’ area of the mats.

‘That, my lady,’ Thirsk tells me, examining the bite on his hand, ‘was an eminently effective tactic.’

I smile at him and admit, ‘It always worked on my brothers, so I suspected it would do the trick with you as well, Commander.’

‘I will be ready for it tomorrow, my lady, so you had better find another way to get away from me,’ he warns.

I groan inwardly. Not more of the same for another day. Nodding my head in agreement, I bid him farewell as he leaves. A few minutes later Mia is there to take me to my next lesson. She leaves me with Rik and Torin, and my next hour is spent in learning how to safely pilot a TIE from its storage rack, out of a docking bay and back again. It’s necessary to learn this, but I decide that chasing my Lord’s two wingmen around the simulator’s obstacle course is much more fun.

When Mia reappears, it is time for one of my quieter lessons. We walk back to the Sith Lord’s quarters in silence, and when she leaves, I know she will not be back again until it is time for her to teach me about the Empire’s monetary system. I know about credits and credit chips, but how much things cost and their relative worth is a complete unknown. Her session should be quite interesting.

I wander into my Lord’s office. He has left several reading assignments on the desk for me. The one on top must be what he wants me to start with, so I pick up the pages and start immediately. As I finish, I find that he has written a few questions on the last page for me to answer. It was clever of him to do that, I think at first, then realize what he wants to know will require more than a just a few minutes of simple analysis. Obviously I am supposed to work hard while he is gone. Well, I have the next two hours to think about it, and I need to get myself something from the kitchen.

It takes only a minute to go and pour myself a glass. While I do so, I realize that it feels distinctly empty in these rooms without the Dark Lord here with me. I miss him, I miss him terribly even though he has been gone only six hours.

Ani, I miss you, my love, I send to him, knowing that the distance between us is far too great for him to pick up my thought.

With a sigh, I head back to the office and my reading assignment. Today I will write out the solution I have come to so I can practice my handwriting. Partway there, I stop. Why not write out something from one of the books I have, too? That should be a good exercise, and maybe it will amuse him to read excerpts from Tolkien’s stories or a speech from one of Shakespeare’s military characters. I reverse my course and retrieve these two volumes from the bedroom.

First, I force myself to finish the in-depth analysis he wanted of those agricultural reports. Why he would be interested in crops in the Rim, I have no idea. I give this problem a quick think. The Sith Lord is quite wealthy, and that had to come from somewhere. Maybe he’s looking at where to invest or speculate. Well, Apocia wood is probably a good investment if he can buy it cheap and hang onto it for a few years. The report from Bethal suggests that those greddleback bugs will make it a scarce commodity shortly.

I quickly finish my written report. Hopefully my spelling isn’t too atrocious. Maybe I should take the time tonight to look up some of the words on the data terminal just to be sure. Setting my work aside, I start flipping through the collection of plays. What to choose? I have about half an hour before Mia arrives to look. After a few minutes, I give up. The formal, archaic sounding language might be understandable if I read it to him, but trying to convert it into Aurabesh is almost impossible. Maybe once I have a better grasp of the script, I can try it again.

The Hobbit then, instead. I start writing, making sure to leave room for corrections, and have reached the end of the fifth page when Mia arrives. She gives me a curious look, so I offer her the pages I have finished just to see what her reaction is.

‘Writing practice,’ I admit to her while she reads.

‘You need to check your spelling, my lady,’ she suggests, ‘but it looks to be an interesting story.’

She takes a seat next to me, hands the paper back to me, and I know it is now lesson time. One thing I want to know is how a credit compares to a dollar back home. Maybe the gold standard might help here. Something to ask once she is well into what she plans to tell me.

‘This is a credit chip,’ Mia tells me, pulling a square, plastic-looking thing from her pocket. ‘On some worlds they still use coins or another medium to represent money, but in the Core and out to the Mid-Rim, credit chips are universally accepted.’

I take the offered chip and turn it over a few times in my hands while she continues her lesson, ‘Chips can have designated, set amounts, or they can be added to as needed. Lord Vader will probably give you one if you ask for it.’

And what would I do with it? I want to ask, but stay silent. There’s no chance he will ever let me out of his sight, let alone go shopping. Mia gives me a shrewd look. She’s pretty good at figuring out where my thoughts are going if I am not careful to practice control around her. My friend says nothing though, simply pulls out a datapad and shows me its screen.

‘I’ll start with the simple stuff....’

By the end of the hour, I have a pretty good idea what things cost. I also have surmised that a credit is worth roughly the same as a dollar, if one uses the cost of food as a gauge. Mia is also careful to tell me what things I can’t buy and especially what will get me into trouble if I try to get it.

‘Going to a weapons dealer and asking for a lightsaber would probably be a very bad idea,’ Mia admits.

Oh. This should be fun.

‘Wait here a minute,’ I ask her.

I hurry back to the bedroom and retrieve the prop lightsaber that my brother gave me. The Sith Lord knows I have it, of course, but since it’s only a toy has let me keep it. Mia, though, doesn’t know that.

When I get back to the office, I show it to her, using my control to keep a straight face.

‘Mia, I don’t need to buy one, my brother already gave me mine,’ I tell her.

Sure enough, her jaw drops. I just knew she would react that way.

‘Does his Lordship know?’ she finally gets out.

‘Of course,’ I answer, wondering just how much longer I can keep fooling her, ‘my Lord was there when Jamie gave it to me.’

That produces an even stronger response.

‘My lady, if your brother is a Jedi, then it is for the best that your homeworld is no longer accessible,’ Mia tells me, obviously worried now, ‘Lord Vader would be forced to pursue him otherwise.’

At that I decide to let my friend in on my prank. She is getting a bit too upset for it to be funny any longer.

I start to laugh, then admit, ‘Jamie’s no Jedi, he’s a test pilot, but he would be flattered to know someone called him that.’ When Mia looks askance at me, I confess, ‘It’s just a toy, not a real weapon. Jamie gave it to me to wear with a costume.’

‘That was not very amusing, my lady,’ my friend scolds. ‘You should not joke about like that.’

‘Perhaps not,’ I concede, ‘but the look on your face was worth it.’ That produces a hint of a smile from her, but I can sense she is still a bit annoyed, so I add, ‘Mia, I promise I won’t play another trick like that on you.’

‘Good, and you should not do that with anyone else either. That sort of prank played on the wrong person could get you into a great deal of trouble,’ she warns.

She’s probably right about that. The Sith Lord was quite annoyed the time I played one on him, too. No more playing practical jokes, I decide with a sigh. Rats. That was one of the things which Jamie took great pride in getting away with. Usually he would find some way to drag me in as well. Mia looks at her chronometer and quickly gets to her feet. We have talked long past the time she normally leaves.

‘I must go immediately, my lady, or I will be late for a meeting. I will be back in four hours to take you to the salle,’ Mia states, not stopping or slowing at all on her way out of the Sith Lord’s quarters.

Once she is gone, I realize that I have four long hours to fill. I reach over and turn on the data terminal. Vader has set up an account with a log-in code for me so that I can access the dictionary and unclassified databanks which are on the ship’s new computer core, but nothing else. Time to check my spelling and browse the reference files a little. With his absence, I can have a leisurely look around rather than a hasty one. Hours later, I am still engrossed in the descriptions of different planets. What a tremendous variety of environments and life forms are out there. Maybe I will get to see some of them one day. I look up and check the chrono’ myself. Almost time to go to the salle, so I make sure I properly log-off and shut down the terminal. Mia will be here soon.

She arrives soon enough and we are off again. I am careful to thank her for this favor. Normally she would be off-duty by now. Once at the salle, the door opens at my touch. Stepping inside, I give the dueling ‘droids in the large room a wary glance. I don’t trust those things at all despite my Lord’s past reassurances that they are deactivated and harmless. My rapiers are in the mirrored salle, so I quickly go to the other room, retrieve my heirloom blade and start practicing forms. Since we are working on strength in my off-hand, I do more sets with my left rather than right hand.

The memory of the first bout we fought comes to mind. I had almost disarmed the Sith Lord, and surprised him with my switch of hands. He had not expected that at all. As a result, the last week has been full of hard, but well-thought out exercises from him to take advantage of my ambidexterity. Taking a break, I have a seat in the middle of the floor to think a moment. Vader is a very good teacher, always seeming to know just how far he can push my abilities before I fall flat on my face, literally. At least I haven’t had one of my famous clumsy episodes in here. Those have been reserved for the gym or his private quarters. I hear rapid footsteps and look up. Mia has come in here to find me. Odd. Something must be wrong.

‘His Lordship is waiting to speak with you over the Holonet, my lady. You need to be in his quarters immediately,’ Mia tells me.

I return the rapier to its storage bin and hurry after the Lieutenant. She waves me in and steps away from the door to Vader’s quarters, letting it shut between us. I quickly step onto the Holonet terminal, and a moment later, a hologram of the Sith Lord appears in front of me. Ani, I happily think to myself.

‘My Favorite,’ he greets me, ‘My return will be delayed by two days. See to it that you spend them wisely.’

Well, that was not what I wanted or expected to hear. Rats. Not sure what to say, I wait for him to give further instructions

‘Quiet are you?’ he teases a little, ‘This is a secure channel, Favorite mine, but you are wise to be circumspect even so. Tell me how you fared this morning.’

‘It was strange,’ I admit, ‘like being pulled along with you but remaining here at the same time. Mia stayed with me, but I was fine once I knew what to expect.’

‘Then you will be able to cope on your own the next time,’ he states.

‘Yes, I think I can,’ I decide.

‘I have a meeting with the fleet admirals in two days, Maia, then I will return to Fondor,’ Vader discloses. ‘Follow my previous instructions and all will be well.’

I see him look to the side and know that our time is almost up. There is no way I can tell him I love him, not even over a secure channel, not without his permission to do so, so I reach a hand out to his hologram in front of me instead. He mirrors my move and my fingertips pass through those of the projection.

Ani, I love you, I send to him.

‘Yes, I know,’ he replies, ‘and I must go now. If I can, I will contact you again sometime in the next few days.’

With that the transmission ends and his image disappears. It takes me a moment to realize that he had heard my thought to him so I wonder about it. Maybe he picked up on it because he knew it would be something I would do? Or perhaps he could hear my thought through our life-bond even at this distance? Another thing to ask when he is back.

I step down from the raised dais, and head towards the bedroom. Two more days. He will be gone two extra days. Not fair, I want to protest, but who would I complain to? Not to Ani. There is nothing he can do about the Emperor’s orders other than obey them, and I want absolutely nothing to do with that particular individual.

It is still early in the evening, but I don’t feel like doing anything other than curling up in bed. The bedroom door shuts and locks at my touch on the control panel. There is no way I want anyone to have access to this room when the Sith Lord is gone and I am asleep. I change into a nightgown, dim the lights, and crawl into bed. Sleep is elusive, so I lay there, thinking for a while. No one to eavesdrop on my thoughts, so best to take advantage of that.

It doesn’t matter that he is a Sith Lord to everyone else, I decide, to me he is Ani, the man I care for and love. He has been very careful the last week, I quickly realize, to protect me from some of what he does. The day he sent Mia to me is a good example. I would not have been able to deal with what I felt from him, if he had not done that. My friend, though, had no idea what the problem was and was quite surprised to be dealing with my bout of hysterical weeping. Whatever the Dark Lord had done that afternoon, it was far worse than the first interrogation days before that. I give my head a shake - I must learn how to deal with this, or he will eventually block my empathy to keep it from happening again.

My thoughts next turn to our relationship. He has been careful there, too. Not once has he pushed me beyond what I am willing to offer, and if anything, he has backed off completely. Passionate kisses, yes, we have had many of those. But he has yet to touch me again as he did that day I unknowingly teased him into losing control. Well, maybe it is a good thing he will be gone for the next few days. There will be nothing more than kisses from me for the next while anyway. That box of pads Mia put in my storage compartment will be in use by tomorrow or the next day. I make a face at that thought. When I asked my friend how she copes, I was told that a simple injection solves the problem. A solution, however, strictly forbidden to me, reversible though it is. My Lord will allow no delay in the arrival of his heir.

Another topic to worry at then. When, I ask myself, when will I finally yield, surrender myself to him? He is being extraordinarily patient with me on this issue, far more patient than I would have ever expected from him. Other than dropping the occasional reference to an heir or children, he has not pushed me for a decision. I will wait, I decide, wait a few more weeks to become more comfortable with him. If he still treats me with consideration and I have worked up my courage, then I will tell him yes.

My mind settled on that issue, I close my eyes and drift off into sleep.

DAY 17

Ani will be back today, is my first waking thought. I stop myself and consider what just went through my mind. It’s strange that I have taken to thinking of the Sith Lord by this name in the last few days. I ponder this while I sit up in bed. Maybe this is my way of distinguishing between the man I love and the persona he shows everyone else? Something to think about later.

One thing I am glad of is that my silly giddiness has faded in the last few days. Ani never once said anything, but I know he must have been getting tired of my need to stay close to him all the time. Fortunately, he did not mind carrying me to bed from his office each night, and I was always careful to not disturb him as he worked. Thankfully my schoolgirl infatuation has been supplanted by a far stronger, deeper emotion during my time alone. Maybe being left by myself for a while was a good thing then. It has let me work through my feelings without the object of them being a distraction nearby. I wonder if he will notice the difference in me, though.

No more time left to worry away at my concerns. I have an hour in the salle to fill, then combat training and another day of practicing docking maneuvers in the simulator. Today is another full one, and it will be quite late before Vader returns from his various errands.

