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Star Wars: A New Dawn (TheCorsair, Xanaphia)

Han could feel his cock stirring back to life as Mara rolled him over, taking a swig of the liquor and letting - making - him drink it from her mouth. "Don't miss a drop..." she purred, as she tipped the flask and drenched her breasts with alcohol. The liquid was cool on his skin as it streaned over her body to drip on his chest and stomack, and the raw smell mingled with the scents of sex and machine oil.

"As you command, Princess," he growled, running his tongue over one heavy, swaying globe. "Not a drop." He squeezed her breasts together, lapping the alcohol from her skin. "But you knew I wouldn't, didn't you? " his tongue worked over one nipple and then another. "I didn't before, when I was eating you out.x

Damp with traces of alcohol, his hands slid easily over her back as he sucked greedily at her tit. They gripped her ass, deliberatly sliding her up and down his newly erect cock, as if using her bidy to jack off. "Why don't you show me how you don't miss a drop, hm?"
 
“Yeah Captain, fill me up…” Mara groaned, swaying hips to feel him throb within her. The cum he had already left in her was making her even wetter, slicker, making it easy to fuck hard and fast. Easy to take his entire length into each thrust.

She grabbed as hand as she found her rhythm, the sound he her cunt swallowing his shaft echoing in the tight confines of the engine room. Grabbed his hand and guided it towards her clit, demanding he get her off again while he used her. While she used him. As a sex toy, and a time killer, and a distraction from the unpleasant thoughts and examinations Quentin expected from her. “Fuck yes, Captain, fuck! She rode him fiercely, needy in pursuit of her climax, “Fuck, I want to cum again. Make me cum on this thick fucking cock!”
 
"That's what I wanna hear," Han gloated, circling her clit with one finger. "Always... wanted to hear... a Princess... begging for... this thick dick." Soft slick flesh rolled under his touch as his cock slid within her. The rhythm was a little off with only one hand on her ass now, but she made up for it by riding him with a will. "That's it," he growled, "show me how good that thick dick is in you."

He'd just cum a few minutes ago, so he figured he was good for a bit before he managed it again. Plenty of time to fuck this sexy con artist every way he could. "Yeah, Princess, that's it," he groaned, watching her dripping cunt stretch around and swallow him as she rose and sank down on him. It was hard, because the sway of her magnificent breasts demanded attention as well. "Beg for it! Beg to get off on this thick Corellian cock!"

Releasing her ass he grabbed a fistfull of her hair and jerked, tugging in time with the rhythm of his fingers on her clit. "Always wanted to get a Princess drunk and fuck her," he laughed. "Makes you hot,, doesn't it? An Imperial Princess, begging to get used like a slut?"
 
“You talk too fucking much, Captain,” Mara growled, on the edge of her climax. Even if it was hot, hearing that filth drip from his lips. Even if it was driving her closer to rapture, her body clenching and twitching in ecstasy. It was humiliating how much she enjoyed fucking him, how wet and hot he had made her. How loud she was getting, as he used her cunt to stroke his cock. At least she’d never have to see him again, once they arrived on Alderaan. Might as well fuck him madly in the meantime.

So she silenced his dirty talk with her lips, fucking his mouth with her tongue, fucking his cock with sopping muscles. Squeezing and tightening and contracting to make him moan. To shut that smart up, until he could only cry out how good she felt. But fuck he felt amazing. So thick and hard, splitting her hungry slit exquisitely.

“Fuck, so thick…so fucking…fuck!” she screamed out, head thrown back as her body begged for release. “Yes Captain, use my slutty cunt. Use this princess as your fuck toy!” She arched into him, swallowing his length as her body gripped him like a fist, rippling and fluttering like her eyes into the back of her head.
 
"That's it, Princess!" Han barked, listening to Mara's obscene pleas as she built towards orgasm. "Take that thick cock! Cum on it like the slut you are!" Her cunt slammed down hard, taking him deep as she arched her back and clenched around him like a fist, rippling along his length. He fucked her up and diwn his shaft anyway, pounding his meat with her body until she was right on the edge. Then, with a wicked grin, he pulled her off and shoved her to the deck beside him.

"My fuck toy, you said," he laughed, his cock glistening with her juices as he rolled her on her stomach and pushed her ass into the air. "So that means you cum when I say, slut!" He groaned in pkeasure as his thick cock drive into her once more, hard belky slapping into her ass as he pounded into her from behind. "Beg," he growled, reaching forward and grabbing a fistfull of crimson hair. "Beg me to fuck my cum into you, Princess."

Without warning his free hand cracked across her rear, leaving a stinging red handorint on her creamy flesh. "Fucking beg, Princess," he barked, cock achingly hard in her depths. "But don't you fucking cum!" Another slap to her ass. "Not... fucking hell... not till... fuck me... I do!"
 
Mara was more than happy to cum like a slut, just as Han bid her to. Was eagerly chasing that climax, no shame in how much she was enjoying this nearly anonymous fuck. Was screaming his name as he shoved her off him. Then she was growling, angry at being denied on the precipice of her release, needing it, needing him, dammit!

“Fuck…fuck me!” She snarled, waving that tight ass in the air in longing. Lust drooled down her thighs, sticky with his cum from their first round. It couldn’t have been long, before he fucked back into her depths, but as she quivering and trembled on the edge of climax, every second felt as if an hour.

"Beg me to fuck my cum into you, Princess."

“Fuck…fuck me!” she cried, not begging, not completely begging, but desperation seeping into her tone. Not even complaining about the way he yanked on her hair. Even enjoying it, enjoying the harshness of this fucking.And then a squeal, as his hand smacked her ass, impact echoing in the engine room.

"Fucking beg, Princess. But don't you fucking cum!"Another smack, causing her to clench around him. Fuck, she went wild under that, the sting of the spanking teasing her impending orgasm.

“Fuck me! Fuck me harder! Fuck Captain…fuck!!!” She screamed out, almost certain someone could hear her from outside the engine room. Her hips thrust back against him, voracious for his cock and this rough fucking. “Use your princess fuck toy from behind!” Her heavy breasts swayed and swung in time with the momentum of their bodies, everything in the moment rough and violent and hot as hell as she wanted more. Despite his demands, (or perhaps, because of them?) pleasure gripped her mind, consumed her, tore through her and stole her better sense. Her cry was wordless, desperate and throaty and raw, as she let Herself get fucked like a whore.
 
"Fucking... slut..." Han gasped, driving himself harder and deeper into Mara as she begged him to use her. It was a plea he was happy to act on, hanging onto her hair like a leash as he pistoned into her. He slappped her ass again, the impact stinging his hand, and she screamed as she came on his meat. He slapped her again, making her cry out and her walls clench wildly around him. "I...I fucking said… don't... don't..."

