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The Sith Lord and the Scientist Section B - Part 5

The Devastator, Imperial Center, Coruscant System

DAY 8

I wait quietly in the observation room for Ani to return from the Imperial Palace. Commander Thirsk is with me, watching me pace from one transparisteel window to the next. The Sith Lord’s meeting with the Emperor has me very, very worried. Ani’s mission to Jazbina was a complete disaster. The Rebel pilot he was after escaped and another one destroyed the Interdictor cruiser my love had taken as a precaution. It doesn’t help at all that the new ruler of the planet is openly pro-Rebellion, replacing her pro-Imperial father who died as a result of the Sith Lord’s need for what turned out to be misplaced, misinformed, revenge.

I stop and stare down at the planet, then shut my eyes tight. Part of me desperately wants to reach out with my senses to the Sith Lord just to reassure myself that he is alright, but to do so would most certainly draw his master’s attention to me, something I must avoid doing. All I can do is wait and hope.

With a sigh, I start to turn to Thirsk, then am slammed to my knees as my entire body screams in agony. I barely hear the Commander run to my side or his frantic calls to Melina and Adi for aid. My entire being is elsewhere, with Ani as pain rips through him. Then I feel Thirsk hit me, hard, across the face, focusing my attention on the here and now for only a moment.

‘My lady,’ he yells at me, ‘you must protect your child.’

My tormented mind hears his order and reacts instinctively, throwing shields around my son. Then I am lost again in the pain and all I can do is reach out to let Ani know that I am there, with him, as his master punishes the Sith Lord for his failure. When it finally ends, I am lying on my side on the floor, Thirsk’s tunic tucked under my head, being watched and guarded by the Commander and two very white-faced Lieutenants.

‘What happened?’ I try to say, but it comes out in an almost inaudible whisper, so I repeat it, but louder this time, ‘Thirsk, what happened?’

‘I think you know better than I do, my lady,’ the Commander admits.

Ani. Something horrid must have happened during his meeting with the Emperor. I shut my eyes tight and again reach out to the Sith Lord, no longer caring if his master can detect it. He’s in pain, still, but controlling it so that it doesn’t leak across our bond to me.

My poor love, what did he do to you?

There is no response from him, and I know I need to get to our quarters. Ani will need me once he returns to the ship.

‘I need to get back to my quarters now, Commander,’ I tell Thirsk.

He shakes his head and insists that I rest, but I refuse. The Sith Lord will be back shortly and I cannot afford to wait here any longer.

‘That’s an order, Thirsk,’ I firmly command.

I see the Commander exchange looks with the two Lieutenants. He’s not happy with this, but will now do as I have told him to. A few minutes later, Thirsk is carrying me down the corridor to my quarters, Adi and Melina in tow behind us. Once I have been taken into the private section of our rooms and set down on the bed, I send the three of them away despite their protests. Time to prepare for Ani’s return.

My body aches, but I ignore it and retrieve the medkit from the ‘fresher. I peel off my tunic and run a hand across my back. There is no blood, yet I can feel raised stripes where the worst of the pain originated. Nothing can be done about it, so I replace my top and return to the ‘fresher. Ani will be in far worse shape. Clean cloths, bacta strips, bowls with cool clear water, and anything else I might need, I set out on the table. Now all I can do is wait beside his meditation pod.

I do not have to wait long.

When the Sith Lord steps into the room, there is no hint in his posture or movements that he is in agony, but the instant the door is shut behind him, he starts to sway noticeably. I run to him and he collapses into my arms. Somehow I get him on his feet again and half-drag, half-walk him back to our bedroom. He does not resist when I ease him onto the edge of the bed, nor object when I lock the door and start the environmental cycle to adjust the air. While I wait for the cycle to finish, I start removing his clothes and armor, dropping pieces of both on the floor as I go.

A quick glance reveals that the air is safe for him, so I carefully remove his helmet and mask. My love is even whiter than normal, if such a thing were possible, his eyes tightly closed and lips pressed firmly together as he concentrates on his pain controls. I take care not to disturb his focus and continue to strip off the armor above his waist, leaving on only the life support control panel and soft fabric bodysuit he wears next to his skin. I look at his back, now, and bite my lip to hold in a gasp. The fabric is soaked through with blood, and ripped in several places, revealing the torn flesh beneath.

There are scissors in the medkit, so I cut the bodysuit off of him rather than trying to pull his arms out of the sleeves and causing him more pain in the process. Gods, what a mess. Dozens of cuts criss-cross his back, all of them deep and still bleeding. I take one of the bowls, a stack of cloths and some bacta strips from the table. Starting at the top, I carefully clean away the blood from each cut and seal it shut with a bandage soaked with bacta as I go. When I am finished and can do no more for him, I clear away the cloths and excess bandages.

Ani has not said a word while I worked, so I take his hand in mine and sit beside him on the bed. All I can do is watch and wait for him to shift his awareness from within back to the outside world. Finally he opens his eyes and looks over at me. There is no pain on his face - the anaesthetics in the bacta-filled bandages have seen to that. He glances at the pile of blood soaked cloths on the table, then returns his gaze to me.

‘You didn’t have to do that,’ he quietly tells me. ‘I expected you to call Trever to my quarters.’

I brush his cheek with my hand and shake my head. No, I will never let anyone else look after him if it is something that I can do instead. He must be thirsty, so I carefully get up and pour a glass for him. I feel his eyes on me, watching how I move. Ani quickly drains the glass, extends it to me for a refill which disappears as fast as the first. When he is finished the third, I go to sit beside him again, but he stops me with a touch to my arm. Concern flashes across his face, then worry. The Sith Lord pulls me close, sets his hand on my middle, checking on his son, I assume. He yanks his hand back with a start, then smiles.

‘You shielded him,’ Ani says to me, the relief evident in his voice. ‘If you had not, you probably would have lost him.’

‘Thirsk told me to,’ I reveal, ‘he was there when I collapsed.’

The Sith Lord stares at me, then orders, ‘Take your tunic off, Maia.’

I consider arguing, but quickly comply instead. No point in making him angry, and he will see my back sooner or later anyway. Ani turns me about to have a look, and I hear his gasp once he sees the evidence of his own punishment on my skin.

‘You felt all of it, didn’t you?’ he asks, then quietly comments, ‘No wonder. I could sense you there, with me, the entire time.’

I feel him reach to me across our bond and sense his surprise at what he finds.

‘Completely healed on your end, and open as wide as it can possibly go, too. Time then to start training you in how we can use it,’ he decides. ‘For now, I will see to your back.’

I feel his hands rest against me and the low heat I associate with Force healing, but the pain does not diminish at all.

‘Blocked,’ Ani states, sounding disgusted, ‘by my master, no doubt. My poor little Favorite, you will have to suffer with me while I heal.’

He pulls me onto his lap and just holds me to his chest. What a pair we make, I think wryly to myself. I feel his lips against my hair so I turn my head to look into his eyes. My poor love.

‘Why did he do this to you?’ I ask.

‘I was foolish, Maia. I let my anger and need for revenge cloud my judgement and as a result, I made simple, stupid, and very costly mistakes. This was just a small reminder of what my master can and will do if I fail him as badly again,’ the Sith Lord admits.

I gently run a finger down his face then kiss him. He responds in kind, then rests his cheek against my own. There is nothing I can do to help him heal. Ani has not taught me those skills yet. All I can do is be there to comfort him and look after his torn up back when he needs me to.

‘What should I do for you, my love?’ I ask, hoping there is something, anything I can do which will make it easier for him.

‘Nothing, for now, my Favorite, but you need to be seen to, so up you get,’ he tells me.

I obey and watch him slowly ease himself off the bed. A rummage through the medkit produces the jar that he wants. Ani twists my hair out of the way, then starts applying a cool, numbing salve to my back. Within minutes I feel nothing except a slight tingling sensation. That’s much better, I decide. The jar is returned to the medkit with a quick toss. Time to relax a bit and heal then.

‘You need to eat a proper meal,’ Ani tells me, ‘and I need to make an appearance or two around the ship. No one knows I have been punished and I would prefer to keep it that way.’

He stares at me, and I know I had better tell him what occurred earlier in the observation room.

‘Thirsk, Melina, and Adi know something happened to me, but they have no idea what. I didn’t say anything to them, Ani,’ I quietly admit.

‘Good. Those three know they are to stay silent where you are concerned, but I will have a word with the Commander later, just in case,’ he decides.

I watch him open a compartment and pull out a new bodysuit. He will need help with that or the cuts will reopen. Before he can object, I walk over, take it from his hands, and pull him over to the bed.

‘Sit down, Ani, and I will help you with this,’ I boss him about a bit.

I pull off his boots and remaining pieces of body armor, then yank the ruined bodysuit off of him. No point in being shy about this - the Sith Lord is fully exposed to my gaze and he needs my help. Since Ani can’t bend over without pain, I find myself dressing him from the floor up. It is less embarrassing once I have the fabric pulled up over his waist. Now for the hard part - getting his arms into it without pulling on his back too much. I carefully consider my next move, then make a decision.

‘Ani, can you manage without the sleeves?’ I ask him. ‘It will be easier to get it on you if I cut them off.’

A quick nod is his response, so I retrieve the scissors and chop the sleeves off. Another idea pops into my head. I go to one of my compartments and dig around for a minute to find what I want. Perfect. I didn’t lose them and there are just enough to do the job, too. Returning to Ani’s side, I slice open the shoulder seams, surprising the Sith Lord, who starts to object. With a secretive smile, I silence him with a short kiss. Next I pull the bodysuit into place, making sure it lies flat and even over his back, and use my few precious safety pins to hold the fabric together. No need to cause my love any pain at all.

‘You are a clever little concubine, aren’t you?’ Ani teases me.

‘Not really, my love,’ I admit, ‘practical would be a better description.’

He chuckles in response to that and pulls me in for another kiss. I rest my forehead against his for a moment and sigh. Now I have the chore of getting everything else back on him. Ani helps as best he can, but I refuse to let him do anything which might cause him more pain. It takes far longer for me to get his armor on him than when the Sith Lord does it for himself, but he doesn’t complain about my lack of speed. After a few days of this, I decide, I will be much faster at it.

Once he is armored up and ready to leave, Ani helps me into my own tunic. Now what?

‘Something for you to eat first,’ Ani decides, as he leads me out of our bedroom.

The comm chimes the moment we are exiting his quarters. I look up at him, wondering if the Sith Lord will ignore it or answer the call. He sighs, then turns us both about, motions me to the side and steps onto the Holonet terminal. With a wave at the comm station, he activates it. The instant Ani sees the Emperor, he drops to one knee and waits, and I freeze in place, not sure what to do. Leave, I decide, so I start to go back to the bedroom. The first words I hear from his master stop me cold.

***

‘Well, my foolish apprentice, you have some explaining to do,’ the Emperor flatly states.

I say nothing, but I suspect I know what is coming next.

‘Not a word from you? How amusing,’ he taunts me. ‘Surely you have some explanation for that life-bond I detected earlier?’

I hear Maia’s panicked thoughts.

This is a disaster.

‘It was an accident, my master,’ I admit, after a long, pregnant pause.

‘An accident?’ my master mocks. ‘A life-bond at your age is no mere chance occurrence, my apprentice. Try again.’

I debate what to say next.

Give him enough of the truth that he will leave it alone, Maia thinks at me.

She is silent, motionless near the door to our living quarters and terrified of what might happen if the Emperor gets angry.

‘There was a mishap, my master, on her homeworld,’ I explain, ‘and my Favorite was badly injured in her mind. I had to anchor her awareness and repair the damage, but when I tried to leave, I couldn’t, not completely, not without killing us both.’

I watch him sit back in his chair, obviously thinking about what he has just been told.

‘It must be a predestined match, then,’ he finally concludes, sounding rather disgusted as he speaks, ‘and of the worst possible kind as well, since you have no choice other than to live with it. This is most unfortunate.’

A predestined match? Like the one I had with Padme? This makes no sense, but I am not going to argue with him.

Instead I wait calmly for whatever my master will say or do next.

‘This changes nothing, Lord Vader,’ he coldly states. ‘You are still bound by your word, your agreements with me. I will not release you from them.’

Of course. Why would he let go of what he has? I have just given him one more way to control me. One more way to keep me enslaved.

‘Yes, my master, I understand that,’ I automatically reply.

‘Then you may keep your little concubine and your son when he arrives. I will not take them from you, but take care, my apprentice. I will not tolerate such a deception from you again,’ my master warns.

From the corner of my eye I see Maia back slowly out of the room and into our living quarters. She’s heard enough and is wisely leaving before she hears anymore.

***

The Sith Lord takes no notice of me, so once I am out of his line of sight, I run into the bedroom and curl up around his pillow on the bed. The Emperor’s and Ani’s voices are muted now; I cannot make out the rest of their conversation. I have already heard far too much, I decide, as I ruthlessly tune out their final words to one another.

I am still wrapped around the pillow when Ani comes to find me. He chuckles a little at my silliness, I guess, and brushes a hand over my hair.

‘You are rather fond of my pillow,’ he teases. ‘Shall I give it up, and get a replacement so you can have it?’

I shake my head in response. It won’t smell like him if he doesn’t sleep on it once in a while. Another laugh rumbles in his chest at my stubbornness. I look at him and see his hand motion me over. Time for me to eat and him to wander about the ship.

We walk slowly to the Senior Officers’ Club which is really a fancy name for a glorified mess hall. Ani normally shortens his long strides for me, but at the moment, this gentle pace is all he can manage without triggering further pain. I step through the door into the Club and make a bee-line for the free table by the windows, pulling the Sith Lord along with me. Nice view, I decide as I sit down. Too bad Imperial Center is nothing but buildings.

As we wait for the crew member on duty to come over to us, Ani makes small talk by pointing out the various features visible on the planet below and the moons which are within sight of the Devastator. He is giving absolutely no sign of the low-grade pain I know he is suffering.

I should have made you take a pain killer, I think at him, but it is too late to do anything about it until we go back to your quarters.

I can manage without drugs, Favorite, he tells me.

So can I, but why suffer when you don’t have to? I ask.

He is silent at that, and the Lieutenant who has been sent over to look after us is waiting for his instructions. A different one today, I note. Maybe they have taken to drawing lots like the officers do when they have bad news to deliver to the Sith Lord. I give the Lieutenant my usual order, then shift my attention back to Ani who is now looking straight towards the door. Turning about to follow his gaze, I see that Captain Wermis has come in. Rats. The Devastator’s commanding officer just annoys me with his tendency to completely ignore me whenever I am in the room. Go away, I think at him to no effect. Wermis has spotted the Sith Lord and is heading straight for us. So much for a quiet afternoon meal with my love.

My meal and the Captain arrive at the same time. Darn. Now he has a captive audience. I do my best to concentrate on my food, but there is no shutting out Wermis’ distinctive voice.

‘My Lord, what are your instructions?’ Wermis asks, ignoring me as usual.

Ani sits back a moment, thinking, then pointedly states, ‘I haven’t decided yet, Wermis, and this is neither the time nor place to discuss it.’

For once the Captain gets the hint, and after excusing himself, beats a hasty retreat.

Good riddance, I think.

You are decidedly hostile towards him, Maia, Ani observes.

He is irritating and more than a bit dim, I flatly state. It’s a wonder he ever graduated from the academy.

That’s not all, I imagine, he continues to look for an answer.

No, Ani, it’s not. Someday his stupidity is going to cause you grief, I decide.

That is for me to worry about, my Favorite. Finish your meal and we will go for a walk, the Sith Lord offers.

I dig into my steak, but continue to think quietly to myself. The Devastator’s Captain is a dangerous man. Not for what he knows or is capable of, but because of his incompetence. The only thing he does do well is follow orders to the letter. How Ani has put up with him for as long as the Sith Lord has, I don’t know and can’t understand. Wermis is an idiot who wouldn’t know a nerf if it wandered by and bit him.

That mental image starts me laughing, so I quickly hide my amusement with a sip from my glass of juice. I just know Ani is giving me one of his looks even though I can’t see his face.

I’m sorry, love, I apologize to him, but the thought of Wermis being bit by a nerf is just too funny to not laugh at.

Nerfs don’t bite, Ani scolds. Spit, kick, butt their keepers, yes, but they don’t bite.

I think one would make an exception in his case, I can’t help but retort.

Perhaps, is all he will admit.

I push my plate to the side. The greens have grown cold and unpalatable. Time to leave. Ani gets to his feet and I watch him carefully. He is moving slowly and deliberately to avoid putting any pressure or stress on his injured back. I wait for him to offer his arm and let him lead me back into the corridor.

Now where to?

‘The bridge, my Favorite. Wermis needs his orders,’ Ani reveals.

We make our way up to the command deck, but Wermis meets us part way there.