My morning goes quickly, and lunchtime arrives all too soon.

Lunch will be with Mia in the Female Officers’ Lounge, a place I have yet to venture into. She collects me from the Sith Lord’s office and I walk beside her, keeping track of the route as we go. My friend has said little about the other women officers who are currently on board, so I am curious to see who will be in the place we are going to. Her only comment was that she ‘didn’t want to influence my opinion’.

When we finally reach our destination, she opens the door with a touch. I step through after her and look around the room. Like most spaces on the Executor, the lounge is practical and functional - no wasted luxuries or unnecessary details to be seen. The transparisteel windows look backwards, over the engines rather than towards the front of the ship. Tables and chairs are scattered about the room, but only a few are occupied at the moment. Opposite the windows is the galley, and the crew member in charge of it and the autochef is standing there, staring at me. As I smile at her, she takes a few steps back and disappears from sight. I stop myself from letting out a sigh. This is not an uncommon reaction, I sadly note. Ani’s reputation has rubbed off and many of the crew tend react to me the same way they do to him.

Mia leads me over to a table by a window so I take a seat and look out into space. My friend notes my reflective mood and sits quietly for a few minutes before excusing herself to go to the galley for two glasses of Endrolian ground-apple juice. My entrance silenced the conversations in the room, but they soon resume. I listen carefully. One of the things Ani taught me before he left was how to enhance my hearing and I want to take advantage of that skill to eavesdrop a bit. The current topic of choice seems to be me. How surprising, I think, sarcastically. One Lieutenant thinks I am some high-paid courtesan who is playing at being royalty, another officer is of the opinion that the amount in my contract is far too low given what my Lord must really look like, and a third is debating with her tablemates just how aggressive and demanding the Sith Lord is in bed given the bite marks I have been seen with. Some of the other topics of discussion are even worse.

It is all I can do to keep my own feelings locked tightly away. I want to leave, I decide, rather than hear any more speculations from these women. Before Mia returns to our table, I get up and start to head towards the door. My friend sees me move and concern flashes across her face. Not wanting to say anything out loud, I simply give my head a shake and continue on my path. The voices in the room are silent again, every eye watching as I step into the corridor. Once away from their sight, I lean my back against a wall and close my eyes. There was not one person in that room I would even bother introducing myself to. The ones who were not gossiping about my personal life were busy trying to figure out how they could use me to advance their careers.

When Mia comes looking for me, I keep the door open with my hand and let my gaze wander around the now dead silent room. My friend glances at me, surprised by my actions, but makes no comment or move to interfere. To make a point, I stare directly at the officer who voiced the worst of the opinions I overheard. She meets my eyes for only a moment, then drops hers to the floor and turns bright red. Good. That will give what I am about to say even more impact.

‘One should always be careful what they say in a public place,’ I warn, ‘you never know who might be listening.’

With that I spin about, my cloak snapping behind me as I do so. Wearing it today was a good idea, I realize. That was a neat way to emphasize my rather theatrical exit.

As I storm down the corridor, I hear Mia’s hurried steps behind me, but I don’t slow to let her catch up. If pushed, my strides are as quick and almost as long as the Sith Lord’s and today I decide to increase my pace. After that nasty scene I just left, I want to walk by myself for a while so I can deal with what happened. Often when I am angry, I find it far easier to think when I am moving than if I sit down somewhere to brood. So I continue down the hall and when I reach the turbolift, I reverse my path and pace back down the way I just came, past my friend who turns to follow me in the other direction.

‘You should sit down, Lieutenant,’ I order, ‘I am not going anywhere. I just need to be on my feet so I can think clearly.’

For the next half hour I pace quickly up and down the corridor with Mia watching my every move.

I finally stop, clasp my hands behind my back in an imitation of one of the Sith Lord’s poses and stare into space, thinking. Ani was right that this would be a lonely life. The only person I can really talk to and trust is him. Mia could be a friend to a certain extent, but even her I can never allow as close to me as Rick and Bill were. And those shallow, ambitious, self-serving creatures I just encountered? I will not bother with a single one of them. I shut my eyes and let out a sigh.

‘Let’s go, Lieutenant,’ I tell Mia, ‘I have had enough of this corridor for the moment.’

I spin away from her and head along the path I memorized earlier, leading us unerringly back to Ani’s quarters. Once there, I send my friend off to have her meal, alone, while I do the same. Mia returns on time, and thankfully does not mention our aborted attempt at lunch. I am sure, though, that she will tell the Sith Lord about the incident and I will hear from him about my behavior all too soon.

Time to put it from my mind and concentrate on today’s lesson. Mia has chosen to cover identification cards, Imperial customs, and bureaucratic procedures. Not the most interesting of topics, but at least she has brought my official citizenship records and new military id card with her.

She hands my card to me with a smile, so I give it a careful examination. From now on, I will have to carry it when I am outside of the Dark Lord’s quarters. The background is pale blue, I note, and the hologram reminds me of the photo on my Driver’s License back home.

‘Why is it,’ I ask, ‘that all my identification cards seem to have horrible pictures on them?’

Mia hands me her own in response. Well at least her picture looks better than mine. The background is violet instead of blue though.

‘The color gives security clearance,’ Mia tells me, picking up on my unspoken question. ‘Blue is the highest, then violet and so on. Yours is light in shade, showing that even though you are a civilian without access to classified information or areas, you are to otherwise be treated as if you were Lord Vader’s equal. Not that it’s really necessary at the moment. Everyone on board knows who you are by now and will act accordingly. With his Lordship’s permission, I will see to it that any new officers and crew will have information on your rank included in their pre-arrival briefing. There should be no more incidents like the one this morning.’

She would remind me of today’s other unfortunate encounter. As sections of the Executor are completed, different groups of troops, officers, and other personnel are being shipped in. With a crew complement in the tens of thousands, it is essential that they be in place and ready by the time the ship is finished and setting off on its first tour. My Lord wants no delays due to an ill-prepared crew or under-staffed ship.

We had been waiting by a turbolift when one group of these new arrivals had passed by us in the corridor. The comments from some of them relating to my appearance had been, well, flattering I suppose, but Mia had been livid with their supervising officer. That unfortunate man looked like he wanted to space himself when she was done dressing him down in front of his men, and the troopers were in not much better straits. Then again, given who my Lord is, they probably had good reason to worry. Good thing Ani wasn’t on board, I think, or he probably would have made an example of someone.

‘You aren’t going to tell my Lord about that are you?’ I question, hoping she will just let it go.

‘I have no choice, my lady. If I didn’t and he found out, he would be furious,’ Mia answers. ‘His Lordship never tolerates that type of dishonesty or cover-up from any of his staff.’

‘Well, I just hope he isn’t too hard on that Sergeant. It wasn’t his fault he was never told about me,’ I tell her.

‘No,’ Mia admits, ‘but he is responsible for the behavior of his men and they were out of line.’

She takes her id back and hands me a package. ‘Your citizenship, formal recognition and filing of your contract with Lord Vader, and transfers of property and funds as per your agreement,’ Mia identifies. ‘Keep it in a safe place until Lord Vader returns and can put it away for you.’

I set the bundle of formal parchment documents and the holocron holding their encoded electronic copies on the desk. My curiosity will have me look through them later, when I am alone.

‘Now,’ Mia starts, ‘Let’s talk about what most citizens need to know about the government and bureaucracy in order to survive....’

That was a boring lesson, I decide as my friend departs. Paper pushers are the same everywhere. With a sigh I turn my attention back to the package of documents. Time to look at something which should be a bit more interesting. I pick up the contract first. While I told Mia that the compensation didn’t matter to me, ever since the storm of publicity over our match, I have become rather curious about what the Sith Lord has paid me. It takes a few minutes to work through the legalese and find the section I want. What was he thinking and why did he do that, I wonder, as I look at the number listed on the page. After the lesson on credits, I know exactly what that sum represents.

I set that document aside and pull out the citizenship papers. Name, parents, birth date, same as at home, but changed to the Imperial calendar, place of birth. It’s rather curious how Ani decided to list that; Gaea, Solar system, Unknown Regions. The signature at the bottom gives me a start, though. Palpatine himself had signed it. That piece of paper goes back in its envelope quite quickly after I see that. What next? Banking information from the look of it and deeds of title. Formal transfers between Vader’s personal holdings and what has been set up to look after mine. Boring stuff, so I put it back in the pile and take the entire stack back to the bedroom. It goes into the storage compartment with my dresses.

What to do now with my time? The Devastator will not be back in system for hours yet and I have already finished my lessons for the day. I want to do something special for Ani, I decide, so I have a quick bath and braid my hair to get it to go into nice waves. The gown I like best, I drag out of the drawer and fold it over the back of one of the chairs. Too bad I won’t be allowed to go meet him when his shuttle arrives, but I can be waiting for him when he gets back to his quarters.

There’s nothing else to do while my hair dries, so I wrap his robe around myself and wander back to his office. A few minutes later I am happily looking through the databank again for information on different planets. He had mentioned Imperial Center, so I call up the files on it first. What a bleak place, I decide. All those buildings and no sign of any natural environment anywhere. The Imperial Palace looks impressive enough, and the universities might warrant a visit, but there is nothing else on that planet which would otherwise interest me.

What else to look up? I pull up the planet index and start randomly reading entries. Most of the ones I look at are of no interest to me, so I finally give up, log-off and go back to the bedroom. The Sith Lord will be back soon. Time to unbraid my hair and get changed. Ten minutes later, I am tugging the gown into place and fussing about with my hair. I could wait in here, but I decide to go sit on the steps leading into his meditation pod. When he gets close, I will sense him and be on my feet, waiting.

The instant the Devastator arrives, I feel the nearness of my love’s presence through our life-bond. He is very tired, I can tell that much, and a bit frustrated by something, I think. I should not be able to sense his mood this clearly, so he must be close to exhaustion to allow this much to so easily reach me. A quiet night, then, I decide, he needs a quiet evening and a good night’s sleep. Hopefully there will be nothing pressing for him to deal with and he can make his way here, to me, immediately.

No such luck, though. I know he is on board the Executor now, but elsewhere, busy with something. There is nothing I can do except wait and brood a little. As the door slides open I am already on my feet, but when the Sith Lord enters, he is not alone. A moment later, he is in his office with Mia and Admiral Griff while I am left standing by myself, ignored and feeling rather foolish. They stay in the office, door closed for many minutes, giving no sign that they will be finished their meeting anytime soon, so I finally give up and go back into the bedroom. He didn’t even send me a passing thought, I think.

I close the bedroom door with a touch, sit on the edge of the bed and debate what I should do next. Mia, I am sure, has or will give every detail of the last four days to him. There is no point in trying to hide anything that I have done or said when in her presence. He is going to be angry at that Sergeant, I think, and at me, too, after that scathing comment I delivered to those female officers. Who am I to judge their words and behavior? It would have been better just to ignore them and endure it in silence.

Control, Maia, I remind myself, you need to rein in that temper or you will be heading in a direction you swore you would avoid. With a sigh, I shut my eyes. Maybe I should simply stay in his quarters and not go out, isolate myself from everything and everyone except my Lord. No more risk then of any scenes or foolish blunders on my part.

When the bedroom door opens, I stay where I am, still with my eyes closed. I hear it slide shut behind him and a stack of flimsies hits the table. Then two hands are set around my face, tip it upward, and I hear an exasperated sigh break through the normal pattern of his breathing. Here comes my scolding, I think.

‘What am I supposed to do with you?’ he scolds. ‘Once, just once, I give you permission to fraternize with some of the officers, and what do you do? Give them a dressing down worthy of an Admiral.’

He lets go of my face and I hear him turn away. I open my eyes and look at his back. Is he mad at me or not? No way to tell from his tone and he is keeping his emotions tightly in check as well. I can feel almost nothing from him except frustration and disappointment.

Well, here goes nothing then. Best be formal about it, too.

‘My Lord, they deserved it,’ I tell him, then shut up, stay silent, and wait.

I can sense him measuring what I just said, perhaps against what Mia must have told him. Did my friend hear any of the conversations in that room? Has she told him some of what those women really said, or has she closed ranks with her fellow officers? There is no way I can know what occurred in the meeting the Sith Lord just left.

He pivots around to face me, points a finger at me, and I know my punishment is about to be announced. ‘You, my Favorite, will stay in this room, except for your lessons, since you cannot or will not act appropriately in public. I will not lock you in, but if you need to step outside that door, you will ask my permission first.’

That’s not fair, I think to myself.

‘Fair? Fair? Do you think I enjoy having to deal with more than a dozen formal complaints about your behavior?’ he tells me, anger audible in his voice now.

‘What!’ I exclaim.

He can’t be serious.

‘Every one of the officers who was present was rather offended by that exhibition you put on,’ the Sith Lord tells me. ‘Read it for yourself.’

He grabs the reports he brought with him from the table and shoves them at me. I take them and read through the first one from some Lieutenant or another.

I was supposed to have said this? Seriously? And done that as well? A glance up at Vader gives no clues to what he is thinking, so I shake my head and set the first set of pages aside. I rifle through the rest, looking to see if the accounts of the event are consistent. Sure enough, there is little difference between each of the women’s stories. I narrow my eyes, furious. How typical. The whole lot of them must have got together after Mia and I left and concocted this tale to cover up their own indiscrete words, knowing that as a group they would have far more credibility with the Sith Lord than we would. I set the flimsies on the bed, disgusted by what is in them.

‘How little you truly know me, my Lord, if you honestly believe I would behave in such a manner,’ I quietly say to him.

