Power Lust
Part 4: The Quadra Zone
By SJ and Tatiana 09-05-00/13-04-01
Suggested and co-written with Tatiana (aa354105@econophone.ch)

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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 :)

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As Luke and his friends came closer to a building, which had been indicated
to them as a place where they could give their names to be crew members, Luke
stopped dead in his tracks as he felt another Force presence very close by.

Unfortunately, before he could warn his companions of a change of plans, Han
spotted the white armor of a stormtrooper and charged in.

Oh no..! "Han!" Luke called, instantly running after his friend while drawing
his lightsaber and blaster and taking stock of the situation.

Chewie was already on Solo's heels and the building's windows could not exactly
hide the fact that a firefight was going on within its walls. As he tried to
catch up with his friend, Luke saw Han rush head first inside the building where
the pirates were defending their lives against the imperials; the young Jedi
reluctantly followed inside, aware that he had failed to keep Han away from his
father.

The moment that he stepped inside, he spotted his friends, who were trying to
save at least a few pirates for their own plan, then reflexively turned toward
his father's black-clad presence who was busy interrogating someone, seemingly
undisturbed by the ongoing battle.

At first, Luke didn't know what to do exactly, then his danger senses flared---
he defended his life.

He had already deflected a good dozen of bolts and had injured a few enemy
troops, imperials or not, when the dark lord seemed to noticed his presence and
walked closer to him, as if intent on getting him next.

*Fight me, Son. We can communicate through the Force.*

Bracing himself for a double play, Luke holstered his blaster and focused
his mind on split concentration. *Why are you here?* he asked his father.

They exchanged a first, vicious slash, as if two enemies who had finally
released their pent up hatred of each other.

*I tracked Mothma to the former rebellion group here. You?* "You will be mine
this time, Skywalker," he snarled out loud.

*I found out that the Massacres had the contract on Leia.* "Never," Luke spat
defiantly.

*It seems that these former rebels contacted them. Anything else?* his father
inquired seriously.

Meanwhile, the Jedi and the Sith Lord parried and exchanged a flurry of
dangerous strokes, making it look as if Luke was defending his life with all his
heart.

*No. You?* he queried.

*The rebel's group main base is in the unknown regions, somewhere near the
Quadra Zone. The Massacres had no other bases than this one.*

*Will you go there? In person?* Luke asked his father.

Another slash. Vader's' blade almost touched Luke's head--- or rather where his
head had been a second ago.

*Yes, we are running short on time. Besides, it's possible that I'll be needed
there. It is a an Ancient Sith territory. One of the First Space before the
Great War.*

Luke riposted, making Vader step back to prevent him from injuring his arm. *A
...What?!* he mentally gaped while he tried to retain his physical expression of
defiance and determination.

*It doesn't matter,* his father shook his head, then attacked again, forcing him
to keep up their charade. *Be careful if you go there yourself. 'Anything' can
be possible in that area.*

Vader suddenly attacked again. In order to move out of his range, Luke
sidestepped and almost fell. *We'll be vigilant,* he mentally nodded--- then
fell on his backside.

"Luke!!!" Han exclaimed and aimed at Vader.

Vader whirled around and blocked the bolts that would have added ventilation
holes in his helmet. As if fighting against his deadly enemy, Luke used the
opportunity to move away.

*Now,* his father warned him seriously, *take your friend away before I can't
restrain myself and kill him with a ricochet,*

*Right. Sorry,* he sent as he scurried to his feet.

He then sent a heavy table flying in his father's path; it crashed hard against
his back, forcing him down for a moment or two. The young Jedi didn't waste
time, as if saving his life, and ran toward his friend. He grabbed his arm on
his way out, then pulled him toward the exit after him, not giving him the
chance to take another shot at his father.

"Come on, Han," he urged him, "let's loose ourselves before he can recover.
Chewie! Come on!" he called to the Wookiee who was busy butting heads,
imperials and pirates alike.

Han didn't resist too much, but he kept firing at the dark giant until
they were out of the building and running toward the Falcon.

******

Once aboard the ship, they lifted off in record time.

"I thought that you could feel him when he's close," Han grunted as they sped
away from the rocky formation.

"Unless he shields his presence," Luke defended himself. "He must have known
that we were after the Massacres."

"How would he know?" Solo frowned, turning toward him.

"Your friend perhaps," Luke suggested mock-grimly.

Han snorted; Chewie agreed with him. "Wouldn't even surprise me. So, have you
had time to find the information that we were looking for?"

"Yes. Head for the unknown regions, Quadra Zone."

