Luke gazed quietly out of the wide viewport in his ready-room to the rear of the Peerless' bridge, back straight, muscles tense, eyes set in the middle distance, seeing nothing, possessed of the kind of kinetic stillness which alluded to at the coming storm.

General Veers was on his way to his ready-room and Luke was… considering his options.

Reece, aware of the larger picture and of Luke's antipathy towards the General, had wisely gone out of his way to find constant tasks for Veers to attend far from the bridge since Luke's return to the Peerless, hoping Luke's temper would cool before he needed to deal with the General in person. The reason that Reece had quoted - that since Luke had seen Veers leaving the Emperor's presence he should, to all intents and purposes, be considered to be under Palpatine's protection - was a valid one, and it had stayed Luke's hand for almost ten hours now, but less than a day into the journey the black knot which had been steadily growing in his stomach could no longer be ignored.

He could of course dispel this situation in any number of ways, he knew; he could play the game, take the hit, chalk this one up to experience and learn his lesson... but the lesson which was whispering so insistently in the back of his thoughts right now was this; Never to leave an enemy at your back.

In truth he had, at the end of the day, achieved all he'd wanted; he was on his way to Bothawuii and a rendezvous with Mothma- and Madine.

But then there was that one point, still whispering... Never leave an enemy at your back.
If he did nothing now… had he learned nothing?

It had occurred to Luke to give Veers temporary command of the Fury during the coming mission, knowing this wasn't the General's forte and therefore Luke may well find an excuse for retribution.

He could easily validate the command; The Fury was set to go after Madine and Veers had worked alongside Madine several times when th eRebel General was still an Imperial officer. He could validate it by claiming that it took a General to catch a General - that Veers would have a better insight than anyone here into Madine's mind. He could offer the command as an opportunity for Veers to show his new Commander what he could do.

It was the ideal situation; if Veers succeeded, which Luke very much doubted considering that his milieu was ground-based battle, then Luke gained Madine. If he failed, then Luke had the perfect excuse to remove Veers- permanently.

It was playing the game, and he knew how to do that so well now- even when it burned him up inside to do so.

Or he could play a different game- could choose not to see Veers at all and simply begin to feed the General a string of ever-more outlandish nuggets of false information until Palpatine realised that his mole had long since been discovered and Luke was now simply playing a game. Load veers up with contradictory, inaccurate, illogical trivia and send him back to the Emperor- force him to deal with the problem he had created.
In a cool, calmer mood that was probably that he would have done. But he wasn't calm and he wasn't in a mood for games, and all of his qualms about more direct action were long since spent.

Once he would have held back because he felt he had something to loose; integrity, the moral high-ground- whatever. The man who had so pitilessly and fastidiously stripped those traits away from him would do well to remember that; to bear in mind the inevitable outcome of creating his precious advocate.

Because that was the trouble with owning a wolf; every now and then without any warning…

it would just turn around and bite.

 

The door to Luke's ready-room sounded an entry chime then opened for Veers step inside.

He was hardly in the room before Luke turned on him, the power of the Force-blow sending him flying back against the wall with a resounding 'thud'. He lay on the floor, winded, looking up to see The Commander stalking towards him, eyes ablaze.

Luke crouched down to grab the breathless Veers by the scruff of his uniform, hauling him roughly upright, powering back against the wall again, any consideration of the moderate path already lost in a haze of vehement fury at the sight of the man who had wheedled his way into Luke's staff, lost Luke a valuable senior officer and so nearly obliterated months of groundwork and preparation in his own self-serving ambition.

"I thought I made myself very clear, Veers." Luke growled through clenched jaw.

"Sir, I don't…" an incredible weight crushed against his chest and windpipe, pushing the air from Veer's lungs in a gasp, widening his eyes.

"I don't want to hear - I don't care what worthless little excuse you've spent the last week dreaming up - it won't save your life."

"Nnnn…"

Veers grabbed weakly at the incensed Commanders hands, still grasping the front of his jacket, and Luke narrowed his eyes, unmoved. "I thought I explained very carefully the consequences of informing on me."

Again Veers struggled to speak, weaker now, "Wasssnn't…m…"

Luke kept the pressure for a few seconds more, unwilling to break off the attack… then he turned, the General dropping forward onto his knees, pulling in huge gulps of air.

Luke started toward his desk and the chair before it slid back towards him without visible aid. Veers, still gasping, shouted out in shock as he was suddenly hauled about, his body dragged by the Force towards the chair and thrown into it with enough power to topple the chair backwards, Luke twisting about to catch the back one-handed and haul it back upright before it fell, Veers almost toppling forward out of it, white-knuckled hands clinging to the chair's arms.

"You have just seconds of my time, Veers, so I suggest you make it interesting- I have a very short attention span." He leaned down to the cowering General from behind, "Go."

"I didn't do it…"

"You don't know what I've accused you of yet." Luke countered, standing behind the terrified man.

"I haven't done anything- I'm not active at the…"

"So you were intending to?"

"I…" Veers fell to desperate silence, then, "Spies! There are five active spies onb…"

"There are seven." Luke corrected, hands clamping onto Veers shoulders from behind. "But names would be interesting."

"Uuuh…" Veers struggled to remember, " Sinsa…Ogo…uhhhh…"

"Faster." Luke whispered, leaning in, using the Force to begin a gradual downward pressure on Veers' chest.

"N..uhhh Ni…Ni…"

"Nishima." Luke whispered. "Another?"

"Jiddick!...Jiddick and… Findallen."

Luke rose, though he maintained the Force-pressure against Veers, "Apparently there are eight. Thank-you."

Veers struggled to raise his arms, still pinned to the chair, breaths coming in short gasps now, "Sir..Sir, I didn't.. didn't do it! Whatever it is… it wasn't me…"

Still maintaining the force-pressure, Luke walked slowly to the tall viewport behind his desk, gazing out, his voice calm and cold, "I'd like to believe you, Veers, I really would. But the fact remains that even if you didn't do it this time, you would, eventually. And everything I suspect you of here, you've already done onboard my father's ship."

Veers turned slightly at that, eyes wide, "Father…"

"Lord Vader." Luke said easily, turning just slightly to observe the shocked look in the General's eyes, wondering if he comprehended that this forbidden piece of knowledge had now sealed his fate. "You may not have crossed me yet, but you've crossed mine - so you can understand why I don't like you, Veers. You can understand why I'm hard-pressed to let you walk out of here."

"My.. Lord…" Veers strained to even talk now-

"You know, I was once a tolerant man - very tolerant." Luke's voice was quiet, lost in thought as he turned back to gaze out into the endless darkness. "Perhaps because I believed I was doing the right thing..."

There was a dull 'cr-ack', the wet splinter of bone muffled by flesh, and with a final, broken gasp Veers crumpled forward, falling deadweight from the chair, his final breath driven from his lungs by the impact.

"I don't anymore." Luke said simply, no trace of regret in his voice.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 

 

"Sir, we're coming up to reversion." Admiral Joss stepped close to The Heir before he spoke, the bridge crew hunching studiously over the unfamiliar consoles of the modified freighter, staring intently at readouts with the grim, single-minded concentration of men trying hard not to be noticed.

General Veer's demise several days earlier had caused a buzz of trepidation about the Peerless, all the senior officers feeling the wind blow, so that although Joss was confident in his own immunity, his loyalties to The Heir long-since decided and declared, he too felt a little jittery in the wake of recent… actions.