I won’t argue with him about any of it, I decide. I will just take my punishment as meted out, since he obviously won’t believe my account of the incident even if I give it to him. Yet another lesson learned the hard way. Never say anything in public if the bulk of the witnesses are hostile or unknowns.

I get to my feet, and push past him to retrieve a nightgown from the storage compartment. Without saying a word, I go and lock myself in the ‘fresher to get changed. When I step back out again, he is gone, the bedroom door closed, and I am once again alone.

Why, I think sadly, why did they lie to him? Were they that afraid I would say something to him, even though I had no intention to? Was it because they knew as a group they could get away with it? Vipers in uniform, I decide, dishonest, treacherous, and ruthless. And I am the one who is being punished because of it, not those who truly deserve it. I shake my head, disappointed and saddened. Well, they had better hope that their deception stays undiscovered. If my Lord ever realizes what they just did the consequences will be far worse than I can imagine.

My stomach growls at me. I haven’t had supper yet. The bedroom door opens at a touch, but I don’t step through.

My Lord, I need to get the jug and glasses. May I go into the kitchen for a few minutes? I ask, following the rules he just imposed on me.

Yes, is his curt answer, and I know he will keep any other words to me just as brief until his temper has settled down.

I step from my prison into the next room and open the cooling unit. The jug is almost empty, so I check the shelves I just restocked. What to choose? There is a supplement mix which is close to strawberries in taste and it is one I particularly like. A quick rinse of the jug in the sink and I am dumping my selection into it. As I go to get the glasses, I hear Commander Thirsk’s voice in the central room, just outside the den. What’s he doing here, I wonder. Curious, I slow my actions down a bit and listen carefully.

‘My Lord,’ the Commander begins, ‘I need to speak with you immediately about a certain incident I witnessed earlier today.’

This sounds interesting.

‘Very well, Commander,’ the Sith Lord replies, ‘What is it?’

‘Your Favorite was rather upset, I think, by what I overheard her say, and judging from the way she tore up and down the main corridor in section C35...’

The den door glides shut and locks. Rats. I am obviously not going to hear the rest of this story. How I missed the Commander’s presence in the area, I don’t know. Disappointed, I pick up the glasses and now full jug, and go back to the bedroom to have my meal. Hours later I am still alone and too tired to stay awake reading any longer, so I go to bed and let myself drift off.

A few minutes later I am rudely shaken from my sleep.

‘Get up and get dressed,’ the Sith Lord orders before he turns and stalks from the room.

I can tell that he is absolutely furious about something. The heat of his barely restrained anger burns in the back of my mind. Not wanting to provoke him, I quickly pull on some clothes and wait in the bedroom’s doorway. A moment later he reappears in my sight, glances over at me, and beckons me to his side. He barely slows his pace tonight, so I speed mine up to match it as I am led down towards the docking bays. What on Earth is going on? When we reach the largest completed hangar, I stop in surprise only to be dragged by my arm back to his side and escorted into the center of the deck. The hangar is full of the ship’s senior officers.

Remain where you are, the Sith Lord orders, and stay silent unless I tell you otherwise.

I do exactly as I am told, and have a look around to try and see if I can figure out what is happening. Admiral Griff has now joined us as well, but I can see no sign of Mia or anyone else I recognize. The Admiral stands beside Vader and I for a few minutes, then marches towards a group of female officers. He stops a few steps from them, making eye contact with some, before starting to speak.

‘In all my years in command,’ Griff flatly states, ‘I have never been as disappointed by a group of my officers as I was today. It is one thing to have an opinion in private, quite another to voice it publicly and in as rude a manner possible in front of the person in question. To then try and cover up such an indiscretion by conspiring and filing false reports is unacceptable and grounds for disciplinary action and dismissal... ‘

I listen to him tear into the officers in question for nearly half an hour. He’s good at that, almost as good as my brother’s commanding officer from what Jamie has told me.

Finally Griff drops the boom on them, ‘If you had lied about anyone else’s actions and statements, it would be I who determines your fates, but you foolishly choose to aim your accusations at Lord Vader’s Favorite.’ The Admiral turns back to face the Sith Lord, adding, ‘They are yours to deal with as you deem fit, my Lord.’ He then walks back and waits next to me for what Vader decides to do.

Their little conspiracy didn’t stay a secret for very long, now did it, probably due to Commander Thirsk, who I will be sure to thank tomorrow. I see the Sith Lord beside me fold his arms across his chest and stare at the group in question. He wouldn’t do something to all of them right here and now, would he? His head turns slightly towards me and I know he has picked up on my thought.

‘I will leave their punishment up to you, Admiral,’ Vader decides, ‘surely you can think of something which is appropriate, but there is one individual who will answer specifically to me.’

‘Lieutenant Keol,’ Griff calls.

Mia? What did she do wrong?

I watch her step out from the ranks and walk towards us. She stops a few meters from the Sith Lord and waits. Strangely, there is no fear on her face at all.

Ani, don’t, please. She didn’t do anything wrong.

He turns his head to look at me. So sure are you?

Yes.

You need to be more careful of who it is you trust.

‘Explain to me Lieutenant, why you remained silent and lied about certain aspects of the incident in question when I specifically commanded you to disclose every detail to me,’ Vader orders.

Mia stays quiet, but her eyes drop from looking straight at us to stare down at the floor.

She lied to you?

Yes.

‘Well, Lieutenant. I expect an answer from you, or will a trip to the detention block be required?’ he threatens.

My friend goes pale at that.

I give another sideways glance at the man beside me. Well, I am going to try and get her to talk myself. Mia, I think hard at her, tell him what he wants to know, please, for my sake. I see her eyes flick towards me. Did she hear my thought?

Don’t ever again interfere when I discipline one of my officers, Maia, the Sith Lord coldly warns. I will not tolerate that from you.

It is now my turn to have the color drain from my face. Mia sees my distress, then looks back at Vader before returning her eyes to the deck. I know I will not be able to take much more of this, and I can sense that the Dark Lord is losing his patience with her. When it is gone, it will be no controlled demonstration that he inflicts on her, and I want to be nowhere near when that happens.

Ani, I plead, please let me go back to our quarters.

‘Commander Thirsk, escort my Favorite back to my quarters,’ he orders, ‘and stay there until I contact you.’

Thank you, I silently tell him.

A moment later I am walking beside the commando, away from what I expect will be, in a few minutes, a very ugly scene. We get about halfway to the Sith Lord’s quarters before I feel a surge of rage from him. Mia, I sadly think, as I stop cold, give my head a shake, then stagger sideways into Thirsk as my mind is completely flooded. He simply sweeps me up into his arms and carries me the rest of the way, ignoring the shocked looks from those we meet. I feel far too ill to even try to protest.

Once at our destination, the Commander continues into the private rooms, lays me on the bed and proceeds to treat me as he would one of his troops who is a state of shock. I am carefully set on my side, propped in place with the pillows and bundled up in the bed covers. My pulse, breathing, and temperature are all quickly checked. There is no way I can stop my shaking, so I don’t even attempt to do so.

‘Never had to deal with one of his Lordship’s killings before, have you?’ he bluntly observes.

It’s all I can do to give my head a negative shake.

‘A soul-bond can be a difficult thing to bear, my lady,’ Thirsk comments as he pulls one of the chairs over to the bed.

What is he talking about? Ani told me it was my empathy which was the problem. I try to move a little so I can look at the Commander. He stops me with a touch to my shoulder.

‘On my homeworld, we would say you two are soul-bonded, opposite halves of the same soul,’ he states, answering the question which must be on my face. ‘Neither of you can live without the other, and I don’t think his Lordship has realized all the implications of that yet. If he truly understood, he would never have done what he just did to you.’

Thirsk sits back in the chair and watches me for a few minutes. ‘It is not really my place to tell you this, but someone has to do it. His Lordship cannot control himself when he is enraged. If you do not block him out when he is in that state, his anger will eventually destroy you.’

I just lay there and consider his words. He’s right, I realize. Too many more episodes like this one and the two interrogation sessions before that, and I will go mad if I do nothing about it. Nodding my understanding, I wait for the Commander to say something else. Instead he gets up to draw another blanket over me, checks my pulse again, and resumes his seat.

‘You should try to sleep, my lady,’ Thirsk suggests. ‘I will stay with you until Lord Vader returns. While I would prefer to take you down to Medical, I will do as his Lordship ordered and keep you here.’

Thirsk will never let anyone near me unless the Sith Lord explicitly tells him to. There is no reason to worry since I will be protected and completely safe. I shut my eyes and eventually calm my shaking body. Sleep finally comes and I do not hear anything more until Vader returns to his quarters.

‘Commander,’ I hear my Lord quietly ask, ‘my Favorite is... ?’

‘In shock, my Lord, as I expected her to be and as I warned you would happen. She is stable for the moment, but should be watched nonetheless,’ Thirsk bluntly states, cutting into Vader’s question and keeping his voice just as low.

My instructor is bordering on rudeness and might get himself into trouble.

There is silence from the Dark Lord, so the Commander tells him, ‘You cannot continue doing this to her, my Lord. The next time, you could easily kill her.’

Why is Thirsk risking his neck like this for me? I hear him get out of the chair and move it back to where it was before, beside the table.

Vader does not reply to the Commander’s last statement, but instead decides, ‘My office is a more appropriate location for this discussion.’ I hear him draw near to me, then observe, ‘We have woke her, Thirsk, when she needs to sleep,’ before telling me, ‘I will leave the comm on, Maia. If you need me, call.’

I feel another blanket drop over me and realize that he has added his cloak to what I am wrapped in. Seconds later I hear their footsteps leave the room and let myself slide into sleep once more.

***

I would prefer to stay, to look after Maia, but instead I drop my cloak over her and leave the room, Thirsk on my heels.

He obviously has something important to say to me. I stay on my feet and pace my office floor while I wait for him to do so.

‘Well?’ I prompt when nothing is forth coming.

‘Soul-bonded you two are,’ he flatly states.

‘Don’t be a fool, Thirsk,’ I reply, scoffing a bit, ‘that’s just one of your world’s myths.’

‘No myth, no legend, my Lord,’ he insists, ‘but fact.’

I stop and look at him. He’s risking much by repeating what he told me and I dismissed this afternoon, but from his expression he still has more to say. Why is he holding back? And what is he holding back?

‘Say what you want, Thirsk,’ I order. ‘I will be less inclined to be charitable if you stay silent.’

‘This has happened before,’ the Commander shrewdly surmises.

‘Yes,’ I wearily answer, resuming my pacing. ‘Twice when I was interrogating prisoners.’

We were over this ground earlier, after he told me of Lieutenant Keol’s deception.

He shakes his head, ‘That’s not what I am referring to.’

‘Then what … ?’ I start to ask before I stop dead in my tracks.

He’s not referring to what just happened to Maia at all.

Padme.

My anger, my darkness destroyed her.

Maia.

My anger will do the same to her if I do nothing to shield her from it.

I whirl about and look at him. How did he know?

‘Your broken soul-bond has always been obvious to me, my Lord,’ he answers my unspoken question. ‘Though how you survived what normally would be fatal on my world, I don’t know.’

‘Fatal,’ I quietly repeat.

Padme’s death nearly killed me. Only my wretched life support systems and implants had kept me alive once I fully realized what I had done.

I won’t survive a second such incident, of that I am certain.

‘Guard her for me, Thirsk,’ I order, ‘watch over her carefully. There are things I must do before morning.’

***

DAY 18

Sick, I feel terribly sick today. I keep my eyes tightly shut and let out a low moan. There is a rustle of fabric, then a few footsteps.

Ani? I wonder.

My little goddess, he answers. You are very ill. Don’t move, just stay where you are.

I am still propped up on my side with the pillows and wrapped up in enough blankets that I can’t move easily even if I wanted to. Last night. Something horrible happened to me, to someone else. Mia... No. Don’t even think about that now. Later, when I feel up to dealing with it. There is an odd silence in the room. I cannot even hear my love’s breathing.

Ani? I mind-call again, starting to panic now.

Hush now, I am right here, he soothes.

His weight is beside me on the bed as he sits down, and a gloved hand touches my forehead.

You stayed in your armor all night, watching and guarding me?

‘Actually it was the Commander who stayed with you until I sent him off to get some sleep about an hour ago. I had other tasks last night which no one else could do,’ he admits. ‘Now, you must rest, Maia, and if you won’t be still and quiet, I will put you into a healing trance.’

Alright, I will sleep some more since that is obviously what he wants me to do. I let my mind empty and drift a bit. Hours later I wake up again, and I know the Sith Lord is gone. Opening my eyes, I find a trooper standing in the doorway. He sees that I am awake and removes his helmet. Oh. Commander Thirsk has returned. Good, I think happily, Ani has sent a familiar face to watch over me. I take a second look at him. Why is he in his armor, with his heavy blaster drawn and ready?

‘You’re awake, my lady,’ the Commander observes, moving one of the chairs over so he can sit beside me in it.

The helmet goes on the floor next to him, his blaster across his lap. I notice that he is positioned so he can look out the door and move quickly if he needs to. Something must be seriously amiss.

He picks up my wrist and checks my pulse.

‘Steady and strong at last, and a good thing, too,’ he comments, setting my hand back down. ‘His Lordship is still busy dealing with that cheelah’s nest he stirred up last night,’ Thirsk informs me next. ‘I have orders to stay and guard you. He will trust no one else with that task now.’

I give him a puzzled look. Exactly what did happen after I left the docking bay?

