Beyond - Legends At the Brink of the Dawn and the Darkness (Act/Dr/Rom AU, L/M, H/L) Updated 12.10.10 COMPLETE!

ohhhhhhhhhhhh

quality reading

Good Times

 

Ah. Who is the Ghost? Karrde? Mara? Reece? .... Luke?!? It will be an interesting meeting, no matter what. Interesting also that after all this time, Luke is still struggling against the Darkness.

I'm glad you like my signature line. I've always loved Pinky and the Brain. I'd be first in line if they ever made a 'Pinky and the Brain... The Movie.'

 

I'm very excited to see this continuing...thanks for keeping me updated =)

Yve

 

very moment of every day had become a struggle to maintain equity, and he had no one left to turn to for guidance, no one left to offer any kind of perspective, good or bad. There were times when he would have taken either to ease the storm within?had done in the past. He was lost in that storm and he knew it. But knowing one was lost didn?t grant one the ability to find the way, and he had been dragged so far from the light by Palpatine that he didn?t even know where to look anymore; didn?t know where to begin his search?or even how.

If he just knew what needed to be done?but all was Darkness and it was here by his own making. He had no right to turn to the Light and ask compassion or clemency. No right to look to it for aid.
No, Luke, that's a lie. There's mercy and forgiveness.
He's let himself become overwhelmed with guilt. It's consuming him.
Masterfully written.

 

Thank you for the pm and update.

Very interesting chapter. Luke does not seem to comfortable as Emperor, a Darksider or even as a reject from the Alliance. With all that said, I don't think he has a problem with being in charge, he just has to decide which w;hich role best suits him. No matter what, pieces of all three along with being a Jedi, will still reside within him. On top of everything else, he misses his father and understands his role in his demise.

I think he either is Ghost or is behind the persona of Ghost.

 

I like the spin and interested to see where it takes us.

 

It has been a year eh?

I wonder how much access Luke has to Palpatine's old materials, holocrons, records...

I bet he is learning a lot.

Your description on how he keeps the darkness and light at bay is sad. He obviously knows and realizes when he was once happy. Looks like he is going to try to recruit a Sith...Poor Leia

 

Hi blank,

as I have time today to post my comments on this lovely sequel, I will do just that!

For the first time since she was a child, she cried, tears running unheeded down her cheeks, her jaw tightly clamped against the sob that welled in her throat. She cried because Palpatine was gone. Because she was grateful Luke was here. She cried with relief and release. For what she?d lost, for what she?d gained?for what she feared she?d pushed away irrevocably.

He?d walked into her life and he?d turned everything, everything she believed upside down. Every view, every standpoint, every conviction. Shaken her beliefs to the core.

But not like that at all; not by force or manipulation, both of which she knew so well, but gradually and persuasively. The lightest touch, the slightest spur, the subtlest encouragement, oblivious of his power over her.


I do like the fact that both of them, Mara and Luke, changed in a fundamental way - one could even argue that Mara changed for the better while Luke changed for the worse but that would be too black/white anyway, I guess - I love this scene because we see a side to Mara that we have not seen before, she cried for the first time since she was a child - totally believable!




Palpatine had always carried the burden lightly; a mixture of blithe indifference and deep-rooted belief in his own right to rule had granted him the clarity of vision and unshakable confidence to exert his command with utter conviction. Right or wrong, savior or tyrant, he had carved a path and dragged his Empire into alignment without hesitation. He had united under a single rule a galaxy at war with itself, and held it there by brute force and absolute, ruthless will.


Very good Palpatine characterization, IMO! I enjoyed reading this part as it is very accurate!



He?d been to hell and back?but not quite back?never quite back.


Love this line! Perfect!



Han narrowed his eyes at that, an alarming thought occurring: or maybe he was getting older?

Nah, couldn?t be that.


Another one of your spot-on Han Solo thoughts/sentences!



Still, he grinned into their groans, amused. ?What? Did you seriously think I was gonna let you bunch-a? reprobates into one of my nice X-Wings? Sixty hours, people. Come back when you got sixty hours of high-score combat on your flight sim card and I might?I just might?let you go up.?


Love it!