His hips slammed into her ass as he arched his back, uttering a sharp grunt as his own orgasm took him. His thrusts became erratic, jerky, and he gripped her hair and hip painfully as hot cum spurted into her depths in time with his gasps. "Fuck," he groaned, palms sliding over seeat-slick skin. He shivered as he pulsed within her once more. Then he leaned forward, his chest pressing against her back. "Again?" he grinned, cupping her heavy breasts and biting the back of her neck. "I still haven"t cum on these tits..."

Then he stopped, listening as the vibration in the deck shifted and changed. "Just dropped out of hyperspace," he murmured. "May need to..." Chewbacca's hooting roar echoed over the ship's intercom. "Shit!" Han barked,, slipping from Mara's bidy as he reached for his pants. "Later. I need to get to the bridge. Now."



Quentin made room as the captain, slightly disheveled, entered the cockpit at a dead run and vaulted into the pilot's seat. "What's going on?" the Correlian demanded.

"We've come out of hyperspace," replied the crippled Jedi, in time with Chewbacca's hoots.

"No kidding?" Han barked. "I can see that."

Outside was the blackness of space, strewn with bright pin-pricks of light. No planet could be seen, even though the instruments showed that they were close enough to see one with the naked eye. There was just debris, an uncharted asteroud field tumbling through the darkness.

"What is this?" Han demanded.

"Navigational error?" Quentin suggested.

Chewbacca hooted in the negative, and Han checked the nav cimpuuter. "No," Han said. "We're right where we should be. Only, Alderaan isn't."
 
Mara laughed, weakly as she was still catching her breath, drunk and dizzy and damn well satisfied. Maybe sleep would have been a more productive use of her time, but a few hours fucking the gorgeous smart ass of a Caption had been fun. Just the distraction she needed. It was a disappointment she wasn’t going to get to see him again, once they reached Alderaan.

She let herself lay on the cold metal floor as Han pulled out, leaving only his seed in memory of their hook up. A wordless nod and wave of her hand acknowledged his exit, yawning big. She really had drunk too much, and fucked him hard, and could really go for a nap. Instead she settled on cleaning herself off as best she could, still wearing the scents of alcohol and perspiration and sex on her skin. The cabins should have a fresher in them, she reasoned, making her way towards one once she was dressed enough.


“A freighter has been captured entering Alderann Space. And it matches the description of ship that fled Tattooine, carrying the rebels Quentin Hall and Mara Jade Palpatine.” An imperial intelligence officer announced. Vader nodded, and looked towards Leia and Luke.

“Capture Mara, alive,” he insisted, taking a moment to ensure his meaning was understood. Once both twins nodded, he continued, “I will hunt down this rebel, Quentin Hall. Capture anyone else on board, or kill them if they will not come peacefully.”

“Yes Lord Vader,” both twins acknowledged in unison.



Cleaning herself off in the fresher was incredibly challenging, given her current level of intoxication. Standing was difficult, given her current intoxication. Had she ever drunk so much? But how else was she supposed to deal with the information that Quentin had relay to her, about her mother. Jedi, reluctant assassin, and something more. Something he was still not telling her.

Jerking of the ship pulled her from her thoughts, sending her hard into the wall. Han might have been an amazing fuck, but she still wasn’t convinced he could pilot worth shit. It took several moments to reorient herself, stepping out from the fresh to get her clothes back on. Another jolt, as she stood on one foot to get back into her jumpsuit, sending her down on her ass. “Oh, what the hell?” she growled, struggling once more to her feet. She stuffed herself back into her jump suit, not even bothering with her boots, intent on chewing Han out. But when she opened the door, Luke and Leia Vader awaited her, sabers drawn and eyes dark.

“Mara Jade Palpatine, for conspiring with rebels, you are under arrest. I am authorized to use force if you do not comply,” Leia announced. Before Mara could even formulate a response or defense she was hit with a concussive blast, just caught by Luke before her body hit the floor.
 
They hadn't been captured without significant effort on the part of the Imperials. Captain Solo, it seemed, was worth the money they'd paid him and more. TIE fighters had swooped in to head them off, attempting to corral them as they tried to work out how a planet had been destroyed. He led them on s merry chase through the debris field, evading blaster fire and destroying several fighters, right until the moment that they emerged from cover and were seized by a tractor beam.

"Star Destroyer," Han breathed, working the controls. "Shit. Shit shit SHIT!" Under his direction the Falcon jerked and struggled, but to no avail. The colossal ship was just too massive and too powerful. "I'm not going down without a fight," he declared as they were swallowed whole.

"Don't waste your life," Quentin replied. "I've got a plan..."


"I hate this fucking Plan," Han grumbled. Chewbacca hooted agreement.

The two of them knelt on the deck of the Falcon, hands clasped behind their heads as Stormtroopers looked on impassively. Their officers, a blonde guy and the brunette saver-lady he'd seen in Mos Eisley, hadn't even spared them a glance. They'd just swept past, returning a few minutes later with an unconscious Mara. As the Stormtroopers carried her out, the blonde stopped and looked around. "Any sign of the old man? Or the droids?"

"No, Lord Vader," answered a trooper.

The blonde looked around again. "Find them. The droids in particular." He looked down at Han. "We will find them, you know. If you cooperate, it will go much easier."

"Get bent," Han replied, then gritted his teeth as a trooper cuffed him.

"Have it your way," the blonde said, turning on his heel. "Hold them here. We'll be transferring them to the detention block once we arrive at the Death Star."


Quentin watched impassively from the shielded compartment he'd chosen. The blonde, one of the Sith that had driven him from his desert home, stalked out. In his wake, the Stormtroopers began their search once more.

"Perhaps BT-1 should..?" 000 suggested hopefully.

"Not yet," Quentin replied. "Let them check the logs first, and find the missing pod."



Luke watched Leia watch the unconscious Princess Mara through an observation slot. "They've reported in," he announced. "It appears there was something of a falling out. Quentin ejected over Tatooine with the droids, and the Princess remained aboard."

He moved up to stand next to his sister, resting a hand on a smooth shoulder. "The captain and his pet confirm that, and there's a missing escape pod." Inside the cell, Mara shifted a little. "I'm skeptical, though. And father thought it unlikely as well, once I informed him." A thin smile. "He seems to think that crazy old cripple is dangerous."

He stood a little longer, absently stroking a circle on Leia's back. "Still, they won't be going anywhere. Once we dock."
 
Leia stood impassively as Luke spoke, afraid to meet his eyes. Afraid to turn and look at him, because of what would happen if she did. Instead she watched Mara, focused on Mara and the slight movement of her body as she came to consciousness.

“I should question her,” Leia decided, a distraction from the heat of her brother’s hand on her back. “Find out what makes an imperial princess rebel against her father’s empire.” But even as she spoke the words, she knew why. Had heard it through the force, as Alderaan shattered into a million tiny fragments. An asteroid field, where once there was a planet of people.

Still, as much as it alarmed her she couldn’t bring herself to break connect with Luke. Couldn’t will herself to pull away from him. Hoping he would stop. Or that he would grab her, pull her against his chest and into his arms. “Do you…do you want to join me?”



