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The Sith Lord and the Scientist Section D - Part 3

Midsummer Festival Week - DAY 5

I give Ani another puzzled glance. His insistence that I return to the Executor with the children this morning tells me that whatever he has been planning the last week or two is about to come to a head. He wants us away from here when that happens just in case something goes wrong.

Cyran and Daini stay in the shuttle with the twins and the rest of my staff. My husband joins me at the bottom of the boarding ramp, after securing Mikal in his seat, and leads me back outside.

‘Be careful, my lord,’ I say to him.

His gloved fingers trail down my cheek so I lean into his touch.

‘I will be, my lady,’ he reassures me.

Then he spins about and quickly strides away, cloak billowing after him, caught in an early morning breeze. I watch until he is out of sight before turning to go into the shuttle’s cabin again.

The Force sings to me of heavy portents.

Fragments of my shattered memories beckon.

Today.

Everything will change today.

And there is nothing I can do to help my husband.

‘Be good,’ I remind Mikal when he starts squirming in his seat.

All I can do is ensure his family is out of harm’s way.

***

Thankfully Maia is safely away from this mess, I think as I quickly stride away from the reactor shaft gantry Luke just fell from. No, I reluctantly correct myself, not fell from - threw himself from.

Calrissian’s announcement has produced complete chaos. Disgusted, I shove aside those not fast or mindful enough to get out of my way. If I hurry, I might be able to get to Luke before his friends do.

‘See that my shuttle is ready,’ I snap at my aide who has finally made an appearance.

As I draw closer to the landing platform, I realize I am too late. There is no point in trying to retrieve my son from under Cloud City. Luke is now on the Falcon. To the Executor, then. I will catch them all in one fell swoop.

***

The Sith Lord is back on his flagship from what I can sense, but he’s not at all concerned with me. His focus is completely on someone else. Tipping my head, I hear him silently call to Luke again, but deciding to mind my own business and not spy on him, I tune out the rest of their telepathic conversation. Eavesdropping will just get me into trouble.

Sitting down on the bed with a thump, I give my shoulder another careful rub. It still hurts and there is a bright red burn mark on my arm. I suspect it reflects where Luke’s lightsaber cut through Ani’s armour.

I should have known my husband’s plotting was another trap for Luke, I ruefully think. The minute the Rebel’s ‘Jedi’ dropped from hyperspace, I felt him nearby. Once he was here, it was only a matter of time before the two of them became involved in another duel.

I carefully stretch out my senses. Ani is still up on the command deck and Luke is close, no doubt on the Falcon with his friends. Both men are quite conflicted from what I can feel, and experiencing physical pain and emotional upheaval. Yanking myself back, I decide it would be best if I prepare for the Sith Lord’s return to his quarters. His arm will need to be seen to.

With a frustrated sigh, I go get the medkit from the ‘fresher and set it on the table beside Ani’s glass and container full of supplement drink.

Why does it seem that his encounters with rebels, and Luke in particular, almost always result in my patching him up?

***

I silently stare at the spot where the Falcon and my son were brief seconds ago.

I almost had them.

So close, so very close, and still they have eluded me once again.

Somehow I rein in my frustrated sigh as I turn around. Piett watches my every move. Fear is pouring off him in waves. This, however, was not his fault, but that of whoever on that ship reactivated the hyperdrive. I should not have let Calrissian repair that ship. Instead, I should have dumped it into Bespin’s gravity well and let that gas giant crush it, permanently ridding the galaxy and myself of its annoying tendency to somehow escape from me.

At least Solo won’t be a problem again. That’s one consolation. No more last minute rescues from him, and no more interference with my plans.

I stalk past the Admiral, ignoring the many fearful and curious eyes which follow me as I leave the bridge.

There’s something I must retrieve from the depths of Cloud City.

***

It is several hours before the Sith Lord returns to his quarters, and when he does, he has a small, sealed transport box in his hands. From the den doorway I watch him carry that into his office where he leaves it before coming to join me.

‘You were injured,’ I scold him a little.

He lightly touches my bare arm, ghosting his fingers over the fading red mark.

‘I let myself be distracted for a moment,’ he admits. ‘I should have been more careful.’

‘Come, sit down, and have something to drink while I look after it,’ I suggest. ‘You haven’t eaten properly in days.’

Ani doesn’t object as he accompanies me into the bedroom, but he is in a strange and pensive mood as he removes his armor. When he strips off his body suit, I see the burn on his arm. So I was right about what was the source of my mark and the pain I felt across our soul-bond earlier in the day.

‘Ani, what happened?’ I ask.

He looks at me, and I know he does not want to tell me what I want to know.

‘Very well, then,’ I tell him, a hint of hurt in my voice, ‘keep your secret. You certainly have enough of them.’

Without waiting for his answer, I open the medkit and start removing the things I will need to see to him. While I could simply heal him with the Force, he will not allow me to help him in that manner.

The Sith Lord is deep in thought, sitting in his chair, when I move to his side. A careful examination of his injury reveals to me that, as I suspected, he has been in a duel with someone wielding a lightsaber. Obviously it was Luke again. Rather than confront my husband with this, I simply tend to his wound. As I finish, I sense one of our daughters waking, so I go to her crib in the children’s bedroom and bring her back to ours.

‘Hush little Cat,’ I croon to her, ‘mother is here.’

She is an easy baby to manage, quiet and undemanding, like her older brother Mikal was when he was her age. It is evening feeding time for her and her sleeping sister, so I hold her in my arms, sit on the edge of the bed, and give her a cup of blue milk to drink. My husband watches the two of us, and I can sense that he has made a decision about something.

‘Maia, my little goddess, I have several confessions to make,’ Ani reveals. ‘You are not my first wife. I had another who died long ago. Her name was Padmé.’

I turn and stare at him. So this is the mysterious Padmé whose name he once called while he dreamt. Deep down inside I feel a twinge of jealousy. He has never said my name when he is asleep.

‘That’s not all,’ he continues, ‘I had a son with her, but I only learned of his existence three years ago from that fool who was playing a Jedi Master on your homeworld. This son is the Jedi I have been pursuing.’

To cover my shock, I fuss over our daughter, shifting her from one position on my lap to another. Luke is his son? How could I not know this? I can’t believe that his own son tried to kill him.

‘Luke?’ I blurt out. ‘Luke is your son?’

‘My love, he did not know I was his father,’ Ani admits. ‘I only told him that today, and he did not take it very well. He ran from me in fact.’

‘Ani, why did you keep this from me?’ I can’t help asking.

‘It seemed the wise thing to do, at the time, to strip what you knew from your mind to protect you,’ he confesses. ‘I hid my knowledge of his existence from the Emperor as well and paid a high price for my silence. You know which day I am speaking of.’

I shiver a bit. I remember that day. That horrid day when our soul-bond became fully active and I felt everything that the Emperor did to him. He returned to the Executor from the Imperial palace, beaten and battered by his master’s punishments, only to collapse in my arms. Ani had refused to tell me the reason then, only stated it was for a foolish mistake he had made. It was days before he could move without pain, and all I could do was watch and hold him to me.

‘Your master wants you to catch your Jedi son, doesn’t he?’ I shrewdly deduce.

The Sith Lord stays silent at my question, and I know I have asked something that I should not have. He seems to be contemplating another thing which does not please him, as well, judging from the fleeting expressions on his face.

Catherine has finished her evening meal so I retrieve her younger sister, feed her, then singing a foolish cradle song as I do, I soothe them to sleep with my Jedi abilities. I do not want our twins to wake tonight, not when my husband desperately needs to rest. When I am sure they will not stir, I lock their crib in place and cover them for the night. I stay beside them, watching my twin girls sleep for a minute before returning to our bedroom and closing the door.

‘Ani, you need to rest,’ I scold him a little. ‘I have made sure Cat and Shmi will sleep through the night. Come to bed, my love. Things will look better in the morning, they always do.’

‘To bed, yes,’ he agrees, ‘but I want to do something other than sleep. I want to feel you beneath me tonight.’

I look sideways at him. Yes, I admit to myself, I want him too. But now? Tonight? After all the stresses of today and his injury?

Injury be damned, Ani decides, answering my thought. I want my wife.

Before I can come up with any further objections, I am swept into his arms and carried to the bed.

The Executor, Wayland, Wayland System, Year 3, Month 7.

DAY 4

I know we are somewhere in the Outer Rim again, but from Ani’s silence when I first asked, I won’t try again for an answer. Wherever we are, he has a meeting with the Emperor today. A shiver threatens to takeover my body. I don’t want to be anywhere near the Sith Lord’s master.

To steady myself, I give my stomach a rub. It’s been almost four Earth months since that day, and my pregnancy sickness has finally subsided. With careful touches, I measure how much bigger I am today. Soon I will be trying to hide a bulging middle again. I let my hands fall away from my body.

Ani hasn’t said anything to me about how he plans to protect his youngest son from his master, but I know he is running out of time. And I know there is no point in pressing the matter, either. He will tell me what he is up to eventually. I just hope it is before it’s too late for me to be of any help to him.

I slip out of the bedroom, past his closed pod, and sneak into his office again.

That sealed, climate controlled, transport box is still sitting in the center of his desk.

I reach over to touch it, then yank my fingers back.

My curiosity is demanding an answer to what is locked and hidden inside, but snooping and spying will just get me into trouble. Frustrated, I glare at that box. I have caught Ani sitting at his desk, staring silently at it several times in the last few days. Whatever is in it has prompted a brooding, unhappy mood in my husband, a mood even the twins’ birthday party failed to lift for very long.

‘Maia,’ I hear him call my name from behind me.

I slowly turn around and prepare to make a strategic retreat.

‘You want to know what’s in it, don’t you?’ Ani asks.

No point in denying it, so I nod my answer to him.

The Sith Lord closes the space between us, reaches down and sets one gloved hand atop the box. He looks at it then back up at me. There is a long, slow sigh from him.

‘Towards the end of my duel with Luke,’ he tells me, ‘I had to make a choice. He had backed himself into a corner and I needed him to either come with me willingly or surrender. As long as he was able to fight me physically, he wouldn’t listen, and after he managed to wound me, I lost my temper, so I ...’

His voice trails off into silence.

‘... so I disarmed him. Literally,’ he finishes after a moment.

I wrap my arms around myself and cast a glance down at the box. This is what has been bothering him, then. He maimed his son.

‘It’s in there,’ I guess.

‘Yes,’ he reluctantly admits. ‘His hand and my old ‘saber. My master wants both for his collection.’

‘And today you will deliver them,’ I surmise.

‘Trophies,’ Ani wryly classifies them as he lifts the transport box from his desk and tucks it under his left arm. ‘Trophies for him to gloat over.’