?Then you?re a fool to be here?never trust a wolf.?
?I trust you.?
?No you don?t, not really. You tell yourself you can trust?you think you?re safe because for some reason you believe you can control it?but I can?t, so I?m damn sure that you can?t. You?re not nearly as safe as you think.?
?You?re saying that you?re capable of hurting me? I don?t believe you.?
?I?m saying if you reach out to a wolf you shouldn?t be surprised when it bites.?


Thumbs up for this conversation between our most twisted two!



Luke remained under the deluge of the shower for long minutes, arm across his stomach wound where the water stung the sutures. He couldn?t even do this?couldn?t even wash his own hair. They wanted to call him Emperor and he couldn?t even do this.


This part is very good! One of these sentences that convince me that you are a script writer after all!



?Mara?! What.. ? Had she forgotten where they were?

She took the small bar of shampoo, reaching up to rub it through his water-tangled hair. ?Turn around.?

?Would you... What the hell are you doing?!?

?I?m washing your hair,? she said calmly.

Priceless scene!



Because of his abilities, it had often been whispered that he was Palpatine?s son, but then it had also been whispered that he was Vader?s son, and whatever the young Emperor knew he kept to himself, not in the habit of handing out information. Even his name was a mystery; Palpatine had always called him his Wolf, Commander of his Fleet, his feral Jedi. No name?never

 

Poor Luke, it's a shame Palpatine did all those evil things to him, like we expect no less from Palpatine. He really could use a friend at this point.

More soon

 

?So young, so?alive.

?Really?? She looked up at that, soft, brown eyes looking directly into the lens, suddenly serious. ?Then take this: I love you, Annie. I always will.?

It tore Luke?s heart, the feeling in those words?the promise, the passion?the brittle undercurrent of unspoken anxiety. He sat for a long time in the chamber, staring mutely at the final image of the delicate, dark-haired woman. A moment frozen in time. Wild potential, absolute commitment, every possible future?

?I?m fat.?
?You?re glowing.?

She was pregnant; she was already pregnant when his father had recorded this holo.

No more than eight months later, she was dead. ?
I absolutely love Luke?s reflections when watching this. It?s so heart-gripping ? and much more working than what happened in Dark Nest trilogy! Then again ? all of this happening in this trilogy?s better than anything in the canon, so why do I at all bother to point this out?

? The person truly responsible for his father?s death?had been Luke himself. ?Oh, Luke, Luke, you never change...

?It could have been so very different.

?Why don?t you come with me? You?re pretty good in a fight?I could use you.? ?
Yeah, intriguing story line indeed

?Here, alone, as he glanced past the small holo-emitter to the open doors where the rain patted gently down onto the balcony beyond, all he heard was the deafening sound of his own isolation, a profound, kinetic stillness that ripped through his mind and sat in his soul like the weight of the galaxy. And all he felt was tired. Endlessly, mind-numbingly tired, so that all he could do was sit in the still solitude of the stately, imposing room and stare into the rain, watching the shadows crawl up the buildings as the darkness closed in.
Poor, poor Luke ? he?s so very, very tired and alone. My heart goes out to him, even though it?s part his own choise, that stubborn, self loathing...

??Nice place you have here,? Karrde deadpanned. ?Very roomy.?

?It gets a little cold in winter,? the Emperor replied in kind.
I just love the Luke+ Karrde parts - but then you know that, don't you?

??We?or rather I?had a communication this morning from Ghost.?

?What?d he say??

?He wants to meet,? Leia said, to the point as ever. ?He has information. Something he needs to pass over face to face.?
Ta-da-da-daah?

 

Okay, I suck at leaving timely feedback these days, but I'm hoping you won't mind too much, since you already know how much I love these stories. But while I'm here and all...

He held the thick, heavy towel up, voice apologetic more at the awkwardness of his avoidance than for any other reason, she knew.

I find it both very insightful and very amusing that Luke's more apologetic over being awkward about avoiding her than the avoidance itself.

Even here, in private, the refined Coruscanti accent that Palpatine had been so determined he would voice and had so ground into him over the years, still held sway, his own provincial Rim accent completely lost to it.

You know, intellectually, I have no problems with this. It makes total sense and is great atmosphere for the story, not to even mention a neat aspect of character development. But when I stop and consciously try to imagine Luke speaking the way Leia did to Tarkin, I just can't manage it. Which is all the more ridiculous considering what a talented voice actor Mark Hamill is, and that he'd probably nail a Coruscanti accent. But my brain just can't quite wrap itself around this one.