Vader stalked through the halls of the Death star, looking for the rebel agent. Quentin Hall. A dangerous man and a name from a lifetime ago. Before the empire. Vader should have been able to detect him, through the force. Even if he was shielding himself, the sith lord should have been able to detect that. But Vader remembered what Leia had told him, when she had reached to the force to sense him. His connection wasn’t weak, like most insensitives. His connection was gone.

Severed.

Did he do it to himself, to better hide from the empire? Is that why in twenty years this was the first time Vader had heard word that he even existed? Did he do it because… Anger flared through the sith, heavy boots thundering on the metal flooring of the ship.

Vader didn’t believe the story the captain told him for a second, and impressing enough, Luke hadn’t either. The boy was progressing well, absorbing the teachings Vader had passed down, and he had a level head on his shoulders, like his mother. Still, if Quentin hadn’t ejected, then he had to be close, and no matter how he tried to hide, there would be some sign of him. Like…the scent of molten steel and the slight depression in the wall. He had used his saber, hear, and not long ago.

“He is close,” Vader breathed, voice distorted by the ventilation unit “Fan out, and find him,” came the orders to his storm troopers. Not that they would be able to, likely, but it got them away so the sith lord could.
 
"That was deeply unsettling," Han said, buckling on the breastplate of the Stormtrooper's armor. "I mean, I've been around. And I've never seen anything like that." He wasn't kidding, either. When the old man had outlined his plan, it had sounded like madness. Eject a pod. Alter the logs. Claim the old man had ejected with the droids, and let the old man hide and ambush the Stormtroopers. Madness. But he'd had no better ideas, so he'd reluctantly gone along with it. After all, the Imperials had one of the con artists they were hunting. Whatever else was going on, he was just the pilot. So he'd probably get out of it all right.

And then the old man had quietly murdered an entire fire team of Stormtroopers.

It had been like watching a ghost work. A ghost with a lightsaber. A ghost that methodically ambushed and executed a four men with a casual skill unlike anything he'd ever seen before. "What the hell are you?" he asked, strapping the greaves on next.

"I was a Jedi Knight, once," Quentin responded, busily fitting Stormtrooper armor to 000. "A long time ago. During the Clone Wars."

"Shit." Han found he believed the old man. The stories of what the Jedi could do were full of lunacy and hyperbole, of course. But the idea that the old man was some sort of lightsaber-wielding religious lunatic warrior monk? Yeah, after that display, he was willing to accept it. "Why all the killing, then? Couldn't you have just, I dunno, waved your hand and put a spell on them?" There was a joking tone to his words, hiding the discomfort he suddenly felt.

"Not any longer," Quentin replied. "Count Dooku saw to that." He tapped his face. "At the same time he saw to my eyes.'

"Right," Han said, wanting to change the subject. "So the droids here tap into the computers, and find out where they've taken the Princess - and hang on. Is she really the..."

"Mara Jade Palpatine, the daughter of the Emperor?" Quentin answered quietly. "From a certain point of view, yes."

"Shit." That complicated things. All kinds of things. "A... certain point of view?"

Tearing insulation and padding from a helmet, Quentin placed it over 000's head. "Focus, Captain Solo. We have work to do."

"Right." Han was wishing he hadn't been drinking quite so much, when he'd fucked an Imperial princess. It'd make this easier. "So, we find out where the Princess is, and then me and Chewie and the droids go and rescue her. And you're..?"

"Dealing with the tractor beams." He looked outside, staring at the cavernous hanger in the monstrous space fortress the ship had been transferred to. "Because if we don't get them disabled, we aren't going anywhere."

Han nodded, doubtfully. "So, why you?"

"Because I'm a shadow," Quentin replied, using some sort of mystical phrase that Han didn't quite follow. "And even without the Force, I know more about infiltration and evasion than the rest of you put together."

Chewie hooted something. "You're agreeing?" Han said, incredulous. Chewie hooted again. "You knew some of these guys - no, wait, you fought in the Clone Wars? And you never mentioned it?"

"Focus, Captain," Quentin remonstrated again. "War stories later."


"I..." Yes, Luke thought. He wanted to push her against the wall, taste her, feel his sister around him ans he took her there and then. His hand shook with the effort of removing it from her back. "No, I should... should go. Father's hunting the rogue Jedi, and I should help him." He forced a smile, resisting the urge to caress Leia's cheek. "You're far better at this - at interrogation - than I ever was."

He hesitated, then stepped back. "If she says anything of use, let me know. All right?" With that he turned on his heel, striding from the room. There was more he wanted to say, but he had to leave. What he wanted... was wrong. And if he stayed, in that moment? He'd take it anyway.

The hunt would clear his head.


"Oh, my. This is interesting."

Sweating under the helmet, Han stared at the unintelligible display that the little astromech unit had pulled up. "What is it?" he asked the disguised protocol droid, wishing he could take the damn uncomfortable thing off. "What's interesting?"

"Princess Mara is being held in cell block 1138," 000 replied, voice muffled by its own helmet. "But, BT-1 has found someone else. Our old master, Bail Organa."

"Who?" The name sounded vaguely familiar to Han, and then Chewbacca uttered a low grunt. "The king of Alderaan? Seriously? He's here, too?"

"Indeed," 000 replied. "And as much as it pains me to state this, I must insist we rescue him as well." The droid sounded annoyed. "My programming demands it."

Han sighed. "This gets better and better, marching into a fucking cell block. How do we get there?"



The cell door snapped open with a hiss, revealing the silhouette of a cloaked figure. It strode into the cell, followed by a floating black orb festooned with torture implements. Crossing black sheathed arms, it regarded Mara with eyes that glittered red in the dim light. "Imperial Princess Mara Jade Palpatine. A traitor."

There was ice in that soft, pleasant voice. A gloved hand rose, signaling to the interrogation droid. "And now, Princess, we will discuss your treason, and your ties to the Rebel Alliance."
 
Once more Luke was gone, leaving with her only the memory of his touch and the unbidden fantasy of what could be. What should never be. Leia sighed in both relief and disappointment, turning her focus to the task at hand. Looked like she was awake, now.


Head pounding as Mara struggled for consciousness. Mostly the alcohol, she knew, a nasty hangover from drinking entirely too much, but part of it was the force attack she hadn’t been prepared her. A swift, powerful strike that still throbbed against her skull. As she came to, she could feel herself locked into place, restrained. If she weren’t still disoriented from the drink and the fucking and the ambush, it wouldn’t take too long to get out, but everything felt as if it were taking so much effort right now.

She watched with a tight and jaw and cold eyes as the door to her cell opened, letting in a droid and a robed figure. Not that there was any doubt who she was. Leia, one of Darth Vader’s little lapdogs. Still, Mara knew better than to underestimate her, a cruel and ruthless practitioner of the dark side.

"And now, Princess, we will discuss your treason, and your ties to the Rebel Alliance."