‘What are your orders, Lord Vader?’ the Captain asks.

‘We will be rendezvousing with General Tagge, the Fleet Commander who is maintaining the Yavin blockade,’ the Sith Lord states. ‘On the way, there is a Rebel refueling station which needs to be dealt with. The co-ordinates are in a file I sent you earlier today. See to that first, Wermis, then contact Tagge and arrange a meeting with him for me.’

Wermis looks like he wants to start arguing, but for once thinks better of it and snaps his mouth shut instead. Maybe he has smartened up a bit, I think, as the Captain heads back to the bridge to get the ship underway. If he has, I would be quite surprised, though.

Ani continues up to the bridge. Once there, we stand by the window and look out. I know this is his favorite spot to watch battles from, and think or meditate when it suits his mood. The ship cannot jump this close to Imperial Center, so we are treated to a slow tour of the system as it moves to where it can. When the time to leave is close, however, Ani takes me from the command deck and returns with me to our quarters. He has spent enough time, I guess, playing the stoic military commander and now needs to get some rest.

I follow the Sith Lord into our bedroom, and help him from his armor for the second time today. A few of the cuts have bled a bit, so I replace the dressings and make sure that the others are still adhering properly to his skin. Ani remains quiet while I do this, still determined to rely on his limited pain controls even though I strongly suspect the Emperor has blocked most of those along with his healing abilities. When I offer to find him an analgesic patch, he refuses it. And he calls me stubborn.

It will be important to make Ani comfortable tonight. He needs to sleep on his side, so I toss all the spare blankets and pillows out of their storage compartments and onto the bed. I will prop him up in place like Thirsk did with me the night I was in shock.

‘Into bed with you, Sith Lord,’ I order once he has finished his evening meal.

Ani raises an eyebrow at that, but gives only token resistance when I tug on his arm. At least he is a reasonably easy patient to deal with, I decide, as I help him lie down on his side. Two pillows and a folded blanket go under his chest to keep him from sleeping on his stomach and putting too much pressure on his lungs, and another stack of pillows will prevent him from rolling onto his back. Satisfied with my arrangements, I toss a light sheet over him, making sure that there is as little contact as possible with his back.

For my own peace of mind, I set myself on my side facing him. If he stirs, I will wake instantly and be able to help him. My back will give me ample warning if I turn over, so I don’t bother with any extra pillows. I reach a hand over to Ani’s face and trace gentle paths around it, soothing and easing his pain as best I can. Sleep, my love, I send through my touch, relax and rest. With time, he does and I watch him for several hours until my eyes grow heavy and I am dreaming myself.

The Devastator, Monastery, a cloistered planet near Yavin

DAY 14

I wake up alone, again, for the fourth morning in a row. The Sith Lord is on the planet below. He spent the night down there and has a meeting this afternoon with the elders of the religious sect who control this ringed world they call Monastery. They would not let me come with him, not even for a few minutes. Only Ani was allowed as the Empire’s sole representative. Unfair, I think, it’s a safe enough place, and I would not touch or harm anything, but rules are rules. Besides, I have to admit, my love for some reason does not want me there, with him, anyway.

I roll over onto my back then push myself up against the wall. The Sith Lord has definitely been plotting something ever since he returned from the Imperial Palace with his back ripped and torn. He never confides in me though. Anything I learn is after the fact, long past the time when I could be of any help to him. Stubborn man. I know he is just trying to protect me by keeping me in the dark, but one day that is going to back-fire on him big time and I can only hope it doesn’t cost us too dearly.

At least his back has healed nicely thanks to the judicious application of bacta, and the cuts are now bright red lines against his pale skin. They will fade in time as my own marks did, days after they appeared. Strange that. Sympathy wounds Ani had called them, an effect of our permanent bond and evidence of just how closely tied together our minds and souls really are. Ani was oddly unconcerned that the Emperor had discovered our bond, only commenting that it was useful at the moment for him to know. His master will not punish the Sith Lord again, not like he did this last time, and risk my losing his apprentice’s heir. No, I grimly think, Palpatine will come up with something else just as nasty instead, if he feels it necessary.

Time to stop brooding and see how Ani is doing. I shut my eyes and smile. Our bond makes it quite easy for us to communicate with one another now that he has taught me how to use it.

Ani, love, wake up, I send to him, giving a mental nudge to his sleeping mind as I do.

Maia? is his half-conscious response.

Sleepy Sith Lord, you have over-slept, I tease him.

Stubborn concubine, it is still dark outside here. Go away and let me sleep another hour or two, he scolds and shuts his mind to me.

Well, he had told me to wake him at this time today, so I will be persistent. I give him another mental nudge.

Wake up, Ani. You told me to get you up at this time, I tell him.

A low mental growl comes out of him. Nope, my dear, you can’t scare me off that easy.

Get up, Ani, or I will do something about it, I threaten.

Silence from his end. He’s wondering what I am going to do. Good thing he can’t see my face as I sit here and quietly snicker. I brush against our bond and let my need for him seep through it. That has his attention, I note. With an evil grin, I caress his mind, weave my sexual frustration of the last week around it, saturating his senses completely. If nothing else that will produce a physical response from him.

I hear a stream of rather interesting curses from the Sith Lord. Got him. Now he will have to wake up and deal with his own frustrated desires.

That was an evil thing to do, Favorite, Ani scolds after a few long, silent minutes. I should not have taught you how to project your emotions through our bond.

Next time wake up when I tell you to, I reply.

After that, I will, but you had best be prepared for when I return, concubine. I plan on spending an afternoon locked in my quarters with you, he tells me.

Is that a promise or a threat? I tease him.

Both, he responds with a growl.

I smile at that. He is completely awake now, so I can leave him alone to prepare for his meeting. With a leisurely stretch, I head into the ‘fresher. Luck has been with me so far and I have not yet been sick with this pregnancy. Tired, yes, and my breasts have started to hurt, but I have not been ill. If I am going to have that problem, I know it will show up soon, in the next few days or weeks.

While the bath fills, I loosen my hair. It has become longer and thicker since Ani took me from home. He won’t let me cut it either, not even to ease some of the weight on my head. I let out a sigh. Legally, as his concubine, I am his glorified, if voluntary, property. His word is law and I have no choice other than to obey. Not that I would have a choice anyway. The Sith Lord tolerates a small amount of private stubbornness and occasional mild defiance from me, but he will never allow that in public. And he knows that even in private I will yield to him sooner or later.

I slip into the hot bath water and relax. Another long, boring, lonely day to fill. Maybe I should go for a walk. Ani allows me to wander through some parts of the ship for exercise as long as Thirsk and one or two of ‘my girls’ are with me. I smile again. The four Lieutenants I picked have worked out quite well. Melina has become a good companion and the other three have exceeded the Commander’s expectations for them as bodyguards. Yes, a walk sounds like a good idea and it will eat up some of the day, too.

I resist the temptation to reach out to my love again. He needs to get some work done without my hovering around him. Ani has been very tolerant of my need to do that, to reassure myself when he is away from me, but I have been quite careful to not bother him too much.

Leaning back against the wall of the bath, I let my mind wander a bit. We had several long, quiet talks on the way to Jazbina, discussions about how we both felt. The Sith Lord is more settled and secure with our relationship now. He knows that I completely understand why he acts the way he does, and even though I may be disturbed and upset by some of it, I will never interfere. It is not my place to do so.

And myself? I love him unconditionally, with all my heart and soul, and I know that he does not understand how I can possibly feel that way about him. Sith Lords are not supposed to love, I remind myself. Perhaps my own love for Ani forces him to face his forbidden feelings for me, face things he would rather not remember, and that, I admit, must not be an easy thing for him to do.

The water is growing cold, so I pull myself out of it and wrap myself in towels. Time to get dressed and do something productive.

An hour later, I am walking close to the main hangar, and Thirsk, Adi and Daini are with me. Something is definitely going on, I decide as I stop and look into the docking bay through an observation window set high above the deck.

‘What is that?’ I ask Thirsk as I point to the decrepit looking ship just below us.

‘An old freighter from the look of things,’ the Commander answers. He gives it a closer look, ‘A YT-1300 in fact.’

‘What a piece of junk,’ Daini comments.

‘Well, obviously it is still space-worthy,’ I note, ‘but only a lunatic with a death wish would fly it.’

Said lunatic is apparently standing at the bottom of the ship’s loading ramp, arguing with Captain Wermis from the look of things. He’s as scruffy-looking and rough around the edges as his ship is. The large furry creature next to him must be a Wookiee. Cool. I’ve always wanted to see one of those noble souls. From the wild gesturing, the argument must be getting interesting. This ought to be good and it’s time for a bit of entertainment, so I activate the nearest comm-station, and use Ani’s override code to eavesdrop on their conversation.

‘Look, we’re clean, Captain. You can check my papers if you like,’ the scruffy-looking man says, offering the documents in question to the officer.

‘These papers are forged,’ Wermis states as he crumples them in his hand, ‘and I know you, Solo, and your traveling companions, too.’ With a wave of his hand the Captain signals a squad of ‘troopers and orders, ‘Search the ship, men, and make sure you don’t miss any of the smuggling compartments in the floor.’

Wermis, Solo, and the Wookiee follow the search party out of sight and into the ship. Rats. Now I will have to wait until they come back out to discover what happened inside.

‘I wonder what he could be smuggling,’ I muse aloud.

‘Spice, no doubt,’ Thirsk offers, ‘or arms for the Rebellion. We are close to Yavin, the location of their current main base. With the blockade, running blasters or munitions might pay quite well, if one were willing to take the risk.’

There is no obvious activity in the hangar for quite a few minutes and my three companions are beginning to get restless and bored. I am determined, though, to see what happens to the smuggler and his Wookiee colleague. Eventually Wermis, Solo and the Wookiee reappear and stand on the loading ramp, just in range of the comm. The smuggler is looking quite pleased with himself, too.

‘Told you, Captain, that we were clean,’ Solo crows. ‘Now if you’ll just let us be on our way, we won’t say a word to your superiors about charges of false search and seizure.’

Wermis goes a bit red and starts fuming. ‘The only place you two are going is a detention cell. Lord Vader will want to speak with you when he returns.’

Solo doesn’t look too happy about that, but he and the Wookiee don’t put up any fight when they are disarmed and led away. Rats. Oh well, maybe I can talk Ani into letting me get a closer look at the Wookiee. I return to the comm-unit and reset it. Nothing else of interest to listen in on now. My curiosity gets the better of me and I start to head down to the hangar.

‘Where are you going, my lady?’ Thirsk asks.

‘I want to get a closer look at that flying junk heap,’ I admit.

The Commander steps in front of me and bars my way. I glare at him.

‘There’s no one on board the thing, Thirsk,’ I begin to argue.

‘No, my lady,’ he firmly replies, ‘not a chance. If anything happened to you, Lord Vader would have my head and that of half the crew as well.’

‘Fine. I’ll just walk around it then,’ I try to bargain with him.

He just folds his arms across his chest and refuses to budge. Obviously being stubborn is not going to work with him, so I reluctantly give up. Maybe Ani will take me on board for a look once he’s back. It’s now time to return to my quarters and have a short nap anyway.

‘Take me back to my quarters then,’ I concede with a sigh.

An hour later I am jolted out of a sound sleep when the ship lurches suddenly and alarms start to sound. Now what, I wonder. A few seconds later, the comm starts to go, so I answer it.

‘Thirsk here. Are you unharmed, my lady?’ the Commander asks.

‘I’m fine, Commander, but what happened?’ I question him.

‘Explosion in supply holds,’ he pauses a moment, ‘E and F, I think Wermis said. There are heavy munitions stored there. I need to get you to his Lordship’s shuttle in case you have to be evacuated off-ship.’

Great. Just what I need.

‘I’ll be ready in a few minutes, Thirsk,’ I grumble at him.

So much for my nap. I quickly get dressed, toss my cloak around me and grab my ‘saber from the shelf above the bed. Hopefully my love is having a much quieter and less exciting day than I am. Still, I will have a couple stories to tell him when Ani finally does get back.

True to his word, Thirsk is waiting at the door, and sets a rapid pace as he leads the four Lieutenants and myself towards the hangar where Ani’s shuttle is stored. The Sith Lord took his fighter to Monastery instead. As we go, crew and officers are charging past us, heading to where they are needed, I suppose, though it looks more like complete chaos to me.

Partway to the shuttle, the artificial gravity goes out. Too surprised to do much else, I make a grab for Thirsk who pulls me into his side and uses his blaster on low power to propel us to the nearest wall. I start to laugh. This is getting just a bit too ridiculous.

The Commander ignores my slight state of hysteria and continues to make his way to the shuttle, dragging me along with him as he goes. I have to give the man credit. He is absolutely determined to get me to safety. The four women who were with us have been left far behind, but I am sure they will manage somehow. Once at the hangar, Thirsk makes his way onto the shuttle and straps me in before doing the same himself. This is much better than being pulled about in zero-g, I decide, and I can look out of the cockpit window at that beat up freighter, too.

There is a bit of activity going on over there, I quickly realize. I can see the smuggler and Wookiee, and someone else, a young dark-haired woman, all wearing jetpacks, making their way onto the freighter. The ‘troopers are having a terrible time trying to capture them, too.

Thirsk is watching the scene with a disgusted look on his face. He gives his head a shake and activates the comm, setting it to the ship-wide frequency. Reports of the fires in the storage holds, a detention break-out involving the three I just observed, and something about a Baron Tagge’s escape fill the shuttle’s cabin. Whoa. When disasters come, it’s in threes, and Ani is not going to be very pleased about any of this. I look over at the Commander who meets my gaze.

‘I really wouldn’t want to be Captain Wermis when my Lord returns tonight,’ I comment to Thirsk as the beat-up freighter makes its escape from the docking bay.

‘I would have to agree with you there, my lady,’ the Commander admits, ‘especially when his Lordship hears that the Captain let Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa escape.’

I stare at Thirsk. Oh. So those are the infamous rebels Ani’s been so intent on catching. Rats. They were right here and I didn’t get to meet any of them. I think for a moment. Maybe meeting them is not a very good idea given whose Favorite I am. There is no love lost between those two rebels and the Sith Lord.

We sit in silence for a time, until we begin to feel the weight of our bodies again. The artificial gravity must have finally been repaired. A few minutes after that, my four Lieutenants appear and make their way on board. They look a bit shaken up by all the crazy goings-on, I decide. Thirsk listens intently to the comm channel. Sounds like the fires are under control now, too.

‘Time to take you back to your quarters, my lady,’ the Commander decides. With a quick survey of the four women with us, he adds, ‘and I think that the four of you should go back to your berths as well.’

I let him lead me back to Ani’s quarters without protesting, intending to resume my interrupted nap. There is no point in staying awake until the Sith Lord returns, and I am sure he will want to hear all about my adventures today. He should be out of that meeting by now. Maybe I should see what he is up to.

Making myself comfortable, I slip into a light trance and stretch my awareness out to the planet below. There’s Ani, and he’s busy, concentrating quite intently on manipulating the Force to do something. Better not disturb him, so I have a look about instead. Oh. Him again. There’s that same Force presence I first encountered at Fondor. Blast. Well, maybe my love will catch the Rebel’s ‘Jedi’ this time. No point in hanging about waiting to see what happens. The Sith Lord might tell me when he gets back. I let my meditation go and settle in for a sleep.

I slowly wake up when I feel Ani’s calm presence near me. Opening my eyes, I can see that he is in his chair, relaxing with a glass in hand, obviously waiting for me to wake up.

‘Had some excitement today, Favorite?’ he asks once he sees that I am awake.

‘A bit,’ I admit, ‘but I think you were busy with adventures of your own, if I am not mistaken.’

That produces a laugh from the Sith Lord and a gesture to join him for something to drink. I scoot over to my spot and accept the offered glass.

‘What have you been up to?’ I prompt, curious, and looking to hear a good story.

‘Testing the Rebels’ ‘Jedi’ to see how much of a threat he might be and ridding myself of a rival who has caused me nothing but trouble the last few months,’ Ani discloses.

‘You have been busy,’ I tease.

A small smile appears on his face, but he makes no effort at all to hide it. He’s in a good mood, so things must have gone well. I wonder if anyone has told him about the various events on board ship, though. That thought produces a chuckle from him. What’s so funny?

‘Tell me about your day,’ the Sith Lord prompts.

‘I went for a walk near the hangar and saw this beat up old freighter. Wermis was having quite the argument with its Captain, Ani. It was really funny to see and hear them going at one another,’ I start.

He’s smiling again, I note, so this is not news to him. I’ll keep going then.

‘Thirsk wouldn’t let me go look at the flying junk pile, so I came back here for a nap. I woke up when the storage holds blew up. The Commander wanted to get me to your shuttle, but part way there the artificial gravity failed and he had to drag me the rest of the way using his blaster as a propulsion unit,’

I stop at that and watch Ani carefully. There is no sign from him that this information has surprised him either.