‘Got you curious, haven’t I?’ he comments next. ‘Want to hear a story? I have permission to tell some of it to you, if you want to hear it.’

Story? This should be good. I try to free myself from the blankets and sit up, but he stops me with a touch on my hand.

‘Stay where you are. There’s no need to move, just listen,’ Thirsk calmly tells me. ‘I was asked by Lord Vader to keep an eye on you while he was gone and you were outside his quarters. Good thing, too, otherwise that little witch would have got away with far more than what she tried to and did.’ Thirsk leans forward and looks at me carefully, watching for my reaction to what he says next. ‘The Lieutenant was a deep sleeper agent, my lady, one planted years ago in his Lordship’s staff.’

‘That can’t be true,’ I try to say, but it comes out only in a whisper.

My friend couldn’t have been a spy, could she?

‘Unfortunately, it is,’ the Commander confirms. ‘Why else would she have lied to Lord Vader about what you said and did yesterday?’

She really did lie to Ani. And about me. Why?

He gives me a measuring look, then gets up and closes the bedroom door before returning to his chair.

‘You my lady, are his Lordship’s chosen, soul-bound mate,’ he flatly states, ‘and harming or killing you would destroy him.’

I stare at him in response. How does he know this?

‘What?’ I whisper.

‘Anyone from my homeworld knows what a soul-bond represents,’ Thirsk tells me, ‘and what the price is. His Lordship will not live a day past your death nor you, his. I forced him to accept that fact last night.’

So my musings on this topic were correct. Oh, Ani, I sadly think to myself, what are we going to do about this?

Thirsk sees my distress, shakes his head, then continues, ‘The Lieutenant and I were raised on the same planet, my lady. Once she knew how tightly you were bound, she told whoever her controller was about it. They must have ordered her to go after you, knowing what might happen to Lord Vader as a result. If their intentions were to simply kill his Lordship, though, they would have tried to do that years ago. No, whoever she answered to wanted to hurt him first, and in the worst possible way that they could.’

The Commander falls silent for a moment, thoughtful. Finally he resumes speaking, ‘She knew I was watching you, so she had to get you somewhere I couldn’t easily go. I don’t know what was said in the Lounge, but I have a good idea, given your reaction. No doubt she set things up beforehand to get the response from you she needed. Fortunately, you chose to remain in the corridor instead of stepping inside where there would have been no independent witnesses.’

Another pause from him. ‘Lord Vader trusted her implicitly. In all the years she worked for him, there was never a single hint of what she really was, so of course he believed her. My guess is that she was ordered to use you to torment him, for a while at least. Later, she would have killed you, knowing what the broken bond would do to him. So she did as she was told, by first trying to discredit you in his eyes and then by doing much worse when that failed.’

Worse, I wonder, what else did she try to do? The Commander gives no more details though. Maybe Ani will tell me.

‘I witnessed that dressing down you delivered, along with two of my senior men.’ Thirsk lets out a chuckle, ‘You did very well at that. Better than I might have, in fact, under the same circumstances.’

I smile at his praise. The stories from Jamie about some of the scoldings he had received had given me a good idea of what to say.

He sits back in his chair, and I suspect he is debating what to tell me next, but he says nothing more about the topic, only admits, ‘I have probably told you far more than I should have and you still need to rest.’

Obviously he is not going to tell me any more than what he already has, and I am too tired to think about it now. Time for another nap then, so I shut my eyes and let myself drift off once again.

The next time I wake, Ani is sleeping, flat on his back, next to me. He has not moved me from where I have been propped up. It must be late in the evening of our daily cycle for him to have come back here to rest. I need to get up though. The ‘fresher is calling after I have been so long in bed, but I am afraid to move in case I startle him. There is no other option - I will have to rouse him.

‘Ani,’ I whisper, ‘wake up.’

When he does not stir, I try another tactic, Ani, wake up.

Still no response. My poor love must be exhausted. Well, I will just let him sleep and put up with my discomfort for a few more hours.

Since it’s quiet, maybe I should have a think about my former friend. After a while, I give up. I do not understand her motives, her thinking at all. To be kind to me one minute, then turn viciously and attack the next, all the while giving no hint of her true feelings or allegiance makes no sense to me. How can someone be capable of such actions? The Sith Lord beside me perhaps can answer that question for me.

I decide to worry away at another question then. Who was she working for? Had to be someone with a grudge against Ani, and also with enough influence to get the Lieutenant on his staff. And someone with a lot of patience, too, to wait as long as they did before having their agent act. What was it that my love had said - the Emperor had forced him to take her on. Now was that part of the act they put on that day or not? I think harder. Mia had been reluctant to have a meal with me until she found out Ani would be delayed. Then, she had put it off as long as she possibly could. Had she taken the time in between to plot out her moves? Or was she waiting for instructions from her boss? I refrain from shaking my head in frustration. There are not enough facts at hand and too many unknowns for me to puzzle out this problem.

Too awake and uncomfortable to fall asleep again, I just lay quietly beside my love. Yesterday must have been quite terrible for him. First those false reports to deal with, then the truth to face. I think he really trusted Mia, well as much as he would anyone, for him to leave me in her care. It must have been quite a shock for Ani to hear the Commander tell him that the aide he believed completely trustworthy and truthful had, in fact, lied to him instead. She betrayed him after all those years he knew her, and that must have hurt, even though he will never admit that it did. No wonder his anger when he killed her was strong enough to do to me what it did.

I wonder what the Commander told him last night, after I fell asleep the second time. Thirsk knows far more than he is letting on from what I overheard last night and what he told me this afternoon. He’s also quite comfortable scolding Ani, too. There are few, if any, officers who would stand up to the Sith Lord the way that he did. Perhaps they are old friends? Certainly my love trusted him to see that I came to no harm and to stand guard over me today.

My love stirs a little beside me, so I attempt to wake him once again. Ani, my love, wake up, please.

There is an odd intake of breath, then a rather sleepy sounding response. Maia?

Sorry to disturb you, my love, but I have to get up for a few minutes, I tell him, and I didn’t want to startle you.

Go, quickly, he says, and hurry back.

Why? I want to ask, but don’t. It takes a few minutes to extract myself from the blankets before I dart for the ‘fresher. I still take the time to wash my face even after he urged me to hurry back to bed. The lights are on their lowest setting when I return, and the excess blankets and pillows are in a heap on the floor. Ani has not moved from where he was, so he must have used the Force to shift things about. I walk quietly to the side of the room, pull out a nightgown and quickly get changed, leaving my clothes in a pile where I drop them.

Standing by the bed, I gaze down at the Sith Lord. He looks completely exhausted, even after a few hours rest. My poor love, I think again, what have you done to yourself? His eyes open at my thought, and a hand lifts to beckon me back. I quickly take my place beside him, to be immediately wrapped in his arms.

Better, he tells me, I have unfortunately become used to having you next to me and find it difficult to sleep soundly when you are not. He kisses the back of my neck. Go to sleep, Favorite mine. I will rest better now that you are near.

After a few minutes, I realize that he is soundly, deeply asleep, while I am still wide awake. Rats. Well, I will count sheep or work on a boring mental problem to put myself out.

At sheep number fifty-one, I am asleep.

DAY 19

‘Wake up, Maia,’ the Sith Lord calls to me.

I open my eyes. He is already up and in his armor. Rats. No kisses for a week now and I have missed getting those from him.

‘Not without a kiss,’ I insist.

‘Lazy little hedonist,’ he teases.

I stubbornly shut my eyes again. The last two days have been, perhaps, the most stressful in my life and all I want to do is stay here, safe in bed. I don’t want to get up. If I did, I would have to deal with what has happened and I would rather not.

‘You can’t hide in here forever, Maia,’ my love tells me.

I still refuse to budge.

‘My stubborn little goddess,’ he teases some more. Then his tone becomes more serious, ‘You must get up, my Favorite. I require an official statement from you to enter into Griff’s disciplinary files. You also need to spend some time working through your feelings about the events of two days ago, and I will help you with this. Now, if you won’t co-operate and get up on your own, I will do something to encourage you to do so.’

‘Like what?’ I blurt out without thinking.

The next thing I know, the covers are on the floor, and I have been hauled out of bed and into his arms. A moment later he drops me in the bath, cushioning my fall with the Force, and turns the shower on full blast with ice cold water. I just lay there for a minute, spluttering, soaked and chilled. Growling in annoyance, I launch myself at him. He takes a few rapid steps back, out of my range, into the bedroom, and sure enough, as I pursue him, I end up sprawled on the floor in front of him.

‘I did warn you, Favorite mine. Next time, do as you are told,’ Vader scolds.

I push myself up from the floor and know he must be getting an eyeful. The light nightgown I am wearing is now plastered against my body, leaving little to the imagination. This situation is just too good to let go, so I decide to take advantage of it, shyness be damned, and be as forward as I dare. A little flirtation should be fun.

‘Ani, can’t the paperwork wait,’ I tease, stepping close in to him, ‘It’s been a week since I’ve had a kiss.’

There is silence from him, and I can sense that he is wondering what I am up to. I push myself up against him next, set my chin on his chest and run a finger down from where his cloak is anchored in place, past the life support control panel, along the top of his belt to finally stop and rest my hand in the middle of his back. My other hand I set on his chest beside my face, tapping lightly, impatiently, on his armor with one finger. After a few seconds, he sets his own hand on mine, stopping my gentle drumming.

‘Behave yourself,’ he warns, but I can tell he is not the least bit annoyed. Good. I can safely tease him and play around a bit.

‘Ani, didn’t you miss me while you were gone?’ I ask next. With this I snuggle up as close as I can to him, and turn my head to rest my cheek against his chest. His robes are now becoming soaked with water from my nightgown.

‘How could I not, my beautiful, stubborn, little concubine?’ he answers my question with one of his own.

This is even better, I think happily, he wants to play along with me. I feel his free hand wrap around my back, slide down to my waist, and pull me hard into his body. The door glides shut behind him and the environmental system activates.

‘I missed you every minute,’ I confess, ‘and thought of you every second.’

‘I couldn’t sleep,’ he admits, ‘without you there beside me.’

My wet nightgown is starting to chill me and I shiver a touch. Ani pulls his cloak around me with the hand he had resting on mine. Soon the air will be safe for him to breath and I am now the one wondering what the other will do. The panel glows green, but he still holds me close a minute or two longer.

‘Go warm yourself up with a bath,’ Ani suggests, ‘while I change my robes you have so conveniently soaked.’

Rats. Sounds like no more fun to me. I do as he wishes and am soon covered with a towel. Should have grabbed your clothes first, I scold myself. Now you will have to either dress in front of him or find some excuse to do so in the ‘fresher. There is no help for it, though.

With a sigh, I open the ‘fresher door and step out, only to have the lights inside the bedroom and ‘fresher go out. While my eyes try to adjust to the blackness, I am grabbed from behind and tossed bodily through the air onto the bed. My first instinctive reaction is to shriek, the second trained one to move into a position to defend myself. When I feel my attacker’s body on the bed, I launch myself at him just as the Commander had taught me to. A few minutes of futile struggling later, the towel is nowhere to be found, his robe has been pulled off, and I am pinned to the bed with Ani’s lips locked securely on mine.

You are a fierce little creature, aren’t you? he teases. Who did you expect was in here? Rebels?

That wasn’t funny, Ani, I scold him. I can’t see in the dark and you scared me half to death.

Then I shall have to teach you how, he decides, more lessons on Sense this week, for you.

He finishes our kiss and pulls a blanket over both of us. The lights come up a little so that I can see.

Chuckling a bit, my love comments, ‘From that reception you just gave me, Thirsk has been most thorough in your training.’

‘He is a good teacher,’ I tell him, ‘but he still hasn’t found a way to rid me of my clumsiness.’

‘Obviously, given that entertaining and provocative display you put on a few minutes ago,’ he teases me some more.

‘Careful, Sith Lord,’ I warn, ‘I am sure you have done things just as embarrassing as that.’

‘Not in many, many years,’ he admits, ‘but as a padawan, yes.’

He is quiet for a long moment, and I know he is remembering whatever incident my comment brought to mind. I tug the blanket up a bit, making sure I am modestly covered, then snuggle into his side. With a sigh, I lay my head on his shoulder, wrap an arm around his chest and wait for him to return from his reminiscences of the past to the present.

I love you Ani, I tell him.

A quick kiss on the top of my head is his response. I match this with a peck on his cheek. His arms fall about me and I send him a few contented thoughts. It’s warm here next to him and I like being held this way. I can quite happily forget about the last two days while he keeps me in his arms.

‘Forget?’ he quietly questions. ‘Maia, you should never forget what happened or the lesson you learned about trust. A lesson I had allowed myself to forget where the Lieutenant was concerned, and that, my Favorite, is a mistake I cannot afford to make again. Not when your life could be put at risk’

I think about what he just said for a few minutes. Would I trust without question again? Definitely not. It would take a considerable time, now, before I would let myself get close enough to anyone to call them ‘friend.’

‘Ani, how could she do that - be a friend one minute, then turn on me the next?’ I ask him the question which had been bothering me last night.

He brushes my hair with his hand, and admits, ‘I don’t really understand why she did what she did. If I knew whose orders she was following and why, perhaps I could give you an answer.’ His hand stops, rests on my shoulder while he thinks. ‘The Lieutenant never gave me any reason to suspect what she was. A better officer would be hard to find. I had hoped she would be a good friend to you...’ The Sith Lord falls silent.

This is hard on him, too, harder than on me, in fact, because he had known her for so long. I give him a tight squeeze.

‘My love, you couldn’t have known,’ I try to comfort him a little, ‘and what she did wasn’t your fault.’