The Heir had of course, taken the time to explain to those who were loyal that Veers was the Emperor's spy, and indeed Joss remembered having been informed of such by Commander Reece within a few weeks of Veer's arrival, long before the campaign against the Bothans' had even commenced. Still, The Heir's method of removing his spies left one a little… anxious when dealing with him.

Leadership, they had taught Admiral Joss on the Imperial Military Academy on Carida, was part respect, part fear. One should learn to inspire respect in those who are loyal, and fear in those who are not- and if a little fear was scattered around the feet of the faithful, then that too commanded a healthy respect.

Certainly the Admiral felt just that as The Heir turned to him now, gaze as calm and impassive as ever.

"Thank-you Admiral. Have the crews stand by. Verify that we're all present and correct then contact the Peerless and the Executor and confirm our arrival. All further comms are by running lights only until we've secured our target."

Joss voiced his confirmation, turning to the bridge officers to ensure that they had heard as the battered freighter dropped out of hyperspace at the busy outer orbit ring well beyond the distant Col Dinn orbital platform, responsible for all shipping, handling and duty processing for Bothawuii's planetary cargo, it and its two accompanying freighters immediately lost in the bustle of the loose groupings of freighters waiting for their turn at the Col Din platform.

They were running with what Joss would normally have considered to be a skeleton crew aboard one of the three anonymous, battered freighters that had rendezvoused with them at Obrai-Skai, though there were ten units of the 701st in the hold awaiting the green light, the dozen or so Bothan and Chadra-Fan crewers which the smuggler Karrde had provided along with his carefully camouflaged freighters looking decidedly and deservedly nervous in their company the last time Joss had been down to the hold to check preparations.

The Heir turned, pulling the black leather gloves he wore tight as he flexed his fingers, glancing up as Joss stepped back to his side, "Move to secure channel only. Let me know when the Fury is in place and our friends arrive. We'll go dark at that point."

Joss nodded, glancing to Mara Jade who hovered nearby, listening vaguely, re-checking the small holdout blaster she occasionally wore strapped to her wrist, a special-forces blaster rifle already slung over her shoulder.

Aware of his eyes on her, Mara glanced up at the Admiral, mind too locked on the moment to be bothered looking for clues as to what he was thinking. He raised his eyebrows just fractionally at her though, and the inference was clear; do your job- keep him safe.

It wasn't at all unusual for Luke to accompany ground troops on this kind of operation; in fact it was par for the course, but his would be his first sortie since his injury, and with Reece still onboard the Peerless, Mara would be his sole bodyguard. The strain of this knowledge was already beginning to pull her edgy nerves taught; Skywalker disliked having bodyguards at the best of times and two sets of eyes were far more able to keep up if he took it upon himself to leave them behind, as he had a habit of doing.

Still, his insistence on not only planning and overseeing but very often participating in field missions was one of the reasons why Skywalker had gained such a solid base of popularity among the military, Mara knew; his day-to-day presence in the Core Fleet, only ever returning to Coruscant under direct orders from the Emperor, meant that he was considered very much a 'military man', with real field experience and genuine tactical ability. The military were essentially pack animals, and there was nothing inspired loyalty like a sense of fraternity. Skywalker's willingness to listen to advice from those with experience also stood him in good stead, as did his backing of and faith in the senior officers he trusted, all factors which Mara hadn't failed to notice he'd been subtly underscoring of late.

"I'm sure I can leave things in your capable hands, Admiral." Skywalker said, glancing to Joss as he passed, casually confident. "Now... find me a freighter running under the name Attin'Cho- passive scan only."

 

 

"Ma-am- we have the freighter Attin'Cho on our scopes; bearing one-seventy by fifty-eight by nine-oh-one."

Captain Wyatt turned to her helm officer, her low, measured Mon Calamari tones making her words seem far more solemn then they were.

"Send a greeting and transmit the Alliance code within it. Keep us a good space behind that forward freighter." she added, bulbous head nodding in the direction of the freighter in the 'stack' before them, already aware that another dilapidated freighter had cruised slowly into the space behind them, half its running lights inactive.

But she wasn't too worried; they had chosen their queueing stack with care; one to the outside of the roughly-queueing cluster of weary freighters, all waiting to pay their duty and unload their cargo so they could fill up for the next haul. The Alliance freighter, battered and merchant-rigged, fitted into the bustle of the large port without notice, staying on practically the outermost stack, a good-sized exit to deep space to their port side. "Any sign of any trouble?"

"None, Sir. All the boards are clear, and the Sol has just sent confirmation that they're docking in order to load. They have one Star Destroyer near the Col Din Orbital Platform, close to them."

That brought Wyatt's head around, as well as Leia and Mon's.

"Does he foresee any problems?" Leia asked tensely- like Wyatt she'd originally been puzzled by Mothma's choice of Madine as commander of this operation; he was ex-Imperial army, and well-trained, but he wasn't generally placed in charge of a space-based mission, which came under the Navy's remit. She hadn't questioned it too much though, knowing that Mon and Madine often worked closely together, Mon relying on both his abilities and his opinion.

It was only during the jump here that they had been called into a meeting in which Mon had explained Madine's mission whilst she met Ollin'yaa; technology garnered in a deep-cover covert operation by the Bothans was to be transferred from the Col Din Orbital Platform to the second freighter, the Sol, commanded by Madine. The nature of that technology had opened Leia's eyes wide-

The Empire's new weapon, a Dynamic Electromagnetic Pulse Generator, was being built in the closely-guarded military docks in the Imperial Shipyards at Bilbringi, in readiness to be loaded into the new Super Star Destroyer Invincible, due to launch later that year. Madine was responsible for loading two duplicates of the weapon onto the Sol, secretly built at a separate site in concert with the Imperial original, using information from several spies within the shipyards.

This was an incredible break for the Alliance, and although the weapons couldn't yet be safely fired, they were already committed to an upcoming assault, the nature of which neither Mon nor Madine were willing to discuss, citing the ongoing problem of information leaks, leaving Leia uncomfortably aware that she had been excluded from this loop- which meant that she was in some way implicated.

Something to worry about later. Now however, her mind was on the success of the missions - both of them. If there was a chance that either mission would encounter difficulties, then Madine needed to abort his mission now rather than compromise it and lose the DEMP generators or alert the Empire that they had them. Everyone waited, eyes on the comm officer.

"Ma'am, the General reports that the Destroyer is in a standard holding pattern on the edge of their scanners; he says he's confident that there's no further risk implied by its presence. The Bothans say its been there for almost two days."

Leia turned to Mon, who relaxed a little, raising her eyebrows.

"Fine." Leia replied, "Acknowledge the message and tell him we're going dark now. We'll contact him when the meeting is over." Then, unable to shake some uneasy misgivings, added, "Ask him to break comm silence and let me know immediately if the Star Destroyer leaves Col Din."

She didn't like the fact that the Destroyer was at Col Din Platform; it had, after all, been the supposed rendezvous point for the meeting between Mothma and the Bothan leader, Ollin'yaa. It had been changed at the very last moment by an encrypted message from Intel Chief Tag Massa, who had chosen the new site herself; an innocuous tramp-freighter park well outside the Col Din platform consisting at any given time of about fifty or so dilapidated mid-size freighters and worse-for-wear merchant vessels huddled together in a synchronous orbit waiting for permission to unload their cargo.

