Saga - OT The Journal of the Former Emperor's Hand [L/M] Updated: 12/24/17

I'm loving this!! Great set-up. Mara doesn't know what she's in for with this one! I love how sure she is about everything. That's our girl. I can't wait to see where you go with this!

 

Oops! I fell behind, Carlos Danger. But, I'm all caught up now.

I really enjoy Mara's faltering imperial arrogance. She has every reason to be confident in her Force abilities and in her training, but, at least for now, she is comically over confident and derisive of her adversaries.

The scene with the old woman in the shuttle was nice. Not only did Mara help her, but chastised herself for it and finished helping her to boot!

I almost forgot Mara's comments on the Battle of Jakku. This is something I am really interested in. Do you know if profic has addressed this topic yet?

I also enjoyed Luke's farmboy innocence. He's just awkward putty in her hands. He's not even sure how to approach her on the subject of the Force.

Nice work. I'll try to keep up.

 

I want to show an indifference to Luke, but at the same time she is surprised by him.

I hope the story will be interesting. I didn't really outline anything, but this is based on my One-Shot story called Reunion, so everybody sort of knows how this is going to turn out.

I have no idea. I am a 'Pantser' (seat of the pants writer). I don't outline at all. I have a general idea how I want this to go, but I am not sure what path the characters will travel to get to the destination.

She does not hesitate. I figure she is not as rough and abrasive as TTT Mara, so she is slightly OOC...but since she is no longer canon...can she be OCC?

She grew up on Coruscant and trained. He has only been away from Tatooine for a few years. He has a lot of maturing to do.

Thanks! She is a bit overconfident, but in the comic The Emperor's Hand she is exactly like that. She was cool and calculating in that comic. It wasn't until her world turned upside down and she constantly had that "Last Command" ringing in her ears that she got a little crazy and bitter. She doesn't have a last command or anybody actively hunting her down, so she is pragmatic and decided to start over. She is not brooding over the past but is looking forward.

I went to Wookiepedia and got that information about the Battle of Jakku. I don't know if the person who wrote that got it from a book or from a video game or just made it all up. I am hoping it is accurate. My roommate plays Star Wars Battlefront and I think he said they have a battle on Jakku. He might be assuming that and maybe it is just another desert world, so I am not sure.

Thanks everybody for reading!

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Entry 10

I contacted my command using a portable encrypted transceiver. They were ecstatic. Capturing the hero of the NR would be a huge morale boost for Imperial troops.

After I ended the transmission I bent down next to Skywalker who I had left lying the floor. I checked his cuffs before I pulled out my blaster and sat on the bed to guard him. After about a half hour Skywalker’s eyes started to flutter open. When he realized where he was he tried to stand. That sharp movement activated a sensor in the cuffs that sent a painful, but non-lethal, charge through my prisoner. He screamed from behind the gag and collapse back to the floor. I stood from where I was sitting and knelt down next to him. “Move again and you’ll get more of that pain and don’t bother trying to use the Force. The Inquisitorius used these cuffs to subdue Jedi that survived the purge. They work on the same concept as a Force cage. They send out a constant but weak field around your body. It disrupts a person’s Force abilities.”

He closed his eyes, dropped his head back to the floor and moaned. He then tried to talk but his words were unintelligible behind the gag. He stared at me beseechingly, silently begging me to let him speak. I heaved a sigh before pointing the blaster at him. “If I take the gag off are you going to scream for help? Because if you do I will just blast you and keep blasting you until my people get here. So, are you going to be a good boy?”

When he nodded, I reached out and pulled the gag out of his mouth. He gazed at me sadly. “Are you an Imperial?”

I smirked. “Yes and you are my prisoner.” I thought he was going to spout out some bold claim that his friends will find him and I’ll be sorry, but he simple nodded accepting his fate.

“What? No threats, bargaining, begging, pleading?”

He looked up at me. “Would any of that work?”

I laughed. “No.”

He attempted to shrug but that caused a quick shock. “I guess there is no purpose in doing any of that then.”

“You’re right.” I stood and went back to sitting on the edge of the bed.

“The Imperials are going to execute me on sight,” he whispered, his voice miserable.

“That is absolutely not true,” I said sardonically. “You’ll be tortured, not killed. You are way too valuable as an intelligence asset.”

I expected to see stark hatred in his eyes, but his expression was more a mixture of curiosity and sadness. “Since I am going to die...”

“Tortured,” I corrected.

He blew out a frustrated breath. “Since I am going to be tortured…probably until I’m dead, will you at least tell me who you are?”

I chuckled. “I don’t answer questions from prisoners.”

“I know you are a Force adept. Were you trained by the Inquisitorius?”

“The Inquisitorius is no more,” I said tersely. “Once Palpatine was gone the Moffs made sure all possible threats to their power were disbanded…or killed.”

“But were you trained by the organization prior to their dissolution?”

