Power Lust : Sequel!!!!! Lust For Revenge is back!!! part 14/20(L/V/Le/H/Mara ;P) pg

Yup, he will, Darthina Nice to meet you (and nice little icon Hope you'll have fun as first Luke calls him... then as Vader gets the message

AS I said, the fun has, hopefully, just begun

Thanks for your interest; it means a lot to us

Love
SJ

 

Awsome! V is gonna have a BIG surpise hearing that. Alright! I'm not the only Vader fan, I'm glad I figured that one out. By the way, if you see Vader all tied up, just look the other way and whatever you do, don't appect any of his bribes to get out of my-I mean the dungeon. Okay?

 

Whoa! Skip away for a few days, and miss a heck of a lot!

Okies - this is just great. Mothma's private war against the Emporer, eh? That's certainly a different take on it all. Mind you, I'm not complaining - it's great!

And I'm waiting for Vader's reaction when Luke finally gets onto him...

 

Thanks JediFighter, Katarn, glad you enjoyed what you read so far Yup, Tatiana and I love Vader, and yes, if you miss a few days... you get more to catch up with

Thanks again for the great feedback, both of you; it means a lot to us

Now how about some more? It looks like I skipped Sunday's post

Disclaimers and thanks, see first post of part 2

And yet..., he reminded himself, slowly sitting back in his seat under the
bemused eye of his electronic companion, Vader hadn't come after either Leia nor
him for almost two years now...

He himself knew all too well that the Fleet was still out there, but Vader
hadn't tracked them for a while, since... Bespin in fact.

The thought of that cursed place brought back memories of despair, of horror, of
lost... and of hope... from the man who had said that he was his father. Vader
had hoped that he would come off his perch, had in fact wanted him at his
side...

And ever since that day, he finally admitted to himself, the cunning dark lord
had not tried to recapture him even once... It was not as if he couldn't have
tried or even managed it, he reflected grimly. He himself knew far too well
now that Vader was extremely powerful in the Force.

He had no doubt that he could overcome him anytime he chose.

And yet, he hadn't.

And then there was his dream, he remembered. He had assumed that Vader had been
meaning to hurt his sister, but... What if it had been a vision of the Force?,
he pondered warily. What if Vader was truly going to help him save Leia?

Far from reassured by his train of thoughts, he worriedly rubbed his forehead,
then ran the same hand through his sleep-tousled hair before settling
it on his jaw as he kept pondering his decision.

He finally made up his mind and hoped that he wasn't making a mistake.

Sitting up, he began to type the code which he had learnt despite himself when
he had found out about Vader's personal calling box.

Artoo, who had remained silent during his bout of reaction, suddenly noticed
what he was doing and squeaked in alarm.

"It's okay, Artoo, I know what I'm doing."

The droid didn't seem to share his opinion, which wasn't as confident as it
Seemed anyway. He hesitated before punching in the last numbers, then finally
completed his call.

'May the Force be with me,' he thought fervently.

The box opened instantly, no welcome of any kind at its opening. Luke
hurried to type in his message, not trusting his voice to remain steady if
he spoke.

'Meet me on Saccoria in four days. Come alone. L.'

He knew that Vader didn't need more clues. If he came, He would find him.

He ended the call and looked at his little companion. "Well, there's no turning
back now."

Artoo whistled mournfully at that, as if foreboding some bad event. Luke
conceded that he was probably right as well as the wisest of them both at the
moment.




******



TBC soon

Love
SJ

 

Well, this story is certainly twisting the universe upside down. And that cliffie was great!

Force be with you,

Tych_sel

 

Excellent cliff hanger. Now you have me dying for more. I can't wait to see Vader's initial reaction to this...

~*Senoj*~

 

Hey Tych Senoj Long time no see Glad that you're catching up entertained you once again, despite it's final cliffhanger THanks for the enthusiastic feedback, both of you It means a lot to us

So how about finding out about Vader now, huh

Disclaimers and thanks, see first post of part 2





Approximately 2 hours later, on Coruscant.
Emperor's Palace:

It had been two years now since Vader had officially proclaimed himself the
Emperor's heir and Palpatine's representative.

Unofficially, he was now the Emperor.

Palpatine's state was now stable but absolutely desperate since his mind
was in ruins; he had lost all his faculties, all his powers and almost all his
memory. Once an almighty ruler, he was now just a pawn in the hands of his
servant.

Having waited for this for almost twenty years, Darth Vader surprisingly didn't
feel any joy.