‘We sat in the shuttle and watched the freighter and its crew escape,’ I tell him. ‘Troopers ought to know better than to fire a blaster in zero-g. They ended up everywhere except where they could be of use. I thought it was funny to see them flying all over the place, but Thirsk was rather disgusted by how easy it was for the freighter to get away. Wermis was busy trying to catch some other escapee called Tagge. I never did hear if he was actually recaptured.’

Another small smile. Fine then, I’ll ask the question.

‘You knew all this, so why have me repeat it to you?’ I prod, a bit annoyed at him.

‘Knew? I planned on some of it happening,’ Ani admits with a quiet chuckle.

I stare at him, surprised a bit. Oh. So this must be some of what he had been busy plotting the last couple of weeks. After filling my glass again, I slowly sip at it and think a bit. He must have somehow arranged for the Rebels to be here so he could test their ‘Jedi.’ That’s sneaky and devious, and just what the Sith Lord would do.

‘Alright, Ani,’ I ask ‘Why capture that ship and then let them escape again?’

‘The Baron needed a way off the Devastator and I knew that the Rebels would have someone nearby to monitor the situation and meeting with the elders,’ Ani tells me. ‘It’s unfortunate that Wermis bungled catching them after they left Monastery, but I will capture them again, sooner or later.’

‘Baron? Wasn’t it a Baron Tagge who escaped and Wermis was busy trying to catch?’ I muse aloud. ‘I guess that’s the rival you were talking about earlier.’

‘Good guess, Maia,’ Ani praises, pleased at my quick realization. ‘That entire family has been nothing but a problem for me. No more though, after today.’

I set my glass down and look over at him. He has long since finished his own allotment.

‘So, now what are we going to do?’ I wonder.

‘Go to the Thirteenth Imperial Diplomatic Conclave on Phelarion,’ Ani reveals.

Oh. More boring meetings for him and I will be alone, stuck on ship again. Rats.

I start complaining, ‘I never get to see or do anything interesting. Today was the closest thing to an adventure I’ve had since you landed at the observatory.’

‘It’s necessary, my Favorite,’ he tells me, his voice softening a bit, ‘I must protect you, even though it seems cruel and unfair to keep you confined here.’

He beckons me over at that so I hastily obey and stand beside him. His short hair is gone, removed before he went down to the planet. It was bugging him too much to leave it any longer. I trace a path down his nose with a finger, then another one across his eyebrows, down his cheeks, stopping at his mouth before giving him a quick kiss.

‘I am needed on the bridge for a few minutes, but I will be back immediately after that,’ he tells me, then replaces his helmet.

Teasing a bit, I lean over and brush myself up against him, only to step back and out of his range when he tries to grab and pull me closer.

With a growl Ani is out of the chair and stalking me. From the sound of things, I am in for it.

‘I haven’t forgotten about this morning, concubine,’ he warns as he gets closer and I back away.

Oops. He is still a bit ticked at me for that. My knees buckle as I back into the bed, and I end up falling backwards onto it as I lose my balance. Now I am in trouble. I try to scramble out of his reach, only to find myself held in place with the Force. Not fair.

I watch the Sith Lord unhook his cloak and drop it on the floor. His belt and tunic quickly join it. What is he up to? No answer from him, just a wave at the control panel to dim the lights. He picks me up next and drops me back down again, closer to the center and head of the bed.

A moment later he has rucked my nightgown up and around my waist and ripped off his codpiece. No need to speculate any longer about what Ani is going to do to me. I let him move me about as he wishes, rather pleased with how events are progressing. One of my oldest, most secret fantasies - him in his armor and me - is going to be played out shortly.

Ani brushes a hand down my face before he thrusts into me. Does that ever feel good, I decide as I let my body arch against him. It’s a bit awkward not being able to really touch him, but I don’t care. His mask is close to my face, so I reach up to set my hand against its cheek and for once he doesn’t stop me. Another thrust and I gasp. He’s found that precise spot in me like he has done before. Several more in the same manner and I am clinging to him, telling him not to stop. I feel my body respond to his actions, stronger and faster than it has ever done before. My control slips then and everything I am experiencing echoes to Ani across our bond.

I hear the Sith Lord’s startled inhalation, then he lets his own feelings and sensations pour back to me. We lose ourselves completely in what our bodies are doing, and what the other is experiencing. There are no barriers between our minds, no secrets, nothing which can be hidden or concealed. Our souls themselves are laid bare, one to the other.

When my body finally has had enough, Ani lets his control go, thrusts deep and hard into me for a moment, and I feel his own sweet release as he does so. The Sith Lord looks down at me for a long silent minute after that. He pulls out of me next, then yanks my nightgown back down and sits up against the wall beside me. I roll onto my side and watch him stare at me.

‘That, my Favorite,’ he says after a few minutes, ‘was incredible. No wonder life-bound spouses never leave their mates.’

‘Ani?’ I ask, wondering if he is alright with what just happened between us.

‘I’m fine,’ he reassures me, ‘it was just a bit unsettling to know you had access to everything in my mind.’

‘I didn’t look around or intrude on anything,’ I quietly admit.

‘I know, Maia. Now come here a moment.’ He opens his arms with that offer so I quickly snuggle up to him.

His hands are gentle as they stroke my face, soothing me. I relax at his touch and lean into his body.

‘I love you, Anakin,’ I tell him, using his full name for the first time.

For a second he pauses his caresses, then pulls me in closer. A moment later his hand is resting on my stomach, seeing how his son is faring.

‘He is doing well,’ Ani tells me, ‘and I want you to leave the shields in place. They will do no harm and will help protect him.’

I set my hand over his and smile. All is well for now and I am thoroughly satisfied for the moment. A brush against our bond reveals that Ani is also quite content to stay here with me. Maybe he doesn’t need to go anywhere after all.

‘No, I don’t,’ he admits with a chuckle, ‘but it was a good excuse to satisfy that curiosity of yours. I would hope that there will be no more provocative thoughts about our making love with me in my armor.’

‘Not a chance, Sith Lord,’ I warn him with a smirk. ‘Now we have to do it where we might get caught. Perhaps the briefing room off the bridge? Or maybe in the shuttle in the hangar?’

‘Or maybe I should clear the command deck some night and we could have some fun up there,’ he suggests.

My mouth drops open so I snap it shut.

‘You must be joking or teasing me,’ I say, hoping he isn’t serious.

There is no reply from him to that. Maybe I had better keep the rest of my silly fantasies to myself before he takes them seriously and does something about it.

‘Time for you to rest,’ Ani decides, ‘and I need to sleep as well.’

He gently removes me from his arms and goes to strip off his armor. I get up myself and head into the ‘fresher to braid my hair and clean up a bit. Time for a new nightgown, too. When the Sith Lord claims the ‘fresher for himself, I get changed and then plunk myself down on top of the blankets to wait for him.

Once he returns, I take a look at his poor back. The cuts are well-healed, but still bright red lines across it. I kiss one of them, then wrap my arms around him from behind and rest my cheek against his back. Soon they will fade and be only faint white marks.

‘Time to sleep, Favorite,’ Ani reminds me.

I let him tuck me under the covers and wrap himself around me. Last night was lonely without him beside me. The previous days he had returned late every night, rather than stay on Monastery, only to leave each morning long before I was awake. Well, at least I will be with him for a month after our son is born. He won’t leave me alone on Vjun until I have recovered from the birth. For now, Ani won’t risk sending me back to the Executor or having me away from his side for very long.

His lips brush the back of my neck. My musing is keeping him up.

Time to count sheep. No, not sheep, I decide, nerfs.

With a smile, I start numbering my imaginary herd. Ani’s quiet laugh next to my ear tells me he is still wide awake.

Fine, then, Sith Lord, what would you suggest?

Womp rats or banthas works for me, he admits.

What’s a womp rat? I ask, curious now.

I’ll show you tomorrow. Now go to sleep, he scolds.

One nerf, I quietly count, two nerfs, ...

The Devastator, Phelarion, a planet in the Colonies

DAY 16

I wake as usual, before my love does, and lie quietly in his arms, thinking. It’s far too early to get up, two hours early in fact, so I shut my eyes and try to fall asleep again. Then my stomach lurches in that most recognizable of ways and I bolt from the bed into the ‘fresher. Blast, I think miserably, as I let myself slump to the floor. I had really hoped I would be spared this. Another bout of nausea strikes, so when I have a respite from it, I fill a glass with water to sip.

Ani is awake now and stirring, judging from the sounds in the adjoining room. My mad flight from the bed must have roused him. Sure enough, a moment later, he sits on the edge of the bath next to where I am seated on the floor. He holds my hair back and out of the way when I find myself once again being sick.

‘My poor little concubine,’ he soothes, ‘you really are quite ill today.’

‘Pregnancy sickness,’ I reveal, sounding as miserable as I possibly can. I want all the sympathy I can get here.

‘It would be best to get it stopped immediately, then,’ Ani decides. ‘I don’t want you to come to any harm.’

He opens the compartment with medications in it and pulls something out.

‘After you told me your mother had a problem with this, I suspected that you would too, so when we were in Medical yesterday for your check-up, I picked up a supply of the appropriate patches,’ he reveals.

I hear a package being ripped open, then feel his hands pull my nightgown away from my back. The patch is stuck in the middle, between my shoulders, and rubbed to make sure of a good contact. His touch is soothing so I lean into it.

‘You have been quite tired the last few days, haven’t you, my Favorite?’ Ani asks.

I just smile at him and sip on my glass of water. Tired? All I want to do is sleep. Even when I was practicing with the Force in his office yesterday I started to nod off, much to my embarrassment.

‘No more scheduled lessons for you then,’ my love orders. ‘You will rest and look after yourself. When you are feeling up to it, I will let you practice in the salle with me, but no more combat training with Thirsk. It’s too risky.’

‘I won’t break, Ani,’ I scold him. Fussbudget, I think to myself.

‘Perhaps not,’ he concedes, ‘but I refuse to let you risk my heir just because you insist on being stubborn, Maia. You will do as I tell you without any more arguments.’

From his tone, continuing to fight about this will only make him angry. I grumble silently to myself, but say no more about it aloud. He watches me closely for a moment. Guess he expected more resistance from me than what I just gave him. A small smile appears next.

Happy now, Sith Lord, I think, I won’t argue about this anymore.

‘Good, then I will carry you back to bed so we can both sleep for another hour or two,’ he tells me.

Ani easily picks me up and carries me into the other room. I am too awake to fall asleep now, so I arrange myself in bed so I can look at and watch over him while he naps. After a few minutes though, the Sith Lord opens his eyes, looks over at me and sighs.

‘Come here, Maia, and I’ll finish telling you what I am allowed to about Sith history,’ he offers, pushing himself into a sitting position and gesturing me over.

This should be interesting. I eagerly scoot over and into his arms. Feeling a bit bratty despite being sick, I give him a quick peck on the cheek and receive a kiss on the forehead in return. Content to stay where I am, I settle in to listen to another one of Ani’s stories.

He speaks in Sith rather than Basic, so I concentrate on every word to make sure I understand exactly what he says.

>The last of the Sith Lords I am allowed to tell you about is Darth Bane who was the only Sith to survive the Battle of Ruusan a thousand years ago .... <

An hour later, Ani has finished his tale, and I am rather curious about what happened to the Sith between then and now. He won’t tell me, I realize, because he isn’t allowed to. Rats. Well, there are still two of them, just like the rule says, and that’s as much as I ever want to know about it.

>My little Favored one,< Ani teases, >you have finally accepted that you can’t know everything that you want to.<

>Sith Lord, I always know when you are hiding things from me,< I tease back. >I just know better than to ask.<

He laughs at my claim and pulls my face around so he can look into my eyes. His are so incredibly blue, I decide as I stare into them. Time to be a brat. I lean over and kiss him lightly, pulling away when he starts to kiss me back. The second time I try to do that he holds me close and I can’t escape.

Don’t tease, Favorite, he scolds.

Why not? I ask, fully intending to have a bit of fun with him.

Because it will get you in trouble, the Sith Lord threatens.

Sounds like fun, my love, let’s make a little trouble together, I tease him some more.

I can tell that he is considering my offer from the fleeting feelings which are reaching me over our bond. To prompt a decision, I let a bit of my need and desire for him leak past my shields and deliberately send my wants into his mind. He gives me an annoyed look, then I am pushed onto my back and held in place.

‘Stop that,’ Ani orders. ‘The next time you do that without asking, I will do something about it. For now, you will just have to do without until I decide on a time.’

Chastised, I stay silent and send a wordless apology to him. I am released at that and he heads into the ‘fresher, leaving me on the bed feeling sorry for myself. Well, Maia, you deserved that. You know he really doesn’t like it when you project your feelings for him into his mind in that way. The Sith Lord warned you just yesterday not to do that to him. Next time he will give you a worse punishment than depriving you of your fun for a while.

I wait for him to reappear, then have a quick bath. Ani is in his armor and heading out the bedroom door when I am finished. Obviously he has things to do and didn’t want to wait for me. I let out a sad sigh. He is truly annoyed at me and will stay that way for quite a while. Any other morning he would have at least given me a proper kiss. Stupid, Maia, I chide myself. When are you going to learn that you can’t provoke him without paying a price for it?

I go to the door and close it. Time to get dressed, I suppose, but I don’t feel like doing so. Instead, I get back into bed and pull the sheets up to my chin. There is no point in feeling sorry for yourself, I scold. Ani will stay mad until he gets over it and nothing you can do will hurry that. I feel a tear start to escape and then fall down my face. Great. Mood swings and crying spells now. This pregnancy is going to be loads of fun, I sarcastically think to myself, and I have just over eight Earth months more to go.

The door opens a bit later, but I don’t bother to look up. I am too busy trying to sort out my jumbled emotions. When Ani sits beside me and pulls me up and into his arms, I lose it and start weeping uncontrollably. How embarrassing, I think, as I try to get it under control.

It’s alright, beloved, he silently tells me, I understand. Let it out of your system and you will feel better.

Ani? I wonder. What’s this from him now?

‘Trever checked the blood sample he took from you yesterday, and got back to me with the results a few minutes ago,’ Ani reveals. ‘Your hormones are raging out of control, Maia. It’s perfectly normal for this stage of your pregnancy, according to him, but this will be difficult for both of us, and more so for me than you, to deal with.’

‘Difficult? Why is there a problem if this is normal?’ I ask.

‘Our bond, my Favorite. I can’t block you out at all anymore, not after that experience two days ago,’ he wryly admits. ‘I have spent the last hour trying to, without any success.’

I shift a bit in his arms. My tears have finally abated and I want to think about what he just told me. If he can’t keep my emotions out, that implies I can’t do anything about his either. It also means that he is feeling everything that I am in the back of his mind. Poor Ani.

‘My mood swings during the last hour must have been driving you nuts,’ I tell him.

‘It was rather disconcerting, yes, Favorite mine,’ he calmly admits, ‘and you will have to control yourself as much as you can. Hopefully your body will sort itself out in a few weeks and that will be an end of it. In the meantime, I will keep you near and try to minimize anything which might upset you.’

He tips my head a little and brushes a hand through my hair. A low rumbling purr makes its way out of his throat, and he pulls me in close once again. Protective and possessive. Those are the feelings I am getting from him. It’s strange that my crying spell has triggered that in the Sith Lord.

‘Not strange at all my little goddess,’ Ani quietly says. ‘You have always prompted that in me, even on your homeworld. It’s just stronger now that you are carrying my heir within you.’

I snuggle tighter in to him. He will keep me safe from everything.

‘Please, Ani, could you stay for while?’ I ask. ‘I might fall asleep again and make-up those two hours lost earlier if you do that.’

‘I will stay until you are asleep, then I must go to the bridge for a few minutes before returning to my office. You may join me in there at any time, Maia,’ the Sith Lord offers. ‘Any work which is classified and you are not to see, I will handle while you sleep.’

He holds me tight to his chest and I gradually relax, then start to drift. I feel his hand caress my face and hair and know that he is soothing me with the Force.

Thank you, my love, I tell him.

You’re welcome, Favorite mine. Sleep now, Ani suggests, giving my mind a gentle nudge.

He is gone when I wake again a few hours later, but I know he is near, working. I toss aside the sheets and get dressed. Ani won’t mind if I go keep him company and practice a bit with the Force, so I dig out my pennies and grab my lightsaber. A stop in the kitchen to get a drink and some munchies, and I am heading to his office. As I expect, the door is open and the Sith Lord is busy reading intelligence reports from the look of things. I quietly take the chair beside him, wrapping my cloak around myself as I settle in.