‘No, Maia, I should have known, and years ago in fact,’ he tells me, ‘and while I didn’t tell her what to do, my own fears about your behavior in public, which she was well aware of, were what she used against you.’

I wish he would stop beating himself up about this. Maybe I should distract him for a few minutes. Pushing myself up a little to where I can look into his eyes, I give him a quick kiss on the forehead, then a far more demanding one on the lips. He promptly turns me onto my back and our kiss becomes deep and intense. Butterflies, I have butterflies in my stomach. What a truly weird sensation. The blanket has slipped with our movements and his hands slide down from my face to my chest, then farther still, along my waist, then make a leisurely return journey. I let my own fingers dance across the muscles of his chest, lightly trace paths following his ribs around to his back, then down to his own waist and back up to his face again. This feels good, I decide, and he is obviously enjoying himself.

Favorite mine, he teases me, shall I keep you here in bed with me all day?

Sith Lord, I tease right back, What about that report you want me to make?

***

I somehow restrain myself from doing as I want.

She’s flirting with me, playing with fire. But I want more than that.

More than what she has let me have up to now.

Griff can wait, I want you now, I admit to her.

I sense her debating what to answer, deciding whether to give in to me or not. She relaxes in my arms, and I know she is going to yield.

But what she tells me is completely unexpected.

Ani, your timing is atrocious. You can want me all you like, but you can’t have, not now, not for another few days, she thinks at me.

I pull back from her embrace, breaking off our kiss, and look at her, puzzled. What does she mean? There shouldn’t be anything to stop us. A moment later, understanding hits. That pregnancy manual I’ve been reading is proving a most useful reference. She’s bleeding a little bit and thinks it’s her monthly.

I won’t enlighten her then. She’s accepted my advances. That’s what is most important. It’s only a matter of time before she surrenders completely now.

Then I shall wait a while, my Favorite, and let you choose another day, I concede.

***

The Sith Lord gathers me into his arms again, and we lie beside one another, both content to stay where we are.

Let me into your mind, my love finally asks, there is something I must do.

Curious about what he is up to, I let my shields thin, then dissolve and wait for his mental touch. He enters easily, along paths he has used before, and I can feel his presence looking around for something. When he finds whatever it is, he gives my consciousness a tap and I black out. I wake up with a start, knowing that he had deliberately knocked me out.

‘What did you just do to me?’ I ask him, making no attempt to keep the annoyance out of my voice. Somehow I know this is not the first time that he has pulled this stunt.

‘Put in several blocks and barriers,’ he reveals, ‘which will do you no harm and will keep my anger out.’ I get a kiss on the back of my neck next. ‘I do not want to hurt you with that any longer.’

‘Thank you, my love,’ I tell him, pulling his arms tighter around me. No more hysterical fits for me.

‘I would have done it sooner, had I known what I needed to do,’ the Sith Lords admits. ‘Now, my Favorite, I want you to tell me what happened in the Officers’ Lounge, and everything since then, every detail of it.’

‘Why?’

I don’t want to go through those ugly memories, and there are a few things I really don’t want to tell him.

‘Just tell me, Maia. I need to know. If it makes it easier, consider this part of your training,’ he prompts.

Alright then, I’ll give him what he asked for. Slowly, reluctantly, I describe the events in the Lounge, but I don’t let him know what the worst of the gossip was. What that one woman said was just too much to ever repeat. He finds my one sentence put-down and scolding rather amusing, from that laugh he gave, and when I finish my account of that incident, I wait to see what he says.

‘You did far better than I would have expected, Favorite mine, given how you tore strips off your colleague at the party. Control helped you there, I expect, and perhaps my warnings about proper behavior,’ the Sith Lord replies to my story. ‘Tell me about the rest of the day.’

‘We came back here, and I sent Mia away to have her lunch,’ I start, only to be interrupted.

‘Interesting. She claimed she stayed here with you, but I now know she went back to the Lounge to sort out what story was going to be used in those official complaints,’ he tells me. ‘If the ship was monitored, she could not have got away with that particular lie for as long as she did. Continue.’

‘When Mia came back, she gave me a package of documents. I put them in one of my compartments and will give them to you later. After her lesson, she left and I didn’t see her again until you returned. I didn’t know what to do for the rest of the day, so I looked things up in the databank. Everything else that night, you were there for, except when the Commander carried me back here,’ I finish up.

‘Databank? Are you sure about that Maia?’ he asks. ‘The activity record for your account shows that you broke into a number of classified files on restricted planets, and tried to get into my personal logs as well.’

I start laughing at that. Sure. Right. ‘Ani, I know almost nothing about how to break into a computer system, and what I do is specific to software on the University’s twenty-year old mainframe and my personal laptop back home. Even that is pretty minimal, just how to change class schedules and room assignments. Everyone on the faculty knew how to do that and it was pretty simple to do, too. Somehow I doubt that the programs here were written by those idiots at Microsoft.’

‘Was there any time at all when you were out of my office and left the terminal logged on?’ he asks next.

‘Of course not. I am not that careless,’ I reply.

‘What about in my quarters but not in my office?’

‘I had a bath and braided my hair. Maybe that took an hour, but no more than that,’ I admit.

‘When?’

This is rapidly turning into an interrogation, I quickly realize, and a strange one at that. How many of those does he conduct while holding the subject being questioned in his arms? I had better be absolutely truthful from now on.

‘I looked through the package of documents right after Mia left,’ I divulge, ‘Then I had my bath and only after that did I go back into your office. It would have been in the early afternoon that I was not in there.’ I stop and think a bit. No, that’s not entirely correct. ‘I came back to the bedroom much later to change and fix my hair, but I was only in here for fifteen or twenty minutes.’

‘What was the first databank entry you accessed?’

‘Imperial Center,’ I answer.

‘And the last?’

‘Some obscure, boring little planet in the Rim, in the Anoat system, I think,’ I reply.

The Sith Lord is quiet a moment, thinking, then continues his questions. ‘Did you close the bedroom door when you were in here?’

‘Yes,’ I answer, wondering where he is going with this.

‘Ah, that explains it then. Mia came back and when she saw you had closed the door and were occupied in here, must have tampered with the access logs. She was quite competent at slicing systems. Breaking into your account would have been simple for her to do since I saw no need to use the same security on it as for my own files. That I will change later today.’

He pulls me tighter to his chest and gives me another kiss on the neck.

‘Now, my little goddess, you need to talk about how you feel. It’s far too dangerous for you to leave those emotions bottled up,’ my love tells me.

This I don’t want to discuss at all. No way. I would have a crying fit if I did and make a fool of myself. My stubbornness kicks in and I choose to stay silent.

‘You must deal with this, and I won’t let it go until you do,’ he warns. ‘Negative emotions are of the dark side, and you told me you do not want to be a Sith.’

It’s not fair for him to use that to get me to talk.

‘Then don’t speak, just let yourself feel,’ he offers.

What do I feel then? Hurt from a friend’s betrayal. Annoyance at myself for knowing better than to trust too much and doing it anyway. Anger. But not at her so much as at .... Ani? Why would I be mad at him? What happened wasn’t his fault, .... but he didn’t believe me, didn’t even ask for my side of the story before deciding on a punishment, and he should have trusted me to tell the truth. And that hurts far more than anything that Mia did.

A few tears escape before I can stop them. Rats. Once they start that’s it. I carefully control my breathing, not wanting to completely lose it. My love senses my distress, brushes the tears away with a touch, soothes me with quiet thoughts while I cry out my anger and hurt. After the tears stop, he just holds me, letting me work through my feelings on my own.

‘Better now?’ he finally asks.

I just nod in reply, knowing I still can’t talk yet. He must have known how angry and hurt I felt and didn’t want to let that fester and poison our relationship. My Ani can be very astute and wise, I decide. His hand touches my cheek as I complete that thought.

‘I am not that wise, my Favorite,’ he admits. ‘Many years ago, I let my own anger and hurt come between myself and the one I held dear, and she lost her life and I, my freedom, as a result. Only a fool would make that mistake twice.’

That admission was hard for him to make, and he still feels some pain from that long ago event.

‘My beloved Ani,’ I wonder, ‘what price will your love for me demand of you?’

‘Everything,’ he admits, ‘It will cost me everything, as it will you. I cannot live without you, nor you, I.’

‘The effect of our life-bond or soul-bond Thirsk told me about,’ I reveal.

‘Soul-bond would be the more appropriate term now, Maia. A life-bond is painful when it breaks, but to sever what has developed between us will be fatal.’

I shut my eyes at this.

‘Why, why did this happen?’ I ask him and the world in general. ‘The universe and gods must be laughing at us now.’

‘Opposites attract and we balance and complement one another in every aspect,’ Ani states. ‘That is the only explanation I could find in all my meditations.’

Well that’s not very romantic, I think. In fairy tales it’s usually love which is the cause. I start giggling. The Sith Lord who fell in love with the scientist who rescued him. Now that is what you would expect in a good children’s story. Could be a modified version of Cinderella even, since we did go to a ball of sorts. Something to tell our kids to put them to sleep, I decide.

‘If you are laughing, you must be feeling better,’ he observes. ‘Time, then, to get up and have lunch. We have been far too long in bed.’

Well, rats, but I guess it really is time to get up and face the galaxy. He reaches down and retrieves his robe from the floor. I stay under the blanket, not quite sure what to do.

‘Still shy are you?’ he teases. ‘Here then,’ he offers, tossing his robe at me.

I grab it and give him a curious look.

‘What are you going to wear then?’ I question.

‘Nothing, of course,’ he replies to that. His robe is promptly tossed back by me, producing a loud laugh from the Sith Lord.

‘You really are quite shy, aren’t you?’

I simply nod and wrap the blanket around me. It drags on the floor and almost trips me when I get up, producing another laugh from him. He disappears into the ‘fresher so I take advantage of his absence and put a fresh set of clothes on. When he returns I am already waiting at the table with two filled glasses.

Admiral Griff, of course, chooses the moment the Sith Lord sits down to call him on the comm.

‘My Lord, there is something we need to discuss,’ Griff states.

‘Not now Admiral, I’m busy,’ Vader tells him and turns the comm unit off with a wave of his hand.

I start to snicker.

‘Good thing the Admiral didn’t call a while earlier,’ I tease. ‘He might have heard something rather interesting if he had.’

Ani gives me an annoyed look, then picks up his glass.

‘Trust me, Favorite mine, if I choose not to be interrupted, no signal will ever get through,’ he assures me.

I pick up my own glass and try not to smile too much. He’s forgotten about the other time Griff called and we were busy. That thought earns me a sharp look. Amused now, I tease him with a few quiet musings. What would have happened if the Emperor had not called that morning? A bit of fun with Ani in his armor? Or would he have stripped it off like he did today? That speculation produces a snort of amusement.

‘Why do you have this preoccupation with what it would be like to make love with me in my armor?’ he finally asks.

My face goes red. Maybe I shouldn’t do that when it’s obvious he is going to reply. Am I going to answer him? Not a chance. I keep drinking from my glass. When I set it down, he grabs my hand, and holds it, gently stroking the back of it with his thumb.

‘If you are that curious, my Favorite, we could always try it in a few days so you would have your answer,’ he offers.

Now I just stare at him. Is he serious? I consider carefully what I should answer. Am I willing? Yes, I would be, but maybe not right away. Better to do things with him out of his armor first. That thought produces another blush from me and a low chuckle from him.

Stop eavesdropping, I think, scolding him.

It’s impossible not to when you are thinking that loudly about me, he answers in kind.

‘You have finally started to face your fear and yield to me, my Favorite,’ he says, sounding quite pleased with what he heard running through my mind. ‘I will not rush you, nor press you for a day. There is a holiday in three weeks, and I have been asked to give the closing address to the new graduates at the Caridan Academy. I will take you with me. It should be a quiet, uneventful five day trip there, then a day or two at the academy before returning here.’

Lets me choose the day, then tries to suggest when. Sneaky. Well, just for that, Sith Lord, I won’t decide until the day of. No way will I let you plan ahead. He lifts an eyebrow, releases my hand, and fills my glass and his own a second time.

‘You had nothing at all yesterday and this morning,’ he comments, ‘so two glasses for you now and later today, and make sure you drink some plain juice as well to remedy your mild dehydration.’

‘Yes, dear,’ I tease.

‘Behave, concubine,’ he warns, but I know from his tone he isn’t serious.

I finish my allotment and wait while he does the same with his. As he replaces his armor, I work the snarls out of my hair. Being tossed about and wrestling with him on the bed has tangled it a bit. When I am done and look over at him, Ani is busy with his tunic, so I go to help him smooth the fabric into place. He sets his hands over mine as I start to make the folds in front and when I glance up to meet his eyes, I get the oddest of feelings from him.

***

She’s so....

...so much like the woman I lost years ago, I think, remembering how Padme used to help me dress those mornings on Coruscant.

She loves me so deeply, so completely.

I catch her hands and simply look at her.

Maia. My Favorite. My Lady. My wife.

Wife.

My second wife.

The mother of my second son.

I won’t lose you to my anger the way I did my first, I swear to myself, silently swear to her.

***

Ani, are you alright? I ask.

Fine, Maia, just caught in a memory for a moment, he admits.

He moves his hands to around my face, and gently, chastely kisses me, before letting me go and complete my task. What was that about, I wonder, as I secure his belt in place and step back from him. My love has slipped into a reflective mood, from time to time, the last few weeks and I am not sure what prompts it. Perhaps this upcoming trip to the academy will give him some time off, and he really needs a break for a few days.