I didn’t answer.

“I’m going to assume that means yes.”

“You can assume whatever you like,” I said impatiently.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Please don’t do this. My sister is pregnant. I was hoping to see my newborn nephew. She is due to deliver any day now.”

I looked away knowing exactly what he was doing. He was attempting to humanize himself—to create a bond between him and his captor. “Save it Skywalker. The Empire also teaches us what to do when captured. Don’t try to cultivate a bond between us. It won’t work.”

He turned his gaze back to me. “Did Vader train you?”

I was about to give an emphatic, ‘NO!’, but Vader did train some of the Inquisitors and I didn’t want my connection to the Emperor exposed. “I’m not answering questions.”

He was silent for a long moment before he spoke again. “You can switch over to the New Republic. We would welcome you. Some of our highest-ranking people are former Imperials. I sense you have Force abilities. Do you know how rare that is? You could train to be a Jedi.”

I scoffed. “Why would I want to do that?”

He looked surprised by the question. He probably believes all the heroic Jedi drivel the Rebels spout. Rumor has it the core membership of the Rebellion were members of some Force loving cult. They even say, ‘May the Force be with you’ to each other despite the fact that they can’t touch the Force and the Force couldn’t care less about them.

“Because they protected the galaxy,” Skywalker explained.

“No,” I said unequivocally. “They were traitors that tried to overthrow the Chancellor.”

He made a face, obviously disappointed in me. “You believe that Imperial propaganda? He was Sith!”

I gazed at him intently. “So? What exactly did he do to warrant the Jedi attacking him in his office?”

I grinned when Skywalker had to pause to formulate an answer. “He was Sith. That’s enough.”

“Why is that enough? Isn’t being a Sith a belief system? If he didn’t commit any crimes why do the Jedi think it is perfectly acceptable to barge into his office and try to kill him?”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m sure he did plenty of evil prior to that point. He authorized the building of the Death Stars.”

I pointed a finger at him accusingly. “After he was attacked by the Jedi. Prior to the Jedi attack there is no mention in the history books of him doing anything illegal.”

“That’s because history is written by the winner.”

I rolled my eyes. “This argument is pointless. I’m not going to release you so we can run off together and rebuild a society of Force-using traitors.”

He looked away and frowned. “So you are going to use your Force abilities to help the Moffs?”

“The Moffs don’t know…” I stopped in mid-sentence realizing Skywalker knew something about me that I definitely didn’t want the Imperial leadership discovering. The Moffs hate Force users and probably would kill me outright if they discovered my abilities. I closed my eyes and squeezed the bridge of my nose. When I formulated this plan I never imagined Skywalker could sense my Force abilities. If he was tortured he might confess that a Force-strong Imperial captured him. That was attention I didn’t need. I looked down at the man and wondered if I should shoot him and claim he was trying to escape. Bringing in a dead Rebel hero might be as good as a live one.

I shook my head in frustration. Killing an unarmed and shackled prisoner didn’t sit well with me. I’ve killed before, but I’ve never shot a prisoner. Also, if I killed him there would be questions and probably a demotion for letting a key source of intelligence die in my hands.

I thought about the situation for along time before coming to a decision. I walked over and sat on the floor next to him. He looked up to me questioningly. “I like you Skywalker,” I lied. “Capturing you is nothing personal. You are just a stepping-stone to a promotion. All I have to do is turn you over to my superiors. It wouldn’t be my fault if you escaped in transit…and that might be possible if the Force debilitating function of those cuffs were turned off. You could do a Jedi mind trick or Force shove the guards or whatever you were taught to do by whoever trained you.”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “And why would you do that for me?”

“Like I said, this isn’t personal.” I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I do want something in exchange.”

“And that is?”

I pointed the blaster towards him for emphasis. “I don’t want you telling anybody I have Force abilities. I left my old life behind me and I rather the Moffs not know about those particular skills. So, I’ll make you a deal, when my people get here, I will deactivate the Force field generated by the cuffs if you keep my confidence. Do you think you can manage to get out of normal cuffs?”

“Yes,” he said slowly. “What if your people realize the cuffs weren’t active?

I rolled my eyes. “I really doubt any mainstream Imperial even knows about Jedi binders.” I gazed into his clear blue eyes. “What do you say, do we have a deal?”

He blinked a few times in thought. I don’t know what he was thinking about. I was giving him the deal of a lifetime. “Deal.” Skywalker then took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “What type of Force training did you receive?”

“What is your fascination with me and my training?” I shook my head. “Do I need to stun your ass to keep you quiet?”

I was surprised when he laughed softly and smiled. “Give me the luxury of conversation. After all, you are probably going to be the best company I am going to have for the remainder of my short life…and probably the best looking.”

I shook my head at his brazenness. “I’m still not going to fall for your bonding attempts.” I stood and returned to the bed, reclined on my side and propped my head up on hand and elbow. “You said you can get out of those cuffs when the field is turned off. So why do you think you are going to die?”