There were always several of these unofficial parks about any industrialised planet, Imperial Customs never quite up to speed in checking permits and authorising permission to unload. If one was willing to pay a little extra, the necessary access to the Col Din platform for required customs checks could always be speeded up, but many of the smaller haulage companies simply didn't have the profit margins to oblige, and so these loose unofficial clusters of ships huddled together to wait out permission, crew members travelling constantly from ship to ship with little regard for procedure, catching up on trade gossip with fellow-hauliers.

It was a nice, nondescript, easily-escapable setup - and a commonplace one too, likely to attract little attention. With less than an hour to go Chief Massa had named this particular cluster with care, providing ample opportunity for their Bothan contact onboard the Attin'Cho to make his unanticipated in-system jump from Col Din to the new co-ordinates- and for either Madine onboard the Sol or Leia and Mon onboard the Arcturus to do the same, should either need back-up.

The comm officer nodded as the Arcturus slowed, dropping into place in the losely-queueing starships, another dilapidated, rusted freighter which hovered to starboard seeming momentarily to be going backwards due to its stationary position beside the slowly-advancing Arcturus. The comm officer glanced to the side, then added, "We have the confirmation code from the Attin'Cho, along with docking co-ordinates. Commander Ollin'yaa sends his greetings, Chief Mothma, and invites you aboard."

Mon turned to Leia, smiling, "I'll leave things here in your capable hands."

Leia smiled at the compliment, watching Mon walk from the bridge of the disguised freighter, unable to shake the feeling that something… something...

 

Mon walked sedately from the shuttle now docked in the Attin'Cho's small hold, three Bothans waiting at the end of the ramp now, an irregular line of several others forming an Honour-Guard, a few Humans and a Devaronian making up the line. The trip over had taken less than five minutes, only one freighter between the Arcturus and the Attin'Cho, and that clearly trying to jockey a position forward of them, pinned in from starboard by a large, ponderously slow merchant vessel just as the Arcturus was. Mon glanced momentarily at the reassuringly open depths of space visible beyond the docking bay, the pale corona of Bothawuii just perceptible at its edges. If they had to make a run for it, then the Attin'Cho was well-placed to do so.

"Good afternoon, Chief Mothma," The first Bothan said easily, stepping forward, his fur rustling forward then back in the Bothan equivalent of a nervous tic.

Mon smiled politely, pretending not to notice, holding her hand out to the nervous Bothan who took it in his own, gesturing for her to continue, "You must forgive us - we aren't used to having so illustrious-a guest on board our humble transport. We believed we were simply transporting Commander Ollin'yaa to the Col Din Platform. We had little time to make preparations."

"No special preparations are necessary…?"

"Forgive me, Chief Mothma- my name is T'indarr- I'm Ollin'yaa's aide." The Bothan clearly realised from Mon's pause that he'd failed to introduce himself, another ripple brushing his pale fur. "If you'd follow me, I'd be honoured to take you to the Commander now."

Mon nodded politely, setting forward with the Bothan and his two companions, her own guard of six Rebel Special Ops soldiers falling in behind her. The Bothan pointedly didn't look back or mention them.

They walked only a short distance into the ship, very few crew in evidence, only a few Bothans and a Chadra-Fan pausing as they passed by, bowing their heads respectfully, the Bothan's fur rippling in a motion Mon recognised from long experience with the species to be nervous curiosity. She nodded easily as she walked by, always the politician.

Finally T'indarr paused before a room, reaching out his hand to rest dramatically on the door release, waiting for Mon and her entourage to catch up.

The door slid open… and Mon stopped dead.

The Bothan Commander Ollin'yaa, whom she had come to meet, sat tensely in a chair at the far side of the room-

Around him, weapons held ready, were two phalanxes of stormtroopers, their blue pauldrons identifying them as units from the 701st... And stood just behind him, hands on Ollin'yaa's shoulders… was Skywalker.

There was a flurry of sound and motion behind her as her guards drew their weapons, and Skywalker's sharp eyes flicked from Mon towards them - a sickening smack sounded behind her as bodies hit the walls, not one shot fired before they fell to the floor, unconscious or dead; she didn't know which.
Mon flinched just slightly at that indecipherable crack of bones and armour, but remained motionless as those cold blue eyes came back to her own and a slow half-smile spread across his scarred face.

"Hello, Mon."

 

 

Leia resisted the urge to pace the Arcturus' bridge, aware that she was making Wyatt uneasy. Why exactly, she had no idea- everything was going exactly as planned.

They had a positive sighting of Vader's main fleet almost two hours at lightspeed from here, and every other Rim Fleet Destroyer could be accounted for. Nothing was within striking distance, save for the Star Destroyer at Col Din of course, but Madine would let them know the moment that it made any kind of move. Again a stray concern worried at the edges of Leia's mind but she couldn't lock it down, try as she might, her thoughts with Mon Mothma.

"Any problems?" she prompted Wyatt, walking up close to peer out of the viewscreen at the jumble of decrepit freighters waiting for permission to unload. Her eyes locked on the Attin'Cho, clearly visible around the rusting bulk of the freighter between them.

The Mon Calamari shook her head, bulbous eyes remaining on Leia, "None." She replied simply, though her tone indicated she was willing to be led by Leia on this.

But what could she offer? Mon's shuttle had landed and sent back the short confirmation code that all was well, as agreed. The Bothan leader Mon was coming to reassure had accepted the change of venue without rancour, the Attin'Cho making a short jump out and back into the system in order to clear the mass of Bothawuii, the meeting now taking place on his transport, whilst Madine continued to load the Generators from another Bothan transport onto the Rebel freighter Sol.

Everything was going exactly as planned - so why did she have the creeping feeling that….

"Ma'am, I have General Madine on the comm." Leia swing round to the comm officer, but it was Wyatt who spoke first.

"Put it on speaker." She said quickly, stepping to the centre of the small freighter's bridge, "General?"

Madine's voice was tight and urgent as he spoke, "Where's Chief Mothma?"

Leia walked into the mic's pickup range, "She's on the Attin'Cho. Why?"

"The Star Destroyer here - it's The Fury. It isn't part of the Rim Fleet, it's a Core Fleet vessel. It travels with the Peerless!"

That was what had been niggling her - all the Rim Fleet Destroyers were accounted for - how could there be one here? The full meaning of Madine's words seeped in then; the Peerless was Skywalker's Super Star Destroyer. Leia's stomach tightened into a knot. "You're sure?"

"It's not transmitting ID, but the Bothans did a close fly-by. They said it has Torrin manoeuvre thrusters from Soro-Sub. That puts it less than three years old, and it has a mark-nine transmitter array, plus Mytor equatorial heavy gun-emplacements. It's the Fury."

Leia's heart skipped a beat as she turned to Wyatt, breathless, "Contact the Attin'Cho; tell them to get Mon out and go to lightspeed; we'll fly interference. Launch the fighters to protect the Attin'Cho's exit- we'll brief them whilst they fly. Bring us around this thing." She indicated the decrepit freighter before them as the Arcturus' deck-plates began to vibrate, her engines firing into life. Leia turned her thoughts back to Madine, "General, are you finished loading?"

There was a short delay whilst Madine confirmed this, "About three minutes. We're too far in to be able to abort. We'll let you know before we're ready to make the jump to your position."

Leia didn't bother to tell him to hurry.

"Fighters have launched." Wyatt announced sharply, part of the freighter's main viewscreen overlaying with a limited, retro-fitted military-style heads-up tactical.

"Ma'am - the Attin'Cho is powering up. Our fighters are closing to escort positions."