In fact, he felt nothing about either his nowadays position, nor about the
Emperor's state. Perhaps any joy he might have felt had run away when he had
seen how much needed to be done, he reflected seriously as he made his way to
his quarters.

He had always known what an enormous task it would be to revive the Empire, but
never had he imagined that its present state would be so desperate... However,
gathering his determination and will, he had worked like a crazy man, days and
nights, sleeping less and less as the time had passed.

Eventually, he had also blocked any other feeling, emotion, or thought that was
not linked with the task at hand, trying to make the Empire's future his only
goal in life.

It has been so for two years now.

Even now though, he wasn't completely able to resume his previous state of mind
of 'before' the events of the Death Star.

Before the princess. Before the knowledge that he had a son, then a daughter.
Before Bespin. Before his children's hateful glances. Before these feelings
had begun to make a difference to him.

Forcing down his regret once again, he coldly reminded himself that he had to
succeed to forget them. That was why he was working so hard.

His now firmly-entrenched workaholic attitude was making him feel cold and empty
besides the growing tiredness. That was good, he thought as he entered his
personal rooms in his castle---

He checked his message box--- and was in for a rather rude surprise.

He found the message in amongst the rest of the trash which he normally deleted
without a second look, but strangely not tonight.

Even stranger, he momentarily felt an unusual peace settle over his senses as he
noticed who had sent it; his son had contacted him... then it was gone.

No, this wasn't a nice surprise, he argued with himself. It was most unexpected
and almost unwelcome since it was already destroying all the barriers which he
had built around his heart and mind; in the end, it was painful to feel
something, to feel so much after two years of self-enforced coldness and
stillness.

He felt joy, and this joy felt as if it were burning his soul. He also felt a
strange peace, the peace that was not stillness but Life.

Completion.

And all these feeling refused to die as his cold mind tried to soothe them
back into apathy.

After a long moment of warring with himself, Darth Vader sighed and
admitted the existence, and the right to be, of all these feelings.

So, he thought, refocusing on his message, his son needed him.

What for? Perhaps it was a trap, he began to consider, then shook his head to
himself. Improbable, unless Luke had assured to the Alliance that the dark lord
would come, but for this, he would have had to explain why the Emperor's
'henchman' would do such a foolishness... and to do so, he would have had to
reveal his parentage.

Most improbable, he calculated.

He knew Luke; he knew that the boy could barely reveal such a matter to his
friends since he felt deeply ashamed of their relationship. Thus, he strongly
suspected that he would not reveal it

 

*Ahem* Well, I must admit that I became so hooked to the story I went on to your website and read the rest... I couldn't wait. I hope you don't mind.

However, I will be posting my reactions to each section as you put them up one by one here on the JCC. I hope that makes up for it.

Hmmm... it's interesting that in this AU Vader is somewhat trying to avoid Luke. In most OT's he's obsessed with hunting him down. Actually, I rather like your take on it. It's different and therefore more exciting.

But how does Vader know about Leia though? Does this story happen to build off another one? ?

~*Senoj*~

 

Oh Nice! I think it's a lot better that Vader is more (to echo some sentiments) than a son-hunting obsessed killer, to someone who is actually avoiding the one who forces him to face the past, and brings up memories he thought he had buried...

I like!

 

Good morning So you did what Senoj Nah, it's all right, I don't mind at all since either way, I'm posting to share the fun that we had writing this, so I'm really glad that you had fun reading the whole story Remember, Vader is Tatiana's; her take on him is hers entirely As for Leia's secret, we never 'really' explored that past. Personally, I always assumed that he discovered when he felt Luke's discovering the truth... but I guess Tatiana will be better to explain her perception on how 'this' happens

Glad you enjoyed it too, Katarn Vader as blood-sucking, huh? Well, there are degrees of Vader I guess But you won't find that kind of Vader in this story, that's for sure

Thanks for the great feedback and enthusiasm, both of you It means a lot to us

On with some more

Disclaimers and thanks, see first post of part 2



Four days later, Saccoria.
Abandoned temple of the Sun:


Luke remained in the shadows, following the dark presence of his father
through the Force.

Had this been a good idea? he asked himself for the hundredth time since he had
arrived at the temple. If it weren't, it was kind of too late, he sarcastically
reminded himself. No choice but to wait for the events to develop.

The other finally stepped into view.

"Luke?"

Luke remained behind his column, hiding from the dark lord. "Don't come any
closer," he warned him, cursing himself for feeling afraid. After all, he
reminded himself, he had debated long and hard with himself before contacting
the dark giant.