He rolled from his side to his back and grimaced when a shock ran through his body. “They might have a Force cage. A lot of things can go wrong.” I could see him trying to look at me without moving his head. “Why do you think I’ll get away?”

I stared at him for a moment considering if I wanted to answer that question or not. In the end, I decided it didn’t matter. “I haven’t felt somebody as powerful as you in the Force for a long time.”

He scoffed. “But here I am cuffed and lying on the floor of a seedy hotel.”

“Enjoy it. If you don’t escape I suspect you’ll miss the comfort of this filthy and exceedingly tacky floral shag carpet.”

He grimaced. “True. Aren’t you worried that I will escape and then make it known that you arranged for my easy getaway?”

I quickly sat up in bed and pointed the blaster at him. “I wasn’t worried about that before, but I am now.”

He gave me a calm boyish grin that irritated me to no end. I have never seen a person on the firing end of my blaster that remained so composed and collected. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to do that. You’re a good person…despite stunning and turning me over to be tortured.”

My eyes narrowed in irritation. “You are the second person this week to say that to me! Why do you think that?”

“You are also a powerful Force user and you draw heavily on the lightside of the Force. You’re not evil…you’re a loyal Imperial.”

I leaned back on the bed as a headache started to form behind my eyes. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Okay,” he whispered. “Will you at least tell me your name?”

I didn’t see any reason not to tell him so I gave him my alias. “Litassa Colay.”

“Litassa,” he said quietly. “That’s a beautiful name.”

I gave a grunt. “Your attempts at bonding are still not working.”

A soft smile crossed his lips. “Maybe next time we meet, I’ll do better.”

“Good luck with that,” I said with a dry laugh. I looked to my wrist chrono and sighed, it would be hours before an Imperial ship could get here. “Get some sleep,” I told my prisoner. “If you don’t escape, who knows when you’ll sleep again.”

 

Enjoyed the verbal sparring - attempts at persuading/bonding. Interesting deal Mara made about getting away. She says she made it so Luke wouldn't reveal her abilities - but what I like is it gives them a chance to run into each other again under different circumstances.

 

Great moments of bonding whether Mara wants to admit it or not with Luke; she giving him a chance to escape so that he doesn't reveal her secrets while knowing that they will meet again.

 

Excellent banter, Carlos Danger! I love these two. Though I was a bit surprised that Mara was willing to let him go so soon, it works. I also really enjoyed Luke's 'bonding' attempts. Clearly, she protests too much and is not immune to his farmboy charm.

 

Mara is having a harder time than she thought dealing with Luke. Then again some conversations lead to certain topics and then you are doomed.

 

This is a very different Mara, and I'm saying this in a good way -- this pragmatic, no-bonds, no-loyalty personality makes sense in the new timeline and I can see how the story as it began here would develop into the scene we witness in Reunion (on which I still need to leave a review ) Yet the Mara we all know and love is still there! Right now she's trying to have her cake and eat it too -- climb in the Imperial chain of command, not challenge too much what she used to know and not reveal her secrets to anyone, but there's got to be a moment when she'll realise it won't work, and she'll have to take sides. I'm very curious to see how you'll handle all that!

 

I love their banter! And how Mara realizes she has a potential problem and needs to let him go lest her secrets be revealed. I wonder when they'll next have a chance for Luke to try and bond. hee!

 

Great verbal sparring between Luke and Mara, I like this version of her with a bit more wit and less anger. I also like Luke's observation that she draws on the light side of the force despite her allegiance to the Empire. All too often everyone associated with the Empire is portrayed as simply evil and its cool to see a break in that trend. Mara's unflinching loyalty has always been one of her great strengths!

 

Great discussion about the Jedi vs Sith - shows just how deep the anti-Jedi sentiment went (and how clever Sheev was in building it.)

 

Thanks. I don't watch TCW or Rebels so I am not sure what happened to the Inquisitors. I am sure there is some book that explains why they are not seen in the OT, but I am just guessing that if they were around after Vader and the Emperor's death the Moffs would want them gone. In that case Mara Jade wouldn't want anybody knowing about her abilities.

They will meet again and very soon. The thing about Luke knowing something about her is when they do meet again she really can't afford to bring him in. She is in a situation where she doesn't capture him or she kills him. At this point in the story I am not sure what she would do. Well, I do. She's not going to kill him because that would make a short DDC. She might want to kill him, but I won't let her.

I don't know if she is enjoying his company at this time, but she is not protesting too much...so maybe he is making a dent in her armor. I think Luke is lonely to have another Force user in his life. It must be scary to think you have to rebuild the order on your own. I think he will really attempt to 'bond' with Mara (AKA Litassa).

Luke wants to find out everything he can about her. She's not that curious about him. Luke wants to gain a student and she's the only person he has found so far and it has to drive him crazy that she is an Imperial.