And in her own mind, Mara felt the sickening guilt of responsibility for Palpatine?s as well?the man to whom she?d pledged absolute allegiance.

Poor Mara. How far can you really blame her, after a lifetime of up close and personal manipulation by Palpatine?

Which just makes it all the more deliciously angsty that Luke blames himself more than her. Mara said it best: They both are really screwed up.

His last words, spoken with quiet dignity in the Court tradition of Archaic Coruscanti?a reassurance subtly aimed at the Royal Houses rather than the populace at large?did nothing to hide the permasteel hardness and absolute conviction which underlined them:

?En Emporo mortuus. Emporitus eternuus.?

The Emperor is dead. Long live the Empire.

There are an awful lot of parts of these stories that make me giddy and leave me grinning like a fool at my computer monitor. This is one of them.

Luke sat in the purposeful, focused silence of his offices in The Cabinet, high up in the South Tower of the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, the long bank of tall transparisteel doors flung open along one wall, rain patting against the pale travertine stone of the balcony beyond.

Far below, playing a constant tune all their own, was the reverberating metallic clatter of the regimented flagpoles which lined the long stretch of the ?pennant balcony? in the Main Palace, known to the thousands who worked and lived here as The Monolith. Flags from hundreds of planets were set on poles close to the top of the massive, imposing bulk of the hundred-story Monolith, the center of government, commerce and the military for the Empire.

And this! Seriously, your ability to describe a setting clearly and vividly without weighing down the narrative is masterful. I think linguistically, not visually; I usually have a hard time envisioning the setting when I read (or write). Not so with your writing. I see?and hear?everything, without even having to pause to concentrate on doing so. I love that.

As always, you nail the voices of each character. Han, Leia, Mara, Luke, Karrde?all of them sound perfectly authentic. And OCs?well, do I even need to say any more about that than I already have? In nearly eight years of steady fanfic reading, Nathan is perhaps my all time favorite OC, and Tag and Wez (and even Kiria ) aren't far behind. It's all tremendously impressive. I take mental notes every time I read your work. If I ever finish any of those longer stories I keep thinking about (big if ), they'll be better than they would have been on account of my reading these stories and learning from your techniques.

 

I can just see, as Luke is sitting on his throne, the ghosts of all Jedi and all Sith lurking in the shadows behind him: seeing which way this can actually go. Somehow, I believe he will keep them all guessing.

And so it begins anew, blank101.

 

TnTornado

a great first chapter - IMO its another setting the ground work for the main fic. But thats the feeling I got.
Interesting that there really was no mention of Mara and where she is or what she is doing now.
Sooo, is it Luke going to be meeting Leia, or Reece, or someone else (Mara...).
Great update as always,

Many thanks sir! Glad you liked. Nope, no ention of Mara yet, but she comes in on the next chapter, I promise. She?s not shoehorned out of Luke?s life that easily!

Who?s Luke meeting? Read on?..








Darth Cable

ohhhhhhhhhhhh
quality reading
Good Times

LOL! Many thanks ? glad you like.






PonyTricks

Ah. Who is the Ghost? Karrde? Mara? Reece? .... Luke?!? It will be an interesting meeting, no matter what. Interesting also that after all this time, Luke is still struggling against the Darkness.

Answers this week to both those questions?


I'm glad you like my signature line. I've always loved Pinky and the Brain. I'd be first in line if they ever made a 'Pinky and the Brain... The Movie.'

Heh,heh. I haven?t seen it for years, but it was fantastic Saturday morning chill-out fayre.







Jingocat

I'm very excited to see this continuing...thanks for keeping me updated =)
Yve

Hi!

No problem. More very soon!








Dancing star


--"If he just knew what needed to be done?but all was Darkness and it was here by his own making. He had no right to turn to the Light and ask compassion or clemency. No right to look to it for aid."--
No, Luke, that's a lie. There's mercy and forgiveness.

He's let himself become overwhelmed with guilt. It's consuming him.
Masterfully written.

Glad you liked Yep, issues already and it?s only the second chapter ? his problems haven?t even started yet!





Darth Malevolent7

Thank you for the pm and update.