He had also come to realize that Vader hadn't hunted him down for quite a
while now. Surely he wouldn't be menial enough to do it here, under the strange
circumstances, he tried to reassure himself.

Meanwhile, Vader stood still, a dark silhouette which seemed to float above the
softly-lit, white marble of the temple.

"Very well," the other nodded agreeably. "Why did you call me?"

The temple was broken but the acoustic was still good; the Dark Lord's already
rich voice filled the building. Luke shivered as he suddenly felt small, alone
with the dark threat. Perhaps this entire meeting had been a mistake...

He cursed himself again, then boldly stepped away from the illusory protection
of the column.

"I need your help," he stated as bravely as he could.

Vader seemed surprised by his quick admission. "A most unexpected turn of
events, indeed. Why would a Jedi Master need the help from a Dark Lord of
the Sith?"

There was a bitter irony in the voice, Luke noticed as he stared at the dark
figure. "I'm not a Jedi Master." Was he trying to start a fight? he
wondered... And suddenly understood. The other wanted him to admit the truth,
to not beat around the bushes. "I need help from my father," he admitted,
forcing the last word out of his suddenly strangled throat.

However, he knew that the strangling sensation had nothing to do with the dark
Lord; it was his own doing. Forcing himself to focus back on his... father, he
saw Darth Vader acknowledge his statement with a nod.

"Very well, my son. What do you need my help for?"

How could he explain everything which had happened in the last month in two or
three sentences? he wondered. "My sister, your... daughter... has been
kidnapped," he finally managed.

He considered that it was a rather good summary.

"Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan?" Vader queried seriously.

'As if I had 'many' sisters,' Luke thought sarcastically--- then he understood
what the other meant. Who would kidnap such a persona and risk a fight with all
the Alliance? "At first, I thought that you were behind it," he admitted,
feeling a slight blush of shyness creep up his cheekbones.

"I assure you, Son, that had it been the case, you would have known 'for
certain' that it was me," the other stated with a harsh and cold voice.

"Yes, I'm rather aware of it, 'father'," Luke indicated, restraining his shiver
as multiple scenarios of what might have

 

Good morning

and here is some more

Disclaimers and thanks, see first post of part 2

She always was... And she always was ambitious to the extreme," his father
commented, locking his hands behind his back as a teacher would. "That's why
she left the Senate after she was refused the Prime minister's seat. At that
time, everybody was surprised. It was impossible to imagine her out of
politics."

His father's accounting made him frown. "You seem to know her well," he observed
doubtfully.

"Indeed I do. We used to work together."

Luke scolded at that. "Worked? She said that you forced her to leave the Senate
because of ideological differences."

A chuckle. "Well, she made up quite a scandal to quit the Senate with dignity
when her prospect was denied. It didn't fool anybody who knew her well though,
and there really were some 'ideological differences' between us at the time
concerning the methods, but not the goals. She too wanted a strong Empire, so I
was rather surprised when she started that Rebellion thing--- but even I never
doubted her earnestness."

Luke was flabbergasted by his father's revelations. Mothma had wanted the
Empire? She had wanted to rule it??

"She is an excellent actress, is she not?" his father asked in the silence.

Luke could only nod in agreement. "Even Leia believed in her," he whispered.

"She's also understood her game."

That was not a question. "Yes. And Mon's made her disappear. I wonder..." he
began hesitatingly, then licked his suddenly dry lips. "I wonder why she is
still alive..." he admitted.

His father didn't even take a moment to consider, showing him how well he indeed
knew the woman. "Mothma undoubtedly has plans for the Princess of Alderaan."

"And that's why I need your help," he reminded his father. "We have to find her
before Mon initiates any plan she has in mind."

Now that he had spend more than five minutes with his father, he began to notice
how his mask seemed to carry out his facial expression. Right now, even though
it hadn't shifted in any way, he could almost see the man raise his eyebrow in
slight challenge.

"You need my resources?" he asked him tauntingly.

"I need, 'Father', your help to find my sister," Luke answered with all the
power of persuasion that he could muster, tired of their little game of
admitting the truth.

He glared at the black mask, forgetting all his fears this time. No matter how
he felt about this man, this dark lord of the Sith and Emperor's right hand...
he was his father... he 'was' his father. That 'had' to matter, he wanted to
shout at him.

A muffled, short laugh came from the darkness that was his father. He realized
that he was aware of his annoyance. "Very well, Son. I will help you find Leia-
-- but keep this Correlian of yours out of my way," he warned, waving a leather-
covered finger at him.