Since the reboot I thought I now have a chance to make her a little less angry. I think cold and calculating is often more scary than angry. But her coldness is slowly diminishing. She thinks the Emperor had more control over her than she imagined. As the months go by she is becoming more and more her own person. So she will become less like the EU Mara as the story develops. In this story Palpatine was influencing her with the darkside.

Since in the short story they are somewhat 'close', I am sure they will bond more than once.

Being a loyal Imperial doesn't make you evil. Most troopers probably believe they are protecting the legal government from insurgents. I assume 90% of them are good people with families and no desire to do evil. When I watched TFA I was a little shocked that Finn was able to shoot his fellow troopers so joyfully. Did he hate his comrades? I would think that would bother him. I guess that is why the scriptwriter kept having his former platoon members screaming "Traitor!" all the time. If they said, "Dude! We were friends. How can you do this to your comrades? We trained together. You were like a brother!" That would really make it difficult for Finn to kill them.

Thanks! I had to Google Sheev. I forgot Palpatine had a first name. I think it was in the book Darth Plagueis that he started using his last name only. I guess he thought he could pull that off like Cher or Sting (or other people that only use one name).

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Entry 11

Skywalker remained on his back, silently staring at the ceiling, refusing to sleep…not that I blame him. I doubt I could sleep if I knew the enemy was coming for me. I know I told him I didn’t want to talk, but watching my prone prisoner was becoming extremely boring. This was almost as bad as doing surveillance duty. “Can’t sleep?” I asked, breaking the silence.

He gave me a sideways glance. “This carpet smells like pittin urine, my athletic shirt and sweat pants are soaked from perspiration from playing flingball, every time I move I get a shock, I’m waiting to be hauled off by the Imperials, and I’m being held at blasterpoint by a very…distracting woman. So no, I can’t sleep. I’m hungry though.”

I gave an unladylike snort. “With everything you are facing, I would think you would lose your appetite.” I went over to my tote bag and pulled out a couple ration bars I had brought with me. I tossed one to Skywalker. “Eat up.”

He started to move, but then thought better of it. “Can you turn off the shock portion of these bindings?”

I gazed at him for a moment in thought. “So you can attack me?”

“No,” he said with a tinge of irritation in his voice. “So I can eat without being shocked.”

I reached into my tote and pulled out a small remote control. It allows me to activate and deactivate the Jedi binders without having to actually having contact with the prisoner. I pointed my blaster at the Jedi as a warning before deactivating the shock portion of the cuffs while keeping the Force-debilitating function on. “It’s off.”

He moved his arms slightly making sure I was being truthful. When he didn’t receive a jolt he sat up and picked up the bar with his bound hands. He looked up and gestured toward a chair in the room. “Can I get off this carpet and sit?”

I nodded and motioned toward the chair. “Just remember I have a blaster trained on you. If you resist or try to escape our deal will be off and I’ll just take my chances with the Imperial leadership knowing I’m a Force adept.”

He maneuvered himself to his knees and stood. He turned and gave me a tired look. “I will keep my end of the bargain if you keep yours.” He sat in the chair and ripped open the ration bar wrapper with his teeth and began devouring the chocolate covered nut/grain bar. After he was done he leaned back in his chair and regarded me. “How’d you find me? Were you looking for me specifically, or did you simply stumble upon me and my men?”

I shook my head. “I’m not answering any questions from you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “How come you’re not interrogating me? You are Imperial Intelligence, aren’t you?” He turned in his chair to face me fully. “You assume I am going to escape…so why aren’t you trying to beat information out of me?”

I chuckled. “Right now we have an understanding. Each of us needs to keep our part of the bargain and I doubt torturing you for information will motivate you to keep your mouth shut when it comes to me and my Force abilities.”

“True,” he said with a nod. “You look younger than me. How long have you been with the Imperials?”

Before I could censor myself I muttered the answer. “All my life.”

There was genuine surprise on his face. “They recruited you as a child? I heard rumors that the Empire abducted children and forced them to train as Imperial soldiers, or in your case, the Inquisitorius, but I thought that was a more recent turn of events.”

I scowled at him. “The Empire doesn’t kidnap kids and make them become soldiers.” I stood and paced the floor in front of him. “That is New Republic propaganda.” I pointed to him accusingly. “If anything your defunct Jedi Order were the ones abducting Force strong children and forcing them to become Knights.”

He gave a shake of his head. “You’ve been with the Empire all your life, but you weren't kidnapped.” He leaned forward in his chair. “Tell me then, how did that happen? Did your parents give you over to the Empire?”

Gods! I hate this man. He’s making me think about things I would rather not consider. I was told a story explaining how I came under the tutelage of the Emperor, but even I didn’t believe the veracity of that tale.

“No answer for that?” Skywalker said smugly.