Ani continues to work, so I line up my pennies. What to try today? I lift one with the Force and start it spinning, then quickly set it down again. That’s not too difficult for me to do now. Maybe I should try something with my lightsaber. I take the weapon from my belt and set it on the desk. It’s simple to lift and move it about. With a smirk I send it to the center of the room. Lets try turning it on. A moment of concentration produces a snap-hiss and a lit blade as well as getting the Sith Lord’s attention.

‘Maia,’ he scolds with a warning tone, so I turn the ‘saber off and call it back to me.

Guess those sorts of tricks are off limits.

He turns and watches me a moment then decides, ‘You need something to do.’

I see him get up and go to the bookshelf to retrieve a large, beat-up looking volume. When Ani returns, he opens the book to the first section, reads for a few minutes, then hands it to me. What’s this, I wonder.

‘There are seven lightsaber fighting styles, Maia. You are already a master of the second, and far better at that particular form, in fact, than I am,’ Ani tells me. ‘Perhaps the long dead Count Dooku would have been a match for you there, but no one alive now can touch your skills in that archaic style.’

I stare at him in surprise. Now there’s something I had never heard from him before. A low chuckle rumbles out of him at my reaction.

‘Archaic?’ I question. ‘I suppose you could call it that. The Italian and Spanish fencing styles were set hundreds of years ago and little has changed in how they are taught.’

‘That style is far older, here,’ he reveals.

The Sith Lord sits back in his chair a moment, thinking.

‘I prefer the third and fourth forms myself, and use the fifth on occasion, but you do not have the physical strength or co-ordination required to truly master the last two of those,’ Ani decides. ‘So, I will continue to teach you the first form as I have been, and start with the third when you are ready for it.’ He points at the book in my hands next and orders, ‘Start studying, Favorite. It will go faster in the salle if you have a sound theoretical background in what I plan on teaching you.’

I look down at the book. It’s a treatise on ‘saber techniques. Totally cool. This should be truly fascinating.

‘Thank you, Ani,’ I tell him, then busy myself with the book.

An hour later I am still engrossed in the descriptions of how the first form can be practically applied, but my stomach is starting to feel uneasy again. Stop that, I think at it. I shut my eyes and concentrate. No way am I going to let myself get sick again. Ani’s hand brushes against my cheek. He must know I am having some trouble despite the drugs in my system. Another gentle touch from him and the nausea fades.

Thank you, my love, I think at him.

No problem. If it happens again, let me know and I will help you, he generously offers.

I return my attention to the book, but my mind is filling with questions. Just how much of this theory works in practice? And how do you decide which style to use, and when? Ani is still busy with those reports, so I file away what I want to ask for later.

By lunchtime, I am hungry and ready to eat, but my stomach isn’t. I let Ani lead me back to our bedroom, and carefully sip at my glass. One is all I can get down without my insides rebelling. The Sith Lord can sense the difficulty I am having, yet he makes no comment or criticism about my lack of appetite.

‘Drink what you can,’ he finally states, ‘but don’t force anything down or over do it and make yourself ill again.’

I set my glass aside and watch him finish his own meal. Time for a snooze, I guess, but I want to stay near him. Ani beckons me over, so I sit on his lap and curl up around him for a few minutes. The contact is soothing and I find myself starting to doze. At some point, he replaces his mask and helmet without disturbing me too much, then carries me back into his office. When I wake from my nap, I discover that the Sith Lord has positioned me comfortably on the small couch in there and tossed a blanket over me.

‘Have you had a good nap, Maia?’ he asks, glancing over at me from his desk.

I give a nod, then stretch a bit and snuggle under the blanket again. It’s warm here and I am still sleepy. He’s smiling at my laziness, I sense, and while I sleep, he must be enjoying the peace and quiet without my mood swings bothering him. Good. Then he won’t object if I snooze for a bit longer. I shut my eyes again and try to dream about home.

I wake with a jerk, shaken and starting to panic.

Where’s Ani? is my first frantic thought.

‘Right here,’ he tells me as he sits down on the couch and pulls me into his arms.

‘The same nightmare you had before?’ he asks me next.

I nod into his shoulder and hold on tight.

‘It was that dream again, for the second time,’ I admit. ‘But what triggered it? The first time I am sure it must have been my birthday which did it.’

‘It’s not important why it happened, my Favorite, but you must let me see what you dreamt,’ Ani rather insistently tells me.

‘No,’ I refuse, stubbornly shaking my head at him. ‘Please, Ani, I don’t want to experience that again.’

At least the first time I had this nightmare he didn’t make me do that.

‘You must let me see, Maia. Stop being stubborn and do as you are told,’ he orders.

I reluctantly lower my defenses and open my mind to the Sith Lord. He can look at that dream all he wants, but I want no part of remembering it. His presence easily enters my mind and he quickly locates the memory he wants. I try to block out what he sees, to no avail, and find myself once again, helplessly watching as he battles a young Jedi, only to fall at that man’s feet with a lightsaber held to his throat. The dream stops there, but I know the end result regardless. My love dead, the Jedi triumphant.

Ani gently blunts the memory, fades it a little, before he slips out of my mind. I won’t recall the particulars now, and it will be easier for me to fall asleep again without the fear it provoked in me. The Sith Lord says nothing about what he has discovered, just holds me to his chest and strokes my hair. He’s thinking about it, I decide, and I won’t ever know his opinion - if he thinks it merely a foolish dream or an accurate view of the future which I know with certainty that it is.

‘Sleep, my Favorite,’ he suggests, using a mind trick on me.

I fight the compulsion for a moment, then think better of it and let myself start to drift off again. My son needs me to rest and Ani is willing to help me with that, so why be difficult.

The Sith Lord is sitting on the floor, meditating, when I wake up. I watch him carefully, then shut my eyes and lightly brush my senses around him. He’s looking at the future, I quickly realize, checking to see if my dream is a possibility. Not wanting to disturb him, I stay quiet and continue to lie motionless on the couch.

While I wait, I muse about home. The academic year would be drawing to a close, with only final exams left to go. Mother would be fussing about her next batch of incoming interns and residents, and dad might be busy arranging an engineering contract for the summer. Jamie’s leave should have started by now, and my youngest brother is probably on a mad tear somewhere with his racing bikes.

How I miss my crazy family. They must be worried about me, too. I smile a bit at that thought. I can just imagine their reactions to the news Rick and Bill had to deliver to them. Pretty unbelievable, that. Then again, I find it hard to believe I am here, with Ani, sometimes. No, if someone had told me a few days before the Sith Lord landed in my back yard that I would be where I am now, I would have told them they were nuts. Nope, the Emperor’s military Commander doesn’t turn up just anywhere and snatch a nobody away to be his life-bound mate.

I rest a hand on my stomach. It has finally settled down. A gentle touch to my son reassures me so I put my hand back under my cheek. My son. Ani’s son. I glance over at my love again. He is still far away in his meditations, even though his body is close enough that I could reach out and almost touch him. Our son, I muse again, he will be very strong in the Force, but what will his fate be? Ani has said not a word about our child’s future and I am afraid to ask. All I know is that the Emperor has promised to let us keep him. Worry about that another day, I scold, you will just upset yourself otherwise.

My thoughts wander back to the Sith Lord. He is being very kind and generous to me now that I am with child. Ani would never have come back and soothed me the way he did this morning a month ago. No, he would have just left me there to work through things for myself as a form of punishment for irritating him.

I roll an idea around in my head. Our bond is completely open now and he has freely admitted that he can’t block me out. If that really is true, then Ani has no choice other than to keep me content and stable emotionally or it will cause him no end of misery. I feel a wicked smile start to appear on my face. If I were a devious person, there would be ways I could exploit that, but I’m not and I won’t do that to him. I could never hurt my love in such a manner, not now or ever.

‘You’re awake,’ Ani observes.

I turn my head to look at him. He’s stretching his arms and legs as he watches me and waits for my response.

‘I’ve been watching you for quite a while, Ani,’ I admit.

‘No doubt. I felt you checking on my son,’ he tells me as he gets to his feet.

He takes the two steps required to reach my side, then sits beside me on the couch. Had he been eavesdropping on me all that time? The Sith Lord gives me no sign that he did. I reach my hands out to him, and Ani takes them in his own and holds them for a moment, rubbing the back of each with his thumbs. That’s nice and soothing, I decide, he can do that as long as he likes.

‘Are you feeling up to a little walk, my Favorite?’ Ani asks. ‘The ship has arrived at Phelarion and I thought you might want to see what the planet looks like.’

I answer with an eager nod. A walk sounds good and I have lain about for most of the last two days.

‘Good. I will take you to the closest meeting room with a view,’ he decides, then pauses. ‘We could go to the tactical simulator, too. I have yet to test your abilities in that arena.’

He helps me up and holds me a moment when I have a dizzy spell. I must have stood up too fast. A short walk later and we are in a room with a holographic projector in the center and stadium-style seating all around. This must be the tactical simulator. Ani has decided to do that first, I surmise.

The Sith Lord steps over to one of the data stations and starts loading the appropriate programs. I watch, curious, as images of a star system and planets appear. He motions me over next and I am given a crash course in the various types and capabilities of the five Star Destroyers I will have control of.

‘Your goal is simple,’ he finally tells me. ‘Reach the fourth planet before your adversary and keep him from taking control of the system.’

‘Sounds easy enough in theory,’ I reply, ‘but I don’t know the command codes well enough after only a few minutes to react as fast as I should.’

Ani looks at me a moment. He’s either up to, or hiding something from me, I just know it. Why else is he insisting on doing this now?

‘I will handle that end of things. Just tell me what you want your ships to do,’ the Sith Lord offers.

At his touch the view shifts to outside the system. There’s an asteroid field around it in the plane which would give the most direct approach to the target planet, and a rather interesting looking dust cloud blocking another shorter route. Several longer paths are also available.

‘The Aruna Pass,’ I muse out loud, then query the computer for what the cloud’s composition is. Nasty stuff, but nothing a ship’s shields can’t handle. I could shift more power to the shields at the expense of speed. A quick think and I have rearranged the power consumption to what is optimal on three of my ships. The other two I will send on different longer routes. My opponent hasn’t shown up yet and I want to keep a bit in reserve.

‘An unusual tactic,’ Ani comments as he enters the required codes to send my fleet on its way.

I watch the Destroyers make their way in system and see that my adversary has made his moves as well. Long range scanners have discovered two of his ships emerging from the asteroid field, but I am still going to beat him to the planet. Good. Now, how to draw him into the arrangement I want?

For a moment I just watch the five enemy Destroyers racing against the three I sent through the dust cloud.

‘Qadesh,’ I tell Ani, ‘Ramesses II’s great battle against the Hittite emperor.’

‘What?’ the Sith Lord asks.

‘You’ll see,’ I tease.

I shut my eyes and start running calculations and probabilities through my mind. To put my two slower ships in the positions where I want them, they will need to do an in-system jump. Risky and more than a bit hazardous, but my opponent won’t be expecting that at all. I know I can do this, I decide. Even Tosack was impressed when I tried it in theory one day.

First, though, to draw in those five ships. Their commander was cautious at first, but is now being much more aggressive, actively going after my Destroyers which are making a good show of things so far. When he tries to surround them, I back them up against the planet’s atmosphere, preventing any further attempts at that maneuver. He’s assumed my two other ships were destroyed in the asteroids or gas cloud since his sensors haven’t found any sign of them as yet. I start to smile.

‘Never underestimate me, you foolish man,’ I tell my invisible opponent.

Ani chuckles at that, and I get a fleeting sense of pride from him. He’s pleased at how I have managed so far. Now to do the unexpected.

A glance at the monitor and I know I need to set-up the two hyperspace jumps. My three Destroyers will be in trouble soon if I don’t. At a touch I pull up co-ordinates for where my two ships are and where I want them to be. A burst of mental activity and I am rapidly entering data. I hesitate a second then tell the ships to jump. It will either work or not.

The Sith Lord is surprised when the two ships disappear, then drop back into space behind my opponent’s fleet, trapping the enemy ships between my own. Ani turns and stares at me, silently considering for a moment, then starts laughing.

What’s so funny, I want to ask, but a flash from the holographic projection draws my attention away from Ani. Got you, I think happily as the added firepower from my two undamaged ships obliterates one of the enemy craft. A second burst of light and I have removed another Destroyer from the battle. Three left. Will my opponent give up or not?

The battle is conceded to me. No point in playing out what will no doubt be a foregone result. It’s a good thing he gave in though, I realize as I look over the status of my fleet. If he had waited a few minutes, the playing field would have been even again. Oh, well, he doesn’t know that.

Ani shuts down the simulator, then offers me his arm and walks me along to a small meeting room. Nice view, I decide, as I am guided to sit on the couch by the largest of the transparisteel windows. I gaze out at the blue and green planet below. No ice caps at all on this world, but the cloud patterns at the poles are interesting. There is one large continent on this side, and I wonder what the other one looks like. Something to check out later in the databank.

The Sith Lord doesn’t sit beside me. Instead, he busies himself at the desk, then goes and pulls a container of water from the cooling unit in the wall. I am offered a glass to drink which I gladly down, and realize that I am feeling tired yet again. This is getting annoying, this seemingly endless fatigue. Ani tips my head up with his hand and brushes his thumb over my lips.

‘You should rest a bit if you are tired,’ he suggests, ‘I will stay here with you.’

Alright, I’ll have another nap. I lie down on the couch, pull my cloak over top of me, and settle in for another snooze. The sounds of the door opening and closing, followed by footsteps and a chair being moved and sat in wake me a few minutes later.

‘Admiral Thrawn,’ I hear Ani name his companion.

‘Lord Vader,’ a polite and rather cultured sounding voice replies.

‘You are here for the Diplomatic Conclave as well. A pointless waste of time and energy, I expect,’ the Sith Lord flatly states, revealing his dislike of political gatherings.

‘Diplomacy exacts a price from us all,’ the Admiral admits.

I stifle a laugh at that.

‘My Favorite is awake,’ Ani observes, then orders, Get up, Maia, and meet Admiral Thrawn.

I push myself up from where I am lying sprawled on the couch into a sitting position and turn to look at this Admiral. Oh. He is wearing a formal dress uniform and has black hair, blue skin and red eyes. Don’t stare, I scold myself, that’s rude. A moment later I am on my feet and walking over to take a chair next to where Ani is standing. Thrawn has watched my every move, I note, but not said a word.

‘My Favorite, Maìá, this is Admiral Thrawn. His fleet is stationed in the Unknown Regions but occasionally his presence is required closer to the Core,’ the Sith Lord makes the introductions.

‘My lady,’ Thrawn replies.

I can tell he is studying me closely, so I calmly meet his gaze. There is no way am I letting him intimidate me. A small smile appears on his face next.

‘You find diplomacy amusing?’ the Admiral asks.

‘Not really,’ I admit, ‘I just remembered an old saying from my homeworld.’

‘Which is?’ he prompts.

I am not falling for that opening, so I deliberately avoid giving him the response he wants to hear and answer, ‘Diplomacy is the fine art of telling someone to go to hell while at the same time convincing them that they will enjoy the trip.’

That produces silence from both men in the room, and Thrawn sits back in his chair, obviously thinking about what I just said. Well he did ask.

‘Clever,’ Thrawn decides, ‘and accurate, wouldn’t you agree, my Lord?’

Ani looks at me and I feel his amusement, but there is none of that in his reply of, ‘An apt summary.’

The Admiral turns his attention back to me again. Why is he so curious about me? I see him glance at the Sith Lord then make a decision.

‘You are a surprise to me, my lady,’ Thrawn admits. ‘It is not every day that one has a tactic they proposed in theory turned against them to its best advantage.’

I stare at him, puzzled, then look up at Ani. So the Admiral must have been my opponent in the simulator.

Ani, what is he going on about? I ask.

‘Admiral Thrawn was the first to put forward the idea that short hyperspace jumps could be effectively used in fleet combat,’ the Sith Lord reveals.

Oh, so that’s why Ani found my tactic so amusing. Sneaky Sith Lord, I think to myself, you knew that would throw Thrawn off balance.

‘I did not know that it was your idea, Admiral,’ I admit, ‘and I was not sure it would even work properly.’

‘Most simulators won’t allow short jumps to be calculated,’ the Admiral states, ‘so how did you manage it?’

I stay silent in response and brush a hand over my middle, checking that my son is okay before returning it to the arm of the chair. My mathematical gift is something few here know about and I want to keep it that way if at all possible. Ani, however, has other ideas.

‘My Favorite is a spatial savant. She ran the calculations mentally, then entered the instructions by hand,’ the Sith Lord reveals.

Thrawn is staring intently at me again after hearing that. Rats. Now if the IQ question comes up, I will be really annoyed.

‘Gifted,’ Thrawn calmly decides, ‘and in more than one way. I should give you my congratulations as well.’