Mara knew there wasn’t much to be discussed. Even if she were sincere in her ties to the Rebel Alliance, the connection went back all of…what, 12, 13 hours? Not even enough time to have any real information. That she would be willing to divulge anything she did know to Vader’s daughter was laughable. “I’ll do nothing of the sort.”

“I have ways of making you talk. But go ahead. Resist. Fight it as long as you can. Because breaking you will be just as enjoyable as getting the truth out of you. Mara Jade Palpatine, defeated at my feet.” Leia taunted, her voice like silk. Her hands were soft and gentle as they caressed Mara’s face, following along as Mara twisted her head in an effort to get away. Mara tried to put up mental defenses, as Leia’ fingers brushed her temple, but already she could feel Leia push into her mind.

Strung up from the ceiling by her wrists, and clad in thin white shirt and panties, Mara wasn’t sure what to make of this. A mindscape, crafted from one of their minds, influenced by the feelings they felt in the moment. Hers, perhaps? She was still a touch tender from the thorough fucking Han had pounded into her, but she could say those thoughts weren’t at the forefront of her mind. It must have been Leia’s, which was interesting, and perhaps the just the angle she needed to come out of this on top.

A thought that made her shudder as Leia materialized before, wearing a fetishistic version of her uniform, all tight leather and corset, giving the slim brunette some nice cleavage. Hair pulled into a high ponytail, which seemed to emphasize her delicate features and high cheekbones. “Lady Vader, I had no idea this was what you were into.” Leia said nothing, just smiled darkly as she made a circle around Mara. The click of her boots indicated she took three steps back, from behind Mara, retrieved something and then three steps forward again.

Before Mara could mock her again, or try to divine what Leia could have grabbed, she felt it, a dozen or so ends striking her in unison. Unprepared for the strike, Mara yelped, more surprised than hurt. Leia was before her again, the instrument of her interrogation in her gloved hands. A flogger with a dozen or more leather strands. Leia let the strands brush over Mara’s body, over her breasts and down her stomach and bare thighs, watching with interest the shiver Mara tried to suppress. “Tell me about the rebels.”

“I’m more interested in this get up you have on. Who is it for?” Mara teased, refusing to give in. She had trained herself against this, alongside inquisitors and with direct lessons from her father at times. All she needed to do was shift attention away from herself, get Leia off balance, and then she could counter attack. The whip snapped and her abdomen, and she hissed.

“Tell me about Quentin Hall” Leia demanded, grazing thighs with the leather straps.

“Haven’t heard from him since he ejected over Tattoine.” Mara declared, not entirely sure where she got the lie from. Whatever the case, Leia certainly didn’t believe her, so she pushed back again, “Thought I have to say, he is a bit old for you. Old enough to be your father, easily. Unless, that’s what you’re into.”

The flogger whistled before it smacked her hip, causing Mara to curl her toes. “Tell me about the droids.”

“Is all this for me? Leia, I have to admit, I never knew you felt that way.” Mara gritted. She had to be getting close, judging by that last strike. Leia’s face remained hard, and she knew that wasn’t the answer. Another strike slapped her back, causing her to arch. Leia didn’t repeat her question, so Mara continued talking. “No, this is for someone else. Someone you want to punish for their desire. Someone you want to punish you for your desire.” The whip caressed her ass, before coming down again, biting in a dozen places.

“A storm trooper? Nah, I doubt you’d feel so much shame about making one of them into your fuck toy.” Another came against her breasts, drawing a scream from her lips this time. The top she wore was split in places, but still covered her. She was so close, she knew, as she exhaled the stinging pain. “Who else could it be? Who else do you want so badly, but can’t have? Who else except…Luke.” Mara accused, heaving breathes that struggled for composure. Leia seized as the name came out, crossing the whip over her body. There it was, her angle, and Leia’s weakness.
 
There were secrets to invisibility, and Quentin knew them all. Ancient Force techniques he could no longer use, techniques that distracted the eye and clouded the memory, making the wielder an anonymous face in the crowd. Stealth and evasion techniques, lurking in the shadows and timing movements to when an observer was distracted, allowing one to seem to vanish. Infiltration through air circulation chanhels and power ducts. Alk if them had ine thing in common.

They were games for young men.

Quentin walked the halls of the Death Star in the grey uniform if a mid-rank technical specialist, carrying a data xlate and stopping at random to inspect panels and access ports. It was the best kind of invisibility, taking the role of someone who had a perfectly valid reason to be anywhere. And the body if the technician had been stored in one of those power ducts, so he probabky wouldn't be found for a while.

Two Stormtroopers stared at him expressionkessly as he entered a rewctir shaft containing ine of the power couplings he had to disable. "I don't know you," one of them said.

Shit. "I transferred over from Block 33837. Shift transfer."

"No kidding?" laughed the Stormtrooper. "Sal got his transfer, then?"

"Yeah," Quentin agreed, windering who Sal was. "And I figured it was a chance fir advancement, you know?"

"Oh, yeah," agreed the second Stormtrooper. "Major Kells is a real ball buster, way I hear it."

"Well," Quentin temporized, "I try to stay out of politics. You know?"

"I hear you," the Trooper laughed. "I hear you."

Time to take a risk. He held up his datapad slightly, and gestured at the relay. "You guys mind..?"

"Nah, nah, go ahead," the second Trooper said. "We're done here. Some sort if stupid counter-infiltration drill." They headed for the exit. "See you round."

"Take care, guys," Quentin saud with a wave, heading for the relay.


"Bitch," Leia hissed, trying not to show the shame that washed through her as Mara's guess hit home. "Disgusting..." Her arm snapped back and the lash snapped across Mara's bare back. She struck again, outting her own self-loathing into the blow. "What kind of filthy mind do yiu have!" she snarled, wishing it was Luke there. No, that uit was her there, wielding the whip. Playng the thongs over her naked flesh as she writhed under his attentions...

With a snarl of rage and lust she threw the whip aside. "Where are the droids, Princess[/]?" she snarled, twisting her slim fingers into Mara's long red hair and jerking backwards. Her lips hovered over Mara's, breath hot on the other woman's face. "Why are they so imoortant to your band of traitors?"

Her free hand explored Mara's stomach and ribs, nails raking over her skin. "You will tell me," she whispered, cupping a full bare breast and twisting a nipple. The feel of smooth flesh in her hand, of warmth against her body, sent heat coursing through her veins and pooling in her belly. "You will talk, Princess Mara Jade Palpatine," she growled, not even noticing how her grip had become almost playful. "You will beg to talk, before I finish."
 
The whipings came fast and furious, proving she had indeed discovered Leia’s dirty little secret. Much to her chagrin, Mara learned a new thing today: shame empowered the dark side as well as fear or anger. Her top was shredded before Leia took a break, trying desperately to return to the interrogation at hand. Which only made things dirtier, as Leia groped at her curvy figure, face close enough to her to kiss.