I hadn’t intended on responding to the question, but his self-righteousness rubbed me the wrong way. “I was kidnapped, but not by the Empire. The Jedi snatched me from my parents as a newborn. When the Jedi purge happened I was found in the temple and saved.”

I omitted the part of the story that it was Darth Vader himself that supposedly spared my life. That didn’t sound in anyway believable. Vader was the embodiment of evil. I wouldn’t be surprised if he drowned baby pittins as a hobby.

Skywalker shook his head sadly. “More Imperial propaganda. The Jedi didn’t kidnap children. Parents brought their younglings to the Temple to be trained. Who wouldn’t want their child to become a Jedi Knight?”

I rolled my eyes at Skywalker’s naiveté. He obviously didn’t have children. There was no way in the Nine Corellian Hells that all parents gladly turned their babies over to the Jedi Order. I abruptly snatched the holoprojector remote off of the dresser and activated the device. “No more conversation. We’ll watch the news.”

He gave a soft chuckle. Obviously he believes he’s right and I’m wrong. Let him believe what he wants. The Empire didn’t kidnap me. I wouldn’t work for an organization that abducts children.

About an hour later, a small imperial security force in civilian clothes arrived to my doorstep to take control of the prisoner. As the men moved to where the Jedi sat, I surreptitiously turned off the Force incapacitating field. He gave me a sad smile before he was grabbed by a couple troopers and hustled out of the hotel.

I made a false report to the Captain overseeing the extraction. I told him I was on vacation in neutral territory when Skywalker approached me at a bar. I recognized him immediately and invited him back to my room. There I subdued him and then made the call for Imperial assistance.

He believed me.

I followed the Captain to the door and watched as his men walked Skywalker down the street at a fast pace. The Jedi did not resist. I suspect he was waiting for the proper moment to make his escape. He did turn once and gave me a glum backwards glance that almost made me feel bad for the man…almost.

I closed the door of my hotel room and started to pack. If he did escape I wanted to be far away…just in case he decided to exact revenge.

 

Enjoyed very much the debate about who kidnaps younglings versus not Looking forward to their next meeting.

 

Everybody lies and the Emperor was very fond of lying or twisting the truth to suit his purposes.

I will say that I has considered the possibility that some Inquisitors might have been Jedi Younglings spared from Order 66 so if this was the case and Mara was one of them Palpatine won't have been lying when he said Vader spared her.

While I don't believe that the Jedi ever forced parents to hand their children over to them I believe that if the child had a Midi-chlorian Count above x amount they encourage them to allow them to be trained as a Jedi. And they did imply in a TCW episode that they also don't take a child if they don't feel that it is the Will of the Force that the child be trained.

But at the end of the day it is hard to always know who's lying. *glares at politicians*

 

Great conversation between Luke and Mara with her denying everything bad about the Empire.

 

Great discussion between the two here -- they just don't live in the same world, and it kinda shows

I found the tale that Mara was told about her childhood interesting. It was a good way for the Empire to secure her loyalty of course, but why tell her that she was rescued by Vader himself? Plus, her musings about Vader killing pittins were hilarious. She probably doesn't know who Vader is to Luke, and she's in for a helluva surprise!

 

Thank you. It will happen a couple posts down the line. Thanks for reading.

I remember an EU comic where the Jedi did take kids from unwilling parents, but I read it so long ago that I don't remember where I read it. I didn't watch the TCW, so I am not sure exactly what happened back then in that series. I favor the BEYOND era books, so I am a bit ignorant as to the BEFORE or SAGA eras. I did read the Coruscant Nights books and it appeared the Inquisitors were around shortly after the purge. The books didn't really get into when they were established or where they got these people. Thanks for reading.

Mara is a loyal Imperial and Luke is a unrepentant rebel. They are like the odd couple. Hopefully opposites will attract.

I suspect that the Emperor will tell her anything to make her into a loyal subject. Since there is no way in this story for Mara to find out the truth it will probably be a mystery for the rest of her life. I think the only reason Vader would save a newborn would be if he thought there was a chance that Padme delivered the baby before her untimely demise. Since she was last seen with Obi-Wan it would make sense that the Jedi would deliver the baby to the temple. If Mara was the only baby in the nursery Vader might have spared the child and brought her to Palpatine to be trained. But it is just as likely that Palpatine killed Mara's parents and told her the Jedi stole her and Vader saved her. This way it would make her feel indebted to both Sith Lords.

Thanks everybody for reading. I appreciate all the comments.


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Entry 12

I booked the next shuttle off that horrendous planet. When I got back to my unit my company commander, Commander Darten, commended me on capturing Skywalker. Darten is a middle-aged man that keeps fit, has a mellow personality and is surprisingly competent. Overall he is a decent officer. After the congratulations he frowned and gave me the ‘bad’ news.

“Unfortunately the inept troopers they sent down to retrieve Skywalker let him escape before they could even get their shuttle off the ground. He must have alerted his unit because reports indicate a small detail of X-Wing fighters scrambled off the planet shortly after he fled.”