‘What do you mean?’ Ani almost snaps.

The Admiral sits back again, steeples his fingers, and smiles. He’s figured out a few things, I guess, and is going to find out if his deductions are accurate.

‘A mathematical savant implies high intelligence,’ Thrawn starts, ‘and a musical gift often goes with it as well. Since the only calluses on her hands are from practicing with the lightsaber at her waist, she must sing rather than play an instrument.’

My mouth drops open so I quickly shut it. Control, I remind myself.

‘I am obviously correct,’ the Admiral states, noting my reaction, before continuing, ‘Gifted with the Force as well, since you are training your Favorite with that particular weapon.’

I glance at Ani and see him nod in answer to that statement. Well, there is not much point in denying that one.

‘The congratulations would be for the heir she will give you next year, probably in the middle of the second month,’ Thrawn finishes.

I stare at him, completely floored. How could he have possibly figured that out?

‘Correct again, from your silence,’ the Admiral decides, obviously pleased that he has been accurate in all his deductions.

‘How ... ?’ I start to ask.

‘... did I know that?’ Thrawn finishes for me, so I nod at him, curious to find out just how he worked it out.

The Admiral smiles again and looks at the Sith Lord who has hooked his thumbs into his belt. Ani’s wondering about this too, I sense, but will let me be the one to ask the questions.

‘Human females have a particular look about them when they are pregnant,’ Thrawn reveals. ‘Perhaps other humans don’t notice it as easily as I did, but it is obvious when one knows what to watch for. You also moved several times, subconsciously, to protect your unborn child. The hand resting over him, and I am certain that Lord Vader has ensured it will be a son, is a dead giveaway. As for when, I deduced that from the timing of the announcement of your match from the Imperial Palace. He will be born no earlier than the start of the second month.’

This man has an absolutely brilliant mind and misses nothing. It was only a complete fluke that I bested him in the simulator today. Or did he let me win? I glance up at my love.

Did you tell Thrawn who his adversary would be beforehand?

No reply to that thought. Rats. Something to definitely bug him about later.

‘You will remain silent on this matter, Admiral,’ Ani states, the slightest hint of warning in his voice.

‘Of course, my Lord,’ Thrawn concedes. ‘I know the risks your Favorite will be exposed to once this becomes public knowledge, and how difficult it will be to protect her and your son once he is born. If you wish, I could hide them for you in the Unknown Regions.’

‘That will not be necessary. I have other completely secure arrangements in mind. The Noghri...’ the Sith Lord stops his sentence dead. That was something I was not supposed to hear, I decide.

>Maìá, you will sleep and remember nothing until I wake you again,< Ani commands in Sith.

My eyelids drop and I start to pitch forward. The Sith Lord catches me, lifts me in his arms, and carries me back to the couch. A minute later he has tucked my cloak around me. With a light mental touch, he enforces the compulsion he just gave and my mind slips into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The Admiral is gone when Ani gently shakes me awake from my nap. Rats.

‘He was interesting to talk to, Ani,’ I comment once I am sitting up. ‘Will I see him again before the boring political meetings are over?’

‘It’s more than likely that we will both talk to Thrawn again, since he is staying on the Devastator rather than on planet,’ Ani tells me. ‘Now you need to try eating something. I will have Trever give you a stronger drug if you need it.’

A quick think and I realize that I am quite hungry again. My stomach seems to be behaving too.

‘I think I will be fine, but I need to be careful what I eat or I will have problems again,’ I admit. ‘No nerf steak tonight.’

‘Then I will see to it that you have something simple,’ Ani decides.

Too bad this isn’t Earth, I think sadly. I have no idea what the equivalent of chicken soup is here. Mother always made wonderful soups for us when my brothers and I were sick. A wave of homesickness hits with that thought, but I rein it in quickly. No way am I giving in to that and having another crying spell today.

I look up at the Sith Lord. He is patiently waiting for me to get up and go with him. My hand is set in his next and I let him help me to my feet. We walk back to his quarters instead of the Officers’ Club. Dinner in private, I guess, for a change of scene.

Ani sends me into the bedroom with my hands full of the glasses and two containers from the cooling unit while he does something with the autochef. I still can’t get that gadget to do what I want. Yesterday’s meal was quite hilarious in fact. Well, my love is willing to look after that for me tonight so I will eat whatever he comes up with without complaint. While I wait for him to appear with my meal, I pour out his own dinner and a glass of juice for myself.

A few minutes later, Ani appears and sets a tray with several different dishes in front of me. My curiosity gets the better of me, so while he removes his mask and helmet, I examine each one carefully. One is obviously some sort of soup, another vegetables, and the third some sort of bread. He’s good at that, I decide. Maybe I can persuade him to give me detailed instructions on how to get that blasted gadget to make this for me.

‘Ani, could you help me with the autochef? It won’t do what I want it to,’ I admit.

‘You just need to practice with it a bit more,’ he tells me, ‘and try to avoid anything complicated.’

‘That dessert stuff wasn’t that complicated, Ani,’ I argue back.

He just smiles at that, so I give him an annoyed look and start in on my meal. My sweet tooth has become a source of amusement for him, and I know he will find some way to tease me about my disastrous attempt to produce ‘ice cream’ for the next few days.

I pull the bread apart and nibble away at it between mouthfuls of the soup.

‘Not bad,’ I decide, ‘actually it’s similar to my mother’s.’

‘It’s close to what my mother used to make for me, as well,’ Ani confesses.

I stare at him. Oh. He must have been eavesdropping on me earlier. That produces another quickly hidden smile from him. Well, I should be used to his accidentally listening in on my thoughts from time to time by now. I return my attention to my meal. Time to try a few bites of the vegetables. After the second one, I give up. Whatever they are, my stomach does not want anything to do with them, so I set the fork down and concentrate on quieting it down again.

Ani is watching me, having finished his own meal long before I gave up on mine. For the first time today I am quite awake, but I have no desire to go anywhere or do anything other than stay here with him.

‘Time for a lesson in healing using the Force,’ the Sith Lord decides. ‘You will find it is easier to control your bouts of nausea once you have learned a few simple techniques.’

Something practical and useful. Good. This I will quite happily learn since it will make my life easier and more comfortable. I move myself to the bed and settle in to meditate for a few minutes. To my surprise, Ani doesn’t join me immediately. Instead, he starts to strip off his armor. He’s doing that quite early today.

‘Don’t you still have work to do before tomorrow?’ I ask, curious.

‘There is always something to do, my Favorite, but this is more important,’ he admits as he joins me on the bed. ‘And my day started earlier than usual, so I will go to bed when you do instead of working late.’

I reach over and brush a hand down his cheek. My poor Ani. There will, no doubt, be many mornings in the next few months when I wake him long before he needs to be up. He catches my hand in his and kisses it before letting it go.

A moment later, I am listening to a lecture on how to use the Force for healing. If only I had known this when the Emperor punished him. I could have helped him with the pain and healing. Since there is no way to practice what I have just learned, Ani decides to wait until I have another problem with being sick to see if I can manage on my own.

Now that my lesson is done, I slip off of the bed and change into a nightgown. I am still a bit shy, so I keep my back to the Sith Lord until I am completely covered up. He doesn’t tease me about it for a change, just wraps his arms around me when I join him under the covers.

‘Time to go to sleep,’ I tell him.

‘Unless you want another lesson,’ Ani offers.

‘A lesson in what?’ I ask, curious. What is he up to now?

I feel a kiss on the back of my neck, and his hands slide down past my waist and pull me in tight to his body. Oh. That sort of lesson. He’s ready for some fun, I realize, but what does he intend to teach me?

A low chuckle is his answer to that particular thought.

‘It’s time for you to learn how to please me and for you to do some of the work, Favorite,’ he teases.

With that he rolls onto his back and doesn’t move. I shift myself onto my other side and watch him, not sure at all of what I should do next. Well, I could curl up to him, so I scoot over and wrap myself around him. No response from Ani to that overture. Obviously he wants me to do something else then. What could he possibly want from me?

I carefully consider what I might try and what the women I spent a year in residence with at university had said about what their boyfriends liked them to do. My face starts to flush despite my attempts to prevent it, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from bolting from the bed. Surely he doesn’t expect me to do that to him? No way, not a chance, I decide, not in a million years. I loosen my hold on him and back off a bit, making sure I am no longer touching him at all. His eyes follow my retreat but other than that, the Sith Lord does nothing.

‘Sorry, my love,’ I apologize, letting him feel my uncertainty and distress, ‘but I just can’t.’

When he doesn’t answer, I turn over and curl up in a ball. I hear a sigh from him and feel his weight shift behind me. A hand gently caresses my face next, then I am coaxed backwards into his arms once again.

‘You really should try to get over this excessive shyness,’ he quietly tells me. ‘I will help you with it, if you want me to.’

I lie there in his arms, thinking. He won’t do anything to hurt me, but can I trust him to not force me into doing what he wants? Another sigh from him, probably in reaction to that thought.

‘Turn yourself over and face me, Maia,’ he orders.

I stay put. Nope, I am not doing that.

‘Maia,’ he says and I hear the warning in his voice.

I debate being defiant. That will result in the sort of fight I know I will lose. Too much stubbornness always results in some sort of discipline from him. Reluctantly, I do as ordered.

‘Better,’ Ani decides. ‘Now, I want you to touch me.’

Touch him there? Never. I keep my hands tucked in tight to my chest. He waits only a few seconds, then grabs one of my hands, pulls it over and sets it on his hip. The other one he brings to his lips and kisses.

‘Stop being stubborn, Favorite,’ he scolds. ‘I won’t make you do anything you are uncomfortable with.’

‘Promise?’ I quietly ask.

‘Yes, of course, my little concubine,’ he teases in answer.

With that I let him pull me in closer and slide my hand from atop his hip around to his back. I trace his spine with a finger from his waist up to the back of his neck. There are replacement vertebrae high in his neck from the feel of things. So, that’s why he has to have his breathing controlled remotely. His spinal cord must have been partially severed in some accident. At home he would be permanently tied to a ventilator and bedridden, if he survived the initial trauma, that is. No wonder he is so careful in maintaining his life support systems. I snuggle in closer and send him a few soothing thoughts.

I feel a kiss on the top of my head and his gentle reassurance across our bond. He knows I am worrying about him yet again.

‘You worry far too much, my love,’ he quietly tells me.

I give him my usual reply to that, ‘And you don’t worry enough, Sith Lord.’

He’s smiling, I just know it, so I tip my face to have a look. Sure enough, my guess was correct. His eyes drop to meet my own and I smile at him in return. Ani’s in a good mood despite my emotional swings he has had to deal with today.

‘I can be content for a while,’ Ani admits, ‘but only until the meetings start in a few days. There will be some in attendance who are Force sensitive and I will not risk their detecting anything from me.’

Darn. I don’t like it when he acts like a Sith Lord. The coldness I feel from him as he cuts off his feelings for me bothers me greatly. At least I have never had to appear with him in public when he has done that. I would find it almost unbearable, I think, to be openly treated like his property when I know he cares deeply for me.

No response from him to that. Well, it’s either time to have a bit of fun or go to sleep. I debate what to do next. He wanted me to touch him. Okay, I can do that, but I will only do what I want to.

I let the hand I have on his back leisurely trace his ribs as I bring it down from his neck to his waist. Stopping there, I follow the muscles of his chest with my other one. He makes no moves to stop me or any suggestions for what I should do next. Alright then, I will be a bit bolder. With a light touch, I brush my hand over his back, then down his legs and back up to rest on his hip.

‘You have a nice rear end,’ I tell him. ‘Too bad it’s always hidden by your tunic and cloak.’

That produces a peal of laughter from Ani.

‘Fine, laugh at me,’ I growl at him, ‘just be glad I don’t rate men like one of my university flatmates did.’

‘Oh, Favorite mine, and how would I rate?’ he asks, curious.

I debate telling him what Liz had said about him. Do I really want to embarrass myself? Nope, I decide, I don’t, so I won’t tell him.

‘I don’t know your real height which is one of the thing she used,’ I admit.

‘It’s not what it was before,’ he reveals. ‘Everything cybernetic is the same as or close to the original except for some height added in my legs.’

Too much information from him. Well, fine then, since he is so curious about Liz’s rating scheme, I’ll think it through for him. I consider all the things Liz would have looked at, ignoring what I already know about him.

A few minutes later, I have his answer, so I quietly tell him what my friend had concluded years ago. ‘Liz put you at the top of her scale and actually said to me, “If you ever have the chance, hit him over the head to keep him from getting away and drag him into bed immediately. Given how big framed he is and how fit, there should be lots of size and staying power there, enough to satisfy any woman. He ought to be good in bed, too, given that he’s no inexperienced teenager.”’ I stop dead at that, feeling my face starting to go bright red. Rats. I knew this would be embarrassing.

In response, Ani just gives a low chuckle and I get another kiss on the top of my head. I snuggle in close and remember that day Liz and I had been speculating about the Sith Lord. Well, she was right about how good a lover he is. Too bad I can never tell her that. She would most certainly get a kick out of knowing that piece of information.

I lie quietly in Ani’s arms and start wondering about something else Liz had speculated about, but I am far too shy and inhibited to find out the answer to that question. Or maybe I can get it another way? I let the hand I have on his hip slip over to his stomach. No reaction from the Sith Lord. Obviously he fully intends to allow me to do whatever I want. Well, I won’t touch him, I decide, I will just use the Force to give me the information I want. A quick mental peek downwards and my curiosity is satisfied. He’s still ready for me and he’s every bit as big as Liz had suggested. No wonder it hurt so much that first time he made love to me.

Ani pulls my hand to his lips again and holds me tight to his chest. Soothing caresses and touches to my face follow.

‘I didn’t know, my little goddess, before you told me yourself, that you were an untouched innocent, and by then it was too late,’ Ani gently tells me, ‘If I had known earlier, I would never have been so hasty, careless, and rough with you. I would have taken the time to relax you, gradually stretched you, and then eased myself in like I did the second time. There was no need for you to be hurt like you were.’

He still feels a bit guilty about that, and must have realized a few days later that much of my fear of being hurt came from what he had done. Now I understand why he was so patient with me and willing to let me make my own decision about when. I needed that time to work through my phobia and accept what he would want from me.

‘It’s alright, Ani,’ I try to reassure him, ‘you were careful and gentle with me after that first bit and I expected it to be painful. Perhaps being quick about the worst of it was for the best.’

I carefully consider what he had done. Yes, I decide, it was much better that he did things the way he had. There was no drawn out discomfort that way, and even though it did hurt, the pain didn’t last for very long once I started to enjoy what he was doing.

‘I do not understand how you can always be so accepting and forgiving of my mistakes,’ Ani confesses.

‘It’s simple, Anakin,’ I tell him, ‘I love you.’

He shifts me up a bit, so that we are eye to eye, then sets his lips on mine. I part mine to his and our kiss deepens, intensifies, and with that, I feel both our mental shields begin to merge, our bond pushing them together, blending them, as it did the last time we made love. A few minutes later, there are no longer any barriers between our minds. Ani pulls away from me then, rolls onto his back, and hauls me bodily on top of him. What is he doing? I let him tug me about as he wants, but when he sets his hands on my hips, shoves me downwards to sit over his pelvis, I finally realize that this is what he had wanted me to do earlier. Deciding to help him, I straddle his waist, then let him move me into position. When I am ready, he thrusts upwards and into me. I can improve on that, so I let myself slide downwards on him, until he stops me with his hands.

‘No further, Maia,’ he warns, ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’

I wait until he lets go of my hips, then teasingly move up before shoving myself down hard against his body, taking his entire length into myself. A slight hiss escapes before I can stop myself. He’s bigger than I thought as I feel my body stretch uncomfortably to accommodate him. It feels incredible, though, to have all of him in me and where he is positioned feels particularly good.

‘Foolish concubine,’ Ani scolds, ‘you should not have done that. You will be sore later because of it.’

Stop fussing, Sith Lord, I think to myself, I like the way it feels when you are in me like this. Now for some fun. I move myself slowly up and down, noting exactly how far I need to go to get the results I crave. With a few carefully planned motions, my back arches, and I am lost in that sweetest of sensations as my body reacts to what I am doing.

Ani watches me with a smirk on his face as I fall against his chest. He didn’t have to do any work at all and he got to enjoy everything I felt over our bond. Sneaky Sith Lord, so that’s what you meant earlier. I push myself up from where I am sprawled and decide to torture him a bit. Slowly, I move myself on him, teasing him with what I feel as I do, but I don’t let him have any release, stopping myself anytime I can sense either one of us nearing that point. Finally, he can take it no longer. The next time I stop my movements, he grabs my hips and holds me still while he thrusts hard and deep into me, triggering my own climax, but not his own.

