Leia walked beside Han as storm troopers led them through the mining facilty. Steam and exhaust made visibility poor, and blurry electronic gauges and indicates blinked in the distance. They were brought to a pit, three meters deep and one meter across, beset with maintenance crews who didn’t speak to them. Across the walkway, her Father descended with heavy steps.
Han drew closer to Lando, “What’s going on, buddy?”
“Your being put in carbonite freeze”
The Mandalorian bounty hunter approached Vader, “What if he doesn’t survive? He’s worth a lot to me.”
“The Empire will compensate you if he dies.” Leia’s heart dropped out at those words. She could lose Han, she couldn’t! “Put him in!”
Chewie erupted into the rage that seared in her, throwing the closest troopers over the edge of the platform. Three more descended upon him, trying and failing to restrain him. It was Han that able to get him under control.
Hey! Hey, listen to me Chewie. This won’t help me. Save your strength.” Chewie calmed, just a little, and Han lowered his voice. “There will be another time. Bail, Kalin, you have to take care of them. You hear me?”
Chewie released a desponded growl, and Leia pressed herself against Han. Their eyes met, and their lips followed, consumed in a mournful, needy kiss, until troopers pulled Han away from her. In that instant, she wanted to lash out, to rescue Han, or die trying unwilling to lose him. But her father wouldn’t allow her to die, but would ensure Han did.
“I love you.”
“I know.”
Their eyes didn’t leave each other’s as the freeze was prepared, Leia refusing to succumb to the anguish that gripped her lungs. Reaching for the strength of her love to be strong for Han. He sunk down into the pit, and it filled with gas, cooling until it solidified in an instant. Now, she couldn’t bear to look, the sensation of Han’s last moments burned into her mind. He was distant, numb, and yet… alive. Turning, she watched the carbon sheet rise, fixing Han in terror. It landed on the ground with the loudest thud she’d ever felt.
“Well, did he survive the freezing process?”
“He’s alive. And in perfect hibernation.”
He’s all yours bounty hunter. Turning back to the group, his gaze bored into Leia’s.” “Prepare the chamber for Lady Vader.”
“Vader, the ship carrying the Imperial Princess has touched down.”
Vader’s gaze did not waver from her. “Make sure she finds her way in here. Calrissian, take Leia and the rest to my ship.”
Lando shot Vader a hardened look. “You said the others would be left under my supervision.”
“I am altering the deal. Pray I do not alter it any further.”
***
Mara walked the pristine wall corridors, seeking signs of life in the force. There were here, but drowned under the choking miasma of the dark side. Vader was here, just as her father had promised. She’d come all this way, there was nothing left to do but follow the pull of his presence.
She found herself in a mechanical chamber, hazy steam and exhaust distorting her vision. Vader’s presence was strong here, nearly overwhelming. He was close.
Illumination casted long shadows across the room, revealing the black clad form of Darth Vader.
“The force is with you, Mara. But you are not a Jedi yet.”
Climbing the stairs to reach Vader, she held her father’s saber in one hand, igniting it and filling the room with white light. Vader responded with his red blade, held out before him. For several heartbeats, there was only the rhythmic sound of Vader’s ventilated breathing, and the dull thrum of the sabers.
Red and white light strobed against the control panels and metal grates and high ceilings. They fought through the mining facility, empty hallways and outcropping maintenance pathways. At one point, Vader demonstrated his mastery over the force, tearing exhaust pipes off the walls to strike her, and following it up with a barrage of supply containers, overwhelming her ability to protect herself. By luck, she managed to duck one, only for it to smash through a pressurized window, and the vacuum of space to suck the air out of the room.
Mara struggled against the pull of gravity, and then succumbed, following the rest of the debris through the gaping hole. Only her most basic survival instincts saver her, clinging with two desperate hands to the edge of a walkway. Gravity pulled her down, stronger then she could resist, and it was only by calling upon the force as an ally that she managed to pull herself up. He allowed herself just heartbeat to breath, to refill the air that had exploded from her lungs from the fall.
She could not see Vader, but she could feel him in the force. The hallway held many hiding spots, and Vader’s darkness reflected a hundred-fold within the path, but she could not stop not. She could not resist, pursuing the darkness that would snuff out the light in her.
Vader emerged from the shadows, and struck with his saber in strong, wide swings. Mara could not even defend against this onslaught, ducking and twisting away by more luck than skill. Vader continued to keep her off balance, continued to push her back, until she was trapped upon a maintanence a dead end walkway, with a drop that extended deep into the darkness. Soon, ducking and dodging were not enough, and she stumbled back, landing prone before her parents’ killer.
“You are beaten. Defeated. It is useless to resist.” Vader descended upon her, forcing her further back towards the dropoff. “Do not let yourself be destroyed like Quentin did.”
Her father’s name brought up renewed rage in Mara, strength to parry the burning red saber before her, and space to get to her feet. Vader retaliated with power strikes, but she met his blows, drawing on that vast well of loss within her. She landed a blow on Vader’s shoulder, buy her time to further retreat from the Sith Lord’s fury. Vaulting over the railing, she put space between her and Vader, but he pursued her. Their sabers locked, but Vader was stronger, and pushed against the blades until he overcame, and sliced through her hand. Her father’s saber descended into the darkness, its white light completely extinguished.
A heartbeat later, the pain of her severed hand reached her mind, incapacitating her.
“There is no escape. Don’t make me destroy you.”
Mara backed away, crawling on her knees while her remaining haid gripped the walkway beneath her.
“Mara, you do not yet understand your importance. You have only begun to realize your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our joint strength, we can end this conflict, and bring order to the galaxy.”
She managed to stand, clinging to a pillar with her good arm. “I’ll never join you.”
“The Emperor lied to you about your mother.”
“I know, but he didn’t lie about you killing her.”
“No, Mara.” The glossy black helm reflected her face in each eyepiece, and hissed. A single gloved hand reached under the throat and pulled it free. Red hair just like her own tumbled down in chaotic waves, streaked white in thick sections. Verdant eye greens bored into hers, eyes that haunted her dreams “I am your mother.”
“My… mother?” Mara whispered, long held fantasies materializing in the moment of the woman and connection she’d long yearned for. But those hopes turned bitter in her stomach, realization crashing upon her like punch to the gut.
“You kill my father!”
"–That was unfortunate, I–
“Your husband!”
“–it wasn’t what I wanted–
“He… he loved you!”
“–I wanted his help–
“How could you?”
Kaydia stopped for a moment, “This was all for you, Mara.”
“How could any of this be for me?”
“It’s all been for you. It’s always been for you.” Agony tightened her features for a brief moment, before she regained composure. “This was the only way I could get close to you, the only way I could protect you.”
Only now, she hated her, hated her more than she’d ever hated Darth Vader. Because, once again, Darth Vader had killed her mother, had killed whatever dreams or fantasies she might have held onto when things got tough. That inner sanctuary, defiled, desecrated, despoiled. “You cut off my hand! How does that protect me?”
“I am not going to lose you like I lost Quentin.” There was an icy chill in her voice, as dark and cold as deep space. As dark and cold as the Emperor. “The Emperor stole you form me, from Quentin. The Emperor twisted you into a tool of his will. Together, however, we can have our vengeance against him. We can destroy him, and rule the galaxy as a family. As mother and daughter.”
“My mother is dead.” She let go of the pillar, letting gravity take hold of her. Her name echoed off the walls, carrying a profound anguish, an anguish that reverberated to the very core of her being. Eyes closed, she sought peace in the descent into the abyss.
There is death, and yet there is the force.
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