No problem

Very interesting chapter. Luke does not seem to comfortable as Emperor, a Darksider or even as a reject from the Alliance. With all that said, I don't think he has a problem with being in charge, he just has to decide which role best suits him. No matter what, pieces of all three along with being a Jedi, will still reside within him. On top of everything else, he misses his father and understands his role in his demise.

Glad you liked it. These first chapters are always hard, because you?re setting so much up for the story as a whole, you know?

But you?re right about him being in charge. He struggles with a lot of his own faults, real or perceived, but I think he was always meant to lead?that seemed clear to me even from Star Wars, when he managed to convince a certain sceptical smuggler to go running through a Death Star to rescue an unknown princess?


I think he either is Ghost or is behind the persona of Ghost.

Heh,heh. Read on?




RedGold

I like the spin and interested to see where it takes us

Thanks. Glad you?re enjoying it. More soon




Ocelotl Nesto

It has been a year eh?

LOL!


I wonder how much access Luke has to Palpatine's old materials, holocrons, records...
I bet he is learning a lot.
Your description on how he keeps the darkness and light at bay is sad. He obviously knows and realizes when he was once happy. Looks like he is going to try to recruit a Sith...Poor Leia

Yeah, he?s very much caught at the moment, trying to not so much reinvent but actually find himself again. And he is indeed looking for Leia?more on that in the next few chapters.




The-Solo-Smirk

Hi blank,

Haloo!

as I have time today to post my comments on this lovely sequel, I will do just that![/

 

JediFalcon

Poor Luke, it's a shame Palpatine did all those evil things to him, like we expect no less from Palpatine. He really could use a friend at this point.

He could. But he has a few, though he tries hard to keep them at arm?s length, another lesson from Palpatine. More on that next chapter.





kataja

Kataja!


--"It tore Luke?s heart, the feeling in those words?the promise, the passion?the brittle undercurrent of unspoken anxiety. He sat for a long time in the chamber, staring mutely at the final image of the delicate, dark-haired woman. A moment frozen in time. Wild potential, absolute commitment, every possible future?

?I?m fat.?
?You?re glowing.?

She was pregnant; she was already pregnant when his father had recorded this holo.
No more than eight months later, she was dead. "--


I absolutely love Luke?s reflections when watching this. It?s so heart-gripping ? and much more working than what happened in Dark Nest trilogy! Then again ? all of this happening in this trilogy?s better than anything in the canon, so why do I at all bother to point this out?

Aw, thank you! I haven?t read the Dark Nest Trilogy. Does it have something similar in? I?m guessing Luke sees an image of his mother, right? Interesting?




?Why don?t you come with me? You?re pretty good in a fight?I could use you.?
Yeah, intriguing story line indeed

Heh,heh,heh. Difficult to plot though, it seems? There? just not enough hours in the day, that?s the problem!



??Nice place you have here,? Karrde deadpanned. ?Very roomy.?

?It gets a little cold in winter,? the Emperor replied in kind.

I just love the Luke+ Karrde parts - but then you know that, don't you?

Heh, I do now! They?re actually great fun to write. Karrde?s like a super-dry and deathly laconic Han to me.



??We?or rather I?had a communication this morning from Ghost ? He wants to meet,? Leia said, to the point as ever. ?He has information. Something he needs to pass over face to face.?

Ta-da-da-daah?

We need a musical note icon!








Gabri_Jade

Hey Gabri!

Okay, I suck at leaving timely feedback these days, but I'm hoping you won't mind too much, since you already know how much I love these stories. But while I'm here and all...

LOL!



--"He held the thick, heavy towel up, voice apologetic more at the awkwardness of his avoidance than for any other reason, she knew."--

I find it both very insightful and very amusing that Luke's more apologetic over being awkward about avoiding her than the avoidance itself.

Heh, well, you know men?



--"Even here, in private, the refined Coruscanti accent that Palpatine had been so determined he would voice and had so ground into him over the years, still held sway, his own provincial Rim accent completely lost to it."--

You know, intellectually, I have no problems with this. It makes total sense and is great atmosphere for the story, not to even mention a neat aspect of character development. But when I stop and consciously try to imagine Luke speaking the way Leia did to Tarkin, I just can't manage it. Which is all the more ridiculous considering what a talented voice actor Mark Hamill is, and that he'd probably nail a Coruscanti accent. But my brain just can't quite wrap itself around this one.