“I’ve nothing to confess to the likes of you, brother-fucker,” Mara hissed, playing with fire. Still, she pressed the nerve, hoping Leia would break down, hoping to overwhelm her. Leia’s face contorted in rage, the attractive brunette managing to look monstrous as she was confronted with the ugly truth. With a huff she turned from Mara, and retrieved the whip. Mara prepared herself for another whipping, but that was not what she received. Instead Leia held it backwards, tracing bare thighs with the knotted end of the handle. Mara flinched as it edged closer to the apex of her legs. Still, Leia pushed forward, grazing her clit and slit through the thin panties she wore. An involuntary gasp escaped Mara’s lips and Leia smiled darkly up at her.

“What is it, princess? Did you like the whipping? Do you like the feel of leather striking your flesh? Do you like pain?” Leia mocked, slowing pulling the whip handle back over Mara’s clothed sex, digging in this time. There was a shudder as the bulge pressed her clit and Leia laughed. Pressing her leather clad body against Mara’s, Leia went back between her legs. One hand this time, pulling the panties to one side. Mara clenched as a sharp nail scrapped the sensitive slit and groaned as a finger forced its way in. “Damn, princess. Do you always get this wet?” Leia pushed the finger all the way in, rubbing her inner walls before pulling out the lust slickened digit and sucking on it.

“Hmm, seems like someone else was inside you recently. Whore.” Leia laughed, savoring the musk with dark eyes. “So, who was it? That Captain? The old man? The wookie?” Leia chuckled at the last suggestion, bringing the damp digit down to tease a nipple. The hand holding the whip handle traced sopping lips. Slowly, lingering along the clit. “I bet it was all of them, wasn’t it? All of them, all at once, fucking Mara Jada Palpatine. Imperial princess, and whore of the rebellion.”

“Better a whore of the rebellion than a brother-fucker,” Mara spat, disconcerted by how aroused she was in the moment. Leia’s grin turned into a glower, just before the whip handle was shoved into her cunt.
 
Leia pushed the thick, leather-wrapped handle into Mara. "Slut," she griwled, feeling a trickle of moisture drio down the shaft and onto her hand. Brother-fucker. The taunt burned, filling her with shame and rage and a hirribke lust. "Traitorous whore!" She exerted her will, unleashing just the tiniest bit if her cinfkucted dark emotions. Purple-black lightning crawled up the whip, sending exquisite sensations that danced the razor edge between pain and pleasure through Mara's flesh.

She rose her free hand, slapping Mara acriss the face as she drove the leather handke i to her depths. "Where are the droids, whore?" she demanded, wishing it were her brother holding the whip. Wishing she was the one being tirmented, imagining his bkue eyes as...

"WHERE?" she raged, slapping Mara again. "You will tell me," she added, gripping Mars's full breast and twisting the nipple. Force lightning crawled over the sensitive skin. "Eventually."

Reaching out with the Force, she called a long, flexible, blunt-ended object to her hand. "I've broken stronger traitors than you," she boasted, trailing the ribbed surface over Mara's throat and between her breasts. "But by all means, resist. It makes this... sweeter."

Stepping back she pushed the tight, thin fabric of her black leggings diwn over her hips and thighs, then stepped out if them. Now clad only in her cirset, she slowly fed the length of the object into her slit, gasping as it easily slid into her slick channel. Her eyes closed, imagining it was Luke. That it was his length that...

Her eyes snapped open, burning with crimson rage. The dildo bobbed obscenely between her legs as she stepped forward, spinning Mara around. "This can end, Princess," she purred, hands caressing Mara's flesh. Then, with a single thrust, she forced the blunt head into the tight ring of Mara's ass. "The pain, the shame, all of it." Force lightning crawled over Mara's skin as Leia fucked her ass, fucked herself on the dildo. "Where are the droids?"
 
Mara hadn’t tried this before, and now she knew why. The dildo burned and tore as it was forced up her ass, the tight passage utterly unprepared for such force, and it was made tighter still by the handle of the whip still inside her. Try as she might to stifle it, a pained cry escaped her lips.

“What…what of your shame…Brother-fucker?” Mara tried, struggled with taunting. The words were harsh between Leia’s punishing thrusts and the dark lightning that singed nerves. The response even crueler, as Leia drove the entire length within her, until the smooth, cool leather she wore was in contact with the whipped marked surface of Mara’s back.

“Oh, don’t tell me this hurts,” Leia laughed, one hand groping a breast, the other working the handle in and out of her slit, “I bet it’s not nearly as big as the wookie had been.” She pulled the dildo almost completely out of her ass, before slamming forward again, chuckling as Mara twisted and winced from the agony.

“Then again, with men, you know eventually they are going to finish, and stop. But I am no man. Even as I cum from using your tight little ass, I don’t have to stop. I’m not going to stop, not until you tell me what I want to know. How long can you hold out, Mara?” Leia continued this pattern, forcing the shaft to stretch and split her ass with malice borne of incestual shame. “Where are the droids?”

Mara gritted her teeth to refuse answering. To refuse crying or screaming in torment. Finding Leia’s secret hadn’t helped her, only made Leia stronger in the dark side. Inflamed her reprehensible lust, until Mara was the only acceptable outlet for it. There was no enduring this, because Leia was right. This wouldn’t end with Leia’s orgasm. Another shock of purple lightning distracting her from plotting, drawing a shriek from her lips this time, her body consumed between pleasure and pain.

“What do the droids have, that is so valuable to the republic?” Leia demanded, sending another shock through Mara’s skin.

“Plans!” Mara gasped up, writhing in her chains as she tried in vain to evade the lightning.

“What plans?” Leia insisted, teasing the threat of lightning over a swollen nipple.

“Weapon…weapon that…destroyed…Ni…NiJedha,” Mara sobbed, still convulsing form the shocks.


It was Leia’s turn to gasp now, still remembering the explosion that destroyed Alderaan, the deafening silence that followed in the wake of that destruction. That too, had been the empire, she realized. How many more worlds would die, if the empire continued? Suddenly Troubled, she broke the connection with Mara’s mind, and left the cell, seeking out her brother.

Luke! The droid has the plans for the death star. The weapon that destroyed Alderaan. It can be stopped!
 
Luke knelt, trying to remain calm as he examined the corpse. It was difficult, given the looming presence of his father behind him. "Dead for... not long. An hour or two. The body hasn't reached room temperature yet."

"What else?" Darth Vader demanded.

"The killer used a lightsaber, extremely precisely." Luke moved the head, revealing a small hole. "One thrust through the brainstem. Then the killer stripped the body and used the blade to destroy the corpse's face and jaw, as well as hand and footprints."

"What does this tell you?" Darth Vader demanded.

"Unless more than one surviving Jedi has made it onto the Death Star," Luke said slowly, "it must be the old man... Quinn Hall, wasn't it?"

Vader gestured with an armored gauntlet. The desecrated corpse floated into the air, rotating slowly. "Quentin," he rasped. "Quentin Hall. And the death blow was precise, yes, but look closely. There is bruising against the wound, the tell-tale mark of a lightsaber with a variabke length blade."

The corpse dropped to the ground. "It is one if many tricks he will have. He is a Shadow, not a Knight."