There is no response to my musings. Ani simply finishes armoring up and walks with me from the bedroom to his office. We settle into our chairs and discuss what I need to say about the incident in the Lounge. The formal statement takes quite a while to record, but it is finally finished, saved on the computer somewhere to go into the Admiral’s files. Now what am I supposed to do?

‘Maia, where are the assignments I set out for you?’ the Sith Lord asks.

‘I left them on the desk, right where you put them for me to find,’ I answer.

He looks over at me, then sits back, in a now quite familiar pose, to think.

‘Did you leave anything else with them?’ he questions next.

Another interrogation? Please don’t tell me that four days of my work is missing, I think.

‘Yes,’ I admit, ‘written answers to what you wanted to know. For writing practice, I transcribed part of one of my books into Aurabesh. I thought you might enjoy the story, so I had that in the stack as well.’

I pick up a sense of amusement at my last admission, then concern. He yanks open the top drawer of his desk, fishes about in it for a few minutes, then lets out an angry sounding hiss before slamming it shut.

‘She took them,’ he states, furious, ‘all of them. Stole them when I was talking to you.’

Stole what? Before I can ask, his hand slams down on the comm panel.

‘Griff,’ I hear him angrily order, ‘get down to my office, now, and bring Major Fervis with you.’

He gives the Admiral no opportunity to reply before cutting off the comm-channel. A moment later, Vader is on his feet, pacing back and forth in front of his desk. When Griff and another officer, presumably the Major who was asked for, enter the room, he stops in his tracks.

‘When you searched the Lieutenant’s quarters, did you find any sound slugs?’ the Sith Lord demands.

Griff and Fervis exchange a look, then the Major replies, ‘No my Lord, nothing like that was found in her quarters or office area.’

The Dark Lord clenches his fists. He’s furious about this, I realize, but I can’t feel any of it. Those blocks he put in my mind are doing their job.

‘Four data units are missing. Find them. Immediately,’ he orders, turning his back to the two officers.

‘My Lord, ... ‘ Fervis begins, only to be cut off.

‘Why are you still here?’ Vader snaps, not bothering to face the man his is addressing.

‘What was their content, my Lord? I need to know what I am looking for,’ the Major finally manages to ask.

‘Both accompanied and unaccompanied vocal recordings, Major, and that is all you need to know about it,’ the Sith Lord tells him. ‘Now go!’

Vocal recordings? As I watch the Major hurry out, I think about this a moment. Oh no. Mia stole all of my singing that Ani had saved. No wonder he’s so mad about it. Question is, what did she do with the memory cells once she took them from the drawer?

‘Admiral, I believe you needed to speak with me?’ the Sith Lord asks next.

Griff looks pointedly at me, then back at Vader. Fine, I can take a hint.

‘My Lord, may I have your leave to go read quietly for a while, elsewhere?’ I politely request.

Sure enough, I am waved from the room and once out the door, it slides shut behind me. I let out a snort. Those two have been busy plotting something for weeks now. Even I can tell that much about what’s going on. Time to go read one of my books for a while. If this meeting is like the others, it will be quite some time before I see my love again.

I hear the bedroom door open almost as soon as I have sat down, so I look up from my book and smile at my love. That meeting was unusually short, so what is he up to now?

‘I must leave for the space port with the Admiral in a few minutes, Maia. I have business there to be dealt with. Do not wait for me tonight, my Favorite, it will be very late before I return,’ the Sith Lord tells me.

Rats. Oh well, I guess I can think of something to do while he is away.

‘Commander Thirsk will escort you from the hangar to the salle, and you will have your lesson with him after that. I will rearrange your training schedule tomorrow,’ he instructs. ‘Come along now, and walk with me to my shuttle.’

It is a quiet journey. The Admiral walks on the other side of the Sith Lord from me, and says not a word. I am not comfortable around Griff, and I think that he knows it. Mia had told me a few stories about the man and his womanizing, and my love had said something to the same effect, too. Well, if he ever tries anything, Ani will do something about it, and immediately, I am sure.

Once at the hangar, I watch the two men board the shuttle for the port. A moment later, after they have left, Thirsk joins me and I am led off to practice rapier forms for an hour or so. The Commander watches me intently as I work through the various set patterns. He must be under orders to stay and guard me, I assume, but he says nothing until he starts my lesson with him in the gym.

‘Sit down, my lady,’ he orders. ‘We need to talk about where to take your training from here.’

Surprised, I do as asked, and wait for him to continue. Shouldn’t he be discussing this with Ani?

‘I have not been able to get around your clumsiness,’ he says, finally conceding defeat in this matter, ‘so I have decided to ignore it and hope that it doesn’t cause you grief someday. Perhaps if I had been given you to train as a child, like your grandfather did, I might have been able to do something about it.’

I nod in response. I had never expected him to be able to fix that particular problem anyway.

‘What I have taught you so far has been for basic self defense. His Lordship insisted I do that first,’ Thirsk admits. ‘We will start working on a more codified type of hand to hand technique now. You do not have the physical strength for many of the forms of combat I am familiar with. Instead, I am going to pick and choose what will work for you from several different fighting schools.’

The hour that follows is a most interesting one as my instructor tests out a number of different styles to see which ones suit me best. When we are done, I am taken back to the Sith Lord’s quarters and left by myself to spend the evening alone.

With nothing to do really but wait for my love’s return, I decide to get ready for bed. He should not be involved in an interrogation, so I will meditate and go looking for him. A sweep of the ship indicates he is still not back, so I venture, warily, farther afield to the nearby space port. The Sith Lord is there, I sense, but occupied. Drawing closer, I settle in to wait for him to discover I am nearby.

Maia? he asks, finally noticing my presence beside his own.

Ani, I reply, happy he has chosen to talk to me.

My meetings and business here are finished. I will return shortly, he tells me.

I feel him close off his mind to me again and know he will say no more, so I slip out of my meditation. He will be back soon. No need to worry.

DAY 25

When I wake, I realize that Ani had come to bed late last night, then risen and left again without waking me. Rats. He should have at least let me give him his morning kiss before leaving me. I get out of bed and wander towards the ‘fresher. There is a note on the table, so I pick it up.

‘My Favorite,’ Ani had written on it in his neat, rather bold hand, ‘I will be in the port this morning, then return to begin preparations to leave on an errand for the Emperor, one which will take several days.’ No, not fair, I think at that, please don’t go away again. Frustrated, I keep reading. ‘You will continue your lessons with Thirsk and time in the salle in the mornings. My wingmen are transferring to the Devastator, so you will be spending that time with Commander Tosack in Engineering.’ He had signed it with his sigil. Well, I really didn’t expect an ‘I love you’ at the end. With a sigh, I fold the paper and hide it among my old family letters which I keep in my dress compartment.

By the time my lesson with Thirsk is done, I am quite curious who Commander Tosack is and exactly what he is supposed to be teaching me. My combat teacher leads me to an unfamiliar area of the ship, then opens a door to a small, rather cluttered office. Behind the desk is an elderly, white haired officer. He looks up at me, then points to a chair before returning his attention to the blueprints on his desk.

When my escort stands there, staring at him, he looks up, sighs in annoyance, and tells Thirsk, ‘Leave her here, Commander, I’ll comm you when we are finished.’

The first blueprint is rolled up and added to a pile of others on the floor beside the desk. Tosack spends a few minutes examining the one which was lying beneath it, so I look about the room while I wait for him to finish. His office reminds me of my own. Most would see a mess but I know that the clutter is organized according to whatever system he uses. I hear the second sheet being rolled up and return my attention to the man in front of me.

‘I don’t know why I have been ordered to teach you mathematics,’ Commander Tosack complains as he adds the second blueprint he had been studying to the stack. ‘I have better things to do with my time and you should have had that training in school.’

What a cranky character. Well, I guess I will just have to put up with it.

‘I have spent my entire life working with multi-dimensional spatial integrations and multiple vector equations, Commander. The problem is, I don’t know the notation system which is used here,’ I tell him.

That gets his attention.

‘On paper, computer, or mentally?’ he asks.

‘All three,’ I admit.

Now he stares at me.

‘Prove it,’ he demands.

‘Set me a problem, then, Commander, and I will,’ I challenge him. This should be interesting.

Ten minutes later, I have easily solved everything he has thrown at me. He sits back in his chair giving me a respectful look now, then leans forward and beckons me closer.

‘We will begin with the basics. I expect you will know everything you require within an hour or two,’ Tosack says. ‘Let’s start with numerical notation....’

We work away for over an hour, and I quickly learn that this officer is no slouch himself as an engineer. Time seems meaningless while talking to him, and when his office door opens, we both jump in surprise. Commander Thirsk is standing there, looking a bit annoyed. Oops. We were so involved in our discussions of fractal theory that both Tosack and I had forgotten just how much time had gone by.

‘My apologies, Commander,’ I say, hoping to smooth things over and protect my new teacher a bit, ‘It has been so long since I have been able to talk to someone who understands my mathematical gift that I completely forgot the time.’

Thirsk gives a curt nod, and I immediately get up to leave. Tosack picks up the blueprints again and resumes whatever task I had interrupted earlier. Without looking up, he tells me, ‘Until tomorrow, my lady.’

I follow Thirsk down the hall, back along the convoluted path we had taken earlier in the day. It is now lunch time for me and I am rather hungry. Once back in the Sith Lord’s quarters, I look to see if he has returned. The closed office door tells me that he has, so I stop at the kitchen to gather up what is needed for lunch and settle myself in the bedroom to wait.

A few minutes later, Ani joins me. He says not a word while the air is adjusted, nor while he removes his helmet, mask, and vocoder, but the moment they are off, I am pulled into his arms and held tight against him. I am most thoroughly kissed next, then released and steered into my chair.

‘That,’ my love admits, taking his place across from me, ‘was to make up for the one I missed this morning.’

I smile at him. We have fallen into an agreeable morning routine in the last week. Ani has adjusted his defenses to recognize me specifically, so I don’t have to rouse him anymore if I need to move at night. One advantage to this is that I tend to be awake before he is, and this week I have woke him every morning, except this one, with a kiss. I suppress a sigh. Too bad he has been so busy and preoccupied. We have had little private time this week, except for practicing in the salle and my lessons in using the Force, and now he will be gone again. Rats. Well, in another week, it’s off to Carida. There should be plenty of opportunities for some quality time then.

Setting my glass down, I quietly wait for my love to finish his. Will he be in a hurry to leave today or is there time for a lesson before he must go?

‘A lesson in Alter and Force manipulation today,’ he reveals. ‘Go find something small you can practice moving about with the Force.’

Telekinesis? Today? Totally cool. This is one of the things I have really wanted to learn how to do. With a grin I go to my storage compartment. There are a few pennies in it which had been left in the carrying bag with my rapiers. Those should do just fine for this exercise. A rummage about produces six pennies, so I bring them over to the table and set them down. The Sith Lord picks one up to have a closer look.

‘Pennies,’ I tell him, ‘the smallest coin denomination from the country I lived in.’

‘More than suitable,’ he decides, replacing the penny with its mates.

I scurry over to the bed and settle myself on it. Ani will be a few more minutes while he finishes the last of his three glasses. Wishing he would hurry up a bit, I line up the pennies on the bed cover and wait impatiently for my love to join me. He looks over at me and smiles, then tries to conceal it by taking a drink from his glass.

‘Patience, my Favorite,’ he teases, ‘you will need to concentrate today, so calm and center yourself while you wait.’

Fine, I’ll meditate a bit then. I pull my feet around to sit cross-legged and let myself relax. By the time I feel the bed shift with his weight, I am ready to start the lesson. He takes a moment to match my pose, so I leave my eyes shut until I know my love is prepared to begin. When I open them, he is in front of me with his own eyes closed, and I just can’t resist leaning over and giving him a quick, light kiss on the mouth. Two bright blue eyes snap open and meet mine next, and I know he is both amused and annoyed at me.

‘We will do that later, Favorite mine,’ he promises, pushing me back as he does so. ‘Lesson first.’

I resume my place and listen carefully to what he tells me next.

‘Control allows you govern the Force within your own body, and sense to passively be aware of it outside. Alter is a far more active application; it is the ability to manipulate the Force, change its nature and distribution, both internally and externally,’ Ani explains. He gives a small smile, then neatly lifts one of the pennies with a small gesture.

I look at the penny, then at his face, before my eyes are back on the coin. How’s he doing that? I study the area around the penny carefully with my Force augmented senses. Oh. So that’s the trick. Change the way the Force flows around whatever you are lifting and add more underneath or to whatever side you want to push from. Alright, I’ll give it a try then. Choosing one of the pennies to focus on, I stare at it intently, and pull the Force surrounding it, underneath it. Nothing happens so I add more. Still no effect. Annoyed now, I yank hard and am rewarded when the coin lifts, then hurtles across the room to hit the wall before dropping to the floor.

‘Oops,’ I say, trying desperately hard not to laugh.

That was funny. Ani merely raises an eyebrow and waits for me to try again. The next penny ends up on the other side of the room from the first, and the third would have hit my love if he hadn’t snatched it out of the air.

‘You are overdoing it, Maia,’ he scolds. ‘There is no need to use as much of the Force as you are. Relax, calm yourself, and try again.’

For the next hour, there are pennies flying about.

‘You are being very patient,’ I observe, ‘given how slow I am at mastering this skill.’