Heh, yeah, he would nail it, wouldn?t he? He does a great Harrison Ford. See, I was trying to hard to get him to that place with the picture to go with the third story?



--"And in her own mind, Mara felt the sickening guilt of responsibility for Palpatine?s as well?the man to whom she?d pledged absolute allegiance."--

Poor Mara. How far can you really blame her, after a lifetim

 

CHAPTER TWO







In the Admiral's ready-room onboard the Super Star Destroyer Patriot, Luke could feel his composure fraying, his jaw and his shoulders tightening in subconscious response. Every now and again he stopped and turned away from his desk to make himself take three slow breaths, relax tense muscles, close tired, burning eyes and dissipate mounting frustrations by power of will. For all the good it did him.

Three days into the journey and he hadn?t once slept, torn by doubts about the mission he?d set himself, the specifics of which he hadn?t even admitted to his own staff yet.

Today he?d explain to them. They knew the vague outline anyway; they just didn?t realize it was imminent. He would allow a little dissent and a little disquiet about his handling this in person, but he wouldn?t be swayed or derailed. The plan, originally initiated when he was Commander-in-Chief of the fleet, was too far gone anyway?which was part of why he hadn?t revealed specifics until now; it limited his entourage?s responses. He would push it through and dismiss his own private doubts along with the unease of those around him, Luke ordered himself. There was no room for a personal attack of conscience here, and even if there were, a single spark would hardly light the darkness.

Swinging his chair about, his eyes wandered to the wide sweep of the viewpane and the blur of kinetic energy which unfolded outside the safe, shielded bubble of the Destroyer, watching blankly as the multi-colored lights of hyperspace twisted in rainbow irregularity through the vast tracts of bright white, the radiance of distant stars leaving trailing ghosts of their wake as the Destroyer hurtled past the sluggish speed of light. Watched until the room about him began to shrink to dull darkness by comparison and it burned into his retinas so that he could see it as a diffuse crimson glow when he closed his eyes?

A knock at the door snapped Luke's senses back to the moment and he twisted his chair back to his desk, resting his hand on the autoreader there as he used the Force to clear his sight and identify who was waiting on the other side of the door?then relaxing slightly as he realized who it was.

?Come.?

The door slid back and Nathan Hallin stepped in, sketching a propriety bow before entering with the morning?s dispatches. Not generally his responsibility, Luke knew, but Nath had probably taken it upon himself to do this today when he realized that Luke hadn?t slept again.

Nathan Hallin was one of the trusted few, having known him since Luke had first arrived in Imperial hands following his duel with his father at Bespin. Already one of Lord Vader?s private medics onboard his Star Destroyer, Hallin had been charged to treat the battered man whom he believed at the time to be an Imperial spy before, at Palpatine?s command, he had been reassigned as a member of Luke?s personal staff. Luke had kept him close ever since, their friendship always effortless, finding a comfortable balance between formal and personal as the situation allowed.

?Good morning,? Nathan said, placing the sheaf of hard-copy documents and their corresponding data chips on a rare patch of bare surface to the edge of Luke?s desk. ?Dispatches, I think.?

?Thanks, Nathan,? Luke acknowledged without looking up, making a show of being lost in his work though he doubted the sharp medic was fooled.

?And breakfast.?

That brought Luke?s head up. ?What??

A Lieutenant-adjutant from Luke?s own staff was walking in with a tray, bowing politely.

?Did I order it?? Luke prompted, his scowl creasing the scar above his eyebrow.

?No, but if I didn?t arrange it Reece would have my head,? the slight medic said with a grin, speaking of Wez Reece, Luke?s long-time Aide, co-conspirator and major-domo.

Now Luke couldn?t help but smile at the medic?s claim. ?What did I not order?? he asked dryly as the tray was set on his desk.

?Cadin,? Nathan announced of the grilled grain-bread, with an undeserved and overly ent

 

So does this mean that you?ll still do that Atlantic-spanning swim if I kill Nathan at some point?

YES. So don't even THINK it.

Actual story feedback to come soon.

ETA actual story feedback: And what do you mean, ?big if? on finishing those long stories? You?re still plotting the pilot one, right?

Yes, but as slow as I am and with my tendency to choose reading over writing 90% of the time, we may all be in retirement homes by the time it's done.