"A... Shadiw, father?" Luke racjed his memories, trying to place the term.

"A Sith Hunter," Vader answered,his cloak billowing around him as he turned in his heel. "Tighten the checkpoints. Require full security identification to pass. And when he is found, notify me immediately." He paused, glancing back at Luke with with exoressionless lenses. "I want him. Alive."

"Yes, father." Luke bowed as Vader stalked away, then staggered under a mental contact. Leia. Her voice was charged with a cinfusing mixture of lust and fear and triumph, all mingling and making him grow hard as her thoughts melded with his. And his eyes went wide at the implications.

Destroyed? But... No wonder father was sent for it! If it can be destroyed... Words failed him, dissolving into a tangled medly of chaotic impressions. The nausea of all the deaths he'd felt when Alderaan had been destroyed, mixed with the taste of power unleashed by destruction on that scale. To be Sith meant to hold life and death in your hands, to wield power and act unfettered and free. But thst power could cut bothways.

If we had those plans, we coukd..! Could what? Destroy it? Seize it? If tgey held the Death Star, even the Emoerir would be no match fir them. Theycould have whatever they desired. He could have whatever he desired, even...

Leia, it doesn't matter. Not until we find them, and bring them to father. Where are they? Did she know?



"That's... that's not what I expected," Han said, swallowing bike and dragging his helmet off in case he vomited. "I thought BT-1 would just, you know, hack the computer systems. Nit..." He swallowed again, looking away. The cirpses if the Stormtroopers he and Chewie and BT-1 had killed were easy to stomach. But the whimpering mass of blood and gristle that had bedn theur commander..?

"Perhaps I shoukd have been more explicit?" 000 murmured, retracting his scalpels into his fingertips. "My counterpart is not an astromech droid, and lacks certain of their functionalities in exchange for weapons and ttargeting arrays and related systems. So it falls to me to obtain infirmation." Dull photoreceptors watched the ifficer finally die. "Itgives one such a sense of, of purpose, really."

"Right, whatever. Which cell is the Princess in?" Han scrubbed at his mouth with an armored hand. "Let's get out of here - I think they're onto us. Or the old man. Maybe bith - asecurity alert just went out, and this whole place is going into lockdown."

"Just a moment," 000 said, before paying close attentiin to the excited astromech. "Oh, my. This is interesting."

"What?" Han asjed?

"The Princess Mara Jade Palpatine is hete, as is our former master!" 000 sounded annoyed. "Such a moral..."

"Who are you?"

Han looked up at the feminine voice, finding a disoriented and attractive woman dressed in black staring at them. His hand blurred as he recognized her from Mos Eisley, and he and BT-1 shot her simultaneously. She struck the deck with a thud and lay, unmoving, as 000 examined her.

"Still alive," the droid sighed. "Yiu really must reset your weapons after completing anassignment, BT. Now I'll simply have to finish her myself." Electricity sparked on the droid's palm as it reached for her.

"Wait, hold on," Han ordered. "She's not your formed master, is she?"

"Of course not," 000 huffed. "This is Lady Leia Vader, daughter of Lord Darth Vader and Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo. I have extensive files on all members and extended families of the Senate and Imoerial court. Our firmer master is Ki g Bail Organa if Alderaan."

"A king and two princess," Han mumbled. "Sabbac. Right, new plan. Let's get the Princess and this king, and we'll use her dark majesty there as inxurance."
 
The cell clearly wasn’t designed to hold a force user. Which was fortunate, since Mara was still shaken up from the interrogation. There were no injuries, nothing on her body that indicated what she had gone through, but the pain lived on in her mind. The humiliation, the shame. Leia had…

With a snarl, she snapped the restrain off her wrist, force empowered strength assisting her. Lady Vader would suffer for what she had done, but now Mara needed to escape. Did any of the others survive? Did she have time to worry about them now? Best she could hope for was to steal a TIE fighter and head for Coruscant, do what she could to reason with her father.

Prying open her cell door with force fingers, Mara found herself in a long corridor, there was movement down the hallway. Shit, troopers, now?

“I am not a prisoner,” Mara said forcefully, hoping to sway her foes. Maybe even get one to give up a weapon.

“Of course you aren’t, Princess Mara,” came an unexpected voice from underneath helmet.

“Triple 0?” Mara gasped, watching another trooper come up, with a wookie and a king as his prisoners, as well as an unconscious Leia in his arms.

“Yes Princess. Now, we are on a terribly tight schedule, so if you would,” the droid instructed, pointing the way.

“Right,” Mara agreed, not needing all the answers just yet. But there was one demanding her attention, “Where’s Quentin?”

“Master Quentin will meet us on the Falcon, once He’s disabled the tractor beams.” 000 explained, taking lead of the group.

“Show us the way back, then.”
 
Han felt itchy - on edge and ready for action. "I don't like this," he repeated for what was probably the hundredth time. "Standing around a detention area ain't my idea of a good plan." Chewbacca hooted, and Han nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I tell you what, though. Next time, make me ask more questions before taking a charter."

Chewie hooted again, then tugged at the binders on their brand new prisoner's wrists and ankles. "And that's another problem," Han groused. "Kidnapping ain't my style, and attracting that much heat ain't my style. Darth Vader is bad, bad news, and I expect that holding his daughter hostage is going to make anything Jabba the Hutt might do look really damn light. So, I've changed my mind. Why don't we just toss her down a garbage chute, and let the Snowmen fish her out?"

"Because," an unfamiliar voice said, "she represents leverage. And we need all of the leverage we can muster, if we are to escape."

Han whirled, raising his blaster and pointing it at the bearded man who'd emerged from the hallway ahead of Mara and the droid. "And you'd be King Bail Organa, then?"

"Prince-Consort, actually," Bail replied. "My wife was Queen, and I may be that my claim to any titles is now..." He swallowed, hard. "Compromised. But the legalities will have to wait." He looked down at Leia. "Yes, that is indeed the Lady Leia Vader - an excellent observation, Triple-0. She should buy us time, if we need it." With that, he began stripping the uniform from the corpse of the cell block officer.

"What," Han asked, "are you doing?"

"Changing," Bail explained, stripping off his own shirt. "A Captain's uniform will attract much less attention than a dirty suit, don't you think? Triple-0, you and BT-1 find us a route that avoids as many security checkpoints as possible. Princess Mara, can you sense any danger approaching us?" He tugged on the officer's coat. "And Captain Solo? Put your helmet back on. The last thing we need is for you to be out of uniform."

"Wait a minute," Han protested. "Who died and put you in charge?"

"Alderaan," Bail replied without missing a beat.


Quentin severed the last power link, wiping sweat from his forehead as he did. Fortunately, the technologies for these relays hadn't changed substantially in the last few decades, a fact that made the sabotage easier. They would appear to function normally, until called upon to carry a power load. Then, in a matter of seconds, they'd burn out. Normally, the others would compensate. Which is why he'd had to sabotage all of them. Now, if Captain Solo and the droids had just recovered Mara...