The Attin'Cho had turned ponderously on her axis, coming about toward the stretch of open space when Leia felt something tickle at the back of her thoughts, turning back to the Mon Cal Captain, "Wyatt- did we get confirmation from the Attin'Cho?"

Wyatt frowned at the comm officer, who nodded.

"Yes, Ma-am."

Then why were the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end? "Tell them we need to speak to Chief Mothma- urgently."

The comm officer nodded, passing the request on. Leia turned back to the Attin'Cho, still powering away with Red and Blue fighter groups flying escort.

Something…

"Have they acknowledged the request?" Leia asked.

"Yes Ma-am. They say Chief Mothma's on her way up to the bridge now."

Too slow- Leia shook her head, "Tell them to patch us through to her comlink. Now."

The nervous comm officer nodded, speaking into her pick-up. She glanced up, "They're patching us through now…"

"Put it on speaker."

Everyone waited, the low hiss of background noise indicating that the line was open, the tense, human voice of the Attin'Cho's comm officer announcing, "Standby, Arcturus… Patching you through now……..

Leia waited, chewing her nail…

"Standby………………………………."

Too slow. Make the choice, Leia - make the call. She watched the Attin'Cho push for open space, Rebel fighters protecting her, almost clear of everything now…

Clear of everything… including them!

"Tell the fighters to pull back - closed frequency. Tell them to take out the Attin'Cho's engines." Everyone on the bridge turned to Leia, horrified. "Do it!"

The comm officer turned to Captain Wyatt for support, but the Mon Cal nodded assent, comm turning back to relay the command, having to repeat it since it was clearly queried by the Flight Commanders, Han's voice clearly audible from where Leia stood; "Command, this is Blue Flight- could you repeat that?"

Seconds later both flights pulled back, turning on a tight axis to come up behind the Attin'Cho.

"Bring us about-" Leia said tightly, "Get us to the Attin'Cho- quickly." If they could get there immediately, they had easily enough firepower to bring the bulky freighter to a stop.

Their viewscreen wheeled in a deliberate, stomach-churning inverted turn as the Arcturus manouevred to bring the Attin'Cho to the centre of the screen again - and all hell broke loose.

Suddenly everything seemed to be moving, several other freighters powering up their engines and starting forward.

"What the hell's happening!!" Wyatt's gravelly voice topped out in surprise.

"I scan three heavy freighters on the move…" an officer announced tightly as previously innocuous freighters suddenly powered forward to barricade the gap between the Arcturus and the Attin'Cho, "They're boxing us out, away from the Attin…"

The rusty bulk freighter which had been creeping in to starboard was powering toward them at a rate of knots now, on an obvious collision course. Twice their size, it forced Wyatt's hand, "All stop- take evasive manoeuvres. Try to bring us over this one." She was indicating the freighter before them which had previously seemed to be trying to do nothing more suspicious than pull ahead in the line, but was now clearly manoeuvring side-on to them, hindering them further, another two freighters to their port side confusing things further by trying hard to get out of the way of what was clearly becoming a ship-to-ship fight.

"Ma-am, we have multiple energy signatures from the forward vessel! What the.. Wait - the freighter's launching TIE's!!"

Their clear exit was gone, blocked in by the bulk of the two merchant vessels now obscuring the Attin'Cho, the Arcturus beginning to manoeuvre in an attempt to keep a clear view, though it was becoming harder s the two unknown freighters closed, the Arcturus's only exit now in the opposite direction to that which the Attin'Cho was flying.
And now the seemingly-innocuous freighter which had been turning side-on before them spewed forth scores of TIE's from its main docking bay, two wings of which came swarming in towards the Arcturus, ion cannons blazing, drawing the A- and X-Wings from their action.

"No!" Leia shouted, stepping forward, "Tell all our fighters to follow orders! Tell them to stop the Attin'Cho before it breaks clear."

She knew damn well that this would leave her freighter vulnerable, but at this point, she had only one objective - and it was presently powering away from her at speed, with the leader fo the Rebel Alliance onboard.

 

Luke watched dispassionately from the bridge of the Attin'Cho as the first wave of TIE's exited from the first of Talon Karrde's hired freighters just aft of his position, drawing the Rebel fighters away from the commandeered Bothan freighter, now in Imperial hands.

The second hired freighter was already moving into an intercept course with the Rebel ship Arcturus, effectively blocking any chance the Rebels had to follow the Attin'Cho, Karrde's third freighter coming up behind them now, though he doubted they'd spotted it as yet.

"Sir, we're clear of the stack- lightspeed co-ordinates programmed." the Imperial Helm Officer looked expectantly to Luke. The whole bridge was now commanded by Imperial military of course, only the original Bothan Captain remaining, four stormtroopers guarding him, just in case some coded acknowledgment had been required whilst the ship began to creep clear of its Rebel counterpart. He'd already pulled two sets of codes from the unwilling Bothan's mind to get Mothma here without suspicion.

"Stay a while yet, Helm." Luke said easily without turning from the battle, which was very pointedly following them as they powered ponderously away from the freighter stack, everything moving painfully slowly compared to the speed and manoeuvrability of Capital Ships. "I want the Rebel ship to remain here until the Fury can pick her up, and she won't do that if she has no reason to stay. Let them think they might just reach us yet."

"Sir, the aft shields are sustaining damage from Rebel fighters." Ops announced, looking up, awaiting orders.

Luke didn't turn, still at ease, unaffected by the news, "Contact Freighter Three- tell them to release their TIE's and send them to our position. Have them engage the Rebel fighters."

Mara took a half step toward him but managed to hold her tongue, worried that they'd lose the prize Luke had planned so carefully to gain, the Bothan ship hardly up to this kind of punishing treatment.

He glanced sideways to her, unruffled, murmuring, "The Fury is minutes away - a few snub-nose fighters can't destroy our engines, land in our only docking bay, fight through ten stormtrooper units, find Mothma and get back to their own ship in that amount of time - but they could jump to lightspeed and escape without her."

"You're risking Mothma to catch Madine." Mara murmured in reply, aware that he was staying here simply to hold the Rebel freighter's interest.

Skywalker turned away dismissively, but that composed voice had a hard edge to it as he spoke, "Let them come- no-one's taking Mothma."

Mara frowned just slightly, wondering whether he actually wanted them to try… this had all gone perfectly; a textbook operation, well-planned but with flexibility, contingencies in place. So much so that in the actual event, he'd had nothing more to do than stand on the bridge and give out orders calculated months in advance. He was spoiling for a fight and she knew it.

The question was; did he? Would he throw it all away simply because he wanted a challenge?

She'd just opened her mouth to voice this when a flicker of motion at the corner of the viewscreen drew both their eyes.

"Sir, the Fury's arrived to port. She's requesting orders."

"Tell her to launch TIE's - see if it will draw the Rebel fighters off us."

"The Fury acknowledges, Sir. They're launching three squadrons now."

"Sir, enemy fighters are driving us off-course- three degrees st…"

"Correct it." Luke ordered, turning to the Helm Officer, the ramshackle freighter beginning to buck slightly beneath their feet as heavy laser fire hit home from close range. "Stay on-course for the lightspeed jump."

He turned back to the comm, "Tell the Fury that the Rebel freighter is boxed in - have her move around to a clear line and engage tractor beams - I want that ship."

He'd barely finished before Ops called out, "Sir, the Alliance fighters are staying with us- we have a partial failure of the aft shields- engine shields are critical."