“Did the Eradicator destroy the X-Wings. Is Skywalker dead?” I was surprised by my sudden concern. After a moment of thought I realized Skywalker’s attempts to humanize himself were far more effective than I imagined.

‘He is good,’ I thought.

“No they didn’t destroy the X-Wings,” Commander Darten said darkly. “The Star Destroyer Eradicator didn’t actually go to the planet, but instead they sent a Svelte-class Imperial Shuttle to the planet alone. The shuttle was heavily armed with blaster and laser cannons and they may have prevented some of the X-Wings from escaping, but it appears Skywalker managed to incapacitate the pilots, gunners and the entire squad of troopers who were supposed to transport him to the Star Destroyer.”

“Oh,” I said while suppressing a smile. “That’s odd. I didn’t have any trouble detaining him.”

My commander grinned. “He’s a young man…perhaps he enjoyed the company.”

I gave a coy look. I didn’t want anybody to know about the Inquisitor stuncuffs, so if he wanted to believe I used my feminine wiles to deter Skywalker from making an escape attempt, then he was free to believe so. “I do think the man may have been somewhat smitten.“

“I don’t blame him.” He leaned back again a wall, his brow furrowing in thought. “What I find odd is he didn’t kill any of the Imperials. He obviously could have, but he didn’t.” He gave me a knowing look that made me uneasy. “Why would he do that?”

I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know why?”

A smirk crossed his face as he pushed off from the wall and motioned toward his office door. “I’d like to talk to you in private.”

I looked to my commander and then his office as I tried to figure out what was going on. Did he find out about the Jedi binders after all? I drew in a deep breath and steeled myself for whatever was going to happen next. I suppose I could do a mind-trick or memory rub on the man, but I really didn’t want to blow my cover and start over in reestablishing a new identity. “Yes, Sir.” We entered his office where he walked around to his desk chair and sat down. I positioned myself in front of his desk and stood at attention. He pointed to a chair behind me. “Please sit down.” I nodded, stepped back and sat.

He put his hands on his desk with his fingers interlaced as he stared at me intently. “I read your report. Is there anything you want to add?”

My eyes closed for a second as I realized this man was on to me. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He is an intelligence officer with almost two decades of experience. Still, I wasn’t going to volunteer information. This might be a fishing expedition.

“What do you mean, Sir?”

He chuckled. “Nowhere in the report does it mention that Skywalker tried to recruit you to switch sides. He did try to recruit you, didn’t he?”

“What?” I was thrown off kilter by this line of questioning. “No, he didn’t try to recruit me,” I lied emphatically. “Why would you think that?”

His smile grew wider. “Please don’t lie to me. I’ve been doing this job for a long time. It is standard operating procedure for captured rebels to attempt to recruit their captors when apprehended. Are you saying Skywalker just sat quietly as you waited for the Imperial extraction team?”

I wasn’t sure how I should play this. I could tell him I kept him stunned the entire time or that he did try to recruit me and I turned him down.

Before I could answer Commander Darten continued. “Skywalker has no problem when it comes to killing Imperials. The destruction of the Death Star probably brought his body count close to a million…but he suddenly decided to spare a group of Imperials that were going to deliver him to an interrogation droid. There was no reason to spare their lives.” He paused to scrutinize my reaction before continuing. “Listen, Specialist Colay, I understand a young solider would be nervous about putting something like that down in a report, but realize I expect a rebel to attempt to turn you and my superiors expect it also. If you omit details like that they may start to believe something else is going on.”

I was getting more and more apprehensive by this conversation, but despite the uncomfortable turn of events I didn’t sense any danger or animosity from my commander…just concern. “Like what, Sir?”

He leaned forward in his seat. “You are a new recruit with no prior military experience, but you managed to capture and hold Skywalker. If you start leaving out important details from your report my superiors may believe you’ve been sent here as a rebel infiltrator and that your capture of Skywalker was staged to help your career and allow you further access to Imperial intelligence.”

“I am no rebel!” I said defensively. I blew out a breath and as I tried to come up with a way to extricate myself from this situation. “Skywalker did try to get me to come over to his side in the war. I should have put that in the report, but I thought…” I trailed off hoping my Commander would fill in the blanks.

“You thought it would make me suspicious of your loyalty?” He said softly. “The opposite is true. He tried to tempt you, but you resisted. That is commendable…but I have to warn you. I won’t tolerate omissions in future reports.”

I gave a sigh of relief. “Yes, Sir.”

“Let me explain to you why Skywalker did what he did.” His voice softened and took on a paternal tone. “He attempts to recruit you. You reject his offer, but he is still hopeful, so he doesn’t want to totally alienate you by killing the Imperials you requested for extraction. If he did that it could fuel within you unbridled hatred toward him and the Rebellion. He didn’t kill those men because he is grooming you. If, in the future, he meets you again he wants to be remembered as the merciful rebel…the good guy. This may make you more susceptible to any future proposals. It is a standard intelligence technique.”