A low, frustrated growl comes out of his throat next. Before I can do anything, he drags my nightgown off over my head, holds me close, then rolls both of us over, pinning me beneath him.

‘My turn, Favorite, and no more teasing from you, or I will do something about it,’ he threatens.

He thrusts into me at that, deep and hard, using every inch he has to torment me for a change. I feel my body respond to him, but he stops and pulls out when I am right at the edge. Not fair, I want to protest, yet I know that this is exactly what I had just done to him. For a moment, I stay quiet, then let a small smile play across my face. There’s a solution to that, I think, so I wait until he repeats the process, drives both of us to the brink, then consciously close my muscles around him before he can escape again. And that’s all it takes to set off a powerful reaction.

I hear him gasp, hear myself call out to him, then feel him plunge into me and pull me in tight to his chest. As we both climax at the same time, our feelings echo back and forth between our minds, and I lose myself completely in that. When I can think clearly again, I decide that this was our best session of lovemaking yet.

The Sith Lord is lying across me, his eyes closed, concentrating. I suspect I know what he’s up to, so I stay quiet beneath him, taking care not to disturb him. He chuckles at my speculation and shoves himself off of my chest.

‘Not tonight, my Favorite. You will find that you are too sore for anymore of that sort of fun,’ he warns me. ‘Time to get cleaned up with a shower now, so come along, and no arguing.’

Share a shower with him? Is he serious? I stare at him, surprised and a bit taken aback. This is the first time he has insisted that we do this. Ani gives me no opportunity to protest, grabs my hand as he gets up off the bed, and drags me after him into the ‘fresher. He locks the door once we are inside, preventing any quick getaway I might attempt, then steps into the bath and tugs me in with him.

When he turns the shower on, I have a choice to make - let the water hit my face which I detest or turn around and face him. A quick debate and I decide to put up with the former. No way am I going to be in a position where I will embarrass myself.

‘Still shy?’ Ani teases as he turns me to face him.

I keep my eyes on his face or fixed straight ahead at his collarbones. Good thing I am as tall as I am. It’s easy to avoid looking where I don’t want to.

‘Silly, timid little concubine,’ he teases some more. ‘I won’t let you be bashful much longer.’

He takes my face in his hands and presses a kiss against my lips. My hands are caught in his next, moved down to rest against his hips, and I know what he wants me to do. I can’t, won’t do that, I decide.

‘Why not?’ Ani asks. ‘You are my Favorite, my lover, my oath-bound Lady. I expect and want you to touch me that way.’

I give my head a stubborn shake.

‘Is it because you are too shy or embarrassed to do it?’ he ventures.

A nod of my head this time.

‘I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to,’ he reminds me.

I bite my lip and pull my hands away from him. If he keeps this up I will start to cry.

‘It would please me if you would at least try to touch me a little,’ he coaxes.

The tears start to flow. Damn.

‘Maia...’ he softly starts.

‘I can’t, Ani, I just can’t do it,’ I blurt out, letting him hear my anguish.

‘Why not, my love? There is obviously something upsetting you about this,’ he persists.

I shut my eyes and bring my left hand to my mouth. He wants to know and I can’t bring myself to tell him why.

Show me, then, if you can’t tell me out loud, he offers.

Show him that? Never.

No, Ani, I can’t do that, I refuse him.

I need to know, my little love, if I am to help you with this, he firmly states. So please co-operate with me.

I can’t, I can’t, I repeat, growing more hysterical as he continues to press for an answer.

Finally he falls silent, pulls me in close and soothes my trembling with his touch. When I have relaxed a little bit, I sense the Sith Lord make a decision.

I’m sorry, Maia, he apologizes, but I must know what the problem is.

With that said, he does something to get into my mind, collapses my shields from the inside, and every attempt I make to block him out fails. I feel him dig into my memories next, so I plead with him to let it be, to no effect. Ugly recollections are dredged up, dragged out and replayed. I try to escape, but he pulls me back against his chest, and holds me tight as I let myself go limp with shock at his actions. A light touch in my mind follows and what he forced me to relive fades away. Another mental nudge and I am unaware in his arms.

***

I hold her limp body in my arms, watch the water which had pooled on her stomach trickle down her side before falling in a shower of drops to the floor. I am too shocked to even turn off the stream of water in the bath.

Maia.

No.

No.

After a few minutes, I slam the valve into the off position with the Force.

My motions are unthinking, automatic. I dry her off, dress her in a nightgown, braid her hair and put her to bed.

My armor goes on next.

I grab my ‘saber and stalk from the room, my anger building with every step.

A Sergeant who happens to be too slow in getting out of my way, I throw aside with the Force.

The salle is just ahead.

I step inside, activate all of my dueling ‘droids and let my rage take over.

***

I wake a while later, safely tucked into bed. He must have dried me off, dressed me in a clean nightgown, and braided my hair. The Sith Lord is nowhere to be seen though and the bedroom door is open. Where is he? Concerned, I throw aside the covers and wander out of our private quarters. Ani’s not in his office or pod, and it is quite late in the night portion of our daily cycle. I stretch out my senses and find him in the nearby salle where he keeps his dueling ‘droids. And he’s absolutely furious and thoroughly frustrated about something.

I have a quick debate with myself. It’s far too late to wake Thirsk or one of my Lieutenants and from the pull I just felt, Ani needs and wants me. The salle he is in is nearby, on the next corridor in fact, so I will just go there by myself and take whatever scolding and punishment I get for my disobedience. I retrieve my cloak, wrap it around me, then open the door to our quarters and peek out. No one in sight. A quick scurry to where the hallways intersect and I am peering cautiously around the corner. Still deserted. I run to the salle’s door and open it, being sure to dart in as soon as I can.

A scene of destruction lies before me. Bits and pieces from a dozen dueling ‘droids litter the floor. Ani is standing in the center of it, back to me, with lit ‘saber in hand. He is staring into space, completely unaware of his surroundings. What on Earth happened to produce this sort of response from him?

‘My Lord?’ I quietly venture.

No reply, so I take a few cautious steps towards him, kicking a few unidentifiable ‘droid parts out of my way as I go. He shuts his lightsaber off, but remains still and unmoving.

Ani? I prompt with a thought.

A ragged inhalation breaks his breathing pattern as he turns to face me.

‘It is truly unfortunate, my Favorite, that your homeworld is inaccessible,’ the Sith Lord coldly states.

I stare at him, puzzled. What’s this now?

‘There is someone there,’ he continues, ‘who I would enjoy slowly taking apart, piece by piece, just to hear them beg for the mercy death would bring.’

I somehow suppress a flinch. He’s really angry at whoever it is. Why?

‘I will never let anyone who has hurt my Lady escape from me, no matter who they are,’ Ani declares. ‘In time, there will be a way to return, and when that happens ...’

The Sith Lord clenches a fist and shakes it, and I know this is no idle threat. Ani has every intention of going after whoever has provoked this rage in him. I take an involuntary step backwards. Despite the fact that his own desperate need for my presence has drawn me to him, I know he will not be pleased with what I have done. He’s in no mood to be understanding, either, and I have deliberately disobeyed one of his commands by coming here unescorted.

‘Yes, you have knowingly defied my orders, concubine,’ he flatly notes, ‘so for your punishment you will stay on the Devastator during the Diplomatic Conclave instead of accompanying me as I had planned.’

I bow my head in acceptance of what he has decided, knowing that there will be no reprieve from him. There will be no arguments from me either, nor any pleas begging him to reconsider. This is one punishment I have earned and will pay in full.

The Sith Lord walks towards me, ignoring the dismembered ‘droids and havoc he has created. Without a word, he passes me, so I follow him into the hall and back to our quarters. Once there, he steps into his meditation pod and closes it. I guess I will be spending the night in silence and alone. More punishment for my disobedience.

I hurry back to bed, settle myself under the covers, and quietly brood a little bit. Ani is really angry about something which happened on Earth, something he discovered in my memories, but I have no idea what it is or who was involved. All I know is that whoever it is did something to hurt me. Well, there are many people who fit into that category, I sarcastically think, just pick a few of your highschool and university classmates, for example. There is no point in wasting my time trying to puzzle this one out, I decide after a few minutes of poking about in my mind. He’s been careful to remove any traces of whatever it was he found.

My mind wanders a bit. The evening was going so well until he dragged me into the shower. Then he just had to go and spoil it by messing about with my memories again. Why is it that almost every time things seem to be perfect between us, he goes ahead and does something to wreck it? It’s not fair, not fair at all. A tear escapes so I do my best to keep my feelings from leaking out to the Sith Lord. There is no way I am going to disturb him with a crying spell now, not when he is in such a rotten mood, so I try to think of other things.

I brush a hand across my middle and peer in at my son again. It’s been just over three weeks since that night he was conceived, three long, tumultuous weeks. Life with Ani is many things, but dull and boring it is definitely not. That prompts a smile and chuckle from me. No, living with him has been nothing like what I thought it would be. He’s moody, temperamental, stubborn, manipulative, and quite the dictator when it comes to getting his own way. But he can be gentle, loving, considerate and kind when he wants to be, and he shows that positive side of his personality to me far more often than the negative one.

In private, Maia, I remind myself, you have never really had to deal with him in public. He was not being very Sith-like at the academy, and most of your time there was behind closed doors or sitting on stage during the ceremonies. It would be different at a formal reception or social affair of some kind, and how he would act towards you around the Emperor could be quite difficult for you to deal with. I shiver at that. Sooner or later, Ani will have to bring me to Imperial Center to meet his master, and I want to postpone that for as long as I possibly can.

Another topic to think about, I decide, and a happy one so I can fall asleep easier. What to name our son? I consider a few options. Maybe after someone in mine or Ani’s family? And what last name will he have? Will he have a middle name like at home or not? Definitely a subject to discuss when the Sith Lord is in a better frame of mind.

With that final thought, I reach out and bid my love, Good night, Ani. I love you.

No response, but given how cranky he is at the moment, I didn’t expect one, so I wrap myself around his pillow and let myself drift off.

DAY 19

I wake early, reach over to the other side of the bed and find that I have spent another night alone. Alone, I sadly think, all alone yet again. Ani has not spent a night with me since he destroyed all of his dueling ‘droids. He has either worked in his office or lurked up on the command deck until quite late, then used not disturbing me as an excuse to sleep in his meditation pod. Why is he being so mean? I need him to be near me. Stifling a sob, I curl up in a tight ball and refuse to give in to another spell of weeping. It won’t do any good anyway so why bother.

Time to look after myself, I decide. A quick trip into the ‘fresher and I have a new anti-nausea patch on my back. It’s much better to avoid that problem than put up with it. I have a leisurely bath and once finished, twist my hair into a series of elaborate braids. Cyran taught me how to do this, but this is the first time I have tried it on my own. The Sith Lord likes my hair loose instead, a preference I try to satisfy. Well, he’s doing his best to annoy me so I will do as I please for a change.

Breakfast next. I stretch my senses into the rooms next door. No traces at all that Ani is near. He must be on the command deck again. Good. I can get my meal without having him scold me for not sleeping enough. I step into the kitchen, grab what I want and retreat into the bedroom.

As I finish my drink, I start to brood. A long, lonely day lies ahead of me. The diplomatic meetings start tonight with a reception and banquet, but I will not be going with Ani to any of it. I let out a sad sigh. It would have been nice to get off of the ship for a while even if it meant having to listen to boring political debates and discussions all evening long. No point in feeling sorry for yourself, I scold, he decided that depriving you of that would be your punishment so you will just have to live with it.

My mind works away at another issue. Why is he avoiding me? I run the last few days through my head. No, I can’t think of anything I might have done to upset or offend him, yet it’s almost as if he’s afraid to touch me. Why? The answer was in my mind, I decide, was in those memories he so carefully ripped out.

Well, I feel like practicing in the salle for a change, so I call Thirsk on the comm and ask him to accompany me there. I can work out some of my frustrations by doing forms until I am too tired to think anymore. While I wait for the Commander to arrive, I seat myself on the raised Holonet terminal. The comm chimes, but it isn’t coming from the hallway outside. Blast, I think as the Holonet activates and I bolt from where I had been sitting. The door to our quarters opens next and I almost run straight into the Sith Lord as he steps into the room. Thirsk is right behind him, so I dart around Ani and into the corridor while the voice of the Emperor fills the room I just left. Oops. Now I know why I shouldn’t use that spot for a place to sit.

I hear the door close after me, so I give the Commander a lopsided grin and tell him, ‘Note to self: Using the Holonet pad as a resting place is a very bad idea.’

I get a small smile from the Commander in response. He’s loosening up a bit now that he is more accustomed to my warped sense of humor. Thirsk heads down the hall so I walk quietly at his side, not wanting to talk at all today. As we go, my mind wanders back to my current quandary. If only my love would talk to me about what is bothering him. Ani is being so, so, ... so pigheaded and just like a Sith Lord, I finally decide. Anyone else would have had the decency to tell me what the problem is by now. Am I that unapproachable, that unreasonable?

I stop dead in my tracks, surprising the Commander who passes me by a few steps before realizing I have halted. Taking no notice of him, I stay still and continue to think. Or is it that whatever it is, it is so upsetting to the Sith Lord that he can’t deal with it in any other way? If only he had left my memories intact. I would know how to manage the situation then. No help for it, I guess. As it is, I have no choice but to wait it out and hope Ani talks to me about it before I completely lose my patience with him and decide to do something drastic.

Thirsk is giving me one of his odd looks, so I shake my head and resume my pace. We are close to the salle and once there, I toss my cloak aside and begin the simplest form for warm-up. As I work my way through every pattern I know, I keep thinking, detaching my mind slightly from what my body is doing. Ani is being a pill, I finally decide, and I am not going to put up with it any longer. I let myself slip into a starting stance, point my ‘saber at the floor and relax a moment. No, I have had enough of sleeping alone. Now, what to do about it?

I set my ‘saber aside on top of my cloak and retrieve my heirloom rapier and the dueling blade which matches it. Time for something different and I am in the mood to try it. I will do another form, an old Florentine style one, one Ani has never seen me perform. Grandfather was an expert in using two rapiers at once and taught me this when I was a teenager. It is dangerous and risky to execute, but at the moment I don’t care.

With a casual toss, I throw the dueling blade in the air, watch it tumble end over end as it rises then falls, to have the handle slap back into my hand. Good, the balance is still where I set it. No need to change or adjust the pommel weights. Thirsk stares at me now, so I give him a formal bow, set myself in the starting position and begin the form. Part way through, I toss one of the rapiers into the air, spin and catch it behind my back. Not bad, I decide, considering I haven’t tried this in years. The second time I do that move, the Commander steps out of the salle. Where’s he off to? Well, he will be back sooner or later to escort me back to my quarters.

I finish the form and stand in the center of the room, thinking about what to do next. A grin appears on my face. Why not try out a few tricks? With a quick motion, I toss one, then the other rapier into the air, catching them both easily once they return, one after the other. Too simple, so I try the same stunt, this time throwing both blades upwards at the same time. I watch the swords carefully as they spin, then realize that my throw was off by 180 degrees. Damn. Now I will either have to let them hit the floor or try to make a particularly difficult catch. Timing will be everything so I run a few quick calculations through my mind. As I drop to one knee to allow for the rapiers’ rotation, I hear the door open. Ignoring whoever it is, I look up to watch the swords as they fall, then throw my hands straight outwards from my body, feel the handles impact against my palms and a sharp sting on my throat where one of the blades has touched. The other one, behind my neck landed well clear of my flesh.

Looking over to the door, I see Ani standing there with Commander Thirsk. So that’s where the commando went. He must have thought I might do something stupid and brought reinforcement to keep me in line. With graceful motions, I sweep the rapiers down and to the front of me and rise to my feet. I can feel blood trickling down my throat, but pay no attention to it. Still staying as casual as I can, I go to the compartment where I store my swords, return the two in my hands to it, retrieve my lightsaber and cloak, and walk out of the salle without a word to either man.

As I head down the corridor, I hear Ani’s footsteps following after me. Thirsk is going in the other direction, I note. Well, I am probably in for a long lecture about trying foolish stunts. Once in our quarters, I retreat back towards the bedroom. The Dark Lord stops by his meditation pod, watching me as I go. He’s debating what to do and he can’t make up his mind whether to scold me or not. Finally he turns on his heel and I know he is going up to the command deck.

I have had enough of this, I decide, so I step away from the entrance to the den, following him for a few paces before I stop. With one quick motion, I ignite my ‘saber and throw it at the controls for the main door to his quarters. There is a satisfying shower of sparks as the red blade buries itself in the electronics.

‘You are not going anywhere, my Lord,’ I coldly state, in that same tone of voice he had used the other night in the salle.

He freezes in his tracks.