His right hand trails gloved fingertips down my cheek.

‘Hopefully it will distract him enough that he won’t insist on seeing you today,’ he tells me, his hand tracing a path down to rest over his youngest child. ‘I would prefer that he doesn’t think too much about my other sons.’

With that he spins about and is gone, taking my two Noghri bodyguards with him. Ghazhak and Kohvrekhar were quite willing to accompany my husband off his flagship for the afternoon. They need a change in scene once in a while, just like I do, I decide.

***

I leave the throne room, the Emperor, and his Mount Tantiss stronghold far behind. As I expected, Luke’s hand proved to be a suitable, sufficient distraction. There was no command from my master to bring Maia before him.

The Executor looms through the shuttle’s viewports.

Imperial Center will be confining, and Xizor remains to be dealt with. My agents haven’t yet recovered the evidence I need to discredit him, but it will be found, sooner or later. I curl my hand into a fist. Once the proof is in my possession, I will enjoy crushing him like the petty criminal he is. Savor punishing him for harming my wife.

And Luke...

Delaying the search for my son ...

Palpatine knows how much I want to find my son, if he can’t entirely read my intentions.

I refrain from giving my head a frustrated shake. Time is rapidly running out - Maia is approaching the halfway point in her pregnancy. Any delay will make it that much more difficult to find Luke, to persuade him to join me.

Temporarily confined to quarters - that’s what this order to stay in one place is in reality. I will send others out instead, then, to pursue Luke, to drive him to me as I have already done with Shira. Even if I cannot hunt him myself, others can. And will. If the rewards are great enough.

I hoist myself out of my seat, wait impatiently for the ramp to descend. Today has proven to be enlightening.

My master knows I am determined to catch my son.

But he doesn’t know what I plan to do once I have him.

***

New Escrow, Aargau, Zug Sysytem,Year 3, Month 7.

DAY 32

‘Don’t forget that I will be joining you after you are settled into the Zurich Hotel,’ Ani reminds me.

Palpatine insisted the Sith Lord leave Imperial Center for a week to run some sort of errand for him, but I don’t know what is going on. Not in detail, anyway, just that there is some sort of business dealings he is supposed to look after for his master. I turn from where we are standing at the bottom of his shuttle’s ramp and look at him. It isn’t like my husband to send me off on my own like this.

‘It’s perfectly safe, my lady,’ he teases a little. ‘The laws are quite strict - no weapons allowed except those carried by Aargau’s own citizens.’

I raise an eyebrow at that.

I saw what he put in the diplomatic pouch he is carrying. My husband seems almost naked without his lightsaber at his side, and I miss the weight of my own weapon at my waist, too. But Aargau’s three primary laws are ruthlessly enforced and quite specific - no smuggling of precious materials out, no weapons in the hands of non-citizens, and no defrauding the planetary bank.

Something tells me that whatever Ani is up to is going to involve breaking all three of those rules.

***

I sense her speculating and smile to myself. Maia isn’t fooled at all by the cover story I told her about a diplomatic mission for the Emperor. She knows I am busy with something other than that.

Mikal pulls on my hand, so I lead my family to the customs area, Maia hanging tightly onto my arm. The elevated landing platform and walkways are making her uncomfortable, so I will do my best to distract her from the height we are at.

‘Departing visitors are scanned to prevent smuggling,’ I tell her as we pass a group of Mon Calamari who are being subjected to close scrutiny. ‘We will go through that in a few days, but in private. Aargau’s officials are not foolish enough to insist on a public display when I might take offense at it.’

She nods and I know she is a bit relieved by that.

I see Thirsk look back at the landing platform and stiffen.

Ah, yes, the newest member of Maia’s security staff has finally arrived.

‘Jix,’ I growl at him, ‘you’re late.’

‘Yes, my lord,’ he acknowledges. ‘I was delayed by a prior engagement.’

No banter today? No ‘Uncle Dee’ or ‘Aunt Em’ from him? He must be taking my orders to behave himself while he is here seriously then. And I can just imagine what his ‘prior engagement’ involved. Some woman in a cheap portside cantina, no doubt.

‘See that my Lady is looked after properly,’ I order Thirsk. ‘I must meet my staff and will follow you later.’

Maia doesn’t need to know about the three assassins I have employed for this mission, and I don’t want her to come into contact with any of her rebel friends again. So I will retrieve my pawns and wait with them for Princess Leia to arrive.

***

Ani heads back to the landing platform while I patiently wait for our turn at customs and immigration. Just as at home, there are bored, weary looking officials asking the same questions I have heard many times before.

‘Good morning, my Lady. I am Sargent Rolex,’ the man who ends up with us introduces himself. ‘Do you have anything to declare?’

Rolex? Somehow I stop a snicker. You would never hear that name at home.

‘Our bags haven’t arrived yet,’ I tell him, ‘but there’s just clothing and children’s toys in those.’

Cyran hands me my small wooden box. I don’t want to get into trouble when we leave, so I was careful to keep the few pieces of jewellery I plan to wear close at hand.

‘There’s just a few of my personal pieces in here,’ I admit as I hand it and the datachip listing its contents to him.

The box goes through a small scanner as he adds my inventory to some file. Cyran takes both back when he is finished with them. I can see that Mikal is rather bored by all of this as he starts playing about to keep himself entertained.

‘Grrr,’ Mikal growls, bouncing his bantha along the counter.

‘Dangerous animals have to be declared, too,’ the Sargent teases him.

The toy is promptly snatched away as my son gives Rolex a dirty look.

‘My bantha isn’t dangerous,’ he firmly states. ‘Cat and Shmi have one, too. Daddy wouldn’t let them have one if they were dangerous.’

Rolex glances over at the twins. One is hanging onto Daini’s hand, the other is up in Rik’s arms. Both are happily looking around, their attention drifting from one spot and person to another with all the activity around us.

‘Our citizenship records,’ I supply before the Sargent can ask.

This time, I give him the identification cards for myself and my three children. Thirsk passes him the same for my staff members, and Jix hands over his own as well.

We are quickly ushered through customs, to a waiting speeder, after that. As we climb in, I hear an alarm sound and look back at the area we just left.

‘Smuggler alert! Citizens stand by your weapons!’ repeatedly blares through the air until I hear the sound of blasters firing and someone shuts off the public comm system.

‘Somebody didn’t declare something,’ I dryly observe as Jix closes the speeder’s canopy over us.

***

I leave Organa behind at customs. My encounter with her went as well as I could expect. Her suspicions are amusing and exactly what I want her to think, but she does not know the entire truth of it.

The deal for her paltry few X-wings will go through. I have larger goals in mind, more important reasons to be here, and far more valuable items to retrieve. Let her think I am planning to assassinate Viscount Tardi. It matters little in the end and serves my purposes perfectly.

We both know the Viscount cannot leave Aargau alive.

Yes, this little game I will play with the rebels’ princess should prove to be most entertaining.

With a wave, I send the Rigellian, Shi’ido shape shifter and telekinetic on ahead of me. They will stay out of sight until I need their services.

Tomorrow will be soon enough to make an attempt on Tardi’s life.

I plan on spending today with my family.

***

A garden full of butterflies is what the description on my datapad had said, but this is far grander than any of the small enclosed glass houses I remember from home. Everywhere I look there is the flash of brilliant color on painted wings. Ignoring the non-flying occupants of the wide, open courtyard, I turn my head from side to side, trying to see as many of the insects as I can. There must be thousands of species here.

Mikal keeps tugging at Ani’s hand so my husband finally lets him go. Our son doesn’t run very far before he stops and spins about, giggling whenever a butterfly comes a bit too close to his bright red hair.

‘He’s a butterfly magnet,’ I decide with a laugh.

‘It’s only natural that they are drawn to him,’ Ani admits. ‘His Force sensitivity pulls them in, like it would with most living things.’

I brush aside a large yellow and blue specimen which refuses to go away.

‘Shoo,’ I tell it as it flies past my ear again.

The stubborn creature ignores me and lands on my shoulder. I twist my head about so I can stare at it. To encourage it to leave, I blow on it, but that doesn’t work.

Ani reaches over and offers my new ‘friend’ a gloved perch which it willingly takes. For a long moment, he looks at the butterfly resting on his finger. Then he tosses it into the air, where it soon disappears among the multitude of others.

Mikal had watched his father with the butterfly quite intently, I note, and is now busy trying to encourage one or two of them to do the same.

‘Come back here,’ he tells them, moving his hands about in pursuit of the nearest large brown one.

‘Like this, son,’ Ani suggests.

He takes his son’s hand and straightens one finger of it. I can feel Ani using the Force to call out to the winged insect Mikal was intent on catching. It flutters closer, then hesitates, hovering over our son’s hand before alighting on the offered roost. For several minutes it sits there, slowly opening and closing its wings, while Mikal carefully examines it.

‘Try it for yourself, now,’ the Sith Lord tells our son after the brown butterfly has flown.

Mikal looks up at his father, then over at a bright orange butterfly. He crooks his finger in a come-hither gesture, and I feel him clumsily using the Force, trying to coax it over.

‘Come here, butterfly,’ he calls to it as it draws nearer.

Here, fishy, fishy, Ani silently teases me.

Stop that, I scold him as I do my best not to laugh.

He’s just like you, my husband prods again.

I think there’s plenty of his father there, too, I tease him right back.

Some, he admits, but there’s far more of you in him than me.

I give up arguing with Ani about it and concentrate on what Mikal is doing. He’s managed to get the orange butterfly to land on his finger and is busy trying to tempt a second one into doing the same with his other hand. My son is a quick study, I decide when his efforts are eventually rewarded. All the simple lessons Ani has taught him are beginning to pay off.

I bite my lip and look away for a moment. While I am proud of my little boy’s talent with the Force, I know that at the same time it is a danger to him. The Sith Lord has walked a fine line with how fast Mikal has progressed, deliberately holding his son back as much as he can to protect him. Mikal has learned only what is necessary to shield his mind and keep him from broadcasting too loudly.

Neither of us wants to draw the Emperor’s attention to him and risk losing him to Palpatine.

When Mikal finally tires of the butterflies, we find a strategically placed spot to sit and simply watch the various people around us. For the most part, New Escrow appears to be human dominated. The locals are easy to spot by looking for their mandatory weapons. Almost every non-human I see is unarmed and because of that obviously from another world.

Then I see someone I didn’t expect to be this close to again.

Jix hands me a glass of juice and follows my surprised stare.

‘Uh, oh,’ he says when it becomes apparent that the subject of my scrutiny has spotted me as well. ‘Here comes trouble, Uncle Dee.’

Ani’s helmet turns and I hear an annoyed hiss escape from him at who is here.