I bristled at his explanation…mainly because Commander Darten was probably right and I didn’t see the possibility until he mentioned it. I assumed Skywalker was a backwards rube, but obviously he’s been thoroughly trained in counterintelligence. I won’t underestimate the man again.

“I can guarantee I will never ever be receptive to any proposals coming from Skywalker.” When Commander Darten didn’t look convinced I added, “Don’t worry, Sir, I will remain vigilant.” I paused for a moment not being able to get a read on the man. “Am I under suspicion at this time?” I was hoping I didn’t screw things up by capturing the Jedi. I already misjudged Skywalker and apparently I grossly underestimated Commander Darten.

He shook his head. “No, not at all.” He leaned back in his chair and smiled. “As I said before I have been doing this for a very long time and I have developed a keen judge of character. You are a bright, motivated and resourceful soldier…but I also sense you are a loyal Imperial.” He stood and walked to his door indicating I was about to be dismissed. “Rebel spies assassinated two of my senior field agents last week…so there are now vacancies in the officer ranks. You are wasting your talents as an enlisted soldier. If you like, I can recommend you for a field promotion to Junior Lieutenant. Anybody that can capture the Empire’s most wanted man weeks after graduating from Intel school should be rewarded.”

A lesser person would have paused at the thought of taking a position vacated by murder, but I’m not a lesser person. “I’d like that. Thank you sir.” I tried to keep the smugness out voice but didn’t quite succeed. “I should get back to work.” I rose from my seat and strode out of his office and into the corridor. “I’ll amend my report and resubmit it to you promptly.”

“Good. You’re doing fine work.” He paused for a second. “It’s almost like you were born to do this job.”

He closed the door to his office leaving me in the hallway wondering what he meant by that comment.

 

Good interrogation by Commander Darten knowing that Skywalker would try to talk her into switching sides, but at least she recovered and received a promotion because of her success.

 

Looks like Mara almost goofed but that was a nice recovery on her part.

And once again she misjudges Luke.

 

Liked Mara's commander's astuteness and her quick thinking as to explanations. Luke is hard to explain away. Looking forward even more to their next meeting with her ostensibly being more on guard

 

I figured it would look a little fishy to her commander. He would have to ask a few questions about this surprising success.

I'm hoping I'm not misjudging Luke. He is hard to write because I don't know if he is going to be the same Jedi we saw in the EU. He is written so differently in all of the novels that I guess it is hard to write him OOC. In Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor he was an uber-Jedi. In the early books he made a lot of mistakes and had to be saved a lot. Even in The Thrawn Trilogy it was Mara that kills the Luke clone and C'boath. I don't think Luke got much training from his Masters, but over the years he has been with his sister, Han and the Rebels. I would assume he would learn a lot about intelligence gathering, battle planning, and getting out of impossible situations. I think Luke is confident about his fighting abilities, but at the same time he knows he has a lot to learn about the Force. I think that is why he was so intrigued by Litassa/Mara. He believes she studied as an Inquisitor. That may be darkside, but he senses the good in her...so she might have knowledge he doesn't. Of course I think I will keep Luke clueless about women and have him nag her about training. Otherwise that wouldn't be Luke.

She doesn't meet up with Luke in this post but the next one. I am still writing it, so I can't give you any hints. This post is mainly a set up for the next chapter.

Thanks everybody for reading!



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Entry 13

It took a while, but my promotion to Junior Lieutenant finally came through. I had to attend a three-month Officer Candidate School prior to my commissioning ceremony, but that is a small sacrifice to bring my career back on track. I may never regain the prestige of being The Emperor’s Hand, but I have found independence and regaining control of my life is an equitable exchange. I never realized how much I disliked having a decrepit Sith Lord popping up in my head until he died and I was free. I can now have privacy of my thoughts and the ability to determine my own fate.

Once back to my unit I immediately got down to the business of proving myself invaluable to the Empire, but unfortunately the Empire is floundering. The defeat on Jakku was devastating to our military strength and troop morale…and now we have another problem. I have been hearing chatter in the intelligence community of a strong leader emerging from one of our breakaway fleets that fled to the unknown region. If this is true, and the unnamed leader has no intention of uniting with the current Imperial remnant, we may face a civil war. That would only weaken us further. The Empire needs to unify all the scattered fleets and defeat the Rebels once and for all.

Entry 14

The Empire must be getting desperate for recruits. They have opened up all combat arms occupations to women. Three women are now attending the challenging Stormtrooper Academy. All I can say is ‘better them than me’. They are simply feminine cannon fodder unless the Imperial leadership can start conducting successful military operations. Still, it is good to see women moving into fields that were once closed to them.