"I will," Luke promised, letting out the breath that he had been holding. "Thank
you."

"For nothing at the moment. I'll contact you myself when I have news. You
still have a box?"

"Yes."

His father nodded, then without another word, turned heels and left.

Luke leaned against the closest column. Now that he was alone once again, he
felt as if all his strength had been drained from him yet again. He took a deep
breath to recover them.

The dices were thrown now, and his father hadn't tried to capture him, nor
deceive him for that matter. Instead, it looked like he could really trust
him. It naturally bemused him, but he accepted his feelings as truthful and,
somewhat, reassuring. For the moment, he wouldn't have to worry about Vader.

However, he had to take Han and try to find another track than his father's to
find Leia. As he considered the Dark Lord's admonition, he dimly wondered why
the other felt such annoyance toward his friend. He filed the incident for
later analysis. For the moment, he had to rejoin Han. Solo was a smuggler who
had once had dealings with pi

 

I enjoyed how you twisted the idea of the rebellion around... a tool to only put another oppressive government into place. Clever.

~*Senoj*~

 

Thanks for Tatiana that was her idea once again

In fact, the whole arc of the story belongs to her, all I did was help her put it into words while handling Luke's interactions with her Vader and Leia and the whole story I wrote some Han and Leia too, but the story is hers

Thanks again for the great feedback, Senoj It means a lot to both of us

Love
SJ

 

Hey, nice stuff! So they've made the truce, eh? Interesting...

Good work with the Mothma wanting to use the Rebellion to become the next empire...

 

Oooo daddy is going to help.

Jez

 

Yay! A truce... I always think that Vader and Luke should work together....

PLease continue!

*sits down to wait for the next post*

 

We really need to see some more of this. Seems to remind me of Be; Iblis' fears about Mon Mothma.

Force be with you,

Tych_sel

 

Good evening

Thanks for the feedback Katarn, Jez, Darthina and Tych Glad you enjoyed the last parts and their making a truce Tatiana's VAder is great, isn't he?

Ready for some more (cause 'I' have the control on when we post more

Here we go

Power lust
Part 3: Searches
By SJ and Tatiana 09-05-00/13-04-01
Suggested and co-written with Tatiana (aa354105@econophone.ch)

__________________________________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs
to George Lucas. I'm only writing stories for fun.
See my homepage for more details.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702

IMPORTANT Note about the story's copyrights: All the rights related to the basic
idea of Mon Mothma's scheme and the ensuing alliance between Luke and Vader
belong to Tatiana, and so do Vader's personality and the Sathed history. The
rest of the story is a fusing of our imaginations since we've passed the story
back and forth between ourselves

Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of your
precious time, my friend

_________________________________


[


Back in his shuttle, Darth Vader allowed himself to relax in the pilot chair.
This had gone better than he had thought it would, not to mention that it had
been much different too.

His son had grown up, he smiled to himself. Luke was much more emotionally
balanced and in control than he had been two years ago. He had also come to
accept his parentage... at last.

Whatever feeling that the boy had concerning his father, he was now able to deal
with them calmly; to not let them influence his behavior.

Yes, he nodded wistfully, Luke had definitely grown up.

The fact that he hadn't spat names at him, hadn?t threatened his life, nor tried
to turn him or even contradict him in any way had also immensely pleased him.

It had also confirmed to him that, as he had originally thought, his son had
truly been asking for his help, nothing more, nothing less.

However, even more important for him than all those details was that Luke had
expected that help to be given simply because he was his and Leia?s father.
There hadn?t been any doubt in the boy?s mind and heart that he would help
him... He had ?believed? in him... somewhat.

He had to admit that this greatly pleased him ; it was good to know that his son
was now thinking of him as having feelings for his children.

Of course, he himself was perfectly aware that neither Luke nor Leia, and
especially Leia, would ever accept him as part of their family. He knew that
his children would never care for him... that they would perhaps hate him
forever, but, he shrugged to himself, it did not matter anymore.

They could accept at least something from him because his son knew that 'he'
cared.

He could live with this, he decided. A very long time ago he had understood
that sometimes, it was better to be content with little because willing to get
everything could very well destroy the very thing that one was longing for.

Some lesson that Mothma had never understood, he suddenly reflected with a
sneer.

Mon Mothma, he paused on his thought... He knew her well.