‘Princess Leia Organa,’ he politely addresses her as he gets to his feet.

She ignores him and glares at me. It’s obvious Leia hasn’t forgotten about Garqi or the deception I was forced to use to keep myself and Mikal, then unborn, safe.

‘Lady Vader,’ she politely, icily dubs me.

I flinch at her tone. It lacks any of the warmth she showed me on the Falcon or during those two days I spent in her company.

‘Mommy?’ Mikal pipes in, sounding unsure of himself and this woman who is confronting me.

My son can sense the tension in the air so I take his hand and pull him close, shielding him from Leia with my own Jedi abilities. The princess doesn’t realize it, but her antipathy towards Ani and I is rippling out everywhere through the Force.

‘Your son?’ Leia asks in a softer tone. ‘The one you were carrying then?’

I nod at her and squeeze Mikal’s hand to reassure him. He hides behind me, peering around my back to stare at the woman in white standing before us.

‘Perhaps it would be best if you leave, now, your highness,’ the Sith Lord suggests. ‘This is a private family outing, not a scheduled business or diplomatic meeting.’

My husband has gone into protective mode, I note, as he subconsciously shifts a little. I suppress a smile. Without thinking about it, he’s instinctively moved into a ready position where he could quickly draw his absent lightsaber.

Leia doesn’t miss his defensive stance either.

‘As you say, my lord,’ she coolly replies, ‘this is not a scheduled meeting. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.’

With that she spins about, taking the arm of the silver haired gentleman who has just come over to join her. His uniform is dark blue, banded with a red sash across his chest and a broad white belt; his trousers bear the Corellian blood stripe.

‘Viscount Tardi,’ Ani dubs him as he escorts Leia away. ‘I have done business with him in the past.’

Something tells me that whatever Ani is up to involves the Viscount and Leia, too, but I refrain from asking. I’ll find out, sooner or later, without having to question him about it.

I get up, stretch a moment and yawn. It’s still early in the afternoon, but I am tired and need a nap. It’s also close to Mikal’s usual naptime, I note as he repeats my gestures and expressions.

‘I think we should go back to our suite,’ Ani suggests, ‘so you can both rest for a while.’

And so he can go off and look after whatever mischief he has brewing, I think to myself, amused. My husband can’t hide the anticipation he is feeling from me. I know he is itching to ditch us so he can attend to the Emperor’s business unhindered.

He lets out a low chuckle at my thoughts, sets my hand on his arm, takes Mikal’s in his other and leads us away from the butterflies to the nearby hotel we are lodged in.

***

I stay at Maia’s side until she is soundly asleep, guarding her, though with all her security that is unnecessary. She is lying on her side, hair spread out around her face, lips parted. The outward curve of her stomach betrays her latest pregnancy. For now, that is easily hidden beneath her clothes, but it will not be long before it will be noticeable to one and all.

And the Emperor will keep her closer to him as her due date approaches. Restricting me to Imperial Center is only the beginning of that. He won’t risk my spiriting her and my third son away into hiding at the last moment.

Curling my hands into fists, I silently rail against fate, the Force, and my master.

If only Luke had seen reason and come with me. If only I had never agreed to Palpatine’s bargains, I think, frustrated. If only I could go back and alter one or two things in my life. But the past, once writ, can’t be changed. All I can do is select the best of my options for the future.

I let my fingers relax and reach over to lightly touch Maia’s face. She stirs a little, but doesn’t wake. For a moment I stare at the plain gold band on her finger. Such a small, almost insignificant token, yet since I put in on her hand she has never once removed it. Stubbornly refuses to, in fact.

‘Sleep, my love,’ I quietly tell her before I leave the room.

I quickly go past Thirsk, stationed outside the door, heading to meet the official who is my contact within the Bank of Aargau.

I have a theft to arrange.

***

Ani’s back, I note as I open my eyes to see his broad form sitting on the floor in front of the window. He’s meditating again and hasn’t noticed I am awake yet.

‘I know you’re awake,’ he replies to that thought of mine, sounding a bit amused.

I slip out of bed and go to join him, taking his hand when he offers it in aid. Settling myself beside him, I lean my head against his shoulder and sigh.

‘We are turning into quite the old married couple,’ I tease him.

‘Married, yes. Old is debatable,’ he wryly qualifies.

His arm slides around my waist as he pulls me close.

‘You need to look after yourself,’ he scolds. ‘No more long workouts in the salle with me.’

I start a protest, then let it die on my lips. He is back to fussing again and won’t ease up until he is satisfied I will behave myself.

‘Yes, dear,’ I agree without a fight.

‘Acquiescing so easily?’ he asks.

‘Yes, dear,’ I repeat.

‘Stubborn,’ he starts.

‘And so are you,’ I give him the expected response with a smile.

‘Contrary little goddess,’ he tries a new one on me.

While I debate what to answer that with, I catch his hand between mine, lace my fingers with his, and hold it close to my chest. Our second son stirs a little, so I slide our intertwined hands down to where Ani can feel him.

‘He’s not as busy as the twins were,’ I observe with a laugh. ‘I thought they would kick their way out at one point.’

Ani lets out a low chuckle. He remembers all those sleepless nights when he had to keep soothing them for me so I could get some rest.

‘Yes,’ he answers, giving my stomach a pat. ‘And you are starting to get big again.’

‘Well, if you want me to have more kids, you will just have to put up with it,’ I tease him. ‘And I am not that big yet. Remember how it was with the twins?’

I was huge, awkward and uncomfortable for months. Bed rest was boring, and there was little I could do to stay amused. One baby at a time, I decide, is more than enough to deal with.

‘My next two sons will also be twins,’ he calmly states.

‘No,’ I moan, ‘not that again. That’s not fair.’

This is the first time he’s let me know that particular detail. I make a disgusted face at him. Ani is silent for a moment, then starts laughing. I’ve been led on, I quickly realize.

‘You. You are a brat,’ I scold him, shaking a finger in front of his mask.

‘A frisky brat,’ he qualifies.

I reach up and set a finger against his breath screen. The heat from an exhaled breath flows over it.

‘My Lord?’ I ask.

‘Yes, dear,’ he teases.

‘Could we?’ I prompt, giving a suggestive glance over at the bed.

‘Could we what?’ he replies.

He’s decided to be bratty, I note, just like I do to him on occasion. His hand reaches up and catches my own, then settles both of them against his chest. I let out a sigh and rest my head on his shoulder again.

‘You almost never ask me to make love to you when I am in my armour,’ he calmly observes.

I bite my lip and go bright red. The way he is sitting cross-legged pulls his leather body armour and codpiece tight against him. There is a rather pronounced bulge between his legs which I have been doing my unsuccessful best to avoid looking at. And I can feel his mood across our bond, too.

His fingers brush my cheek.

‘I can’t. Not when you are busy,’ I admit. ‘I don’t like to be a distraction when you might have work to do.’

‘I think it’s more that you are too shy to,’ he astutely guesses.

I nod at that. There are times when we are in bed, in the morning, when I have tried to keep him there with me, but once he is in his armour, it’s different. The Sith Lord is often dominant and I have rarely approached him unless his mood has been a playful one. And even then, he has nearly always been the one to initiate things.

‘Ask anytime you want, little goddess,’ he tells me. ‘I know you won’t if I can’t oblige you.’

He must not have any more business to deal with today if he is making the offer.

‘How about right now, then?’ I suggest.

‘Whatever my wife wishes,’ he teases, ‘it will be hers.’

His hand unhooks his cloak and it falls away, down his back to the floor. I watch him shift about before he gets to his feet. When he reaches down to me, I happily take his hands and let him pull me to my feet. As we walk towards the bed, I kick off my shoes and drop my belt. Ani’s tunic, belt and codpiece soon join them.

Then we are standing beside the bed while he throws his gloves aside and reaches for me. I stare at the wedding band on his metallic left hand as I bring it to my lips and then release it. He’s never removed that simple gold ring. Not once since I slid it on his finger that day at the Emperor’s retreat on Naboo has it left his hand. And the one he gave me has never been off mine.

His right hand brushes through my hair, so I turn my face a little and try to catch his synthflesh fingers in my teeth. He had his old metal prosthesis, which he lost at Mimban during his duel with Luke, replaced by a more modern and natural looking one at that time.

‘I will have the left arm replaced when we return to Imperial Center,’ he tells me, ‘and you can transfer my ring then.’

I lean into his chest and let out a sigh. It isn’t necessary for him to do this, but I know he wants to look more normal, more human, when he is out of his armour for our children.

‘It doesn’t matter to me,’ I reassure him as I nestle in closer.

‘I know that,’ he replies, sounding a touch amused, ‘but it would be better for Mikal and the twins, and for our next child, too.’

I decide not to argue with him about it and tip my head back a little so I can look into the lenses of his mask. Ani bends over, rests the brow ridge of his helmet against my forehead and stares into my eyes. Unable to stop myself, I start giggling. The indent above his breath screen is a perfect match for my nose and his even breaths heat my lips and chin. He can’t take his helmet off until we return to his quarters on the Executor so this is as close to sharing a kiss as we can get.

‘My Lady,’ he calls me.

‘My Lord,’ I reply.

His fingers move to my shoulders, unhook the ornate clasps holding my dress in place and let it fall away from my body. The contrast between warm synthflesh and cool metal makes me shudder a little. I am still not quite used to that. When the fabric slides down, exposing my breasts to his light touch, I shiver for a second time. The mothsilk catches on my stomach and hips for a moment, then is gone, pooling around my feet. I kick it away before I can become entangled in it.

Ani slowly traces a path down from my shoulders, to my chest, cups one breast, touching the nipple with a fingertip. I feel my body start to respond to him, so I step closer and slip my arms around his waist.

‘Hold me, please,’ I quietly request.

Two hands repeat my own movements, pull me close. Ani’s life support control box digs into my chest, but I ignore it. My stomach isn’t too big yet, so I can still flatten myself up against him. The heat from his body warms my own.

I feel a finger slowly follow my spine up from my waist to my neck, then to the elaborate hairstyle Cyran had twisted my hair into earlier in the day. Ani yanks out the four gold pins holding that in place, dropping each one in turn on the floor, freeing my hair to fall around my face.

‘That’s better,’ he quietly murmurs.

I wrap my arms around his neck in anticipation of his next move. Sure enough, he bends over slightly, slides one arm under my knees, the other behind my back and lifts me up. Ani swiftly lays me down on top of the sheets and joins me, lounging on his left side, leaning on an elbow while I look at him and smile.

He touches my face again with his free right hand, so I close my eyes and wait. His lust for me is seeping across our bond, but the love I feel from him is far stronger than that. The Sith Lord’s hand drifts lower, rests on my stomach a moment as he soothes our son, then finishes between my legs. I shift and spread myself a little.