They are, I promise you, not my techniques ? I stole every one from elsewhere

All the great artists do

?Cadin,? Nathan announced of the grilled grain-bread, with an undeserved and overly enthusiastic flourish. ?And fruit.?

Luke raised his eyebrows as the adjutant bowed and left. ?That was uncharacteristically healthy of me.?

Nathan is so awesome. (Keep your evil authorial intent away from him. *glares preemptively*) Luke's response is perfect, too.

As ever, he looked back to Luke for approval, and Luke nodded, standing. ?Thank you, gentlemen.? He glanced immediately to Mara, who raised an arched eyebrow at him but didn?t correct him.

I do love this little aside?and Mara's restraint.

The silence lasted for a few seconds before Nathan brightened. ?So you could actually take the third detachment of the 701st in the shuttle with you just in??

Nathan's irrepressible.

?Mara, you?ll come down to the surface with me. Take the second shuttle and we?ll meet in the base. I?ll try not to let it get too boring for you.?

?I?ll bring a book,? Mara countered dryly.

Like the bit between Luke and Nathan over breakfast, this is pitch perfect. The banter and personal interaction throughout is most excellent.

?You know he won?t do that. I think things will stabilize and the changes he?ll make will be for the greater good?and I happen to think he?s right,? Nathan said firmly. ?Much of the Empire?s old constitution was questionable, some of it grossly unfair.?

?That?s treason,? Wez said calmly.

?It?s fact. And soon there?ll be reforms in place which will make it possible to say such things in public.?

Ah, Nathan. As for Wez...

She frowned, hiding the slightest hint of uneasy doubt from her features before, flicking long, loose curls of her hair back with casual grace, she stepped close to him and stood on tip-toe, hand to his chest as she reached up to kiss him lightly, her lips brushing against the old scar on his cheek.

Sometimes he let her this close?sometimes not.

Go ahead, break my heart. Sure, I don't mind.

Palpatine had invested years in purging his Sith advocate of human weaknesses, had honed his soul to a razor-edge. In many ways he?d succeeded?but not entirely?and Luke hated him for it. Some days for his success, others for his failure.

Marvelous insight. Luke's such a mess.

He glanced away dismissively. ?Running the percentages, then. How much you stay to be with the Emperor and how much to be with Luke Skywalker.?

It was a low blow, not least because in her own darker moments she wondered whether it hinted at the truth. ?I?m here because I want to be with both?because they?re the same person.?

I just love all the psychological twistiness in these stories. I really, really do. That's why I put up with the heartbreak and cliffhangers and threats against Nathan. Just you remember, the Atlantic is no barrier at all.

 

LOL!

 

?Thanks, Nathan,? Luke acknowledged without looking up, making a show of being lost in his work though he doubted the sharp medic was fooled.

?And breakfast.?

That brought Luke?s head up. ?What??

A Lieutenant-adjutant from Luke?s own staff was walking in with a tray, bowing politely.

?Did I order it?? Luke prompted, his scowl creasing the scar above his eyebrow.

?No, but if I didn?t arrange it Reece would have my head,? the slight medic said with a grin, speaking of Wez Reece, Luke?s long-time Aide, co-conspirator and major-domo.

Now Luke couldn?t help but smile at the medic?s claim. ?What did I not order?? he asked dryly as the tray was set on his desk.

?Cadin,? Nathan announced of the grilled grain-bread, with an undeserved and overly enthusiastic flourish. ?And fruit.?

Luke raised his eyebrows as the adjutant bowed and left. ?That was uncharacteristically healthy of me.?

Enjoyed all this exchange. But after all that, he didn't even eat it! And not sleeping for three days? Luke, please take care of yourself!

Wonderful update. Brilliant as always.

 

Another great chapter.

I love the interplay of Nathan/Luke and Nathan/Reece. Nathan is very perceptive where Luke is concerned. Both Nathan and Reece are very protective of Luke however, Nathan is more personal with communicating his concerns where Reece maintains a military reserve about his protectiveness.

The whole conversation between Mara and Luke was surreal - the ballet of two proficient fencers who know the moves of each other. Mara says she stays because she wants to be with both Luke Skywalker and the Emperor. She sees them as the same person. Luke's statement ?That?s just it, Mara?they?re not.? sent shivers down my spine.