"The---" Han gaped, suddenly frozen and speechless in horror.

So, Luke thought seriously, even Han, who was as daredevil as they came, had
never even entertained the thought of challenging the mystical horrors of this
zone. He himself could only hope that his sister hadn't had to deal with any of
the rumors that he had heard about.

When he didn't comment on his reaction, Solo understood that he was serious; he
barely nodded and programmed their destination in the navcomputer. Chewie threw
him another look, then muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Kid," Han agreed with his co-pilot.

Luke couldn't argue with them, except that he hoped that his 'father' hadn't
been wrong. He hadn't even considered asking him more questions while they had
been keeping up appearances, but now that he could think----

"Say," Han asked, cutting in his thoughts, "why didn't you kill Vader?"

"Because we would still be fighting if I hadn't run away," he lied.

He couldn't tell Han that Vader was his father; not yet anyway. However, he
conceded that he kind of wanted to.

And then, he also had to admit that the dark-clad man was becoming quite an
interesting puzzle; while they had been talking through the Force, he had felt
his love for his children. When this would be over, he reflected, he would have
to consider having a heart-to-heart discussion with the dark lord... but
preferably from a distance.

Their actual truce might not last forever, he reminded himself.

******

Shortly after Luke and his friends left, Vader boarded his personal corvette
once again.

Since he had known that it would be suicidal to go in the Outer Rim alone, he
had left Coruscant aboard his personal ship, a middle sized corvette with
no insignia-- much more discrete than a Star Destroyer but surprisingly no less
powerful.

Ever since he had selected the ship to make it his personal craft, he had
always found great advantages to have it at his disposal in particular
circumstances. His actual mission to rescue his daughter was one of those.

The greatest advantage with his choice was that unlike his Super Star Destroyer
which was his command ship, this mid-size corvette was 'his' ship. He had known
that as the new Emperor, he would sometimes need a discreet mean of
transportation, one that would go unnoticed if he so choose.

Thus, the Shadow Spear had come to be.

He had first had the ship outfitted with powerful engines, an array of weapons
that could compete with that of a Star Destroyer except for the fact that they
were not meant to be used in an aggressive fashion, then he had equipped it with
a cloaking device that was rendering it invisible to radar.

Its crew and TIE pilots had also been carefully chosen after an attentive study
of countless files. He had personally chosen them all because they never
discussed orders and were faithful to him.

They naturally knew that they were outside the normal ranks, but they didn't
mind in the least since they had the honor of being his personal troops.

Yes, he nodded to himself, more than the bulky, huge Executor, the Shadow Spear
was his flagship.

With that thought, he closed his eyes and tried to relax in the tank that was
his bed.

Instead of sleep, darkness and silence, the images of Farlax came back, full of
lights and noises.

Then, the images of his mock battle with his son came too. His mind, bright,
alive--- searching, asking, teasing. His heart, a tornado of emotions:
rejection and remnants of hate, but also an interest, a need to know, to
understand his father.

This revelation made him smile slightly in the beginning of relief. To discover
anything besides hatred was already more that the Dark Lord had ever dared to
hope.

"I don't have much to give, Luke," he said out loud, wishing that his son would
hear him, "but if you're willing to take, I'll give you anything I can. All you
have to do... is ask."

******

Approximately two days after leaving Farlax, the Falcon reached the mostly
unexplored part of space that was known as the Quadra Zone. Luke and
Chewie were manning the quad guns while Han was trying to keep them out of
radar sight.

Once they were well inside the unknown region, Luke scanned the sector for his
sister's presence. She was there all right, he sighed in relief, but he still
couldn't pinpoint her just yet. The only thing that he knew was that she was
somewhere ahead of them.

"Straight ahead, Han. She's further inside the zone."

"Joy," the Correllian commented, dead-pan.

Luke wholeheartedly agreed with him. He wouldn't complain when they would
return in normal space. His Force senses where somewhat muffled in this part of
space, so he couldn't rely on them as much as usual. It made him quite uneasy.

As he scanned the purple and deep violet space outside, he wondered what was
causing that color instead of the normal black of deep space. Perhaps it was
some effect of that secret war that his father had mentioned, he reflected
seriously before refocusing on his dampened Force-scan.

They flew past planet after planet, with no signal whatsoever---- when a sudden
warning managed to work its way through the mental inhibition that was
permeating his mind. He frantically looked around, trying to find what had
triggered such a powerful warning.

The thing found them first.

What they had thought to be a smaller planet had been, in fact, some kind of
huge birdlike monster, which was now coming after them.

"Han! Floor it!" he yelled to the Correllian as he and Chewie opened fire
on the thing.