‘Slow?’ he answers. ‘Actually you have a gift for it. Few would be able to work out how to manipulate the Force as well as you have with that short explanation and brief demonstration I gave you. No, you just need to work on your fine control over it. Small objects can be difficult to manage at first. Perhaps we should have used some of the structural components stored in the hangar. Larger objects are far easier for a beginner than these coins of yours, but I do not want anyone to know I am training you. Not until you can adequately defend yourself.’

I quietly consider his words. Fine control. Alright then. All six pennies are on the floor around the bed. Ani had been retrieving them for me, but I want to do that myself this time. I stare at the closest one and hold out my hand.

Here, penny, penny, I call to it, trying not to snicker as I do.

The coin I am concentrating on neatly rises in the air, travels to my hand and I grab it. Ani gives me an odd look then quickly hides another smile.

Well it worked, now didn’t it, so don’t complain, I think at him.

A few minutes later, all six pennies are in my hand. Pleased with my success, I line them up in front of me. What to try next? How about stacking them? I lift a penny carefully and set it down, slightly off-center on top of the one next to it. The others follow, forming a lopsided column. Not bad for a first go, I guess. Now what? I look at my love. He is obviously amused by my efforts, but gives me no hint of what I should do next. Maybe lift more than one at a time? I pick up the coins with my hand and set them in a line once again. Curious if I can use my mathematical gift here like I do with my shields, I partition my mind, lift the first penny and hold it a foot above the bed. A second one joins it, then the rest, but with each additional coin, my need to focus and concentrate increases rapidly. Keeping the six at the same height and steady is all that I can do. After only a few seconds, I let them all drop back down, too tired to keep them suspended any longer.

‘Good, very good,’ my teacher praises before ending the lesson. ‘Enough for today. Now that you have a grasp of all the basics, you may sit with me, Maia, and practice with the Force, if I am working in my office and you do not have a lesson elsewhere. Once I am certain you are competent in the simpler skills, I will start to work with you on the more difficult ones.’

Practice with the Force? Cool. That should be fun. Maybe I can try out a few new things too. I pick up my pennies and put them in my tunic’s pocket. Now what are we going to do, I wonder?

***

I close my eyes again, and try to relax a bit. Dealing with Maia’s flying pennies has not been tiring, or strenuous, but I want to clear my mind.

Her weight shifts a little as she changes her position. I give no sign she has disturbed me, but I know what she is planning. She moves closer, then pounces, pushing me over backwards as she does.

I laugh at little at her boldness, let her brush her lips against mine before I flip her over and pin her to the bed beneath me.

I intend to have my way with her and satisfy that silly curiosity of hers while I am at it.

My lips touch hers. She doesn’t resist, melts at my touch. Willingly draws me closer. I feel my body respond in answer, flesh tightening. I am ready for her, for what I want to do.

I don’t restrain myself any longer. My hands move to her hips, then pull her belt from her waist. Another quick motion and I have them up and under her tunic, popping the closures open with the pressure I exert.

Maia responds by grabbing at my own belt and tugging on it, trying to get it off. Even better, I decide. She wants this. Wants me to make love to her right now.

Then she yanks considerably harder than she needs to.

I gasp as my codpiece is driven into me, hard enough to slam it painfully into my erection.

Sithspit, that hurt, I decide as I shove myself off of her and roll over onto my back.

‘Ani, what’s wrong?’ she asks me.

‘That was not a wise thing to do, Favorite mine,’ I scold, ‘you just put pressure on some areas of my anatomy which are rather sensitive at the moment.’

***

What? Oh. I hide my face in my hands and blush bright red, knowing what I must have just done to him and why he reacted the way he did. Well, I did want to know what fooling around with him in his armor would be like, now didn’t I, and he obviously intended to oblige me before leaving on the Emperor’s business.

He says no more about it, but I know this is the end of any more of that sort of fun for the day. I sit up beside him while he remains laying flat on his back, eyes shut, recovering from my attempt to undress him. There is nothing showing on his face, but I can tell he is not at all comfortable and probably in a bit of pain, too. Deciding to try and help him, I gently run a finger down his nose, then use both my hands to trace patterns around his face, all the while sending calming, soothing feelings to him. He gradually relaxes and I know my efforts have had a positive effect. Becoming bolder, I wonder if I could do something with the Force to help him. I hold his face in my hands, reach out, tap into that energy field, channel it through myself and down into my love, willing it to heal him as I do so.

He throws me bodily, forcefully away, and I feel my head snap back as I slam into the wall. Blackness claims me and I know nothing for a long, frightening moment. Arms are around me next and I am lifted, then laid flat on the bed. A hand is on my forehead, and a voice calls me back to a more aware state of mind.

‘Maia, Maia, come back to me,’ Ani urgently calls. From the sound of his voice, he’s starting to panic, I quickly realize, something I would never, ever expect from him.

I can’t breathe, is my next thought. Ani, help me, please!

He responds by hauling me into a sitting position, holding me there with a hand on one shoulder while he slaps me, hard, with the other. The effect of the blow is to snap the connection I had just established between us and shock my system into letting me breathe once again. My love holds me tight to his chest next and rocks me gently without saying a word.

A few minutes later, the comm beeps, but the Sith Lord ignores it completely. After putting up with its incessant beeping for a while, he answers it, snapping, ‘Whoever this is, I’m busy,’ before cutting the connection.

That was both the most generous and stupidest thing you have ever done, my Favorite, he finally scolds me.

I feel far too shaky to respond in any way, so I stay motionless in his arms and wait. Ani sighs next, but doesn’t let go of me.

Don’t ever do that again, my goddess. You could have died trying to heal me like that, my love continues to scold me. My lungs can’t be fixed. Trust me. I have spent years trying to do so.

Ani? What happened to me? I ask, curious about what he thought I was trying to do.

If I tell you, you must promise me that you will never try it again.

I nod my head against him and he kisses the top of it.

Favorite mine, you tried to heal me by pulling all of the damage into yourself. I have no idea how you did that, either, but you won’t do it again, now will you?

I give my head a shake. How can I repeat something when I don’t know what I did in the first place? He makes no further comments, just continues to hold me until my ragged breathing has returned to normal.

‘Griff was comming me to let me know that it is time to for me to leave. I want you to walk with me to the hangar. Rest here a few minutes. I will come get you when I am ready to go,’ Ani tells me.

My love eases me back on the pillows, gives me a quick kiss, then replaces his helmet and goes. I am tired and feel a bit strange, but there is no way I will miss seeing him off. When Ani returns, he helps me to my feet and escorts me, an arm wrapped around my back, to the door to his quarters. For some reason he has closed his meditation pod, I note. We walk down to the shuttle at a leisurely pace, my hand securely gripping his arm. He looks over at me a few times on the way, checking, I am sure, that I will not faint on him.

Griff is standing by the shuttle, and the hangar looks quite busy when we arrive. I wait for my Lord to leave me, but he stands there, looking into my face for a few long minutes instead. A hand brushes my cheek goodbye as he did once before, and then he is gone. It is Griff today, not Commander Thirsk who escorts me back to Ani’s quarters and I am relieved when we reach the door and it is between the Admiral and I.

I shut my eyes and lean backwards against the closed door. An early night should help with how tired I am. That decision made, I head towards the bedroom, only to freeze in my tracks when the meditation pod starts to open. I slowly back away from it, wondering what could possibly be going on. When it has separated enough that I can see the Sith Lord in it, I bolt for the bedroom and lock myself in.

Something weird is definitely going on. He just walked with me down to the hangar. I saw him get on a shuttle and leave, so how did he get back here? The bedroom door slides open next, and I dart for the ‘fresher. No place left to run now. Maybe I should have left his rooms instead of heading in here. My last refuge proves to be no more secure than the previous one, and someone or something dressed as my Lord looks in at me while I am still debating what exactly I should do.

Run for it, I decide. I size up my opponent as he blocks the doorway. Well, it looks like Ani, but it can’t be him. Now how to get past?

‘What are you doing?’ whoever this is asks me.

‘Trying to get away from you,’ I admit.

That produces a laugh from him.

‘Thirsk needs to work with you further on tactics and strategy. All you have done is trapped yourself, my Favorite,’ he observes.

Ani? Is that really you? I think at him.

Of course, Favorite mine, who else? he admits.

I think a little bit.

‘Wait a minute, if you were here in the pod, then who walked me down to the shuttle?’ I ask, curious.

‘Doppelganger. A Force-created double,’ my love reveals, sounding amused, no doubt, because he fooled me. ‘Looks, feels, acts like the real me. I can control it from a distance. Now that the Devastator has jumped, I have let it go since my need for it is done.’

I stare at him. So he can be in two places at the same time? Now there’s a neat trick. I wish I could have done that in graduate school. Maybe I could have got some more work done, too. I narrow my eyes and think a bit, wondering if my suspicions are true. Why did he pretend he was leaving? And why was Griff by the shuttle?

‘You and the Admiral are up to something, aren’t you?’ I confront him.

‘If we are,’ he warns, ‘it is not for you to get involved in.’

I was right about that then. They have been busy plotting some sort of mischief.

Well, fine, keep your secret then, I think at him, just don’t get hurt doing something stupid.

My impertinent thought results in my being pulled from the ‘fresher into the bedroom and tossed on the bed. He has already shut the door and adjusted the air, I note, so what is he going to do now?

‘Your curiosity, as I once warned you, will be the death of you, my Favorite,’ he scolds, pulling off his gloves as he says this.

I stay on the bed, propped up on one arm, watching him. The helmet comes off next and he sits beside me on the bed.

‘I must go to the spaceport in a few hours to meet with Griff. It may be quite late when I get back since I will have other business to deal with on Fondor after that,’ Ani tells me. ‘In the meantime, I have no choice but to stay out of sight, so I intend to enjoy myself in here while I do. Move over Favorite mine, and kiss me.’

***

She tips her head up to look at me, so I catch her face with my hands and kiss her.

Sweet, her mouth and lips are so very sweet and innocent against mine. Even after five weeks of my kisses, she still thinks she is inexperienced. I have been careful not to give her any hints to the contrary and allowed her to set the pace. But time is running out and I cannot wait on her decision much longer.

I will see just how far she will let me go.

I break off our kiss and give her a nudge. She slides over without any argument so I prop myself up on one arm and look down at her. I have two hours to do with her as I please.

A questioning look appears on her face. Wondering what I plan to do, are you, my Favorite?

I teasingly run a finger down her nose. She attempts to catch it with her lips, but I pull my left hand away and slide it down to her waist. Her tunic will have to come off, of course.

‘Someone is overdressed,’ I tease.

There is a flash of panic from her. I have moved too quickly, been too bold, so I pull my cloak off and toss it over her. I will deal with her excessive shyness another day. For now, she can hide. The cloak will be thrown aside soon enough.

I slip my hand under her impromptu cover, pull her belt off, and drop it on the floor, all the while keeping watch over her reactions. She is curious and a bit nervous, but not to the point where I need to worry. I return my hand to its previous position at her waist and caress her middle, popping open her tunic’s closures as I move it up towards her throat. The garment in question is soon completely open. My fingers trace swirling patterns up and down her front, from her face to waist and back again. Her eyes shut and mind calms as she relaxes at my touch.

Time to remove another piece of clothing.

I give a tug on her chest support but it refuses to come off. A smile curls Maia’s lips as I continue my attempts to remove it. Finally she starts laughing at me.

‘Need some help?’ she teases.

‘No,’ I growl as I try pulling from another direction.

She just giggles louder so I let go of the material.

‘Giving up?’ she prods.

‘Never,’ I retort while I debate what to try next.

‘You could use your lightsaber on it,’ she suggests.

‘I can assure you I have a better use for that,’ I hint about.

Silence. My Favorite has obviously forgotten about that little scene in her office. Or maybe not, I decide as I watch her face turn bright crimson and hear her thought of “he would remember that”.

‘And a better way to get that cursed thing and the rest of your clothes off,’ I continue.

After a strategic application of the Force to various seams, I know there will be no further difficulties from anything she is wearing. I toss the ruined boots aside first, then reach for the tunic and trousers. As they hit the floor, I hear my cloak being pulled tight around Maia’s body. She’s starting to get nervous and scared. Time for me to back off for a few minutes until she is more settled again.

I drape my arm across her waist, close my eyes, and wait. There is no need to rush and I don’t want to frighten her more.

Light fingertips brush across my eyebrows, trace paths down my throat, bump up against my armor’s collar, then make a return journey upwards. Good. She’s trying to relax me and in the process is doing the same herself. I touch her face with my own fingers, feel her smile as I run them across her lips. Her cheek fits easily into my hand, so I pull myself closer and lightly kiss her.

She tries to hold her lips on mine when I sit up and pull back. I humor her, stop my retreat and let her have the kiss she wants.

My cloak, now forgotten, has fallen to her waist as she moved.

Perfect.

My lips slide down her throat. I stop and give her gentle nips as I head down to my destination and ease her onto her back again. She shivers when I pull the ruined bra from her chest and as I kiss one breast, then the other. My hands cup them, measure their size. They are starting to get larger and she hasn’t noticed that yet.

I continue my light, gentle caresses, noting her every response. Whenever she shows any signs she is becoming nervous again, I back off instantly. Eventually, after almost an hour, I can roam freely above her waist with hands and mouth without evoking a flinch.

‘Enjoying yourself?’ I whisper in her ear.

She smiles and nods.

Now to do something new.

‘I want to try something else, so will you let me?’ I ask her permission.

Curiosity and hesitation. And fear. Maia needs some reassurance from me or she will panic when I start touching her.

‘If you want me to stop, just say so, and I will,’ I offer.

‘Promise?’ she asks in that quiet little voice she uses when she is unsure of me.