‘I see the preliminaries are unnecessary,’ he notes.

I can’t help giggling at that. He knows I am entering the phase in my pregnancy where all he has to do is look at me and I will be ready for him.

My arms reach up of their own accord and pull him closer.

‘I want you right now, my Lord,’ I admit what he can already sense.

‘Then you shall have me,’ he promises.

Rather than move from where he is, Ani simply runs his fingers over my body. I let myself relax and enjoy his touch. There’s no reason to rush things. When a light brush of his hand down my side starts to tickle, though, I do my best to evade him and jump sideways.

‘Not fair,’ I grumble. ‘I can’t do the same to you.’

That observation prompts a low chuckle from him. He’s still in his armour, and none of his body which is exposed is ticklish, as far as I know.

‘Come back here, then, and I’ll do something else instead,’ he offers.

‘Sith Lord,’ I tease as I wiggle my way back to his side.

‘Scientist,’ he calls me in return after he sits up and sets my knees into position..

I let him move me about however he wishes. Once he has settled himself between my legs, I reach my hands out to him. Ani takes them, leans over me, using my gentle pull on them to guide him into position. His fingers entwine in mine against the soft fabric of the sheets.

Beloved wife, he calls me.

Husband mine, I reply.

I close my eyes as I feel him press his body to mine, feel every place his armour touches my flesh. Then he is within me, moving slowly, gently, so I give his hands a light squeeze to encourage him to pick up his pace a little. The Sith Lord won’t do anything to harm me or his son, but I want more than this from him.

No, he decides, refusing to oblige me, I want to feel you today.

Ani? I ask, puzzled.

Like this, he suggests.

With a careful touch, his mind is completely open to me. I respond in kind, anticipating what will follow. Jumbled emotions tumble across our bond to me. His love for me, for his children, including that for Luke, mixed with hesitation and trepidation about the latter. Ani is worried about his eldest son, I decide, when he sweeps his concerns aside, hiding them from me once again.

I arch myself against him as his hands tighten in mine. Only his love for me, and mine for him, remains now, singing from each of our souls, one to the other.

‘Anakin,’ I whisper to him, silently repeating it, Anakin.

He doesn’t answer in words, but in feelings, and as he lets himself go, holding me tight in his arms, I understand what he can never say aloud.

Love is forbidden to a Sith Lord, he had once told me. And as he lies next to me on the bed, circling my body in his embrace, now, now I finally understand why. I shut my eyes tight and let out a shuddering sigh.

A weakness, a vulnerability, a crack in Ani’s armour to be exploited, a brood-mare to produce tools to be used and discarded at leisure - I am all of these things to his master, and more.

And Ani can’t break our soul-bond. We are bound together until death takes us both. Cursed, in a way, by the love I bear for him.

‘He knows,’ I tell Ani.

‘Yes,’ the Sith Lord admits, ‘he does.’

‘He has always known,’ I decide.

‘Of course he has,’ my husband confirms. ‘A soul-bond cannot form if the potential for those emotions to develop is not there to begin with.’

I consider that for a moment.

‘But why...?’ I start to phrase a question.

His right hand shifts to my stomach. Our second son.

‘I suspect he knew how strong he would be long before I saw it myself,’ he reveals. ‘It was simply easier in the short term to let me have what I wanted - you, Mikal, and the twins - in order to achieve his ends, than to forbid it.’

‘He wants Luke,’ I flatly state, denying what I know to be true.

‘As an apprentice, yes,’ Ani admits with a sigh, stroking my middle as he does, ‘and a substitute for me, but he eventually intends to replace both Luke and I with a Sith untainted by Jedi training.’

I snuggle into his chest and shiver a little. My worst fears, spoken aloud.

‘But I won’t let that happen,’ Ani softly promises.

He pulls me closer, holds me until I am dreaming, and says no more about it.

***

Maia’s napping again when I leave her side. As I walk through our suite, I pause a moment at Mikal and the twins’ rooms, checking on them. All are soundly sleeping, guarded by Daini and Cyran. Thirsk, I note, has chosen to wait for my exit before resuming his place outside our bedroom door.

Good. My wife will be well looked after while I am gone.

Time to go meet with my ‘retinue.’

They are waiting in a private meeting room, in the nearby hotel I had sent them to earlier in the day.

‘Tomorrow you will each have a chance to assassinate Viscount Tardi,’ I tell them. ‘Whoever is successful will be suitably rewarded.’

The Rigellian opens his mouth to speak, to protest, no doubt, so I pre-empt him.

‘Since you seem to be volunteering,’ I suggest, ‘you will have the first opportunity to strike. Leia and the Viscount are attending a reception in the morning. It will be simple to intercept them.’

I aim a finger at the shape-shifting Shi’ido assassin, and order, ‘If he fails, you will kill Tardi during the diplomatic reception at the Garden of Butterflies later in the morning.’ Moving my attention to the telekinetic, I add, ‘Your chance will occur during the Home Guard manoeuvers at noon.’

There is no argument for the moment, but I expect resistance to my commands tomorrow. Competition between members of the Assassins Guild is fierce, and each will be jockeying for position, for the opportunity to prove himself, to improve his reputation for success.

I wait until all three have left before letting out a low rumbling laugh. Fools. Pawns. They are merely to distract Leia from the true purpose behind my being here. Tardi will survive their attacks.

And my next appointment should be here shortly.

‘Good evening, Uncle Dee,’ a cheerful voice chirps behind me.

I close my eyes and growl at him, ‘Jixton.’

Time to finish arranging what I need to have done tomorrow.

***

DAY 33

I smile across the table at Shmi and Cat. They are secure in their chairs, happily playing with their respective breakfasts.

‘At least they haven’t started throwing their bowls on the floor, my Lady,’ Daini observes as she retrieves the spoon Cat just dropped.

‘No, not yet,’ I admit, ‘but it won’t be long. If they are like Mikal, that will be the next trick they learn.’

‘Mother,’ my son whines in protest.

Mikal doesn’t like being held up as a bad example. For his age, he’s quite astute, in fact, and very precocious.

‘I know you don’t do that now, sweety,’ I tease him, ‘but at their age, you did.’

His lip starts to form a pout, so I start laughing.

‘What would you like to do today?’ I ask him, hoping to distract him a little.

‘Can we go see the butterflies again?’ he suggests.

I glance over at Thirsk. Jix has been sent off on some errand, and after watching the twins all night, Cyran is having a break. There’s still Daini, Thirsk, and Rik to watch over all three of my children. One adult for each and myself. Surely that should be enough to deter any mischief.

‘Well, I suppose,’ I agree.

The butterfly garden is nearby. It should be safe.

***

I watch Leia and Tardi walk away unscathed from the ‘accident’ caused when my first employee leapt down onto the Princess’ airspeeder. Her use of a gravitational field disruptor was quite clever. The Rigellian’s apparent disappearance is a result of him becoming incredibly massive, piercing the ground and heading straight to the center of the planet. The first of my assassins will return to the surface of Aargau, eventually, long after he will be of any use to me.

As I listen to the grumblings of my two remaining pawns, my patience with their protests finally ends.

‘Silence,’ I snarl, stopping the shape shifter and telekinetic’s arguments. Waving the latter aside, I gesture to his colleague to follow me.‘We will go to the diplomatic reception, and you will fulfill your contract with me there.’

With that I spin about, leaving the third assassin, overhead walkway, and wrecked airspeeder below them far behind.

The reception will commence in the garden within a few minutes. There should be just enough time to get into position before Leia and her escort arrive.

***

Mikal pulls on my hand, but for once I refuse to let go. There will be no charging ahead from him today.

‘Slow down,’ I scold him. ‘Shmi and Cat can’t keep up with us.’

His response is to do the opposite, slow down to the point where I am almost dragging him. With a sigh, I resign myself to dealing with a two-year old who has decided to be contrary. When I reach the butterfly garden, I finally release his hand and turn to see to the twins.

‘Daddy!’ I hear him happily cry.

As I watch Mikal run to his father, I see the tall man with Ani apparently vanish into thin air. That’s weird, I think as I look from side to side, trying to figure out where he went to. While I attempt to solve that mystery, Leia and Viscount Tardi step into sight.

Then several things happen all at once.

‘Daddy!’ Mikal repeats as he piles into his father.

‘...the only one that secretes a deadly nerve toxin!’ Leia’s protocol ‘droid says, panicked, as Ani regains his lost balance.

‘Artoo! Your fire retardant spray!’ the Princess yells.

The Viscount ducks as the little R2 unit sends a blast behind Tardi’s neck. A pretty red butterfly falls to the ground, but whether it is stunned or dead, I can’t tell.

‘Oh, how dreadfully clumsy of me,’ Leia apologizes, squashing the helpless insect underfoot.

‘My son, you shouldn’t be here,’ Ani tells Mikal as he extracts himself from our son’s death grip around his legs.

‘Mommy brought me,’ our son owns up.

I see Ani look over at me. Oops. Perhaps a trip to the garden wasn’t such a good idea after all.

‘Lord Vader, I’ve made such a mess,’ the Princess says. ‘Could you be a dear...?’

My husband ignores her attempt at humour, takes Mikal by the hand and leads him back to my side. There is no annoyance to be felt from him, only amusement.

‘I can stay with you until noon,’ the Sith Lord states. ‘After that, I must go attend the local military’s attempt to impress.’

‘Can I go?’ Mikal asks.

My eyes meet Ani’s hidden ones.

‘No,’ my husband firmly decides. ‘You will remain with your mother and behave yourself.’

***

It’s time for me to leave, to go to the observation platform and watch the planetary defence forces put on their show of strength. Aargau’s claims of neutrality amuse me. I, myself, maintain several substantial secret numbered accounts here. After all, a Lord of the Sith has to have a tax haven somewhere, doesn’t he?

‘I have to leave,’ I finally tell my family, setting a hand on Mikal’s head.

My son doesn’t question my decision, though I know he wants to accompany me. He knows better than to argue in public.

I look over and see Princess Leia watching us. The introductions between herself, Tardi, and Aargau’s bank officials are necessary before the Presentation of Collateral ceremony this afternoon. But despite her attempts to appear busy, her curiosity about my family is rather obvious. A quick survey reveals several reporters nearby as well.

The temptation to create some publicity for myself and needle my master in turn is far too great to resist. So with that in mind, I decide to put on one of my rare displays of public affection.

‘Maia,’ I call to my wife.

She straightens from bending down to see to Shmi.