I would say that the personalities of Luke Skywalker and the Emperor have little in common. However they reside within the same brain. So, some how Luke sees the two personalities as separate and distinct. Will he integrate them?

Luke's current state is stressed. How does he think he will fare against Leia in such a state? Intellectually and politically she's no lightweight. There is so much riding on how she reacts to Luke. The initial contact will likely be shocking for Leia, let alone emotinally violent. I would think he would need to be in tip top shape to deal with her. The fact that Han is planning to be with her could blunt some her reaction and give him breathing room in talking to her. He has to fully face his feelings regarding the Alliance's betrayal of him.

 

I am so down with Pinky and the Brain. My personal favorite is the country western one. WHAM. YES This is a pain that is going to linger

 

You manage to give quite a few flashbacks and summaries here in the start of this story ? and none of them feels superfluous or boring ? which is quite an accomplishment! Somehow you always manage to sun something better up or add something extra to make it captivating!

The first scene in this post ? with Luke alone, Hallin entering with breakfast and Luke ?s hands shaking - is just a perfect scene in itself. It reveals so much, little of it said out straight and catches the situation we?re in perfectly: Luke is, no matter what, utterly alone!

Ha, ha. Now re-reading this thing I can see how many baits you lay out ? and I remember swallowing them all trying to get an idea of upcoming events! I think it was Anton Chekhov who said that if there?s a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, then, in a good story, it should be fired in the third act at latest. Well, clearly this story doesn?t work that way. And it?s still brilliant! The old man could learn from you!

I could find a few quotes where I could insert that musical note icon ? but then you know the melody. It?s soundign pretty often at this point of the story. No, sorry , throughout this entire story, that is!

They were still close, closer than any mere friendship, but since that fateful day, Luke had slept alone.

It had been a subtle avoidance? Just for a few days, when he came out of the medi-bay. Then just up until the inauguration. Then a little while longer, until everything settled and the pressure eased. And the months had gone by?

She knew Luke felt he?d been betrayed, and in truth, how could she possibly argue her culpability in the events leading to his father?s death? Ironically, she also knew that if she had betrayed only Luke?condemned him alone, by revealing only his own disobedience to the Emperor?then he probably would have forgiven her. He?d done so in the past. No, it was the involvement of his father that had been inexcusable to Luke. The damage had been there, and it seemed irreparable.

He?d tried, she knew; tried to forgive, to move on in the months following. But it had eaten away at their foundations and though Luke couldn?t bring himself to dismiss her from his presence entirely, what had once been a passionate, all-consuming closeness had cooled to an uneven melting pot of mixed emotions. Betrayal, bitterness, need and nostalgia changed the ground beneath her feet from day to day?from minute to minute sometimes, when Luke was tired and struggling with warring factions of his own psyche, cracks caused by Palpatine?s relentless, ruthless harrying in his desire to drag a Sith from the Jedi he?d held?

Only he never had quite separated the two. Because occasionally, Luke?s mood would lighten and he?d seem so close to the brash pilot who had been brought here six years ago. The man who had charmed her and intrigued her with his ready smile and his easy, indomitable manner long before Palpatine?s bleak, discordant teachings had taken hold. Occasionally he still looked at her that same way, still responded with fierce, passionate intensity when she touched him or kissed him and he gathered her up and held her to him in a moment of spontaneous, impulsive sincerity?


I admire Mara?s tenacity! Any other woman would have slowly faded away at a dismissal like that Luke?s offering her. But then, this is Mara, right? And ok, it?s Luke too.

?There is no cost,? he said, turning away. ?You?re looking for sentiments that no longer exist.?
C?mon Luke! Do you even believe in that yourself!?

?You?re Emperor!? she said, lost as ever as to how that could be anything but a desirable thing.

?Is that all you see when you look at me?? The disappointment was painfully evident in his voice.

It had always been there Mara knew, carefully fed by Palpatine, this particular twist of crippling self-doubt. The absolute conviction that no one could be interested in him for his own merits, that all they saw was his position and wealth. Occasionally some tiny sliver of that

 

Heh,heh. I haven?t seen it for years, but it was fantastic Saturday morning chill-out fayre.

[image=http://images1.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Pinky-and-The-Brain-pinky-and-the-brain-860836_233_312.jpg]


I agree!
Where have these Saturday mornings gone???