In the middle of all this pandemonium Luke glanced momentarily at the man, aware that in the pressure of the moment he had said 'Alliance' and not 'Rebel'; making a mental note that the Ops officer may be a Rebel spy. "Tile remaining shields to compensate." he ordered, turning casually away to Comm, "Is the Fury in position?"

"She estimates another minute, Sir."

"Divert power from the forward shields to shore the aft. Tell Freighter One to come up behind our engines to protect us from strafing runs. "

"TIE fighters are engaging the enemy… Sir, the Rebel freighter is pulling away."

Luke turned, "Will she make it clear before the Fury locks on?"

There was a brief, tense pause as Ops ran simulations, "No, Sir. The Fury has the edge."

"Sir, aft shields three and eight have failed- shield four is critical."

The failure of a single shield was bad enough, but manageable by tiling adjacent shields to reduce the unshielded area- if shield four failed combined with three however, it would give a sizeable hole to aim for if the Rebels took another run at the engines. Luke glanced knowingly to Mara; "Time for us to leave, I think."

He didn't bother giving the order; Mara turned instantly to Helm, "Contact Freighter One then engage lightspeed engines."

The stars before them turned to streaks as the Attin'Cho powered away with her prize, leaving the battle behind in a distant blur of light.

 

 

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

 

 

The two battered freighters hugged close together well away from recognised shipping lanes but still in Bothan space, proof of their close shave already written across the hull plates of the larger vessel in the form of multiple dark carbon streaks, a sure indicator of mid-gauge laser cannon fire.

In the Ready-Room of Madine's freighter, the Sol, still relatively undamaged compared to the Arcturus, Leia Organa, Han Solo and General Crix Madine were equally huddled, still trying to figure out just exactly what went so catastrophically wrong.

And more importantly, how to put it right again.

"I'll tell you what we're gonna use," Han Solo said, as cock-sure now as he always was, seriously disgruntled at the fact that they had not only lost Mon aboard the Attin'Cho, but almost lost the Arcturus, and Leia with it, when the Star Destroyer Fury, which had been languishing at the Col Din platform near the unrecognized Sol, had replied to a summons on Imperial channels by the Attin'Cho and pulled a virtual slingshot around Bothawuii to get to Leia's ship. Only the arrival of the Sol, knowing instantly where the Fury had gone and having just barely loaded their cargo, had saved her.

Solo looked to Madine, still fuming, "We're gonna use that damn thing that we all risked our necks so you could sneak off and pick it up today."

The General paused, considering; they'd gained two valuable weapons today, as well as invaluable intelligence - the only problem was, they were in no position to use either yet. "We have no way to deploy the DEMP generators from the ships we're in now- nothing with sufficiently hardened systems."

"We'll deploy them from here." Han argued, unmoved.

Madine frowned, "If we use them now, we've lost them - we'll never get them restored in time to go after the Invincible. Plus we've lost the element of surprise- they're presently unaware that we have them at all."

"So that's what you want 'em for- the Invincible." Han said, prompting a momentary tightening of Madine's jaw at his frustration of having let that out in present company. The Empire's latest Super Star Destroyer was due to be launched in five month's time, itself fitted with DEMP technology - the only ship in existence that was. Han remained unrepentant, "It comes down to this General; which do you want more- the Invincible or Mon Mothma?"

The General looked away, sighing, clearly unconvinced.

"Do we have any reason to assume that any Star Destroyer in the fleet is hardened against DEMP technology yet?" Leia prompted, looking for a clear path.

"No." Madine said, "To our knowledge, none of the fleet has yet taken the time in spacedock necessary to have all upgrades implemented. All that manpower's gone into having the Invincible ready on time."

"Not even the Peerless?" Leia said, aware that it had been the Fury who had been at Bothawui, a Destroyer know to travel in The Heir's attachment; perhaps the Peerless was involved too.

"No." Madine glanced to his fellow Corellian then back to Leia, who was very much aware that in Mon's absence, she had become the de-facto Commander-in-Chief. "However, let me point out the flaws in this plan; firstly, we haven't tested the DEMP generators we just received from the Bothans, nor have we recalibrated them following their transit. Secondly, we have no solid proof that the Fury is vulnerable. Thirdly, we are very, very sure that both the Sol and the Arcturus are vulnerable and if we fire the DEMP both will be damaged beyond repair. And finally, even if all these things were resolved, we still have no idea where Chief Mothma is."

They'd made contact with Home-One as soon as the Arcturus and the Sol had exited their short hyperspace jump; the Fury had gone to lightspeed within minutes of their own narrow escape, clearly with another destination in mind, firinf Leia's worry that perhaps the Peerless was involved too. Informed of Mon's capture, the Rebel baseship had immediately initiated an all-points search for the Fury as well as establishing that both the Peerless and the Executor had entered hyperspace, which rendered them untraceable until they reverted to relspace - and both had been less than four hours from Leia's current location.

The Fury and the Attin'Cho, were nowhere to be seen - and the Alliance had a lot of ships scattered, looking for them right now.

"I'll tell you where she is," Han said without hesitation, "She's onboard the Fury. The'd never risk keeping her on a freighter when they had a big fat Star Destroyer just waiting to go to their location. The Attin'Cho's already been abandoned somewhere or blasted into space-dust. She's onboard that Destroyer."

"Why the Fury… of all Destroyers, why the Fury?" Madine's logical mind was searching for reasons, playing the hunch which all good field Generals had- that this fact was important… somehow.

"The Fury is part of the Core Fleet." Leia said, stating the obvious in the hope of prompting some unanticipated realisation, "That's The Heir's fleet; it shouldn't even be out here."

Han shook his head, "Luke can't come this far out - we know that. The Fury must have left the Core Regions for this specific job and been in contact with the Peerless; last positon we have for it was right at the edge of the Core systems- almost as close as it could come. I'm guessing that's where the Fury's heading now."

Madine shook his head, "If they make it to the Peerless then we've lost Mothma. We can't make an attack in Core Space- and not on a Super Star Destroyer; it'd be suicide."

"How many ships do we have close enough to form a task-force, if the Fury came out of hyperspace close to the Peerless' last position?"

Madine didn't need to check, "None." he said, disgusted. "We were trying to keep a low presence in the area in the warm-up to Chief Mothma's meeting."

"I'm guessing the Executor's heading to the same rendezvous." Han said darkly, placing another hurdle in their path. Interesting though; that Luke and Vader seemed to be working together on this; the kid had never done that before.

"But theoretically…" Leia paused, glancing at the door; a second later, a quiet knock was heard.

She stared, momentarily uncertain how she'd known to look…

The door slid open, Captain Wyatt entering, her huge, glassy Mon Cal eyes full of hope, "We have a position for the Fury and the Attin'Cho - less than three hours from here - and they're alone."

 

Leia walked down to the Sol's hold on her way back to the shuttle which would return her to the Arcturus, the Sol already calculating the lightspeed jump which would take it to Mon Mothma and the Fury, Leia's own ship, the Arcturus, intending to follow just minutes behind. Pausing, Leia headed across the Sol's hold to where the two newly-gained Dynamic Electromagnetic Pulse generators were.

They were quite small really- roughly her own height, which wasn't that tall, and about twice as large round as her reach; a large sealed cylinder connected to a smaller one, the second coiled about by a fine, copper-colored alloy. Laid in clear support cradles on their sides, a series of delicate copper ariels extended and interhooked about soft, silicon-based processing units, they looked nothing at all; not particularly like a bomb or even an EMP weapon.