I don’t give her any chance to react. Instead, I sweep her into my arms and hold her close. She stiffens a moment before relaxing and setting her head against my shoulder. Her soft sigh is clearly audible to the Princess and Tardi, and the Nebulon News reporter as well. Leia stares at us, surprise and disgust warring for prominence on her face, while the latter snaps a few strategic holos from a safe distance.

Let them think what they want. It doesn’t matter. And cultivating the image of devoted husband and father while at the same time being the ruthless warlord plays directly into my plans for the future.

There is an old Sith saying: hide the durasteel fist in plain sight, preferably in a mothsilk glove.

And history has proven that benevolent dictators have fewer problems with their citizens than despots.

***

Ani releases me, brushes a hand down my cheek and is gone, off to his next appointment. I rest my hand against my face where his just was and give Leia an amused smile. She quickly looks away, returning her attention to the bank officials she was introduced to moments before.

It then occurs to me that while the rebel’s two droids are present, Han and Luke are not here. Surely that scruffy smuggler should be close by. Considering what I remember of their interactions, it is quite odd that he is absent. Tipping my head, I stretch out with the Force for a quick reconnaissance of the area. Luke is nowhere to be found. The only Force users I can sense are my husband and son.

‘Daini,’ I call my aide over. ‘I need you to do something for me.’

She looks puzzled for a moment. Normally Cyran is the one I send on errands.

‘After lunch, take Rik with you,’ I suggest, ‘and go find out how Princess Leia travelled here. Cyran and the Noghri will see to the children while Thirsk goes shopping with me. There’s no rush for you to get back - just comm the answer to me. Take the afternoon and enjoy yourselves.’

Rik shifts from foot to foot at that order while Daini does her best to keep a smirk under wraps. So, the shipboard gossip is true. My aide finally did catch her man after a rather long, arduous pursuit. I hide my own smile. The odd nudge from me and occasional excuse to throw them together has probably helped as well, but I am not going to let on that I approve.

Not yet, anyway.

***

I take my place beside Leia and Tardi, nod my approval to the telekinetic and wait for the first of the war games to start.

‘Bah! How dull! This display is ludicrous and pointless,’ I comment to her after the first flyby. There is no response, so I add, in a more conversational tone, ‘By the way, Princess, I understand that your loan may not be finalized until tomorrow.’

Her eyes follow one of the fighters as it streaks past overhead.

‘You know very well that the verification of collateral is a painstaking process involving multiple assessors and appraisers,’ she replies.

I start to smile. She expects me to act against Tardi before then. My eyes track the four just fired, low yield anti-personnel missiles. The last of my hired pawns does as well. There is a slight tremor in the Force as he selects one, and diverts it from its path towards the viewing platform.

My head swivels slightly when I see the Princess’ R2 unit move a little then project a holographic image of Tardi over the assassin, and the assassin over Tardi. I let my smile grow wider.

How obvious in my choices and actions I have appeared to be - and how predictable has been her response in turn.

I take a slow, careful step away from the telekinetic. While I know the missile is only powerful enough to kill him, there is no reason to risk being too close.

A fraction of a second later, the third of my assassins has been eliminated.

‘Oh, blast, Artoo,’ Leia curses. ‘Your display circuits are malfunctioning again? How long have you been projecting a hologram of the Viscount over Lord Vader’s valet?’

I set my hands on my hips and wait for the explanation I know will follow.

‘What?’ she exclaims. ‘For as long as you’ve been projecting an image of the valet over Tardi?’

I remain silent and prevent any of my amusement from showing. It would not do for her to know I had planned my hireling’s demise.

‘Sorry,’ she apologizes. ‘They just don’t make droids like they used to. I’d offer to lend you C-3PO, but he’s in the shop for a tune-up!’

I turn my back on her and calmly stalk away, making my way down the spiral stone staircase. As if I could bring myself to accept the loan of my old droid. It was only in a moment of weakness that I allowed the Wookiee to repair him.

Leaving the Princess behind, I turn my thoughts to other matters. She will present the collateral for the X-wing loan this afternoon. There will be only a small window of opportunity to accomplish what I must.

***

Daini’s answer to my question has me wondering what is going on. Leia didn’t arrive on the Falcon, but on a commercial space liner.

Where is Han?

I know he was on Bespin and that the Falcon escaped from my husband.

I chew on my lip while I debate what to do. Thirsk is willing to accompany me shopping, but I want to find out exactly what my husband is up to.

I will have to ditch my bodyguard and track down Ani on my own.

‘Thirsk,’ I call to my friend. ‘I will be meditating for an hour or two and do not want to be disturbed.’

First things first. I need to get out of the suite undetected and unobserved. After changing into something more practical - a tunic worn over leggings - and retrieving a veil and my cloak, I settle myself out of sight in the small sitting room. Ani did what I plan to once, at Fondor, and I think I might be able to do the same.

My eyes shut as I slide into a trance and reach for the Force. It comes to me as I beckon to it, swirls against my skin, caresses my senses. I tug harder, drawing more to me, until I am satisfied I can do what I plan to.

Now to build my illusion.

***

‘Jixton,’ I hiss as I enter the old hangar.

There is no answer.

With a growl, I scan the room. Not a sign of him anywhere. Only empty shipping crates are scattered about, their contents long ago stolen or spilled carelessly across the floor. He’s running late, again, and I don’t have any time to listen to his excuses.

The Force surges, shifts as I feel Maia tap into it. She must be up to something. For a brief moment I debate contacting her, then am distracted by a loud crash of falling storage containers and ring of spare parts rolling across the floor.

Now what? I think, annoyed.

‘Jix,’ I growl as my agent finally pokes his head around the boxes he just knocked over.

‘Hi, Uncle Dee,’ he offers. ‘Been waiting long?’

***

It takes several long, frustrating minutes to get the Force to do what I want it to. This is one lesson Ani never taught me and muddling through it on my own is proving to be quite a chore. I take a deep breath then slowly exhale. My experiment will have either worked or not.

When I open my eyes, I see myself calmly looking back at me.

‘Cool,’ I blurt out before I can stop myself.

My doppelganger merely stares back at me, silent and unmoving, despite my attempts to make it answer or do something.

‘Well, rats,’ I say, disappointed.

Not everything I just tried worked, apparently, but my newly created ‘twin’ can stay here and meditate without saying a word.

‘I guess Ani will have to show me how to get you to talk,’ I tell her. ‘But for now, it doesn’t matter. I think the two of us will get along just fine like this.’

I start grinning. Too bad I didn’t think of this sooner. If I had, I could have gone exploring on my own long before now. Still smirking, I drape the veil over my face, and wrap my cloak and the Force tightly around myself. Only a Force sensitive or droid can really detect or see me in this state, but leaving shouldn’t be a problem.

Thirsk takes no notice as I step through the door.

Perfect.

I tip my head and concentrate. Ani is at some distance away and rather distracted. Chasing him down will take time, so I’ll explore a bit first.

Right now, I am going shopping.

***

‘I don’t have time for this,’ I warn him.

Jix sidles around the smashed shipping crates and draws closer.

‘Nah, don’t worry, Uncle Dee,’ he tries to reassure me with a grin.

I shake a warning finger at him, and scold, ‘I won’t have several months of work ruined by any nonsense on your part.’

No, having my carefully laid plans upset by him is not an option.

‘The bank official has everything in order,’ he admits, turning serious. ‘I just need to go meet him and retrieve the package.’

‘Good,’ I tell him. ‘I also need you to deliver a message to the mechanic Princess Leia has sent her C-3PO unit to. Tell him to let the droid know that I will meet the Princess at the old spaceport at midnight tonight.’

She will expect that sort of manoeuver on my part and there is still Tardi to eliminate.

Jix heads for the door, then stops, turns, and stands there, waiting for me to say something else.

‘Well?’ I ask, hoping he gets the hint to go.

‘Despite how cranky you can be, you’re actually a pretty good dad,’ he comments as he ducks out, shutting the door after himself, preventing any retort on my part.

I stare at the closed door, speechless.

***

This is great, I happily admit to myself as I wander through the shopping district.

Ani hasn’t figured out what I am up to yet, and no one has taken any notice of me because my face and arms are covered. Without my veil, I would be recognized immediately. I slip a hand into my pocket to reassure myself that the credit chip is still there. It’s one which has a set amount on it, just like the Walmart gift cards from home. There’s no way to track me with it, and it doesn’t require an identity card to use it.

A dress shop catches my eye. Time to see if what Ani told me about the limit on my chip is true.

With a grin, I enter it and start wandering around, pulling anything which catches my attention from the racks. In minutes, an impressive pile is waiting for me to try on.

An hour later, I have picked out two formal gowns, several tunics, and a few pieces of lacy lingerie designed to entice. The clerk doesn’t bat an eye when I offer up my chip in payment and the sale goes through. Good. My husband wasn’t teasing me about the amount he had transferred to my chip. I can buy whatever I want.

‘Have it sent to the Zurich Hotel, suite 2137,’ I order.

No need to carry my finds around with me, I decide, as I head to the nearby children’s store.

Mikal and the twins could use a few new outfits, too.

***

I reach out, once I am certain I am alone, to see what mischief my wife is up to. The Force is still, now, but I can feel her maintaining something at a steady level.

She’s experimenting again, I note with a smile, practicing how to make an illusion. I haven’t taught her this, so she is trying it when I am not around to avoid getting me into trouble with my master. Ever since he forbade me to continue with her training, she has occasionally done this.

Rather than distract her, I comm her Noghri bodyguards, alerting them to what she is up to, before I decide to indulge in a bit of practice myself.

After quickly checking the surrounding area, I open my diplomatic pouch and pull out my lightsaber.

Time to run through a few forms while I wait for Jix to return with the ‘package.’

***

After another hour or two, it has grown dark and shopping has begun to bore me, so I start to wander about, looking at the other beings around me. As I had previously observed, the Aargauans are primarily human, the off-worlders, non.

Eventually I make my way to a kaffe shop on the corner of a major intersection.

‘May I seat you, gentle-being?’ the server droid asks when it sees me standing in the doorway.

‘A private booth, please,’ I request, ‘and preferably one with a view of the street.’

I am shown to exactly what I want - a table surrounded by privacy screens which will let me remove the veil without anyone being able to see me.

‘Thank you,’ I tell the droid, placing my order, ‘and I would like some millaflower tea, please.’

While I wait for it to return, I occupy myself looking out onto the street. People are busily going about their daily routines, I decide. Nothing appears to be any different than one would see at home.

Except the aliens, I admit with a smirk, and the speeders.

For a time, I amuse myself cataloguing the differences between a street here and at home.

Then I see someone I know walking down the raised pathway towards the large bank building directly across from where I am sitting.

‘Jix?’ I blurt out without thinking.

He doesn’t notice me, of course, as he disappears into the main branch of the Bank of Aargau. I ignore the server when it returns with my tea and keep my eyes focussed on the bank.