Re: I just think that this sentence is brilliant in that context:

He couldn?t even do this?couldn?t even wash his own hair. They wanted to call him Emperor and he couldn?t even do this.


*************************



Swinging his chair about, his eyes wandered to the wide sweep of the viewpane and the blur of kinetic energy which unfolded outside the safe, shielded bubble of the Destroyer, watching blankly as the multi-colored lights of hyperspace twisted in rainbow irregularity through the vast tracts of bright white, the radiance of distant stars leaving trailing ghosts of their wake as the Destroyer hurtled past the sluggish speed of light. Watched until the room about him began to shrink to dull darkness by comparison and it burned into his retinas so that he could see it as a diffuse crimson glow when he closed his eyes?

Awww, cool observation! It's the same when closing your eyes on a sunny day - the diffuse crimson glow - amazing that you mention it here!


He remained engrossed in his work for a long time before pausing to stare at the hand which held his automemo?s stylus. Frowning, he lifted his hand before his face; it was shaking. He stared for several seconds, willing it still, before slamming it down hard on the desk in frustration.

Why are his hands shaking? Sleep deprivation? Or is it something else entirely?



She pursed her lips, glancing up at him. ?Are you sure you can go through with this??

?Why wouldn?t I??

Mara shrugged incrementally, trying a different tack. ?Hallin?s worried.?

?That?s Hallin?s natural state,? Luke dismissed easily. ?I?d be more concerned if he wasn?t.?

I think that the Hallin character is very well written - and I don't say this often about original characters!



?She has no hold on me anymore if that?s what you?re worried about; she can?t hurt me.?

?I know that. I just wanted to be sure that you did.?

?Of course I did." He turned, voice dry and brittle. "I?m unfeeling, unreachable?didn?t you know? Don?t you listen to the whispers in Court??

?He made you strong,? Mara said, aware that his thoughts were on Palpatine. ?Immaterial of how he did it, he made you what you are.?

?I don?t like what I am.?

And there?there was the fracture that tore at him, tightening his voice as Mara sensed the change envelop him like a shadow, induced by the mere mention of his old Master.

?You?re Emperor!? she said, lost as ever as to how that could be anything but a desirable thing.

?Is that all you see when you look at me?? The disappointment was painfully evident in his voice.

Best part again - Luke and Mara discussion...I have a bad feeling about the current state of their relationship - see argumentation below !!!


He wrapped his arms about himself, wide shoulders hunching forward, and even without seeing his face Mara could sense the change creep over him again, and knew that the knowledge of what he was about to do in coldly using someone he had once trusted so implicitly was breaking him apart inside. Despite everything, despite every resolve and every logic and all of his Sith training, this was biting deep. So deep that the only way he could deal with it was to close that part of himself off and lock it away. Only he never quite did?could never quite let go.

One more splinter in an already fractured psyche.

He would do it though, because just as with Mothma, he believed it needed to be done. But he wasn?t proud of himself or the deceits and manipulations he employed?and it was breaking him apart, even if he couldn?t see it.

?They are the same person,? Mara repeated.

He didn?t turn but the change in his voice was striking, all earlier ho

 

Excellent update and I'm now worried about the Luke and Mara's relationship. It's been a year since they slept together? Luke and Mara were meant to be, it's a shame Luke doesn't know that and he should be nice to his unknown sister and quite manipulating her.

I can't wait for more

 

I didn't know you'd updated! Interesting line here - Betrayal was a harsh teacher, but one never forgot. Or forgave. - I'm assuming this applies to Mara, as well as to Leia? I'm trying to decipher if Luke has found old Republic records that gave away the biggest secret of Anakin and Padme - that they had twins named Luke and Leia.

An informant on Corellia?

 

Stunning update!

The plan sounds like it will succeed.

Your detailing of Luke's nature /psychological turmoil in the aftermath of becoming Emperor and its direct effect on his and Mara's personal relationship -- breath taking and insightful!!!

It's a departure from the typical though equally as exciting joint venture where they're lovers and allies -- but in those instances, Mara wasn't so culpable as she herself admits and Luke doesn't have all that Palpy baggage he's still carrying around like a 5-ton bag of bricks

It's a wonder he can carry all that and still function efficiently