The bolts hurt it, but it was too big to be incapacitated by their shots. The
two rebels continued to search for a weak spot to hurt while Han tried wildly
evasive maneuvers, to no avail.

"Can't the Force guide you this time, Kid?" the pilot shouted in frustration in
his mike as he pulled them out of yet another tight turn.

"Afraid not!" Luke answered back even as he let loose another volley of fire.

They had tried to fire at its eyes, chest, mouth; anything that looked
vulnerable. They still hadn't got any results.

"Chewie, any other spot a predator would try?" Luke inquired to his companion.

He suggested the wings. They both aimed at the wings, piercing their membranes.
It slowed it down but just a tiny bit.

"How about a torpedo?" Solo suggested.

Luke gaped at him. "Are you suggesting to use a torpedo on a living being?" he
asked in disbelief.

He didn't like that plan one tiny bit.

"We don't have much other choice, do we, Kid?" Solo grouched, obviously not
interested to argue morale when their lives were hanging in the balance.

Luke fired again as he considered their options. They were indeed limited.
"All right, but can you pull it off?"

"Watch me," the pilot muttered darkly.

The Falcon turned about, coming from an angle that the bird couldn't hope
to duplicate in time, then the three of them fired at it.

Han's torpedo disappeared inside its body.

"So much for that," the Corellian grumbled dejectedly while he hurried to veer
off, barely avoiding the snapping mouth.

Luke turned his seat again and refocused on the creature. That's when he became
aware that it seemed to be larger than a second before--- then he understood.

"It's gonna blow! Get us---"

The creature popped like a huge balloon... a balloon which threw the Falcon
in a stern-to-bow tumble thanks to the blast of its explosion.

None of them had time to brace themselves before they collided hard into
the nearest bulkhead.

When Vader's ship reached the Quadra Zone, even her emotionless captain
appeared disturbed for a second, then he restored his blank mask and addressed
the nearby Dark Lord. "My Lord, we've reached the destination."

"Continue further inside the zone," he ordered him.

"Yes, my Lord"

The captain turned toward his subordinates.

Even without this announcement, Vader reflected while he watched the familiar
sight of the unknown regions, he wouldn't have missed the entry in the Quadra
Zone.

Or as it was also sometimes called: the Sith Hell.

The power swirled around him, mad, incurring, intoxicating. The memories of a
long dead race, of a long ended war. So much power was here that even the
always stable Force flow was perturbed. For him, who was a Sith, it didn't
matter; this awesome power was his, he merely needed to ask to use it.

But for Luke, he reflected more somberly, it had to be awful. With that
thought, he reached out and checked the Zone. He had barely reached out that a
flow of images was hurled into his mind. It took him some time to sort it out,
having lost the habit to deal with the Sith Hell's surges of knowledge.

Luke was here, all right, he finally understood, and was not in danger, or not
anymore, he amended. He and his friends had apparently been attacked by one
of the mad guardians, but they had survived the shock wave of its destruction.

That relieved him since he knew that the said shock-wave was comparable to the
one caused by the destruction of a Star Destroyer's reactor. As he remembered
this detail, he admitted that it was quite a wonder that Solo's tin can had
managed to survive it.

While he didn't care much about Solo, he could admit that his ship really
intrigued him. Eventually, he promised himself that he would take a look
at it and study its secret.

Refocusing on the here and now, he felt that his son's team was now progressing
toward the center of the zone where the rebel base was.

Where Leia was.

Recovering his full awareness, he stepped closer to the map table and studied
it. The targeted planet was only marked by a number. At first, he dismissed the
detail as inconsequential, then noticed the pattern of the planets around it and
frowned. After a few seconds of unpleasant reflection, he addressed his captain
once again. "Proceed toward object 167390. There is a rebel base on the
surface; activate the cloaking shield."

As usual, the captain did not appear surprised. "At once, my Lord," he bowed in
obedience.

As he refocused on the map, Vader admitted to himself that he did not like this
turn of events at all. This planet was not unnamed. It had a forgotten, old
name in a old and forgotten language: Arsharel'an skal.

On its surface, where the false rebels had established their base, stood the
temple of Arsharel's, as dark and oppressive as ever... and Arsharel was the
Sith god of death.

For a Jedi to obtain entrance to his temple, he knew that the said Jedi would
need to offer a very dark sacrifice.

So would his son...

******

Luke and Han landed in the desert of the planet, making sure to not be detected
by the security of the base that was up in the mountains, then began their long
trek toward their target. Chewie stayed with the ship, waiting for their call.
Neither said anything, aware that they were in enemy territory as well as close
to their goal.