The 'techs were already swarming all over them, Chewie among those who were working on the first generator, the second remaining untouched as yet, almost concealed in its enclosed faraday cage.

"Chewie-" Han stepped around Leia, shouting across the bay as he ran forward, still in his pilot's gear after the debacle at Bothawuii. "How long?"

The massive Wookie turned, keening a guess, shrugging as he did so. Han kept on running, reaching the exposed generator and craning his neck to look at the reassuringly simple trigger mechanism hotwired in by the 'techs. Theoretically they knew how to work it and what the result would be if they threw that switch and theoretically, Dynamic EMP's did no damage to flesh and bone - but he didn't particularly relish the thought of being stood next to it when it went off. By the time Leia reached them, the conversation had moved on to the delay between triggering the forst and second DEMP's, the latter having already been fitted with a jury-rigged timer.

"… we don't know - that's the problem." Han continued, turning from Chewie to glance at Leia, "There's no telling how many systems the first pulse will bring down and we need to give enough time for full emergency power to cut in onboard the Fury otherwise the second DEMP won't knock it out. D'you have an estimate on how many systems it'll bring down?"

"All systems, we hope." Leia said, glancing up at the new technology, "Obviously not propulsion, but we think the safety cut-out will shut down the engines when it ceases to receive information from the automated regulating systems. We're pretty sure we'll take those down, even though they're hard-shielded."

Theoretically, the DEMP was little more than a kind of electromagnetic flux compression system with bells and whistles. What made it special was the Empire's development of an advanced dynamic access system, which made it capable of overriding and overrunning all previously safe, battle-hardened systems.

Unfortunately, it did so for a large radius… on everything in the vicinity. Ships, deep space platforms- even surface planet-based technology if the DEMP was close enough.

Any technology requiring integrated circuits, power conductors, anything with resistors, capacitors or remote connectors was killed. That included communication networks, signal processors, automated systems, flight control and digital engine regulation - nothing was immune. If it was connected into the mainframe then it would be affected. If it was an active system when the DEMP blew, it was dead. Even the few systems onboard any starship that were purely mechanically-based and therefore theoretically immune generally relied on binary programs to monitor or regulate them, which would be burned out by the DEMP, so that though they remained functioning, there would be no way to control them remotely or even regulate them.

To any mainframe system, the damage would be wide-ranging and devastating - to something the size and complexity of a Capital Ship, the combined effects would be nothing short of catastrophic, system-wide failure.

This was the Empire's new toy, and it could leave any ship in any fleet older than the not-yet launched Invincible dead in space, the Peerless and the Executor first in line to have the necessary upgrades which would also render them immune. Designed specifically to be utilised by the newly-shielded systems onboard the technologically advanced new Super Star Destroyer, the data had been surreptitiously smuggled out by Bothan spies, two exact duplicate systems built, running apace with the Invincible's system being built at the Kuat Shipyards and taking advantage of any new data and any flaws which were corrected along the way.

It gave Leia a secret, self-satisfied buzz to know that its first use in field combat would not be by a Star Destroyer, but against one.

The only problem was they didn't have a sufficiently-shielded ship to use it from. That technology hadn't yet been aquired - and even if it had, they didn't have time to implement it today.

So they were going to use the Sol.

 

 

Luke strode briskly forward across the main access walkway on the bridge of the Fury, the Attin'Cho having just been taken into its main hold after its reversion to realspace, Karrde's two disguised freighters visible in the bridge viewports just forward and to port. The Fury's Captain, Kavanagh, bowed nervously as The Commander in Chief approached, uncertain of his fate.

"Explain." Luke said, head tilted to one side, dark hair falling before his mismatched eyes, one blue, one cast through with darkest brown near his heavy scar.

"Sir, a second Rebel ship came out of hyperspace behind us."

"A military Corvette?" Luke prompted, already knowing the answer, "A Frigate perhaps?"

The Captain paled even further, if that were possible, "No Sir, a… bulk freighter- heavily modified. We've now identified it as the Sol, a re-spec'd and upgraded Rebel freighter."

"What capacity?"

"Sir?"

"What capacity - how big was it?"

The man visibly swallowed against his dry mouth, "Fifty thousand, Sir."

"A Star Destroyer was stopped in its duty by fifty thousand cubics of freighter." Luke growled, voice low in disbelief, "I'm moved to wonder which side you're on, Captain."

"Sir, we had the Arcturus in tractor restraint, but the second Rebel ship emerged from hyperspace and came in from beneath our engines. It knocked out the tractor-beam array and…"

The Heir shook his head, eyes closed in dismissal, "Don't even try to explain, Captain." Luke stepped in slightly, eyes hard and unforgiving - but in the event, he only huffed, disappointed. Despite his words, Kavanagh was a good Captain and a loyal advocate, and that was always something worthy of recognition, regardless of Luke's frustration. And didn't they always say that any battle plan only survived as long as first contact? "If you're already in a hole, Kavanagh, you should know when to stop digging."

The Captain looked up, a glint of hope in his eyes. "Yes, Sir."

Luke sighed, letting the disappointment leave him with the breath. He turned to Mara, who had catwalked silently up behind him. "Do Intel have anything yet?"

Mara nodded, "They've confirmed that Madine was onboard the second freighter, which they've tentatively identified as the Sol. We don't know who was onboard the first freighter - possibly just Mothma and the freighter Captain."

Which pretty much negated the need to have captured the first freighter anyway, since Madine hadn't been onboard. Luke had actually known over two hours ago that the Fury had failed to capture its target, immediately ordering the Fury to his present location, well off any known shipping lanes on the edge of the Core and Rim borders, Nubia's distant sun casting the faintest of glows.

The Attin'Cho had been busy whilst waiting for the Fury to arrive, Luke clearly not yet willing to give up his chance to catch Madine. Thus, the Peerless, waiting at the edge of the Core Systems, had been placed on alert and Luke had surprised Mara by sending out a call to the Executor, which was only two hours away by lightspeed- quite a coincidence, to Mara's mind.

If Palpatine found out that this was because Skywalker and Vader were communicating behind his back, there would be hell to pay; so much so that Mara hesitated to put this suspicion in her report until she had proof one way or the other. Any unauthorised contact between the two was strictly forbidden; if the Emperor even suspected such it would be Skywalker who paid the penalty- and it would be severe.
For the first time, Mara found herself torn between her loyalty to the Emperor and her developing amity with Skywalker; she didn't wish to be the one who took this to Palpatine. She would if she had to but still, she felt a certain… unease at the thought that it would be her who had informed on Luke - and he would know it.

She didn't wish to lose what she had - even if she didn't know quite what it was yet.

He turned to her now, expression thoughtful, "Order Intel to work on Mothma's guards; the Rebels who came onboard with her. I want to know what Madine was doing with the Sol at Col Din- why he wasn't with Mothma."

Mara shrugged, "Probably backup."

"Then he should have been closer." Luke shook his head, "And he should have arrived sooner when the Arcturus put out a distress call… what took him so long?"

Good point, Mara conceded, nodding, "Why don't we go straight to the source; Mothma will know."

"No; no-one's to go near Mothma." Luke said tightly.

Mara had already noted that since her capture, Skywalker had very pointedly avoided any contact with the Rebel leader, allowing no-one else near her either. Despite the Emperor's warning to Mara that she should monitor closely how much time Skywalker spent with the Rebel leader he had known so well, exactly the opposite seemed true; whether he was uncomfortable with her capture or whether he simply wanted nothing more to do with her, Mara wasn't certain. Either way it seemed strange that he now showed so little interest in that which he had invested so much time and effort in securing.