Mara.

A spasm of emotion crossed his face, one he quickly suppressed. He'd have to tell her the truth, and soon. Tell her who he really was, and why he hadn't come for her. Come for her and her mother. Damnit! He'd failed her again!

Clenching his fists, he breathed deeply and recited the Code to himself and forced himself to visualize going through the forms of Shii-Cho. There is emotion, but there is peace. Finally, with his heart rate slowed to normal and his emotions calmed, he slipped from the access ramp of the pylon and walked casually out through the door. Now to get back to the Falcon, and to trust to the Force that Captain Solo had done his part.
 
“Right,” Mara acknowledged Bail’s command, reaching into the force to sense nearby heart beats. Technically, she should have out ranked him, but now wasn’t the time to throw around titles or authority or anything else. Triple-0 lead them through the corridors, actually managing quiet for once.

“Wait,” she whispered, getting flat against a wall just before an intersection. A group of stormtroopers went past, without looking in their direction. “This way, quickly,” she beckoned, choosing the other junction, “we should be near the hangar.”


How had a crippled Shadow manage to elude empire troops for well over an hour? The decades had not taken as much of a toll on the Jedi as Vader would have thought, and frustration was hidden under the black helm.

Instead of following a trail of where he’d been, Vader decided to head towards where he was going. Because the end goal would be the Hangar, either to try and get the Falcon back, or to sneak out in a TIE fighter. Luke was following the trail, and he’d be able to figure out if there was some other goal based on where the Shadow went.

Vader passed a technical specialist, a familiar man with unfamiliar grey eyes. But there was something about sun-worn skin that was out of place on a space station personnel. “Stop.” The sith lord could see the stiffening in the man’s posture, expertly hidden from all but the most astute observer. No one they couldn’t find him. Blending in was far better than mere invisibility. The stormtrooper at the end of the hall, who hadn’t been paying any mind suddenly had guns raised on the interloper. Fingers twitched, calling the blood red lightsaber to them.

"'I've been waiting for you, Quentin," Vader declared, speaking above the hissing of the blade. "We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete."



“Get Leia on board,” Mara instructed, sensing the troopers moving away from the ship, towards a nearby corridor, “I am going to see if Quentin made it back, or if he needs help.”
 
Slowly, almost against his will, Quentin turned to face the Sith Lord. There was no doubting that rasped voice, or the black armor of the figure that cinfronted him. He'd seen it in hundreds of HoloNet broadcasts. The betrayer of the Jedi Order. The man who'd killed the love of his life. The iron glove of the Emperor.

Darth Vader.

There is emotion, yet there is peace.

"Darth," he said, stripping off the tight uniform jacket and tossing it aside. He rolled his neck and flexed his fingers, then gripped the hilt of his lightsaber. "You must not have been a very good student," he added conversationally. "Circles are never complete. They continue without end, forever."

There was no escape, he knew that. Not with the Stirmtroopers closing in. Not with a Sith Lord confronting him. His lightsaber snapped on as he raised it to the guard position, casting a white glow across his features. "It's not too late to turn aside from your path," he said, voice calm. "Even now you can emerge from the darkness." He shifted his stance as the Sith Lord stalked forward, his gait and stance maddeningly familiar. "Even niw, you can choose to follow the light."



Luke stared down, watching the unfolding confrontation from the upper level of the hanger. His father had found the old man first, but he felt no shame in the realization. His father was more experienced, and stronger. If course he had succeeded. So he cast his eyes about, seeking his sister. His last ckear imoression from her had been surprise, and then pain, and now it was nothing but numbness. But he knew she was nearby...

There. Two Stormtroopers and an ifficer, excirting a wookie. A wookue bearing a limp, black-garbed figure tgat he would recignize anywhere. Nodding, he started to move. Then he stopped, spotting the slim figure with the long red hair racing tiwards his father and the old man. The traitor princess, Mara Jade.

Calling on the Dark Side he vaulted over the railing and dropped towards tge deck, landing lightly with saber ignited. He raised it as he stood, then lunged towards her. "Going somewhere?" he asjed. "I'm certain you don't want to bither my father. He's not as firgiving of traitors as I am."
 
"Circles are never complete. They continue without end, forever."

“Perhaps you screwed up then,” Vader barked, speaking meaningfully, “to end up before me now. Like she did, all those years ago. The one sent to kill Padme. She gasped out your name as I choked the life from her. Will you call for her, in your dying breath? Or will you surrender?”

"It's not too late to turn aside from your path," he said, voice calm. "Even now you can emerge from the darkness. Even now, you can choose to follow the light."

“Not all of us can return to the light. Some of us can only cast Shadows.” There was an overhead strike the at old Jedi, and the hiss of saber on saber.



Mara stopped short as Luke intercepted her, his blade glowing the same shade as her hair. Shit! Where did he come from? She called her saber to her hand, out of instinct, but there was no saber. Dammit, was it still on the Falcon? Was it confiscated when she was captured? Where ever it was, it wasn’t here, and didn’t do her any good. So she managed to dodge Luke’s lunge, rolling back along the wall. Fighting him was out of the question, but perhaps that weakness she discovered about Leia applied here as well.

“I’m not the one who requires forgiving! Leia told me about you two. About the things you’ve…done,” she bluffed. She didn’t know of any such thing, but based on how strongly Leia reacted, she felt extremely guilty about it. What were the odds Luke shared her shame?

“Wha…? No! There’s nuh…NO!” he growled, confused and ashamed and angry, Saber raised high above his head. Mara was just able to duck under the wild swing, before blaster fire came from behind her. Not aimed at her, she realized, but Luke, as he deflected it. It had to be Han.

“Come on, Princess!” he called, suppressing fire keeping Luke too busy to engage her. Just past Luke, she could see Darth Vader and Quentin, weapons clashed.
 
"Not all of us can return to the light," Vader rasped, striking. "Some of us can only cast Shadows.”

"Shadows are only cast by light," Quentin replied, staggering a little under the blow. He angled his blade, letting the Sith Lord's saber slide aside, and riposted. The Sith Lord parried with casual ease, as if expecting the thrust. Which he probably was, Quentin realized. Part of a Jedi's prowess with a weapon came from a certain precognition, an awareness of what would happen before it happened.

"You cannot defeat me, old man," Vader rasped.

"We'll just see, won't we?" Quentin replied, feinting and lunging.


Luke's saber moved in crimson blurs, intercepting each shot before it was fired. Han swore, colorfully and in many languages, finger pumping away on his blaster. They needed to get to the Falcon and jet! But blondie there didn't look like he was interested in letting them go.

"C'mon, princess!" he shouted, wondering why the Stormtroopers were't taking action. "Stop dancing, and let's go!"

"This isn't going to work," Bail remarked, opening fire as well. Luke parried his shots as well.

"Got a better fucking plan, do you?" Han snapped back.

"Actually, I believe I have one," 000 said unexpectedly. "May I?"

"Be my guest," Han growled.