TBC soon

Love
SJ

 

Good morning And on with a little more fun

Disclaimers and thanks, see first post of part 3

Much better that he had led Luke to think. They had almost been friends
at her
earlier times in the Senate, appearing to everybody as hateful enemies. Most of
the time though, they had been secret allies in hundreds of internal plots.

Mothma, he remembered grimly, had especially shone in plots. She had always
been an ambitious, strong woman, not exceptionally beautiful, but undoubtedly
charismatic. She had also always been very clever.

He himself had sort of liked her, he then conceded. Observing her had always
been very enjoyable because nobody, including himself, had been able to predict
her actions.

With time however, his sympathy for her had changed to ... almost disgust for
she had been clever and strong, but she had fundamentally lacked the purpose.

Her prime objective had always been power for itself; she had never
understood that the power was nothing but an instrument to reach one's goal.
A goal which she had never had; she had never had any ideals nor moral
imperatives.

In a way, it made her even worse than Palpatine since not even the 'Emperor' had
not been as immoral as that woman was. When she had started the rebellion, he
himself had felt both surprise and relief that she had left the Empire. They
had already been enemies at the time, but he had mostly been relieved that she
couldn't ruin the Empire anymore.

And now, his son had confirmed that the Rebellion had been a lie all along.

While not surprised, he was as badly shocked as Luke was by that truth. He
himself was a monster, he admitted. He had no delusions that he was not, but,
he shivered slightly in disgust at the woman's sheer depravation of mind, he
could not imagine himself starting a civil war to merely satisfy his personal
ambitions.

Plot, assassination, anything, he could understand--- but a war? It was even
more evil than what the Death Star had done to Alderaan, he summarized in rare
horror. Mothma simply had, and still, used millions of people to reach her
ends.

She had used Organa's family, the soldiers of the Rebellion--- and now she dared
use his children!??

Leia was the image of the Alliance, he realized, clenching his fist in anger as
he understood why she had been targeted. The princess was the Rebellion's Soul.
With her in danger, the other could fuel the body to save that 'soul'.

Luke, for his part, was its hero. The Last Jedi.

Now that Leia had been coldly removed, he had the most unpleasant premonition
that Luke was also in danger. Jedi or not, he could feel that Luke would need
help if the woman were to throw a contingent of pirates or outlaws at him.

It must have been how she had gotten Leia, he mused angrily. From what he knew,
his daughter was also far from helpless; she had been trained to survive just
about anything.

Except perhaps... betrayal.

Vader suddenly felt a wave of cold rage fill him at the thought of how deceitful
the vile woman was; the feeling was so strong that it was barely controllable.
'You dare touch my children!' he growled dangerously, almost reaching out to
strangle the evil woman from a distance.

However, he calmed himself with an effort. Emotions would not be of any help
now, he reminded himself.




TBC soon

Love
SJ and Tatiana

 

Gooooooooood morning (in the ghostly mood of today

Here's some more Vader thoughts

Disclaimers and thanks, see first post of part 3



Once he had recovered his composure, he refocused on his previous thoughts.

What he couldn't understand, he admitted seriously, was why Leia was still
alive. Why had she been kidnapped and not just killed? Mothma wanted to use
her, that much was clear. But for 'what'?

The response came by itself: to restart the war even more powerfully than if the
Princess were merely dead. The actual stalemate probably did not satisfy Mothma,
nor would she ever be content with the present Empire. Hence, to make sure that
the war would last even though the Empire wouldn't want to fight, she needed a
strong catalyst... Like saving Leia in extremis from an imperial base...

Even though this thought was only an hypothesis... it strangely felt right to
him, filling him with renewed anger. If Leia were found in a base's detention
block and that there were evidences of torture- any peace talks would became
impossible for a long, long while.

And even more so if Leia were to die soon after she had been found... If that
ever happened... the Rebels would make her a martyr and would wage a new
war in her name.

That hypothesis felt eve more awfully right than the previous one, he thought
with a definite shudder. Not even the Emperor had ever been this machiavellian.

But If it were true, he reminded himself, then there was almost no time left...

The next base under attack 'might' be the one. He supposed that the timing
depended of Leia's condition.

Refocusing on his new duty to save his daughter, he decided to contact some of
his agents in the Alliance to know the time and destination of the next attack
as well as make them investigate Mothma's contacts.

He also decided to dispatch a few of those agents to find the rebel princess
before any true Rebel did.

With his plan taking shape in his mind, he leaned forward and tapped a request
for his intelligence service, then sent it.

In a few hours at most, the search for Leia would officially begin.