Jix is up to something. And I am sure Ani knows exactly what it is.

For many long minutes I stare across the street, sipping at my tea, waiting for Jix to reappear. When he does, I plan on following him and finding out exactly what is going on. The server droid returns at about the same time I spot my bodyguard leaving the bank. Only now he is no longer empty handed. A rather large, heavy case of some sort has him a little off-balance. He quickly surveys the street before turning to the right and quickly making his way through the crowd.

‘Here,’ I tell the droid, shoving the credit chip at him.

I pin my veil in place, wrap my cloak around me, and bolt out the door. Jix is moving at a fairly good pace and I don’t want to lose track of him. It doesn’t occur to me that I left my credit chip behind at the kaffe shop until he jumps into an airspeeder.

‘Rats,’ I growl to myself as I reach the spot he was in just a minute before and stare at the speeder shrinking in the distance. ‘That’s not fair.’

Then I realize that I am lost, unarmed, and without a single credit.

***

I pace about in small circles while I wait for Jix to return. He should have been back by now.

My frustration increases as midnight approaches. Soon I will have to go meet with Princess Leia, and I will need the package I sent my agent to retrieve.

She won’t believe me unless I show her proof.

The door slides open. I tense, then relax as Jix finally makes his entrance.

‘Here you go, Uncle Dee,’ he cheerfully says, showing the security case in his hands to me. ‘One bank official taken care of and one package safely delivered.’

He sets it down on top of one of the storage containers, steps back and looks at me expectantly. It will do no harm to satisfy his curiosity, so I reach down and rest my hand over the lock. A master code-cracker or slicer would take several hours to bypass it, but I don’t have the time or patience for that. Instead, I send the Force within, locate the mechanism I need, and wrench it permanently open.

With a flourish, I open the metal box and show him its contents.

The stunned look on his face and ensuing shocked silence are more than worth the planning and trouble I went to.

***

For a few minutes I debate what to do. The hotel is a considerable distance away, and I am too pregnant and tired to walk that far. I still have my comlink, but calling for help will alert Thirsk and Ani. Annoyed that my forgetfulness has resulted in quite a mess, I decide to go find a safe place to sit and work out what to do about my predicament.

Selecting a comfortable bench to sit on, I sit there and brood until another familiar figure rushes into sight.

‘We have to hurry,’ I hear Leia tell Tardi. ‘The last thing I want to be is late for our meeting.’

Late for what meeting, I wonder.

She passes by me quickly, without noticing me at all, it seems, so I get to my feet and follow her along the street. When she stops to flag down an airtaxi, I am ready. I step into it right after her and settle myself on one of the seats. My concentration is completely focussed on using the Force to keep myself hidden from her.

This time my quarry is not getting away without me.

Artoo rolls himself up beside the droid driver. His dome swivels a moment, to look directly at me, but he doesn’t alert the Princess or Viscount to my presence, just lets out a few quiet beeps and a low whistle.

‘To the old spaceport,’ Leia orders the driver once Tardi joins her.

The pilot never turns. He simply sends the airspeeder skyward and heads away from the city’s downtown, presumably for where she has told him to. Things are getting interesting, I decide.

‘He’s been so predictable,’ Leia tells Tardi. ‘Almost too predictable.’

Who? I silently ask.

‘You expected this, of course,’ Tardi replies in a rather odd tone.

I eye him suspiciously. There’s something not quite right about him, but I don’t dare trying to use the Force to find out what it is. Managing to stay hidden and maintaining my double back at the hotel are all I can safely do.

They fall silent after that, so I stay quiet, barely breathing, the entire trip. The instant the speeder sets down, and it is safe to move, I make my escape. Using the shadows and buildings for cover, I trail after them, my curiosity getting the better of me once again.

Artoo dawdles as his two human companions head towards an open area. I shrink back a bit hoping he will catch up to them, but instead he rolls directly to me.

‘Artoo,’ I hiss, ‘they are going to find me if you don’t hurry up.’

His ‘eye’ tips up as he looks at me and lets out another series of beeps.

Annoyed now, I ask him, ‘What is it, Artoo?’

More beeps, then the sound of a holographic projector warming up. A second later, the image of a handsome young man dressed in Jedi robes appears in front of us. It takes me a few seconds to realize who he is showing me.

Ani.

My Ani.

Whole, unscarred, with the same intense blue eyes.

My mouth drops open in shock.

‘Artoo?’ Leia calls. ‘Artoo-deetoo, where are you?’

The image vanishes as he trundles off. I watch him go, not knowing what to think or do.

It isn’t until I hear my husband’s raised voice and the sound of his lightsaber igniting that I am able to break the paralysis holding me in place. As I round the corner of the building, I see Ani swing his blade in a wide arch, slicing the Viscount across his chest. Tardi falls, face first to the ground.

Leia shoves her skirt out of the way and pulls a blaster from the diplomatic pouch strapped to the inside of her thigh.

‘Hold it, I had one more surprise stashed away in that diplomatic pouch!’ she tells Ani.

I shrink back into the shadows a bit. Neither of them has noticed I am here yet.

‘I knew it!’ the Sith Lord crows. ‘An illegal weapon! The little hypocrite is found out!’

‘And what do you call that lightsaber?’ Leia asks as she fires a blast bolt which Ani easily deflects with a gloved hand.

I was right that he was up to something, I think, amused that my instincts were correct. So far, he’s violated one of their three laws.

‘It makes no difference now, Princess. Viscount Tardi is dead,’ he states, shifting into a defensive, ready stance. ‘There will be no loan. There will be no new X-wing fighter squadron!’

‘Of course Viscount Tardi is dead,’ she reveals, still keeping her blaster steadily aimed at the Sith Lord. ‘In fact he’s been dead for over a month now, but there shall be a loan!’

Dead for a month? I stare at the body in front of Ani. He appeared to be alive to me, but now that I am looking more closely, I can see where a facial panel has separated from Tardi’s head, exposing circuitry beneath synthflesh.

The Viscount was a droid.

Leia’s next words confirm my observation, ‘The Viscount’s doctor, Commander Willard, and I were the only ones privy to Tardi’s death. We decided to send a droid in his place - a carefully programmed, non-sentient droid, of course.’

While I am digesting this information, the Princess elaborates on how she intended to force Ani to personally dispose of Tardi by eliminating those he had hired to do the job. To make sure nothing goes wrong, Artoo has recorded the Viscount’s death and transmitted it to C-3PO.

That they have evidence of his breaking one of Aargau’s laws doesn’t bother the Sith Lord at all.

‘This is meaningless,’ Ani retorts at her blackmail attempt. ‘Tardi is dead! The loan cannot go through.’

‘It already has,’ Leia admits, almost smirking. ‘Instead of the bonds and deeds usually presented as collateral, I presented the crown jewels of Alderaan. They are unmistakable and virtually priceless. The appraisers verified them on the spot and the loan was approved immediately....’

As I listen to her outline her plan, I can’t help admiring her audacity. Leia knew she had to have a ‘living’ Viscount to get the loan through, but that a droid would never get past the sensors at customs. Forcing Ani to ‘kill’ Tardi solved that, and gave her a means of disposing of the evidence, too. Just like myself, she knew my husband would never leave his lightsaber behind.

‘...oh, yes, you’ll have to get rid of this blaster for me also,’ she finishes, casually twirling the weapon around on her finger. ‘We wouldn’t want any nasty complications with the weapons law, now would we? But that won’t be half as difficult as getting rid of the “body.” ’

The Princess absent-mindedly tosses her blaster at Ani’s feet and turns to leave. She has just got away with tricking the Sith Lord into helping her get exactly what she wanted. I bite my lip to stifle a giggle. It’s not very often that someone puts one over on my husband.

‘I’ll just include them in the package when I smuggle out my real primary objective,’ the Sith Lord decides, amused.

Leia freezes, then spins around to face him.

‘Smuggle? Real primary objective?’ she blurts out.

I expect I am about to hear exactly what he’s been up to.

‘Yes,’ Ani admits, and I know he is suppressing a laugh. ‘The crown jewels of Alderaan. My master wants them for his collection.’

‘The what?’ Leia gasps as my jaw drops.

I miss what Ani says next when he pulls a necklace of faceted gold beads with a large blue stone out of his robes, and holds it up for the Princess to see.

‘I believe this used to back your currency,’ he reveals, letting his amusement finally show in his voice. ‘I bribed a bank officer. The Viscount’s doctor has been on my payroll for two months. The assassins were merely a distraction.’

‘You had the jewels - why bother to meet me here?’ Leia asks.

‘To tidy things up, Princess,’ Ani admits, tossing the necklace into the air and catching it in his palm again. ‘If Tardi were exposed as a droid, the loan would surely be questioned and the jewels would be missed.’

He turns his back on her and repeats his toss, letting the jewels rise and fall into his hand.

‘I also thought to take advantage of the opportunity to advise you against mentioning any of this to the Aargauan authorities,’ he dryly observes. ‘It would only do evil things to your credit rating.’

Silently, he adds, and you, my wife, should not be here.

It’s not my fault, I start to protest.

Explanations later, he curtly orders. Meet me in the old hangar next to the fallen tower.

With that, he continues to stalk away from Leia who is prudently making her own retreat, Artoo rolling along behind her. I wait until she is out of sight, then hurry after my husband.

***

Jix is still in the hangar, guarding the crown jewels when I return to it.

‘Go retrieve Tardi and Leia’s blaster from the landing area,’ I tell him. ‘Everything has gone according to plan.’

A few seconds after he has left, Maia comes in and closes the door behind herself. She stands there, shifting her weight from one foot to another, looking exactly like Mikal does when he’s been caught doing something he was told not to. There is no point in scolding her. She will do enough of that to herself without my adding to it. Instead, I open my arms and beckon her over.

‘What am I going to do with you?’ I ask, teasing her once she is safely wrapped around me.

She simply tucks her head under my chin and sighs.

‘Did you enjoy your unsupervised shopping trip?’ I try again for a response.

‘Yes,’ she admits, ‘and my little adventure, too.’

‘Good,’ I decide. ‘Next time I let you go out “alone,” remember to keep track of your credit chip and that the Noghri will be following at a safe distance.’

I feel her freeze at that revelation, and start chuckling. Surely she should know by now that she can’t hide something like that from me.

‘Sneaky Sith Lord,’ she accuses.

‘Not that much of a sneak,’ I tell her, amused. ‘You were thinking so loudly about it that there was no way I could miss hearing what you had planned.’

The door opens and Jix appears, dragging the Tardi droid behind him.

‘Oh,’ my agent says as he eyes my wife and I. ‘Guess I should go.’