Entry 15

We definitely have an uptick of activity in the unknown regions. We believe one of the Moff’s has consolidated with other leaders to strengthen their hold of the sector they reside in. Whoever is leading the group is smart. Unlike the remains of the old Empire, which is flying around the galaxy trying to regain hold of hundreds of planets, they are reorganizing in one location probably with the intent of eventually expanding out from their central location.

Commander Darten asked me if I felt confident enough to do field recon. I told him I am more than ready. He gave me orders to fly out to the Unknown Region and try to figure out who is in charge of this active splinter group. Supposedly the Empire has sent out a number of ships to negotiate a reconsolidation, but they never returned. Either they were killed or they defected to this new Empire. I find it ironic that I am not sent to spy on the rebels, but other Imperials. When I asked Commander Darten why we weren’t pursuing the rebels he said something cryptic. “The New Republic might not be a problem to us for very long.”

“Why is that?”

He gave me an apologetic shrug. “The answer to that is above your security clearance, but you’ll find out soon enough.”

Entry 16

The trouble with the Unknown Region is it is unknown. I saw reports of ship activity on Rallo V. It is a small planet with breathable air near the edge of the Unknown regions. I wish I could have taken an Imperial shuttle there, but my commanding officer said I should use public transport to maintain my cover.

It was a long, long trip. The Empire only paid for economy accommodations and I ended up sitting between a Twi’lek and an Aqualish. The Twi’lek had a hard time keeping her lekku in her own space and the Aqualish smelled like rotting fish. Three rows up was a baby crying continuously while his or her mother made apologetic gestures to the other passengers explaining the baby was colic.

I was so relieved to arrive at Rallo V.

Imperial intelligence was correct about the increased amount of activity. There are huge amounts of cargo ships going in and out of the spaceports. After some questioning I discovered most of it was industrial cargo going to a planet only identified as Fringe. The spacers said they would be given coordinates to follow from Rallo V, but only when the time came to calculate the hyperspace jump. I couldn’t find a pilot who had already made the trip and back. Returning pilots would have the destination information. I needed to find someone who has done the cargo run. I decided the best way to mingle with pilots was to go where they hung out…meaning cantinas. I made the rounds to various taverns and spun a tale that I was a freighter pilot looking for a job. That didn’t help. The pilots traveling into the Unknown Region said they were contacted through an anonymous person who wired credits directly into their banking accounts. They never met their employer and didn’t know how to get in contact with them.

I was thinking this trip was a bust when I saw somebody familiar. I didn’t know his name, but I am sure it was one of the rebels I talked to on Hodk II. That didn’t surprise me. I am sure the New Republic noticed the same activity and sent someone to check it out.

I ordered a drink and watched the rebel as he flirted with a couple of Twi’lek waitresses.

“Here’s your drink,” the barkeeper said placing a glass of brown liquid in front of me. I had bravely ordered the local special, not knowing what was in it. I sniffed the sweet smelling fluid before I took a sip. It was good. I finished the glass in two gulps and then turned my attention back to the rebel.

It wasn’t long before I started to feel dizzy and out of sorts. At first I thought the local special must have been stronger than I expected. I waved the bartender over. “What is in this drink?” I said with the start of a noticeable slur.

He thought about it for a moment while looking at his alcohol bottles lines up on the back shelf. “Shots of whiskey, rum, spice liqueur, lum, blue tonic and Secta spice.”

I groaned inwardly knowing I always reacted badly to Secta spice. It was a semi-legal stimulant and nothing like Nyriaan spice or other highly addictive substances, but for some reason it always made me loopy. Why I have such as adverse reaction to such a mild stimulant is unknown. The Imperial doctors thought I might be allergic but they never bothered to do an allergy skin test to verify. I pulled out some credits and paid the man and then slid off my chair with every intention of getting back to my hotel room and trying to use the Force to purge my body of the substance or at least ride out this intoxicated state in the safety of my room.

I aimed my body toward the exit and took a few tentative, wobbly steps that felt like I was walking on the rolling deck of a ship. I was halfway to the door when a smarmy looking male came up to me and tried to make chitchat.

“Here, let me help you, little lady,” the creepy human said as he put his arm around my waist. Normally I would end this conversation with the introduction of my knee to his groin, but I was fairly sure I needed both feet firmly on the ground to remain in an upright position. I was considering my options when I began to lose focus.

I faintly remember a second man confronting the sleemo that was bothering me. There was an argument and I recall hearing a man say, “Back off! She’s mine”, and then blackness.

 

I wonder who that man could be; Luke, perhaps.

 

Very interesting turn of events - great conversation between Mara and Darten about Rebel counterintelligence and Luke possibly grooming her for later recruitment.

Ha!

 

Great cliffie at the end but happy wriggles, a brill leader in the Unknown Regions - can only be one particular one.

 

You know, I don't know what Luke's personality is Canonly either post RotJ

Is Luke Mara's mysterious savior?