Still, she nodded now, already lifting her comlink from her belt.

"And tell them to find out who was commanding the Arcturus." Luke added before turning away, back to Kavanagh.

It was a more relevant question than it first seemed, Mara knew.

When he had found out that the Fury had failed to capture Madine, Luke had... well, first he'd flown into a temper - not the wild, uncontrolled rage which Mara associated with his father Vader's outbursts; this was something far more cold and calculating, so that by the time he'd calmed, he already had the outlines of a plan in mind.

He still wanted Madine and he clearly intended to go after him - using the one lure that he knew the General just couldn't pass up on.

To that end, he sent a short communiqué to Coruscant on a frequency which it was known the Rebellion monitored, using a code which Intel knew the Rebels had recently broken, acknowledging the capture of Mon Mothma and informing of his intention to remain at his present co-ordinates until the Fury had arrived as escort, at which point she would be taken onboard and he would cross the border to the Core Systems and transfer his prisoner to the Peerless for their return to Coruscant.
He was, Mara realised, gambling that the Sol would be the nearest ship, knowing that if it was the Rebellion would try for an extraction in this brief window of opportunity - with Madine in command.

He'd also, strangely, taken Kavanagh to one side to request that the comm officer who had been in the unit which had boarded the Attin'cho be found something to do which would keep him occupied in the bowels of the ship for the next few hours, and for someone to be with him t make sure he had no view and no outside view and no access to ship's comms. Kavanagh had merely nodded, following orders, but Mara knew the careful exclusion of a suspected spy when she saw it. Luke had a habit of keeping them in active play rather than simply removing them, feeding them information until he felt their usefulness had come to an end.
She'd wondered more than once in the past whether that was her role here too.

 

When the Executor arrived, dwarfing the Fury as she came in for a slow pass, Luke made the unprecedented move of heading down to the forward docking bay as a single shuttle made its way across to the Fury.

Mothma was already in the bay, surrounded by a phalanx of white-armoured stormtroopers, but Skywalker gave her barely a glance as he entered the bay, remaining to the far side, his attention on the incoming shuttle. When the tri-wing Lambda-class shuttle came to a stately landing inside the bay, six stormtroopers marched smartly down the ramp and Mara knew immediately who was inside.

Darth Vader stalked down, his height forcing him to bow his head slightly to clear the end of the ramp, and Mara was left standing - both mentally and physically - as Skywalker walked forward.

When she finally did manage to get her feet moving, a subtle move of Luke's hand told her to remain where she was, leaving her to frown in confusion- not particularly that she had been excluded from the conversation; even with Vader, that wasn't uncommon. Luke tended to keep all conversations private, even the most inane or adversarial, more out of a point of principle than any greater incentive. She was after all Palpatine's agent at the end of the day, and everyone present knew it.

No, what surprised her was firstly that Skywalker had come down to the bay at all - something he had never done before - and secondly that he stepped forward to acknowledge Vader, the slight nod of his head as his father stepped onto the docking bay floor far more telling than his neutral body-language or his impassive face.

Mara watched closely as the two began a slow walk forward, but the pair spoke quietly and were past her too quickly for her to get any useful reading from Skywalker's lips as he spoke, and even if she had, it would have been at best a one-sided conversation.

 

Vader took a long look at Mothma, the woman he had spent so much time hunting through the vast Rim Systems, but she didn't look up and anyway, his conversation with his son was of greater importance. Strange- once nothing else would have mattered except catching this elusive quarry; now she was almost below notice, both for himself and more curiously, for his son, who had been made both pariah and prey by her command.

"Thank-you for coming at such short notice." The boy said, nothing more than filler to get them past the Emperor's little spy, Vader knew, her green eyes watching intently.

They had after all, made arrangements that he would remain close to the Bothawuii system, entering lightspeed and drawing even closer the moment the battle was launched in case he should be needed, which apparently he was though he couldn't see why; Mothma was in custody and the Fury was halfway back to the Core Systems. Why Luke had stopped here at all was a mystery.

"You require assistance?" he asked, straight to the point as always.

"I need you to take Mothma aboard the Executor. The Fury failed to secure its second goal, and I'm hoping to correct that now."

"That is?"

Luke paused, fighting the urge to tell Vader, his enemy for so long, that his intentions were none of Vader's business. Instead he took a short breath- and told Vader everything. "I want Madine as well - this may be the only chance I get, since he's not about to come into the Core Systems any time soon and Palpatine has made it clear that this is a one-off permission for me to go beyond them. The Fury was charged with picking his ship up at Bothawuii when I had already left with Mothma, but it failed to do so which means I'm going to have to try to reel him in now."

"Using Mothma as bait." Vader finished; he too had picked up the transmission sent to Coruscant by the Fury, and wondered what games his son was playing.

"Yes. Only I'm not willing to risk her to gain a lesser prize and I have no intention of being accused of such by the Emperor- so I need her safely removed."

Vader considered; "To hand her to me is contentious; she should be transferred to the Peerless."

Luke shook his head, "I need the Peerless as back-up. I have no idea what the Rebels will do to try to regain Mothma; Intel says they don't have the firepower close enough to this region to threaten a Star Destroyer, which is why I've chosen this location and given them a small window of opportunity timewise, to limit their responses. But they're used to uneven firepower, so they'll try something unexpected- they always do, which is why I need the Peerless to hand. Admiral Joss and Captain Kavanagh have three years experience working together in the field; if it comes to a fight, I want them both here."

Vader looked away, tone dismissive, "The Rebels are undermanned and under-equipped - they are hardly a threat to a Star Destroyer."

"And yet we lost eight to them already this year in the Rim Systems." Luke said without looking up, tone neutral. Newfound amity or not, he wasn't prepared to acquiesce to his father's domineering attitude.

Vader clenched his jaw but didn't argue; what could be said? "Then you should have leaked that Mothma was aboard the Peerless not the Fury, and had a Super Star Destroyer waiting for them."

Again his son shook his head, "They wouldn't have risked the attack. It had to be the Fury; on its own it'll draw them out. Any more and they would have hesitated, waited for backup."

They stopped, having reached the far side of the bay, and Luke turned to his father, no time for extended discussions. "Will you take Mothma?"

"Yes." Vader said at last, still uneasy that this would seem too much of an accord to their Master; they couldn't be seen to be allies, even for the Empire's advantage. Even that would be too much for the paranoid Emperor.

Luke nodded and they began a slow return to the shuttle, "You need to leave as quickly as possible; the Rebels can't be that far behind us and I don't want them to pick up traces of the Executor's drive waste if they scan. The Peerless is in orbit around Nubia in case I need to summon her- if you could wait there too?"

"Very well."

"Whatever happens, don't bring Mon Mothma back into the battle."

Vader turned, the slightest shade of dry amusement in his bass voice, "I have no intention of returning to the battle. If you cannot stop the Rebels with the Fury and the Peerless combined, then you do not deserve the Executor's aid."

Luke glanced to his father, allowing no trace of a smile to show on his face, knowing that Jade would be watching them now as they neared the shuttle again. "A comforting thought." he murmured in sardonic reply, "Motivational."

Vader offered nothing more and Luke glanced away uneasily, suddenly aware with whom he was conversing so casually.

As they reached the ramp of the shuttle, Vader glanced to the stormtroopers at the far side of the bay and his son nodded, gesturing for them to come forward.