‘Get in here Jix, and see to it that the ‘package’ is ready for shipment,’ I order as I let go of Maia. ‘It’s your job to see that everything gets out tonight, before Leia reaches the authorities.’

He mumbles a few choice curses under his breath. Jix is not happy with his current task, but there are worse things I could have him do.

‘Give me a blaster and a fair fight any day,’ I hear him grumble. ‘I hate all this sneaking around.’

I choose to ignore his complaining and take Maia back to the hotel.

***

The entire trip back to the hotel, I stay silent, wondering what my husband is going to do once he sees what I have been up to. He arranged my little excursion, but he has not said anything about how I managed to get out of our suite undetected.

The airspeeder lands on our private platform. Ani helps me out, guiding me away from the dizzying heights, and inside.

He doesn’t let go of me until we reach the small sitting room where Thirsk is still stationed outside the door. The Commander stares at me, and for the first time, I see surprise on his face.

‘My Lady?’ he asks, sounding puzzled.

I watch his head swivel to look into the room he has been guarding. My twin is still there, kneeling by the window.

‘An illusion,’ Ani succinctly explains.

He waves Thirsk aside and pulls me into the room. For a minute or two, he circles my duplicate.

‘Not bad for a first attempt,’ he decides, ‘but you don’t have the strength or focus required to animate it.’

I nod, confirming his words. Just making ‘her’ visible was about all I could do. Now that I don’t need my copy, I reach out and let the connection to the Force I used to sustain her go.

‘Good,’ Ani wryly notes, as my doppelganger fades away. ‘One wife like you at a time is more than enough for me to manage.’

The Executor, Hockaleg, Patriim System, Outer Rim, Year 3, Month 8.

DAY 6

***

This has been a most annoying day, I decide. First I am given a report stating Admiral Harkov has been aiding the rebels and is planning to defect to the Alliance, all the while selling weapons to both sides in the Sepan War which he is supposed to be putting an end to. There is no evidence, yet, but my agents will find it and when they do, I will act.

And now I must listen to this irritating fool tell me Luke escaped from him.

I stare out into space, through the forward viewports, waiting patiently for the Major to finish his explanation.

‘Major Kuhru, do you mean to tell me that you had a rebel officer within your grasp,’ I ask, ‘and you let him slip away?’

‘We were tricked,’ he tries to defend himself, attempting to avoid the inevitable, ‘and we had to protect our communications beacon. It was a matter of priorities. Surely you underst...’

I turn to face him. Understand? Of course, I understand. His training told him to protect Imperial assets first, but he allowed Luke to escape despite outstanding orders for his capture at any expense, communication beacons included. This sort of disobedience and stupidity I cannot let go unpunished.

‘You seem rather distraught, Major,’ I suggest to him. ‘Perhaps a long walk and some fresh air would clear your mind.’

‘A walk? But my Lord, I don’t see what...’ he starts to protest.

‘Major!’ I cut him off, sending him on his way with a gesture.

This time I can’t be bothered executing him in public. He can go see to that himself.

‘Yes. Walk. Fresh air,’ I hear him repeat as he leaves the bridge.

‘Lord Vader, our instruments indicate that an exterior airlock has just opened and closed,’ one of Piett’s officers reports, ‘and of its own volition.’

‘How curious,’ I dryly note as I head back to my quarters. ‘A faulty mechanism, no doubt.’

No further explanation should be required and I want to spend some time with my family before I must transfer to the Tarkin.

***

Ani settles into his chair and I sense him bestowing an indulgent smile on Mikal. Our son is busy entertaining his sisters by moving his old set of coloured balls around on the office floor.

‘He’s growing stronger in the Force every day,’ I tell my husband.

‘And it will become increasingly difficult to hide that from my master,’ he replies.

I give him a concerned look.

‘But he hasn’t reached the point where it is a worry, yet,’ he reassures me. ‘I can still keep his abilities masked and hidden.’

‘But for how long?’ I ask.

‘As long as is necessary,’ he reveals, amused.

He’s plotting something, and I know that smile is still on his face, too.

‘Schemer,’ I accuse.

‘Only when I must be, my love,’ he admits.

I know he prefers a fight of the military sort to the sneaking about he did on Aargau.

‘We are almost at Hockaleg,’ Ani announces when the comm chimes a reminder to him.

I nod in reply. He has another one of Palpatine’s construction projects to inspect, but this is one he has told me a bit about. This time he is going to look at a ship with a monstrous ion beam dish attached to it. It’s almost as powerful as the Death Star, yet far more mobile and better shielded. Once it’s operational, the rebels won’t be able to defend against it. And they named it after the dead Grand Moff, too.

‘The rebels are going to go after the Tarkin,’ I flatly state.

‘Of course they are,’ the Sith Lord acknowledges with a laugh, ‘and they will send Luke as part of the infiltration team. They won’t be able to resist the intelligence I had leaked to them. It is far too tempting a target. Luke’s team will sneak on board and right into the trap I intend to catch him in.’

Ani taps a finger on his desk as he watches Mikal continue his games with the twins.

‘No doubt Leia and Chewbacca the Wookiee will accompany him,’ the Sith Lord continues. ‘I will catch all of them in the act of sabotage.’

His hand reaches over to me so I take it in my own. After a firm squeeze, he releases it again.

‘This time,’ Ani decides, ‘Luke won’t escape from me.’

I give him a worried look. Ani is determined to catch his son, but he still hasn’t told me what he will do with Luke once he has him.

‘I must go,’ he finally says, levering himself out of his chair.

I follow him to our quarter’s main entrance and wait. His fingers brush down my cheek, as they always do, before he turns to leave. My hand keeps the door open as I watch him walk down the corridor. I do not let it shut until he vanishes into the turbolift which will take him to the hangar bay and his waiting TIE.

My footsteps are slow as I return to see to our children.

Somehow I know my husband’s plans for today will not unfold as he expects them to.

***

I position myself next to Captain Voal, in a spot where I can watch over the Tarkin’s hangar bay unobserved and from above. Luke and his friends are on the transport which has just arrived.

‘Docking complete,’ the duty officer announces over the comm-system. ‘Begin replacement shift disembarking procedure.’

Resting my hands on the railing, I watch the workers coming down the shuttle’s ramp.

‘All right, move along,’ one of the troopers below orders. ‘We’re behind schedule, and you’re all to report to your assigned duty posts at once!’

I smile at the urgency in his voice. The Empire’s construction projects are chronically behind schedule. And I am often the one called on by my master to hasten their progress. My motivational tactics have rarely failed. No one on this ship wants to seen to be slacking off while I am on board.

A blond haired worker catches my eye, and I feel Luke’s presence in the Force. The woman following him is Leia in disguise, I note, and they have done nothing to conceal the Wookiee’s identity. My two old droids complete their team. I allow my smile to grow wider. How predictable.

Time to set out the bait for my trap.

‘Captain Voal, remove all the security personnel from the area surrounding the main power reactors,’ I order.

‘Lord Vader?’ he questions. ‘I’m not sure I heard you correctly. Did you say to remove all security personnel?’

‘I did,’ I confirm my command to him. ‘For I sense a presence I have scoured the galaxy to find, a presence that now comes to me.’

I give him a moment to digest that information. My search for Luke is public knowledge.

‘And if you will do as you are told,’ I add, ‘I shall endeavour to make his last steps easier, so that by his own actions Luke Skywalker will be mine!’

He carries out my orders precisely, to the letter, not missing a single detail. I dismiss him with a wave once he is finished and start my round of inspections. Luke will come to me. My son won’t miss the gaping holes in security I have just created for him to exploit.

My first stop will be the bridge. It won’t be long before I hear of some incident. And then I will put my plan into action.

***

Daini comms her presence at the door. I suppress a smile when she comes into the den to join Cyran and I. My bodyguard is looking more than pleased with herself today, so I decide to let her know I am aware of what is going on.

‘Had some fun with Rik last night?’ I tease.

She doesn’t go red as I expected her to, but instead starts laughing.

‘My Lady, how long have you known?’ she finally asks.

‘Since we left Imperial Center to go to Aargau,’ I admit, ‘but it was obvious where things were going long before that.’

‘Do we need to start planning a wedding?’ Cyran offers after she hands Shmi to me.

I settle my daughter on the floor beside me.

‘Not unless it’s for you and Thirsk,’ Daini fires back.

‘That old curmudgeon?’ my aide retorts. ‘He wouldn’t know what to do with a woman if one miraculously appeared in his bed.’

Oh, I decide, as Cyran falls silent and blushes a bit. So there is more going on among my staff than meets the eye. Or than I had suspected.

‘Here you go sweety,’ I tell Mikal as I hand the new AT-AT toy to him, covering my own reaction to what I have just discovered.

While Mikal sits down and starts walking his model across the floor, I try to think of something to say.

‘Thirsk isn’t that bad,’ I eventually offer up. ‘He’s just a bit...’

‘Stubborn,’ Daini blurts out.

‘Set in his ways,’ I qualify.

‘I think I will have to hit him over the head and drag him off somewhere,’ Cyran complains. ‘Nothing else I have tried seems to work.’

I raise an eyebrow at that and lean back in my chair. Thirsk is one of the most astute people I have ever met. He rarely misses anything that is going on, so he must be deliberately playing dim, ignoring Cyran’s attempts to get his attention.

‘Men are all the same!’ Daini exclaims, sounding a bit disgusted, and I suspect, also remembering her long pursuit of Rik. ‘They just don’t know what’s good for them!’

At that my own laughter fills the room.

‘Gods,’ I say once I have myself under control again and have wiped away a couple of tears. ‘You two sound like Liz and Simone, my two best girlfriends back home.’

***

I keep my back turned to the Tarkin’s bridge crew while I patiently wait for news of Luke and his friends’ activities to arrive.

It is not a very long wait.

‘There’s been a disturbance,’ I overhear one of the crew report.

Right on schedule, I note, amused.

‘A disturbance?’ I repeat, not taking my eyes off the planet of Hockaleg and its moons which are filling the viewports.

‘That’s correct my Lord,’ the current officer in charge reports. ‘There’s been a disturbance on K-level, resulting in two casualties. Should I call a full alert?’

‘No, Colonel Nord. I’ve been expecting something like this ever since I felt Skywalker’s presence on board,’ I admit. As I turn to face him, I tell him, ‘All you need to do is increase the number of sentries along any possible escape routes, and ensure they are ready to stop him and his companions.’

If Luke tries to flee or evade me, others will be ready to catch him or slow his progress. There won’t be any easy way out for him this time.

‘And your earlier directive, sir, to have all personnel removed from the vicinity of the main power reactor,’ he asks for clarification, ‘is that still in effect?’