‘I don’t know what the problem is, but I am not going to let you avoid discussing whatever is bothering you any longer. You had better start talking to me, Anakin, before I really lose my temper,’ I warn him.

I watch him turn to face me. He’s considering where he can escape to next, so I quickly kill that idea.

‘And don’t even think about hiding in your office or pod because I will make you miserable until you do decide to come out and talk to me,’ I threaten.

Would I do that to him? Yes, I decide, I would. The last few days I have been quite careful to keep any of my misery, hurt and loneliness from reaching him. No more, though. He deserves to feel some of the pain he is so unthinkingly and callously causing me.

An angry hiss escapes from his mask as he whirls about and goes into his office. Don’t like it when you get called on something, do you? As I expect, he locks the door once he is inside.

***

I make my retreat and lock the office door to keep her out.

For a few minutes I stand there, staring at it, debating what to do.

I can’t tell her what I know, what I saw in her memories, what I stripped from her mind.

I can’t even bring myself to think of it again.

All I can do is run away and hide – hide from what I have discovered. Hide from Maia and her questions.

Not a very Sithlike reaction.

But it’s the only one I am capable of at the moment.

***

Fine, then, Sith Lord, go ahead and hide from me. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. I walk over to the fused door controls, wrench my ‘saber about a bit to make sure that there is no way to quickly repair the damage, and shut off the blade.

My neck needs to be looked after so I head to the ‘fresher next for the medkit. A quick clean-up reveals only a surface cut, and a minute of calm concentration and the Force repairs the wound. Now what? Do something to occupy my time while Ani isolates himself in his office and broods.

I go to the compartment with my dresses and pull out the wrapped up package of old letters to and from my family. Maybe there is something in here which will be entertaining. After a tug on the string holding things together, I lay the envelopes out on the bed, sorting them by who they are from. There’s a note here from the Sith Lord which I had stashed away and a few e-mails from Liz, so I set them aside, apart from the rest. What to read first? I look at my piles, then close my eyes and select one at random. Once my choice is made, I tie the others back together and put them away, saving them for another day.

Who did I pick? I settle myself at the table and look down at the stack of envelopes. Letters from Michael. Oh. Maybe this wasn’t the best choice at the moment. I hesitate, hold my hand above the first envelope, then gather up my courage and pull the message out of it. It’s a very old and funny one, from when we were children and he had been sent away to camp for the first time. Once I finish it, I return the pages to the envelope and set it aside. Which one next? A piece of dark brown paper catches my eye, so I pull it from the pile.

A few minutes later, I let out a shriek, toss the paper to the floor as if it were on fire and back away from it towards a corner of the room. Gods, I think, half-choking with fear and panic, what he wrote didn’t really happen, did it? It couldn’t have, I decide, I would remember an incident like that until the day I die. I feel my back impact against the wall so I let myself slide down it to land in a heap on the floor.

Wrapping my arms around my knees, I continue to stare at that letter. I am far too upset to even consider moving from where I have ended up. Calm down, Maia, I scold, sort yourself out before you have a hysterical fit about this. You need to think rationally, too.

I shut my eyes tight and start to meticulously work my way through my memories. If this one is there, it will be deeply and most carefully hidden away. Nothing at the surface so I work my way deeper. I feel my breathing slow as I slip into a trance, going deeper still into my mind. Tantalizing flashes of my knowledge of the future taunt and tempt me, but I ignore them. Not today, I am not hunting for that now. Further back in time I push, back to where I need to look.

Then I find what I am searching for.

And I know what Ani had found.

I stifle a sob. No wonder he wants nothing to do with me any more. How could anyone who knows this even look at me without feeling revulsion? Poor Ani. He is stuck with a concubine he can never get rid of and he has made it quite obvious from his actions that is exactly what he wants to do.

Somehow I manage to get to my feet. I gather up Michael’s letters and return them to the compartment with the rest. The brown page I leave on the floor, not wanting to touch it again. There are decisions to be made now that I am calm and can deal with this. I pull a few blank sheets of paper and a stylus from where I keep them stashed. Time to let Ani know what I want him to do. Hours later, I have the wording the way I want, so I fold the page and set it against his office door. When he comes out to go into his pod for lunch, he will find it. Satisfied with what I have done, I go back to the bedroom to meditate. There are other things in my deepest memories I need to retrieve and now is a good time to do it.

Ani’s presence nearby draws me from my trance. I open my eyes and look over at him. He’s standing in the doorway staring at me, the letter I just wrote to him in his hand.

‘No, Maia, my answer is no,’ he flatly states, then drops the letter on the floor and starts to leave.

‘Why?’ I ask, trying unsuccessfully to keep my distress to myself.

He stops but keeps his back to me. I wait quietly while he decides what to say.

‘You are my oath-bound, soul-bound Lady. I will never let you go. Do not ask to leave me again, or I will send you to Vjun immediately and take my son away from you once he is born,’ Ani coldly threatens.

I watch him walk away from me. So he has decided I am tainted enough to be an unsuitable parent as well as an unworthy mate who is beneath his notice. A few tears fall down my face but I let no sound escape. My fault, I think to myself, this is all my fault. What a stupid child I was to trust as I did.

I hear the Sith Lord stop, then turn about and make his way back to the bedroom. He’s going to torment me some more to drive his point home.

‘You remembered, didn’t you, despite all that I removed, you still remembered it,’ he quietly notes, stepping close to me as he speaks.

I point at the brown paper on the floor and his eyes follow my direction. He calls the letter to his hand with the Force, looks at it for a few minutes, then back at me.

‘Michael knew and wrote to me about it many years later, Ani, and the memories were still there, just deeply buried,’ I softly admit.

‘It wasn’t your fault, Maia,’ he reassures me. ‘You had no reason not to trust as you did.’

Does it help to hear that oft repeated mantra from him? Not really, I decide, not after the way he has behaved the last few days. Not when his actions show he blamed me for what had happened so long ago. He reaches out to touch my shoulder, then pulls his hand back before contact is made.

‘I need to sleep, my Lord,’ I tell him, resorting to formal mode and keeping the emotional distance he has so carefully maintained.

He watches me retrieve a nightgown and go into the ‘fresher to change. The Sith Lord is still standing where I left him when I return and crawl under the covers for a nap. I hear him pull one of the chairs away from the table and seat himself in it. A light mental brush against his mind and I know he is still extremely disturbed by what he had seen in my mind that evening three nights ago. No wonder he was avoiding me. Ani had no idea how to deal with this knowledge and couldn’t bring himself to tell me that he knew about it. Too tired to think or care anymore, I let myself drift into a deep slumber.

I feel Ani’s presence inside my mind as I dream. Gently, carefully, he fades some memories while removing and altering others. He traces my path backwards, far into the depths of my mind to find what he needs to deal with. With a deft, surgical touch he cuts it out, shreds it, then replaces what he had found with a childhood memory of his own. A nudge to my sleeping mind and he is gone.

When I wake, I discover that the Sith Lord had at some point joined me in bed and pulled me into his arms. It’s warm here next to him, so I snuggle in close. A gloved hand brushes the top of my head, a finger traces the elaborate braids, then I sense Ani check on his son. Another light touch to my face follows, and I feel him shove my mind back into sleep once again.

He is gone when I open my eyes a second time and it is late in the afternoon from the growling noises my stomach is making. A glance at the table reveals a tray with food has been left for me, so I ease myself out of bed to go investigate. Ani’s left a note for me to read, too. This must be his peace offering, I decide. Note first, then dinner.

‘Favored one,’ he had written, ‘I have behaved rather badly of late, but there is no time for me to make a proper apology today. There is a situation on Phelarion I must deal with immediately and the diplomatic meetings to attend, first. When there is time, in a few days, I have some explaining to do, so until then, rest and be well. Anakin.’

Why didn’t he use his Sith name? That’s strange and a bit peculiar. I set the letter aside to read again later and start lifting lids on the tray. Cool. He’s managed to make all the things I like. A piece of paper is hiding under the last cover I lift. Look in the cooling unit is written on it. Ani didn’t, did he? I hurry into the kitchen for a look. Ice cream! I think happily. Somehow he got the blasted autochef to make it for me.

Time to thank him, so I look around for him with my senses. He’s not on the Devastator, but on the planet below. Rats. Now I will have to wait for him to come back. There is no way I will bother him when he might be in a meeting.

I happily dig into my meal, making sure I try a bit of everything then take the left-overs back to the kitchen and store them in the cooling unit. Ice cream next. Knowing it might be a while before I have more of this treat, I carefully ration myself. There should be enough for several days if I am strict about it.

Once my dinner is finished, I decide to do something useful and find that book on ‘saber forms to read. When I step out of our private rooms, I discover that Ani must have wrenched open the main door with the Force in order to get out. Oops. Better get dressed then. A quick trip back to the bedroom and I am in my usual tunic and pants. I I see Commander Thirsk peer in as I leave the Sith Lord’s office, book in hand. He must be playing guard.

‘Commander,’ I politely venture as he steps through the doorway, past the bent and mangled door.

‘Looks like a bit of a battle zone in here, my lady,’ he shrewdly notes as he examines the ruined control panel.

I debate what I should say. Anyone traveling down the corridor can see that something happened in here.

‘A polite disagreement,’ I decide is the most politically correct description.

‘Polite!’ Thirsk uncharacteristically blurts out. ‘I would not want to see what the two of you would do to one another if you really lost your tempers.’

I stare at him. The Commander and Ani have been friends for more than fifteen years, and I am sure that at times Thirsk knows the Sith Lord better than the Sith Lord knows himself.

‘Actually I was the one who wrecked the door controls, not Lord Vader,’ I admit.

Now it is Thirsk’s turn to stare. His eyes narrow after a minute or so, and with a nod, he waves me towards Ani’s office. Obviously the Commander wants to say something to me in private about this. I follow him into that room and shut the door after us. Am I in for a scolding from my combat instructor?

‘His Lordship has been moody and out of sorts the last few days, far more short tempered, in fact, than I have ever seen him,’ Thirsk states. ‘He has also been spending far more time than he usually does up on the bridge. The crew are rather nervous at the moment because of it.’

I say nothing in response to this as I settle myself in Ani’s chair. Obviously my love’s rotten behavior has not just been in private, and some of his officers may have paid the price for his emotional turmoil.

‘So, my lady,’ the Commander asks, ‘what has happened?’

I debate whether or not I should say a word to him about the last three days. The Commander is completely trustworthy, but he is not Rick or Bill, and I will not tell him anything which might make my life difficult if it finds its way back to the Sith Lord’s ears. Finally, I decide to reveal what little I know to satisfy Thirsk’s curiosity.

‘His Lordship discovered something in my past which upset him, that’s all,’ I admit, ‘and it has taken a few days for him to be able to deal with it.’

One of Thirsk’s eyebrows goes up. He wants to know what could possibly have bothered the Sith Lord to such an extent.

‘I don’t know what it was, Commander,’ I confess. ‘He was quite careful to remove any traces of it from my memories.’

‘Something either traumatic or scandalous,’ Thirsk concludes after a few minutes thought.

‘Well, whatever it was, it’s gone from my mind now,’ I tell him. ‘I think you will find that his Lordship will probably be a bit easier to deal with when he gets back from Phelarion later today.’

‘He’s not coming back tonight,’ the Commander reveals, ‘and maybe not tomorrow night, either. He took Major Fervis and several ‘trooper squads down with him to investigate discrepancies in the megonite mining and supply chain.’

‘Megonite?’ I ask, puzzled.

Thirsk laughs, so I give him an annoyed look.

‘A naturally occurring explosive,’ he answers, ‘a moss which grows only on Phelarion and it’s extremely sensitive to temperature. Too hot, and boom!’

Now I’ve heard everything. Exploding moss. The disbelief must have shown on my face because the Commander laughs a bit more.

‘Synthetic explosives are much safer,’ he decides, ‘but megonite does have its uses.’

I sit quietly for a while, thinking. The investigation must be the situation Ani mentioned in his note, but there was no indication he would be staying on planet in it. No, I correct myself, he did make it clear he wouldn’t be able to talk to me for a few days. Rats. More time to spend alone, waiting for him to return.

Thirsk has been watching me as I muse. He’s become a good friend, I decide, despite the Sith Lord’s discouraging that sort of relationship between me and any male officer on the ship. So, maybe I can get him to answer something for me.

‘Commander,’ I ask, ‘has his Lordship changed much since he met me?’

Thirsk is silent, then rather reluctantly replies, ‘The answer, my lady, depends on what you mean by changed. If you mean in general attitude, then yes, since he tends to be more settled and content now, but other than that, no, not really.’

It’s as I suspected then. In public, he’s still very much the Sith Lord, but with me in private, he’s my Anakin. Well, he has no choice other than to be the military commander outside our quarters. To do anything else would draw attention and unwanted questions. I let out a sigh. Time to go read that book and relax a bit before bedtime.

‘Thank you, Commander. I won’t mention this conversation to anyone,’ I reassure him as I rise from my chair.

I grab the first volume on ‘saber techniques and my poetry book from Ani’s desk as well. That’s odd, I think, I was sure I had put that away with my other two books from Earth. No big deal. I will just look after it now.

After we leave the office, I lock it, then trip the mechanism to close Ani’s meditation pod. I will lock the door into our private quarters as well. Until the main door is fixed, it will not be possible to properly secure these rooms. Thirsk notes my actions with a smile. His lessons in security have sunk in and I will take no risks.

‘The door will be replaced and the controls repaired by early tomorrow,’ he tells me, ‘so I will bid you good night, my lady.’

I watch him go, then head back to the bedroom, locking the den door behind me. My stomach is feeling a bit unhappy, so I prop myself up in bed and soothe it before settling in to do a bit of reading. Hours later, I fall asleep, my head resting on the last page I had been poring over. A hand brushing against my face rouses me a little, then I feel myself being lifted up, tucked in and the covers tossed over me.

Ani? I think groggily.

Go to sleep, Maia, it’s very late, he tells me.

I hear the shower next, and debate what to do. Something reckless, I decide, which might get him to talk to me. Am I brave enough to do it though? I toss aside the covers, quietly walk to the ‘fresher and peer in. The water is still running. Next step then. Before I lose my nerve, I pull off my clothes and go inside. Ani’s back is to me and he’s given no indication he knows I am there, so I step into the shower and wrap my arms around him from behind. He doesn’t flinch or throw me aside, just rests his hands on top of mine. So, he knew I was there and what I was up to all along.

Of course I knew, my love. I can’t help it. I always know what you are thinking about me when you are near, he admits. I just didn’t want you to accuse me of deliberately listening in again.

He turns in my arms and looks down at me. His eyes are calm tonight and all I can feel is a strange, unexpected stillness in his thoughts. A hand lightly caresses my face, but he makes no attempt to do anything more intimate than that.

‘Time to dry off,’ he decides after a minute or two.

I let him help me step out of the bath and accept the towels from his hands. Once I am in my nightgown and under the covers, Ani joins me. Oddly, he waits for me to pull him close rather than taking the initiative as is his habit. Too tired to ponder this, and pleased he is next to me, I happily curl up in his arms.

The Executor, Fondor, Fondor System

DAY 35

Ani is deeply, soundly asleep when I wake. I turn over and watch the sleeping Sith Lord. He was up quite late dealing with the repairs to the Devastator. My poor love. You have had a difficult few weeks, I think to myself. First those appalling orders to follow and then the damage done to your ship. Ani was quite irate when he was forced to arrest and threaten that teacher and her class at Harix. Not one word did he breathe about his feelings in public, but I know his sense of honor was rather offended by the whole thing. I suspect that secretly he was rather pleased when the rebels pulled off that rescue.

Then Arda 2. So much for that remaining a neutral planet. I feel some pity for the people there. The Empire will not be very understanding when the Destroyers Ani dispatched appear to exert control over the system. Well, perhaps that mess was a good thing. It forced the Sith Lord to come back to Fondor and take a break for a week while the damage from the X-wing and freighter which slammed into his flagship is repaired.

I continue to muse quietly to myself. Ani has been rather reticent of late and prone to long, private meetings with his agents, so I know he is busy plotting something again. At least he seems to have let whatever was bothering him about my past finally go. Strange that. He never did have that promised conversation with me. No, he has most carefully avoided that particular topic and I have not pressed the issue. Some of his other behavior has been rather odd, though. Not once has he initiated anything more intimate than a kiss. Weird. For a man who once found it difficult to keep his hands off me, he has become almost reluctant to touch.

Well, he might be unwilling, but I’m not and it has been almost four weeks. I watch his face carefully. He will be awake soon and I want to have a bit of fun. When he opens his eyes a few minutes later, I am quietly looking into his own. Before he can react or pull away, I kiss him.

Good morning, Ani, I tell him, I love you.

He pulls me close in response and I happily let him. Good. Ani seems to be willing today. At least he didn’t leap out of bed and run into the ‘fresher like he did the last time I did this.