A thought occurred to Luke and he turned to his father, "I trust you'll keep her in a safe place."

Vader glanced at his son, the implication clear; 'safe room' was the code they had always used to refer to any untapped place- a room without surveillance.

He nodded once, "She will be kept safe." He stated simply, and his son nodded, knowing his father had understood.

Luke needed to talk with Mothma yet- there was nowhere in his own Destroyer's detention centre where he could reasonably deactivate surveillance all of a sudden and he didn't wish to cause suspicion by suddenly having her transferred to a standard room onboard the Peerless in which there was- 'coincidentally'- no surveillance. This would be better; harder to monitor, particularly if he could make the trip to the Executor unnoticed. Palpatine knew Vader would have nothing to do with any tryst with the Alliance, and would allow no such transgression in his son either.

But Vader would allow Luke to speak with Mothma if he believed it would further his own ambitions - and to that end, he would take all precautions necessary to ensure that Palpatine did not find out, including covering up a visit to the Executor by Luke.

He turned away as Mon Mothma was escorted to his father's shuttle, not wishing to meet her eye. He would have to speak to her sooner or later of course, but that could be dealt with later; he didn't yet have the time to unravel the knot of convoluted feelings which tied tighter every time he saw her. But he would have to, sooner or later, because a lot rode on the conversation's outcome - not least of all Mon's life.

Too many games in play, he thought sourly; too many balls in the air. He briefly remembered Master Yoda teaching him to float and juggle stones in the air whilst standing upside down in a handstand. Now he was doing it with lives; with destinies.

Was he forcing his will upon the future and the Force - or simply finishing what he had begun, as he'd promised the old Jedi Master he would?

 

 

"So what was the thing in the shuttle bay all about?" Mara finally asked into the silence, deciding to try the direct approach; chances were Luke knew exactly what was on her mind anyway, and he didn't generally appreciate prevarication.

The Executor was long gone, the Peerless was already waiting at Nubia until summoned, and now they were finally alone, returning to the turbolift from the final rundown in Ops, on their way to the bridge.

"What?" Skywalker asked without looking round.

"That whole Vader thing. You've never asked him for anything in your life- now suddenly you're handing Mon Mothma over to him."

"I'm not handing anybody over, least of all Mothma. She'll be returning to the Peerless at the first opportunity, I assure you. I simply don't wish to risk her just to get Madine. Mothma is for the Emperor- Madine is just because I want him."

"I'm sure Palpatine would like to see him again too."

Madine was a traitor of the worst kind; an Imperial General-turned-Rebel, taking classified intelligence and countless codes over with him when he defected, still using his knowledge of Imperial infrastructure and methods against the Empire to this day. Their master would be more than happy to see him again.

"Unfortunately if I catch him, he won't get the opportunity; Madine orgaized andimplemented the assassination attempt; he won't make it as far as Coruscantif I get him."

From the tone in Skywalker's voice, Mara doubted the Rebel General would even make it down to the Detention cells. She risked a quick glance as they walked, but he was still looking dead ahead, expression as unreadable as ever. He'd been in a foul mood since… she wanted to say since he'd found out that Madine had escaped at Bothawuii but in truth, it had been since he'd taken Mothma captive.

"Wow," she murmured, "You really know how to hold a grudge."

He turned to her just slightly. She was stood to his right, so the long, deep scar which ran down his face from above his eye through his lips and over his chin was painfully visible, as was the twist of darkness which had colored his right eye ever since the assassination attempt.

"I'm learning." He stated, and the quiet tone of his voice did nothing to dispel its menace.

They walked on in silence, Mara having nothing to say against that, on edge in a way she associated far more with being around the Emperor than with Skywalker.

She didn't mind it particularly; in fact she rather liked it. She was used to being around men of power and Skywalker was becoming just that, slowly beginning to take his place, flexing his authoritative muscles as he worked to reinforce- to earn his position as the Emperor's second-in-command. He was becoming a force to be reckoned with, both in Court and in the military arena, and she was fascinated by the gradual shift; drawn in rather than intimidated by the man he was becoming.

It occurred to her for the first time to wonder where she fit into all this- from Skywalker's perspective, rather than the Emperor's. Yes, she was here by the Emperor's command, but she'd seen many times what Skywalker did to those he didn't wish close, whether the Emperor approved or not. No; more and more lately, she realised that she was here by Skywalker's sanction as much as Palpatine's - and she wanted to know why.
Because she was realising just how important that was to her; that she wanted to remain right where she was. In fact… she wanted to get closer.

They stepped into the turbolift and Luke keyed for the bridge, staring ahead blankly, thoughts obviously elsewhere.

"Quiet?" Mara said at last, bringing his head round to her.

"Hm?"

"You're quiet."

He seemed to consider that for a moment, then turned to look straight ahead again without reply.

"Know what your problem is… you need to get out more." Mara said casually without looking round.

"Thank-you," he replied dryly, "I'll bear that in mind."

"Maybe a little company." she elaborated, steadfastly refusing to take the hint. "Not one of those airhead little fripps who hang around in Court batting their carefully-curled eyelashes at you, you understand. They're just a waste of space."

"You're all heart." Luke said, the slightest hint of amusement coloring his voice now, knowing she was trying to draw him out, though he didn't look round.

"Please," Mara dismissed, "You wouldn't look twice at them. You don't; I've watched you."

"Really?" He turned at that, affecting a suddenly-interested air at her claim, "And that would be because…?"

Mara ignored his teasing tone, "They're decorative, I guess. But I don't think you go for that. I think you like the type that has a little something between her ears - which basically puts all of them out of the running. Too much inbreeding in the Royal Houses if you ask me. Plus they're a little too eager; kinda like shooting fish in a barrel."

Luke glared at her, eyes widening slightly in mock offense to hide his amusement, but it only egged her on. "Oh come on- half the women in Court would climb over their dead grandmother to make you notice them."

"That's not actually a selling point." Luke said, "And anyway, they'd climb over their dead grandmother to get The Heir to notice them. I just happen to inhabit the same space."

"What you need is a challenge." Mara continued, flashing a sideways grin without meeting his eye.

He glanced away, but she knew that he was trying hard to disguise the half-smile that was turning the edge of his scarred lips up. "I'm flattered you've put so much thought into it."

"What are friends for." Mara said with an elaborate shrug, carefully not looking round as she saw his head turn to her at the categorization.

He held silent for long seconds, then looked forward again, "I didn't know they were for this."

"Well you don't seem to be getting very far on your own." Mara countered, enjoying the banter now, very much aware of the fact that they were suddenly charting new territory.

"I didn't know I was being judged, either." Luke countered easily, eyes on the turbolift display.

Mara turned, arching her eyebrows, "I haven't seen anything to judge yet."

"Maybe if you'd clarified that you were waiting…"

"Maybe if you'd…"

Without a second's warning, the lights in the turbolift all fell to darkness and it lurched to an instant stop, Luke reaching forward to steady Mara as she put her own hands out, her heart skipping a beat, her equilibrium lost at the rapid deceleration.

For a moment they remained still, eyes struggling uselessly to adjust to the absolute black of the enclosed space, Luke's hand still to Mara's arm, one of her hands against the wall, the other clutching Skywalker's outstretched arm. Luke moved slightly in the darkness, so close that Mara could feel his breath rustle her hair as he began to speak, then she felt his other hand brush lightly against her waist, touching on her hip-

"Now w…" Luke's words were lost beneath Mara's lips as she leaned in from the darkness, one hand to his cheek…

 

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