‘Indeed, Colonel,’ I confirm my earlier commands. ‘I shall see to the security of that sector personally.’

He nods and hurries off to see that my orders are followed. I watch him go, noting his barely hidden nervousness and agitation. Nord is obviously hiding something, but finding out exactly what it is will have to wait until after I have my eldest son in custody.

There will just be enough time for me to get into position ahead of Luke.

***

I tip my head and concentrate for a moment. Ani is busy so I don’t dare disturb him with the news I have just received, even though I know it is important.

Three days ago the Yinchorri were attacked by one of the Empire’s other fleets. Every Rebel base in that system has been destroyed, along with any significant city. Not one large population center was allowed to escape.

I set my datapad aside for a moment. Cyran and Daini left a few minutes ago, and the children are sleeping, having their midafternoon naps. All except one, I observe as I give my stomach a rub. Someone is restless.

‘Busy are you?’ I ask son number two. ‘Maybe I should do something about that.’

As I set my hand above him, I reach in and do my best to soothe him. The connection between us is a strong one - far stronger than the one I had with Mikal - so he soon quiets.

‘Time for you to behave so mommy can work,’ I continue talking to him. ‘Daddy has all those reports for me to look at.’

I glare at the stack of flimsies on Ani’s desk. More boring production reports to analyze. At least when he had me trying to figure out where the rebels were I felt more useful to him. With a sigh, I pick up the first of them and start reading.

What commodity does he want me to investigate this time? I run my eyes across the top of the page until I have my answer. It’s a document on agricultural products from Naboo. My gaze shifts lower, my curiosity now running wild.

Neema fruit.

I start laughing.

Trust him to set that one on top.

Snickering quietly to myself, I retrieve my datapad and begin making notes.

***

As I head to the main power reactor, I answer my beeping comlink with a curt, ‘What is it, Captain Voal?’

‘My Lord, a woman who might be Leia Organa was ambushed in the Escape Pod Bay,’ he tells me. ‘She fled after blasting four troopers, and managed to evade the reinforcements who responded immediately.’

‘See that the bay is better secured,’ I snap at him. ‘The next time, she had better not get away from your men.’

I cut the connection and shove the comlink out of sight again. His troopers should have caught her easily, but at least the rebels won’t try that escape route again. No, they will now be forced to use one of their less reliable, more risky alternate plans.

Turning the corner, I see my destination in sight. Luke is drawing near, too, so I position myself in an alcove, next to the doors to the main generator room. My son won’t see me until it is too late, and if I still my breathing, he won’t hear me, either. With a cautious touch to avoid alerting him, I dim my presence in the Force.

He’s alone, I note, pleased that my predictions were correct. I knew the rebels would choose him for this part of their mission.

I take a step back, flattening myself against the airlock as I hear him coming down the adjacent corridor.

Close, he’s so very close now.

One more meter or two and I will have him.

But instead of stepping into the passageway, he stops and hesitates. I feel him reach out with the Force, checking to see what lies ahead of him.

He’s learned much, I think, to sense my presence through my shielding, but it won’t make any difference. He will join me or....

***

My datapad falls from my fingers to the floor.

‘Ani?’ I gasp out.

Something has just happened to him.

Again.

I shake my head to clear it. He isn’t hurt since that I would know instantly, but he is fighting something or someone. Ignoring caution, I reach out with the Force and try to find out what is going on.

Luke’s presence jumps out at me, then Ani’s rage flashes across our bond.

‘Not again,’ I moan under my breath.

I push myself to my feet and head into the ‘fresher. Time to get ready for when he returns to the Executor. Grumbling to myself, I dig out the medkit and carry it back into the bedroom.

‘Once, just once,’ I say aloud to my absent husband, ‘I would like you to come back to me from an encounter with Luke and not need patching up of some sort.’

***

Before I can do anything to get closer to Luke, the airlock door behind me swings open. As the air in the corridor hisses by me, rushing into the vacuum of space, I quickly activate the seals on my armour and helmet. When the pressure drops a little, I will pull myself inside and to safety.

Then I will find out exactly what has happened and who is responsible for it.

My hands grab at either side of the door, but a component of some sort has broken free and slams into the top of my helmet. It connects above my eye with a ringing bang, then disappears into space. Unfortunately, that is enough to break my concentration.

My right hand slips from where I had placed it.

I am now hanging onto an external handle with my left hand while my right has lost its grip entirely. In the split second I have to make my decision, I sense Luke pull himself to safety, closing an adjacent door, sealing himself off from danger.

At least my son is safe, I grimly note, but someone else won’t be for very long.

I let my anger build.

Someone deliberately opened that airlock door.

My rage increases, my connection with the Dark Side flows freely, as I reach in and brace both my hands against the inside of the open airlock. I pull myself forward, then stand, using the Force to keep myself upright, even against the terrible pressure of the ship’s escaping atmosphere. The wind rips my cloak into shreds, but I continue to steadily place one foot in front of the other until I am safe in the access corridor.

With a touch I activate the manual controls and seal the airlock shut once again.

For a long moment, my regulated breathing is the only sound to be heard. As I consider my earlier observations, I unhook what is left of my cloak and let it fall to the floor.

I know who opened that door and that he is listening, too.

‘I will deal with you later, Colonel Nord,’ I warn him as I start to make my way back to the bridge.

***

I close my eyes and wait for Ani to tell me what is going on. He will feel my concern over our bond and reply when he is able to, as he always has done in the past.

I’m safe, he finally reassures me.

The breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding hisses between my lips.

And? I prompt, looking for more information.

I am doing my best to salvage what should have been a straightforward capture, he admits.

Be careful, love, I send to him.

He isn’t done with those rebels or Luke yet.

I will be, he scolds, so stop worrying.

He breaks the connection after that, so I know he is concentrating on what he must do rather than on me. I resign myself to once again waiting to hear back from him the next time he has a few free minutes.

***

I listen to the reports from the Tarkin’s crew as Nord’s lifeless body is removed from my sight. There is now a fire being reported in Section TH-10 which has distracted the reinforcements from the hangar bay. No doubt it is merely a false alarm triggered by the rebels, but it will take minutes that can’t be spared to reroute other troopers.

As I wait for more positive news to reach the bridge, I hear panicked voices over the comm from the Tarkin’s main hangar.

‘They’ve thrown a thermo-charge, clear the area!’ one trooper shouts.

‘Holy Jaf!’ a panicking officer cries out. ‘That things gonna blow! Get out of my way!’

‘I’m gettin’, I’m gettin’,’ one of his colleagues yells.

When there is no ensuing explosion, I infer what happened at precisely the time one of the troopers discovers the same.

‘Hey! This “thermo-charge” is just two old style comlinks tied together,’ he reports, before quietly adding, ‘I hate it when this happens to me.’

I spin about, furious that this ship’s men were so easily deceived. The crew on the Executor would not have been duped by that ploy.

‘Dispatch two TIE fighters immediately!’ I growl. ‘Two should suffice to stop that transport. It has minimal armament and shielding. They can cripple it easily and we will retrieve it intact.’

After the fighters are scrambled, I watch the transport take a few hits. One or two more should do it, I suspect.

Then the Milennium Falcon appears.

I let out an infuriated hiss. That ship, yet again. This time, I will see to them myself.

‘So, an unexpected player has entered the game,’ I state, letting my anger seep into my tone. ‘Admiral Biel, have my personal fighter prepared for launch.’

‘Yes, my Lord,’ I hear him acknowledge the order.

‘Immediately!’ I snap just to spur him into seeing to my order personally.

My TIE is ready when I storm into the hangar bay.

***

I get up from the bed and pace back and forth a few times. To occupy myself, I check on the children again. All are still sleeping, blissfully unaware of the tension and worry I am feeling. It’s times like this that I find the most frustrating - knowing Ani could be in danger, but that there is nothing I can do except wait for him to come back.

Life was so much easier when it was just the two of us, back home at the observatory, I decide.

***

I send my fighter after the Falcon, calmly noting that Luke is on board, having transferred from the transport while I was enroute to my TIE. But he is not the one piloting it at the moment. Nor is it Solo. I saw to him months ago, at Bespin, and know he is now decorating Jabba’s palace wall. No, whoever is at the helm is doing their best to avoid me in an attempt to reach a place where they can jump to lightspeed rather than turn and fight.

They swing across my sights again and my TIE’s targeting computer locks on. The blasts I fire score a direct hit, heavily damaging their rear shields.

It won’t be long before I will have clear, crippling shot at their reactor.

The freighter ducks around some drifting machinery in the drydock facility. I follow, aware that they will be out of sensor range for a couple seconds. Not that it matters. I will have them soon. As I clear the equipment they used for camouflage, I see why they chose that manoeuver.

How clever.

Someone just jettisoned the Falcon’s water supply.

‘Ice!’ I ruefully note. ‘Directly in my path!’

And I cannot avoid hitting their impromptu, glittering white ‘asteroid’ field.

‘Well done, young Skywalker,’ I praise my son.

Then my TIE slams into one of the smaller ice blocks.

***

‘You’re back at last,’ I tell Ani as I meet him at the door.

It’s quite late, but I refused to go to bed until I knew he was safe. Piett had to bring his TIE in with the Executor’s tractor beam, after a search of the debris left by the Tarkin’s demise, but no one has given me any of the details.

The Sith Lord looks at me and I know from his pose, damaged helmet, missing cloak, and tunic which has seen better days that nothing went according to plan. He needs me, I decide, so I slip my arms around his waist and hold him tight for a moment. A minute later, I feel his hand in my hair. Pulling back a touch, I tip my head back for a closer examination of what I saw when he first came in.

‘What happened?’ I ask, raising my hand to touch the smashed section of his helmet, on his browridge above his right lens.

‘The rebels escaped, of course,’ he calmly states. ‘The bridge crew were plotting against me and tried to send me out an airlock - during that incident, a piece of debris damaged my helmet. It appears that the Tarkin self destructed, though whether that was due to the rebels sabotaging the ion beam or faulty engineering, I don’t know. And I just spent several hours in my TIE, waiting to be rescued, thinking about how I was going to explain all of it to the Emperor.’

‘A bad day at the office, then,’ I tease.

‘An eminently bad day at the office,’ Ani decides with a laugh. ‘But my master can wait until morning. Right now, I just want to get some rest.’

‘The children are asleep for the night,’ I suggest.

I can sense his tired smile. He will oblige me, if I insist, but he is obviously exhausted and at the moment, sleep is far more important to him.

‘In the morning, little goddess,’ he promises. ‘We will do whatever you like, then.’

I catch his hand and pull him into the den, shutting the door behind us.

‘Tomorrow, then,’ I softly remind him.

Part 4

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