‘Promise,’ I firmly reply.

She bites her lip and stares at the control panel on my chest. She’s frightened. Not of me, but of what I might do to her. And she is still afraid of being hurt.

Damn.

That night back on her homeworld is going to give me no end of grief.

‘I won’t hurt you, my Favorite,’ I reassure her. ‘I will never do anything to hurt you.’

Her eyes drift upwards to meet mine. This is an issue of trust. Does she trust me more than she fears what I want to do? I wait patiently for her answer. As on her homeworld, it arrives in the form of a light kiss.

I pull the cloak up over both of us. The previous two times I tried this with her, she reacted quite badly, so I will be gentle with her and move slowly.

I let my hands roam over her upper body and kiss her until she relaxes again. Then I move my touches to below her waist. Maia instantly tenses up. So for many long minutes, I only caress the outside of her legs, staying well away from any place I know will prompt a panicked response. As the tension leaves her, I move my hand closer to the inside of her knees and work my way up.

How incredibly soft her skin is on the inside of her thighs. I brush the fingers of my left hand upwards, stopping well clear of where I really want to be.

‘How soft you are here,’ I whisper to her, gently tracing a path with my fingertips, ‘softer than anywhere else on your body.’

Her hand touches my face and I know she is comparing my own skin to hers. Years without any exposure to sunlight have changed the texture of my flesh. It is almost as delicate as hers is.

‘I want to touch you, Maia,’ I boldly tell her. ‘I want to touch you everywhere.’

Silence. I could listen in on her thoughts, try to influence her decision with our bond, but I choose to give her privacy and free will in this. It is better if she is mine by her own choices.

I feel her trembling beside me. She’s afraid again. Somehow I hold in my sigh. At this rate, teaching her about intimate relations is going to be a long and drawn-out process. I will try another tactic, then. Giving her some way to physically express her fear should help.

‘Hold my hand, Maia,’ I say, taking her left in my right, ‘and when you are afraid, squeeze hard and I will stop.’

Her small fingers entwine among my cybernetic ones. She can squeeze as hard as she wants and never do any damage.

I return my attention to where my other hand is resting. I keep my caresses light, and always down her legs, not up. Gradually I move closer to my goal, and as I do, I feel Maia’s grip on my hand tighten.

Relax, my little Favorite, I tell her in a thought, I won’t ever hurt you.

My first tentative touch between her legs produces more shivering, but she doesn’t change her grip on my hand. Despite her fear, she is going to try to let me do this. The second time, I move my hand slower, savoring the feeling of her soft skin and texture of her hair. With my third, I stop and rest my hand on her pubic bone, exploring a little with the Force as I do.

She’s as small inside as I remember and the Force healing I did has had a completely unintended result.

Kreth.

When I do make love to her I will hurt her.

That is in the future, I remind myself, and I will be gentle with her. Hopefully she will have conquered her fear by then. At least she will never have any reason to suspect what I have already done.

I move my hand up a little and look inwards. My son is doing well. And the shields I have over him have kept Maia from discovering him.

I caress her again, this time watching her face. Maia has her eyes tightly shut and is concentrating on controlling her reactions. This is not what I want. She needs to relax and learn to enjoy this.

‘Relax, Maia,’ I coax her. ‘Relax and let yourself enjoy my touch.’

With my next touch I kiss her. Perhaps a distraction will help.

It does. For a while.

My fingers move to explore some more and I feel Maia’s hand tighten in mine.

It’s alright, Maia, I send to her.

I find my goal, position my hand for what I want to do. Then I start gently stroking her. For a few minutes she lets me and I sense her body beginning to respond to my touch. Only a little longer and she should ...

Her hand clamps down hard on mine and I sense her complete panic at what she is feeling, what her body is doing. Damn. I debate ignoring my promise and pushing on regardless, but I will lose her trust if I do that. And there will always be another day.

I remove my hand and pull her into my arms. She tucks her head under my chin and quiets as I caress her face. Soon I will have to leave, but I can afford to spend a few minutes soothing her. I set a kiss on the top of her head.

‘Better?’ I ask.

A nod from her. Her shyness is keeping her silent, but that doesn’t matter. I know she is busy sorting out what just happened to her. In time, she will relax, let me finish what I start, and enjoy it.

‘I have to leave soon,’ I remind her.

She doesn’t like that. Her arms hold me closer. Maia still has her head on my chest, so I tip it to where I can kiss her. I keep the emotions I send to her in check. Each time I touch her, it becomes more difficult to restrain myself. But that will not be necessary for much longer, I remind myself. Soon. She will be mine soon. And her surrender will be so very sweet.

***

As I watch him leave, I let out a sigh. That was thoroughly enjoyable, I decide, blushing shyly though there is no one left here now to see it. Too bad I had to pull on his belt the way I did and drive his codpiece into him or he might have been able to do more than just touch and kiss me.

I pull the cloak tight around myself and think about what he had done to me. Why did I feel those strange sensations when he touched me? I was quite relieved when he stopped at my panicked thoughts. Setting my head on my knees, I let that memory replay. Ani had touched me, caressed me in a very specific manner, and I am sure he knew exactly what that would do to me or he would never have done it. Well, in hindsight, it did feel good, and he did touch me like that before, if only for a minute or two, unlike today. Maybe I should let him do that again sometime now that I know what to expect and can relax and enjoy it.

I rest a finger on my slightly bruised lips, then run it down my throat, noting where each of the light bite marks are placed. He was quite gentle compared to some of the other times when he has been more intimate with me than just kisses. Maybe I should not delay things too much longer though. A sexually frustrated Sith Lord is probably not a good thing.

Strangely, I feel almost no fear when I think of him making love to me. I have accepted it as an inevitable event. The timing, now that will be crucial. He wants a child and, I slowly realize, so do I, so when, when would be best? I start to count days. The end of this month, then, when we are at the academy would be best for me. So I will put him off a while longer, but I won’t tell him why until after.

Blushing at my decision, I fold back the cloak and take a close look at the damage he unthinkingly inflicted, noting the bruises on my arms and waist where he had grabbed me before tossing me onto the bed. He was definitely far too rough when he did that. I will have to scold him about it when he returns and the chance arises.

With a sigh of annoyance, I get out of bed to pull on a nightgown and toss today’s clothes in the laundry bin. There is no point in getting dressed to go out of this room again and I am still very tired from earlier in the day. I happily curl up and let myself drift a little bit.

A few hours later I awake with a jerk. What was that disturbance I just felt? Curious now, I reach out my senses to see what could possibly have startled me so. Nothing on the ship, so in the port, or on the planet below, perhaps? I stretch myself further, and easily find my love who is, of course, focused intently on something. Backing away so I don’t disturb him, I look about and spot something surprising. What’s that, I think. No, Maia, I correct myself, who is that would be a more appropriate question. I stare at the Force presence. It’s bright, strong, light, not dark like Ani’s, and whoever it is has no idea how to properly shield his mind either. A moment later he is moving rapidly away so I give up on following this stranger and let my meditation go.

I open my eyes and start to wonder what just happened. Is that what a Jedi looks like? Is that what my presence looks like? And what on Earth was Ani up to? Chasing a Jedi who managed to get away from him, I surmise from what I just found and saw. Well, I will get some answers out of my love tonight if I can.

I retrieve my cloak and wrap myself up in it, then settle myself in the chair with a book. A comedy tonight, I decide, nothing depressing, so I turn to A Midsummer Night’s Dream and start reading. When Ani returns, I am happily giggling at the antics of some of the characters. He glances at me and steps in the room, but before he can close the door, I stop him with a gesture of my hand.

Where has he been? From the hideous odors clinging to his clothes and armor he must have been lurking about in a chemical sewer or an industrial factory somewhere.

‘Out of those robes, right now, Ani, and toss your cloak in the kitchen with them, too,’ I order a now surprised Sith Lord. ‘I don’t know where you have been, my love, but you have certainly brought the smells back with you.’

‘The steam tunnels of Fondor,’ he dryly comments, ‘are not known for their pleasantness.’

He complies with my request, then slides the door shut at a touch. The aroma is diminished by only a bit though.

I give my head a shake and tell him, ‘I hope you can clean up your armor as well because whatever you were doing has certainly left its mark.’

That prompts him to go into the ‘fresher. I follow, curious. He turns the shower on and steps under it, then stands there, arms across his chest, looking at me. That’s just too funny. Darth Vader showering in full armor. I put a hand to my mouth and bolt back into the bedroom, only to start laughing uncontrollably the instant I am out of his sight.

It’s not that funny, concubine, he scolds me.

Oh, yes it is, Sith Lord! I cheekily reply.

The shower is shut off ten or fifteen minutes later, but when he doesn’t emerge, I decide that I had better make sure he is alright. Very carefully, I poke my head through the door. Ani is standing there looking at his lightsaber, oblivious to the fact that he is dripping water everywhere on the floor.

‘You are making a mess,’ I scold him, ‘Dry off first, then see what’s wrong with it.’

He glances over at me, then grabs a towel from a compartment and tosses it in my direction. I can take a hint, so I help dry his back and anywhere else he can’t reach. The shower was not entirely successful, but the worst of the chemical stench is gone.

‘It still smells bad,’ I admit, ‘Maybe I can do something about that once you are out of your armor. Do you want me to wash pieces individually instead?’

‘No need, my Favorite,’ he tells me, ‘I keep a spare suit for just this sort of emergency. One of my aides can look after getting this one cleaned up.’

My love exits the ‘fresher, sets his lightsaber on the table and proceeds to start stripping his still slightly stinking, and now, damp armor off. I prudently don’t offer to help. There’s no way am I going to risk getting any of those smells on me. Ani tosses all of it in a compartment and quickly closes it. He’s left off his robe, forgotten to take it out before throwing the armor in, so I keep my eyes anywhere but on him. A trip to the ‘fresher follows, and I can hear the shower running once more. Now what am I going to do?

I make a dash for the bed, drop my cloak on the floor, and curl up on my side facing away from the ‘fresher door just to be sure. My shyness has always prevented me from looking too close and I am not about to do so now. No way am I going to embarrass myself. He comes quickly to bed, once his shower is done, and lays down flat on his back. As soon as he is under the sheets, I turn over to face him, then sit up beside him instead.

I reach down to run a finger across his eyebrows and he promptly shuts his eyes. Encouraged, I lightly trace his features to relax him. He still hasn’t stripped off his short, spiky hair, and I like running my fingers through it. My touch eases and soothes him, so I brush my fingertips across his lips, then give him a quick, light kiss, before continuing the paths I had been tracing.

My poor love, I think, you have had a bad day and night, haven’t you? First a clumsy concubine accidentally hurts you in a most unintended way, then you are stuck down in some obviously rather nasty places trying to catch someone who got away.

‘The traitors didn’t escape, my Favorite,’ he tells me, ‘the troops I took with me caught every one of them.’

‘Traitors?’ I question, stopping my gentle touches to his face. What’s this about?

‘Five fleet admirals were plotting against me, planning to help a rebel spy sabotage this ship. Griff helped me to entrap them tonight. Fools, everyone last one of them,’ he reveals, then requests, ‘Keep on with what you were doing, it feels nice and relaxing.’

‘Then you were not after that Jedi I sensed?’ I ask, surprised, as I let my fingers resume their paths.

‘What are you talking about, Maia? All I sensed was a barely trained youth, one with some potential, but certainly no Jedi,’ Ani explains.

I don’t answer him immediately, but think about exactly what I had sensed myself. No shields really, well, crudely crafted ones perhaps, certainly nothing like my own or the Sith Lord’s. A strong, but rather diffuse presence, nowhere near as powerful, contained and focused as my love’s. Untrained, I decide, or barely so.

‘I think you are right, Ani,’ I concede, yielding to his experience in this matter.

‘Don’t worry yourself about this,’ he tells me, ‘I will deal with the Rebels’ ‘Jedi’ when the time comes. In the next few days, unfortunately, I will have to sort out what to do with those five ambitious fools. While I would like to be rid of them permanently and immediately, they are too well-placed to simply execute without some appearance of due process.’

He catches my hands in his own, releases them, then reaches up and pulls my face to his for a kiss.

‘Enough of my worries for tonight, Maia,’ he decides. ‘We leave for Carida in five days, and the two week return voyage should give me plenty of time to concentrate on honing your Force and rapier skills.’

Mine, I happily think, mine, he will be all mine for at least two weeks in hyperspace. There will be no way for the Emperor to interrupt during the trip to Carida and back. No pressing business for Ani to deal with, nothing to spoil our odd holiday. Once the nav-computer is set, it is dangerous to break the program, so there should be no unexpected diversions, either. My love lets out a laugh at my plotting.

‘There is always something which seems to come up, so don’t make too many plans in advance,’ Ani warns.

He reaches up and pulls me down to lay beside him. I happily snuggle in close, resting my head on his shoulder and chest with one of my arms draped over him and the other folded out of the way between us. Time to rest, I guess, but we are both over-tired and more awake than sleepy now.

‘Tell me a story, Ani,’ I suggest, ‘I am too awake to fall asleep easily now.’

‘Why don’t you tell me one, instead?’ he counters.

Alright, if he insists, but I am going to tell it my way.

‘Once upon a time there was a scientist who had a rather cranky Sith Lord turn up on her doorstep...’

‘Maia...’ he warns.

‘... and she found herself wondering exactly what she was going to do with him....’

‘Favorite...’

‘... so she decided it would be easier to ...’

At that I am silenced by a kiss. Well this is better than a story any day.

Part 4

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