Luke stepped back, drawing on the dark side for strength. The moment those two slackened their attack, he was going to crush the life from them! But.., why was that rebel trooper removing his helmet. Was... he was a droid?

Then the black droid jerked up the head of the Wookie's burden, revealing the face of his sister. "Lord Vader?" the droid called in an aggressively cheery voice. "May we speak?"

"Go ahead," Luke called back. "I'm in no hurry."

Suddenly, the droid jabbed a needle into Leia's throat. "I suggest you back away," the droid advised. "Or I shall release ten grans of pyrothorazine into your sister's bloodstream. The resulting chemical interactions will ignite her blood, cooking her brain and liquefying the fats in her body. It is most distressing, and I do hope you won't compel me to do so."

BT-1 warbled and beeped. "Of course I don't. Not while I'm holding her - the smell of burning organic clings to my lubricants!"

Rage flared up in Luke, burning and dancing in his eyes. But with an effort of will he lowered his saber. "Go," he snarled. "But you can't run far enough to escape me."


The Sith Lord was toying with him. That was the only explanation. It was why fighting Vader was like fighting a mirror. Why he had signaled the Stormtroopers to stand back.

"Surrender," Vader demanded. "You don't have to die, Quentin."

"There is death, Vader," Quentin replied, "yet there is the Force. Or is that another teaching you've betrayed." It was bravado, though. He couldn't beat Vader, and he knew it.

"You weren't there for your wife when she died," Vader mocked, slapping another thrust away.

"When you killed her, you mean," Quentin growled, swinging low.

Vader parried. "This is your chance to join her. Surrender, Shadow. Don't force me to destroy you."

For an instant, there was clarity. Visions from long ago returned, carrying new meaning. He saw everything. Mara. Vader. Past and future and present, all in one. "Destroy me?" he murmured. "Strike, and free me."

Vader's lightsaber rose. Quentin moved to parry, then turned the move into a spin and threw his hilt the length of the hanger. As Vader's blade tore through him, he saw her catch it and pride and affection washed through him.

And then his empty, stolen clothes collapsed to the deck.

I love you, Mara. Run!
 
The weapon was in her hands before Mara was conscious of catching it. Before she realized that Quentin had tossed it towards her, leaving him without a weapon against the most feared saberman in the galaxy. She was hardly cognizant of the warmed steel in her grasp as she watched Quentin get struck down. “No.”

There was no body. As if he had never existed in the first place. As if he was someone she imagined, to put everything that had happened to her in context. A virtual stranger, all things considered, and yet his death left a primordial loss within her, a loss echoed by words she was half sure she imagined.

I love you, Mara. Run!

Run! Run now, while Luke was prevented from pursuing while his sister’s life hung in the balance. Now, while Vader contemplated the mystery of the vanished body. Now, as Bail and Han called for her, holding off the rest of the troopers. “Right.” She said, to no one in particular, meeting Vader’s helm obscured gaze for a second before turning on her heels. With speed only possible to reach by a force user, she entered the Falcon, Watching Luke and Vader with cold turquoise eyes as the landing ramp lifted and closed shut, and the ship lurched from the hangar, into space.

Mara threw herself down into a seat, Quentin’s death weighing on her. It wasn’t that long along that he had annoyed her with his questions and his suggestions, and his knowledge, but now that he was gone she felt incredibly guilt over all that. Dammit, she hardly knew the old man at all! Why did this loss feel so heavy and so unfair?

“I’m so sorry Mara,” Bail comforted her, sitting beside her and taking her hand. “The empire has taken much from us. Too much. It can be hard, but it’s all the more reason to keep fighting. As long as we keep fighting, those losses weren’t in vain.”

Mara jerked her hands away, not in any mood for rebel propaganda in this moment. It wasn’t the empire that had stolen her mother from her, and the last link to her mother. It was just Vader. “And what have you lost?” she snarled, pain making her bitter.

“Alderaan,” He answered softly. Sadly, voice cracking ever so slightly at the pronunciation. There were severeal moments of silence before realization dawned on Mara. That was what she had felt, she and Quentin both, not so long ago. Alderaan’s destruction. The empire destroyed it, just as they had destroyed NiJedha.

“Bail…I’m so sorry. Here I am mourning the loss of one man while you mourn your home.”
 
"Chewie! Heat up the engines!" Han shouted as t,he sprinted through the Falcon." His first mate, outdistancing him with his longer legs, hooted agreement.

"What shall I..." 000 began, dragging Leia behind him.

"Stash her in the port airlock!" Han yelled over his shoulder. "If she tries any Force shit, space her!"

000 watched Han disappear into the cockpit. BT-1 warbled softly beside him. "Oh, yes, I agree," 000 remarked. "He does have an occasional good idea. For an organic. Now, do lend a hand." With that, the two droids headed for the airlock.


Han slid into the pilot seat as Chewie bellowed and roared and worked the controls. "Yeah, yeah, I see," he grunted. "Snowmen shooting at us." A blaster bolt splashed against the deflectors. In response, Han worked a control. The ship's belly guns slewed around, hammering fire into the hanger as the whine of the engines rose in pitch. Stormtroopers scattered as explosions echoed through the hanger.

Han worked the controls, lifting his ship into the air and rotating the prow to face tye magshields and the blackness of space. "Here's hoping this works," Han said through gritted teeth. "I'd hate to think the old man git himself killed for nothing."


Luke watched with growing dread and rage as the dilapidated smuggling ship's drives flared and bucked against the tractor beams. For an instant he dared to think it would hold, that the ship's engines would burn out from the strain. That they'd board the ship, destriying the droids and dragging the traitors out. Tyat he'd personally carry his sister to freedom.

Then he felt the first distant explosion. Mere thumping underfoot,.but the tractors faltered and died and the ship roared into deep space. Luke's hand tightened around the hilt of his lightsaber as rage flooded through him. But the wird he uttered was icy cold. "Leia."

He spun, to find his father staring down at the empty uniform that had once cintained the crippled old Jedi. Vader prodded the clothes with his saber, and fury burned through Luke. His sister had been taken by traitors and rebels, and all his father cated for were the remains of an old man! Wrath twisted his features as he spun on his heel. "Have my ship readied," he barked, "and scramble Rogue Squadron. I will attend to the escapees. Personally."



Bail took her hand again. "One or billions, the loss of loved ones is something to mourn. Because, even though there is no death in the Force, we mourn their absence." He scrubbed his eyes with his free hand. "That's something your... your father taught ne, when he was struggling with your mother's murder."

He closed his eyes, struggling with his own grief. "And... I can't imagine your loss right now. If only we'd realized, maybe... maybe you could have been reunited sooner." Opening his eyes, he forced a weak smile. "Maybe...x

Whatever he said was lost as Han burst into the common room. "We ain't outta the woods yet! We've got TIEs inbound, and can't jump to lightspeed untill we're clear if the debris. You," he pointed at Bail. "Go help Chewie. Princess, you're on the guns with me!"
 
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