******



TBC soon

Love
SJ

 

Yay! Go Vader! Go search for your daughter!!!

I like your guys' Vader, he's very realistic

keep up the great work!

 

Somehow, I doubt that Mon Mothma will last very long if she and Vader come face to face. And might Vader send Mara in to help? (hint, hint)

Great work!

Force be with you,

Tych_sel

 

Thanks Darthina, Tych

Darthina: glad you liked VAder's attitude, hope your fun will continue As you know, Vader is Tatiana's


Tych: Sending Mara in, well, actually... she's mentioned once in this fic... and you'll have your answer as to what is going on with her at the moment ;P However, fear not, she's alive and kicking... and will be in the sequel for all the time that she wasn't in this first part ;P In the meantime though, Vader has got other agents already in place... can you guess which ones
(as for Mara, if you'd like a hint as to what she's becoming, I got an image of her from the sequel at my website (AU, Grey Side section If you're curious

Thanks again, both of you, for the great feedback It means a lot to us

More coming soon, I promise

Love
SJ

 

yay! more soon!

 

good evening

Yup, more now


Disclaimers and thanks, see first post of part 3




It took Luke three days to rejoin the Rebel Fleet, three days during which
he prepared himself for the best cover-up job that he had ever done.

He and his droid in fact.

Artoo now knew about the evil woman... and Luke couldn't risk his ruining
everything. Thus, he had erased that part of the droid's memory, but not before
apologizing to him before doing it. The little droid had understood and
encouraged him to proceed.

Now though, it was his turn to hide the truth, he reminded himself as he brought
his shuttle down in the Rebel hangar bay.

Techs hurried over and secured it in place as he stepped down the hatch.
A sergeant snapped to attention. "Welcome back, Commander Skywalker. The
High Command has asked for you to report as soon as you arrive."

Luke saluted him. "Thanks, Nike. How's the gang?"

"They're fine, if a little bit tired to be out of action. You would think
that the Imperials have gone fishing or something, huh?"

"Yeah, you would," Luke agreed quietly.

"Have you seen any action yourself?"

"Nah, not much. Just a couple of goons in a bar."

"Still beats cleaning up the vents," his friend smiled.

"Sure does, well, I'm better head forth if I don't want to make them wait
too long. So long, Nike. Say hi to the guys for me."

"Good luck, Luke," the other smiled as Luke walked away from him. "Are you
sure you won't take back your piloting station?"

"Yes, I am," Luke answered , his eyes suddenly darkening as he was reminded that
he had once been part of those who were fighting for a cause which they thought
was just.

He walked faster toward the nearest lift, trying hard to not lose his composure.
He couldn't lose it yet, he sternly reminded himself.




Minutes later, he straightened his stance before he entered the conference room.
He couldn't let them suspect anything, he reminded himself grimly as he made
sure that he had his commander insignia in his tunic. As he touched the piece
of metal, he took one last breath to gather his courage, then walked forward;
the double doors opened. He walked until he stood at the end of the meeting
table.

"Welcome back, Commander. How was your search?" Mon Mothma asked.

"It has gone well, Madam, but has unfortunately turned up dry. The leads that I
was following were all false."

"Then what will you do next?"

"I will continue to search, Madam. I know that I am not the only Jedi
descendant in the galaxy. It is impossible," he stated as calmly as he could.

"When can we hope to see you back on the front, commander?" a general asked
him.

Luke, who had been waiting for such an opening, pulled out his insignia and set
it on the table in front of himself. "If I do, Sir, it won't be out of
obligation anymore. I hereby resign my commission as commander in the
Alliance."

The leaders were shocked, to say the least.

"May I ask why?" Admiral Ackbar asked.

'Because the woman we follow is worse than the Emperor,' he thought vehemently
before calming down. He took a moment to clear his voice and senses from any
aggression. "I have decided to devote all my time to the Jedi Order, Sir. I
don't want to deprive you of an officer because of this decision."

"But you will still be affiliated to us, won't you?" Mothma inquired, betraying
her slight, very slight tension.

Ooh, she was more than good, he admitted reluctantly; she was an excellent
actress.

"If you want me in your group, yes, but I will also be independent from
you," he stated with finality.

"Thus not having to report to us?" Madine queried.

"Yes. Jedi matters can only be understood by Jedis, with all due respect,"
he explained with a short bow of his head. "Of course, if something serious
were to happen, I intend to be here and at your side," he reassured them mock-
earnestly.

The leaders discussed between themselves. Luke noticed how Mothma kept throwi