After a long trek and a long climb while being careful to not trigger any alarm
system, they were finally able to study the base from a closer point of view.

"Are you sure that this thing is the base?" Han asked his friend, looking at the
'thing' in question.

The closest wall was at least twenty-five meters away from them, down a very
steep rocky slope.

"I'm positive," Luke told him, his voice unwavering.

Leia's senses were centered in this building.

The base was a black fortress... and strangely misshapen. The longer he
gazed at it, and the more Luke admitted that the architecture was unlike
anything he had ever seen; the only thing that he could say for sure about it
was that it was not human.

He wondered if it was even humanoid at all... and why it was giving him the
creeps as much as it was doing at the moment.

Beside him, Han hunched down once again, dissimulating himself behind the cliff
while being careful not to sprain his bad finger.

Fortunately for him, Luke thought, the climb had been a very steep walk upward
instead of a real, hazardous climb. Otherwise, he himself might have had to go
after Leia alone.

He refocused on their target. The base definitely felt strange, he reflected
uneasily. Not evil, just ... different from anything that he could remember...
and really creepy. There was a danger within those walls, but it was a passive
one--- like a danger of a mechanical trap---

"Do you feel her?" his companion inquired seriously.

"Yes." Luke shuddered. "It's almost the only thing that I can feel at all..."

"OK. So ,what's the plan of attack?" Solo inquired, getting back in business.

"Well...How about finding a back door?" he suggested with a shrug.

"Hmmm..."Han frowned.

He lurked back over the top of their hiding rock to look at the fortress.

*LUKE!* Vader's voice suddenly screamed through the Force.

It startled the young Jedi. *Father!* he gasped in surprise, then reached out
to locate the dark lord. *Where are you?*

He put an end to his effort when he became aware that Vader was probably
shielding his presence; he couldn't feel him anywhere.

*Behind you, and above,* his father answered his question. *Don't even think to
go in there by yourself. I mean it,* he then warned him grimly. *Don't
underestimate the warning.*

Luke couldn't help but think that he sounded a lot like a patronizing father at
the moment. *What's the matter?* he inquired.

*It's a temple of Arsharel, the Sith god of death and destruction, and you're a
Jedi. Arsharel will not let you enter... alive.*

Luke blanched as his father's words struck home. He looked at his friend and
made sure that he wasn't going to attack those walls by himself.

*You speak as if he really exists,* he then commented in naive dubiousness.

*Of course he does! It would be foolish to be priest of a non-existing god,
don't you think?* his father asked matter-of-factly.

*I... I don't understand.*

*Twelve thousand years ago,* the Sith Lord seemed to sigh, *there was, in this
part of the outer rim, a civilization called Sathed. To simplify it very much,
they had 2 gods: Arsharel and Letane, death and life, or Dark and Light parts of
the Force. Priests of Arsharel were called Sith and of Letane- Jedi.*

*Huh?!* Luke frowned. That really didn't fit with what Yoda had taught him.

*What you might have read was written many years after the Third Great War. The
titles of the priests were kept, but the significance was lost... The Sathed
were also destroyed in the Third War. The only remains of their civilization was
preserved in the religions of some of the peoples of the Outer Rim.*

Luke was thoroughly lost now, but his father continued, as if this were very
important for him.

*Some four or five generations before Palpatine, there was an effort to restore
the Sith brotherhood and the cult of Arsharel, but the Jedi destroyed the Sith
before it was done.*

*So you're a priest of ...this god of death?* he asked, trying hard to make
sense of what his father had just told him.

*No, but I'm one of the Circle. I know about him and respect him.*

*You've lost me,* he commented truthfully. *The Circle?*

*The symbol of memory, among other things,* Vader said, then cut him short
before he could ask more questions. *If we survive this, Son, and that you
still want to know the answers to your questions, I'll try to explain everything
to you, but it will take several hours, if not days... And now isn't exactly the
right time to discuss History. I have merely told you this so that you know
what we are going to deal with inside those walls.*

*Got it. What do we do now?* he nodded, mentally clearing his mind of questions.
Not that he had understood much anyway.

*Answer to your Correlian friend, and act natural,* his father instructed him.

*What are you going to do?* Luke asked uncertainly.

*You'll see.* came the cryptical answer.

Silence.

To be Continued in part 5: Rescue Team

Copyright 2001/2002, SJ and Tatiana (aa354105@econophone.ch)
Webmaster : (skyjade@globetrotter.net)(Any positive stuff is welcome,
but any mean stuff won't even be read.)

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