I had a meeting, and I was running late, Ani scolds.

Sure, right. I don’t believe you, Sith Lord. Meetings have never stopped you before.

He is silent in answer to that thought, just breaks off our kiss and looks at me.

‘I haven’t been the best of company these last weeks,’ Ani admits.

‘No, you haven’t,’ I confirm, ‘and I think you have gone out of your way to avoid being intimate with me.’

There. It’s out in the open now. Now, how will he answer me?

He pulls back, but I grab his shoulder and stop his retreat.

‘Stop it, Ani,’ I tell him, ‘we need to discuss this, and running away from the issue will only make it worse.’

Now he’s debating how to escape. Blast it all, why is he being so difficult about this?

‘Do I need to wreck the door controls again?’ I threaten.

That stops his train of thought. An odd emotion flashes across his face. He’s disturbed, still, all these weeks later, about whatever he found in my mind that night.

‘That won’t be necessary,’ the Sith Lord finally concedes.

‘Then start talking,’ I suggest.

He shoves himself up against the wall and beckons me into his arms. I settle into them, rest my head against his chest, and wait for Ani to decide what to say.

‘I was a slave when I was a child,’ he reveals, to my surprise, ‘and was quite fortunate that Watto was relatively decent to my mother and I. Other children I knew were less lucky.’

No wonder he was so angry when I assumed my bracelets were a mark of his ownership. His opposition to slavery has very old and deep roots. Where is this going, though? I stay silent, reining in my curiosity and questions, letting the Sith Lord ramble as he wants.

‘What happened to some of the young girls I knew was quite appalling,’ he continues. ‘Many were scarred for life, and a few killed themselves when the opportunity presented itself.’

I feel a kiss on the top of my head as he pulls me in closer.

My little goddess, such horrors are not limited to slave children, he tells me.

No, I think, he can’t be serious, can he? But you were my first ...

Yes, my love, I was. Fortunately your brother interrupted before any more than touching could occur, but it was enough, nonetheless, to scar you emotionally, he quietly explains. That’s why I removed all of your memories of it. You are better off not knowing the details.

I shift my head against his chest. This is what had him so upset.

Who could have done such a thing to me?

Silence is his answer to my question, and I know he will never tell me.

Ani? I prompt him.

Hush, little love, just rest and relax here with me for a while, he offers.

He’s trying to think of what to tell me next, so I do as he asked and snuggle in close.

I did not mean to hurt you by being distant, but I needed time to deal with this, he admits, time to think, time to sort out what I felt, time to accept what had happened to you and that I could do nothing to change it. All I could do was make sure you would never again have nightmares about it, or turn away from me, afraid of what I might want from you.

Ani falls silent again. Finally he adds, You must understand that I will never, ever force you to do anything you do not want to.

A tear escapes before I can stop it. I don’t deserve this man. Who else would have this sort of understanding?

On the contrary, my love, I don’t deserve to have you, he tells me.

At that, I lose control completely and the sobs start. Darn. I hate it when that happens. The Sith Lord merely holds me tight to his chest and brushes away the tears as they fall. Quiet, soothing thoughts fill my mind as he tries to calm me. Eventually I am settled again, but he continues his gentle touches long after that.

‘You have had a shock and should rest today,’ Ani decides, ‘stay in here or in the den. I have found some old history ‘vids you can watch if you like. They are without the usual propaganda slant, so you should find them interesting.’

Cool. From what little I have seen, most of what is on the official networks is pretty lame and stupid in my opinion. The sit-coms are just as ridiculous as those at home and some of the adventure serials just made me roll my eyes.

For now, I just want to stay where I am, so I make myself comfortable and settle in for a short nap. I hear Ani’s amused chuckle, but he doesn’t move even though I know he must have things he needs to do.

‘Don’t you need to get some work done?’ I ask.

‘There’s nothing that I can’t deal with later,’ he reveals, ‘and you need me here.’

He shifts me a bit in his arms to ease my weight off his chest. I don’t resist, knowing his lungs are more important than my being comfortable.

‘Rest, my love, as long as you need to,’ he tells me.

A few minutes later, my arms happily wrapped around him, I am asleep.

***

I watch her sleeping, my gentle little mate. There will be no more nightmares, no more fear from her now.

She remembers nothing of what happened so many years ago.

There are those who would have left those memories intact, arguing that to remove them would do more harm than good. I could not do that, could not leave that in her mind, knowing how much damage had already been caused.

She will never know the extent of what I have done, the many careful hours of searching her mind each night which were needed or the numerous tiny changes in her memory that were required to truly erase the effects of those brief moments in her childhood.

She will never know and I will never tell her.

It is better this way.

I see her stir, touch her mind briefly to peer into her dreams. Home again. She often dreams of her lost homeworld and the days we spent together there.

If only she knew what I have so carefully concealed from her about that. Another secret she will never hear from me.

I brush against my son, my heir. He will be a worthy successor for me; strong in the Force, and a gifted and brilliant tactician like those in his mother’s family. But he will not be a Sith. No, my eldest son will follow me along that path once my master is gone and there can only be two.

She shifts again. My little goddess always knows when I am busy with plots and plans despite anything I do to hide them from her.

I have looked forward, to the future. She will bear me a daughter next, a girl with her mother’s mind and some of my abilities - a child for her mother to raise and fuss over. A most powerful son will soon follow after that. The son I so easily bartered away for the one now within her.

Time, there is not much time to plan, and the next few years will be critical.

I know my master’s weaknesses, his flaws, but it is not time yet. I am not ready, my eldest son is not ready, so I will wait and plan and watch.

I must guard my beautiful treasure, my greatest asset and keep her from harm. My master cannot really sense her at all, only her effect on the Force, a fact he has consistently refused to admit.

No one other than myself knows how strong she is with the Force. Yet another secret I must protect at all costs for I will need her strength, her abilities. And sooner, rather than later, if I am to trust her knowledge of the future.

Time.

Time is always the limiting factor.

And what I have will run out far quicker than what I want.

***

I gradually come awake and lie quietly in Ani’s arms. He’s busy plotting something again, I just know it. His low chuckle tells me he heard my thought and that there is no point in playing at being asleep.

‘Awake, are you?’ he teases. ‘Time to eat or do you want to sleep some more?’

I debate what I should answer. No more sleep, I decide, or I will not be able to have my afternoon nap when I need it. Play around a bit and have some fun? That idea I roll about in my mind for a few minutes. Maybe later. Ani wants me to rest today and I need some time alone to deal with what he has told me. Curl up for a while then. I want to stay close to him a little longer, so I snuggle in again and shut my eyes.

A hand brushes down my face then along my braid. He’s thinking again, but I won’t disturb his musings. Since he’s occupied with his own thoughts, maybe I could work through what he just revealed.

Why did he rip all my memories of it out? Perhaps it bothered him to know that someone had done that to me, but I think it was more who was involved than what they did that really disturbed him. I consider his statements in the salle. Ani intends to go after the culprit. He made that very clear that night. I try digging through my memories. Nothing. Absolutely no clues to be found anywhere. The Sith Lord was most thorough in removing any traces. I consider what to do about this. There is no point in asking for the full story since he won’t tell me anyway, not after the amount of time it must have taken to so completely erase it from my mind. Brooding about it is pointless, I finally decide. The memories are gone, as if it never happened at all. Best to just leave it in the past and be done with it.

I open my eyes and shift so I can look up at Ani. He’s quietly waiting for me to get up so he can have something to eat and start on whatever he needs to do, but he won’t rush me today or leave until he knows I am ready.

Thank you, my love, I tell him, I am fine now and you have work to do.

An eyebrow goes up as he looks down at me. He’s wondering if I am just saying that because I know it will be a busy day for him.

‘Ani, I really am alright,’ I reassure him.

I feel a light touch in my mind, then he surprises me by pulling me in close for a quick kiss.

‘Tonight,’ I decide, ‘we will have some time to ourselves then.’

‘I will make sure there is nothing to disturb us tonight,’ Ani tells me. ‘Now, since you have come to terms with what I have told you, I must get up. There is much I need to do today and my new flagship’s Captain is arriving by shuttle this afternoon.’

Laying my head back on his chest for a moment, I let out a quiet sigh. He will be bogged down in meetings all day, yet again. Not wanting to delay him any further, I finally ease myself out of his arms and watch him head into the ‘fresher. Time for me to get up, too, but I take a few minutes to peer inward at our child. It’s been a month since he was conceived and he is much easier to detect now. That faint spark, his presence in the Force, has become much more distinct.

I watch Ani return to sit beside me on the bed. His hand joins mine on my stomach.

‘Checking on him again?’ he teases.

A smile and quick nod are my answers.

‘He is growing stronger in the Force,’ Ani observes, ‘and will soon be detectable by any Force sensitive who knows what to look for. You must keep shields over him from now on, Maia, to hide him from anyone who might try to sense him. Fortunately, it will be a couple months yet before your pregnancy becomes too physically obvious. I will keep you hidden from sight as much as I can, then, to protect you both.’

I make a face at that last bit, but Ani doesn’t scold me for my reaction. He knows I hate being confined to the ship. His fingers brush down my cheek so I look up into his face. My Anakin, my love, you mean everything to me. How did I ever live without you? The Sith Lord pulls me in close, kisses the top of my head, and keeps me there in his arms for a few minutes. Another quick kiss and he shoos me out of bed and into the ‘fresher.

For once, I try to finish my bath as fast as I can. Ani will be busy today and there will be little private time to share. Sure enough, he has just started to armor up when I step out to join him for breakfast. He pauses a moment and looks intently at me.

Ani? I wonder.

My meetings can wait, he decides as I am grabbed and carried to the bed.

Oh. Well. Am I going to argue with him? Not a chance. I watch as he strips off his bodysuit and tosses it aside. He joins me on the bed next and proceeds to most thoroughly kiss me, stopping between each one to look into my eyes. After a few minutes of this, I am completely relaxed, content to let him do as he wishes. When he pauses again, I reach a hand to his face, brush my fingers over his cheeks, then through his spiky hair.

With a bratty little smile, he pulls open the towel I am wrapped in. His touch on my breasts is gentle, light. Ani must know how much they hurt.

‘They are getting larger,’ he teasingly observes. ‘Soon you will need a new wardrobe.’

‘Good thing you can afford it,’ I tease right back.

None of my clothes fit properly any more, and I will never again have a flat chest.

‘You may have whatever you like,’ he volunteers.

‘That’s a dangerous offer to make, Sith Lord,’ I can’t resist saying.

‘So what could you possibly want, then, which might be that expensive?’ Ani asks, curious.

I just knew he would walk right into that one, so I reply, ‘You, my love, I only want you.’

A low chuckle is his response to that and his lips move down my neck, stopping when they reach the center of my chest. I feel him set them around a nipple next and the gentle suction he exerts prompts a strange response within me, an odd twinge which shouldn’t have happened. So, I think, the stories are true then about the effects of hormones in pregnancy on sexual responses. No wonder the last few times we made love my body reacted the way it did.

I was wondering when you would notice that, Ani quietly comments. He shifts a bit and looks into my face before adding, ‘You really should finish reading that pregnancy guide I downloaded onto your datapad.’

Somehow I keep myself from rolling my eyes. He’s already read the entire thing, I just know it. I only bothered with the interesting bits. No response to that thought of mine, other than another quick kiss. Feeling a bit bratty now, I slide my arms around his waist and pull him closer to me. I know exactly what I want, but he’s holding back.

‘Stop trying to delay things,’ I scold.

‘I’m not,’ Ani admits, ‘I’m not ready yet, that’s all.’

There’s a first. Usually he’s waiting for me.

‘You could help the process along, if you want to,’ he suggests next.

I consider his proposition. There are two simple ways to do that, I suspect, but I am too shy to try either of them. And the one, he had best forget it. No way am I ever doing that.

The silent seconds stretch into minutes while Ani waits patiently next to me. He is going to eventually decide to get up and dressed if I continue to do nothing. I slide my hand from behind his back around to his stomach. It takes a moment to gather some courage before I brush downwards with it, only to quickly return it to his hip. He really isn’t ready. I tuck my head under his chin. No way am I going to let him see how embarrassed I will become. My fingers move carefully towards their goal. A light touch along the length of him and I feel his immediate response. Emboldened by my success, I repeat my gentle caress, my scientific brain noting the change in size as it occurs. If his breathing wasn’t regulated, I am sure I would hear a difference in that as well. After my third light stroke, I pull my hand away, too shy to continue. I have done enough. Ani can see to the rest.

I feel his hand in my hair, but he makes no attempt to move my head from where I have set it. His touch is soothing, so I snuggle in close to let him know I want him to keep doing it.

Thank you, my beloved Lady, Ani tells me.

I can sense that what I just did was important to him on several levels other than the purely physical one. Strange that he would react in that way, but I guess my shyness is something I should try and get over.

His hands run over my body next, tracing random paths as he moves them. I feel him ease me over onto my back and I eagerly pull him to me. No more delays, I hope, since I want him, need him, right now.

A moment later he is within me. Waiting those four long weeks has made me realize just how good it is to have him there. I shut my eyes and concentrate on feeling, sensing Ani’s every movement, every sensation he produces in me. My body quickly responds to him, so I let him feel my reactions over our bond. He holds back, though, waits for me to peak a second time before allowing himself his own release.

A hundred light kisses cover my face when I open my eyes.

‘That was worth waiting four weeks for,’ I confess.

‘Four weeks was far too long,’ the Sith Lord decides. ‘I won’t go for that long without, again.’

He shifts over to lie beside me, lets out a contented sigh and wraps himself around me. A few minutes later, I discover that he is sound asleep. I let out a quiet giggle. That’s the first time he’s done that most typical of male things - fallen asleep after having sex. I debate waking him up. Ani has much to do today, but he is obviously exhausted, too. It won’t hurt to let him snooze for a little while, so I will leave him be for a bit.

Ten minutes later I am busy trying to rouse him with gentle touches to his mind and face.

‘Wake up, love,’ I prod, ‘you can’t sleep the day away.’

‘I know that,’ he grumpily replies, ‘but I would rather stay here with you.’

Despite his words to the contrary, Ani quickly hauls himself out of bed and within minutes is putting on his armor. I watch quietly, then get dressed myself and go over to help him finish up. My reward is a kiss before being waved into my chair. Our meal passes in silence, then he is off to his first appointment of the day. I stay where I am, opting to stay in bed and read until he returns for the next break in his day.

My afternoon is a quiet one, only interrupted when the Sith Lord insists I meet his new flagship’s just appointed Captain. Firmus Piett is an unassuming looking man, but his record must be impressive for Ani to have chosen him for this job. I sit quietly beside my love while he rattles off his orders to Griff and Piett. The Admiral will be taking the three Destroyers patrolling the system when their replacements arrive in a week’s time and assuming the position held by the now retired General Tagge on the Yavin blockade.

I wonder a moment what Ani could be up to, then understand he wants to get Griff out of the way while Piett assumes command. The Admiral has become more arrogant and pushy of late, even going as far as to openly and publicly question the Sith Lord’s orders on occasion, and I know he will only put up with that from one of his officers for just so long before doing something about it. Well, good riddance, I think to myself. Griff has always made me uncomfortable and I did warn Ani that his attitude would only get worse after that plot the two of them had going a month or so ago.

Piett and Griff are leaving now, but I continue to muse. Griff has decided he is indispensable to the Sith Lord and that imaginary protection the Admiral has conjured up is why he is acting the way he is.

Griff is a stupid man, I tell Ani, if he lets his own pride mislead him so.

You would make a good psychologist, Favorite, Ani teases, you are quite talented at figuring out why people behave the way they do.

I let out a snort at that observation.

It’s not that difficult, Ani. Griff is pretty transparent despite what he would like to believe, I reply.

True, the Sith Lord admits, now go have your nap while I deal with my agents.

I grumble to myself. He will be in meetings until suppertime. Rats. My body is demanding rest, though, so I am soon snoozing in the bedroom. When I wake, it is time to eat and Ani is still at work, but I don’t wait for him. The last time I did, it was hours before he appeared. With a sigh, I drag myself out of bed and get dressed again.

A trip into the kitchen and I am busy with the autochef, using the settings on the cribsheets Ani wrote out. Ever since he did that, there have been few messes other than melted ice cream ones to clean up. I settle myself in for my evening meal and make sure that the Sith Lord’s is ready if he wants it. There is no sign of him when I am finished my plate, so I tidy things up and resume my reading from earlier in the day.

Hours later, I stretch my senses out to Ani. He’s still busy in his office, obviously trying to make up for the time lost this morning. I could scold him a bit for skipping his dinner, but that won’t get him to bed any faster. With a resigned sigh, I give up waiting for him, knowing that he will eventually join me.

Part 6

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