|
|
|
|
Power Lust __________________________________________ 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 :) _________________________________ 'Damn you, father!' Luke cursed reflexively. He didn't like to be kept in the Somehow, he had a feeling that he wouldn't like his father's plan. "Hey, Luke! Are you all right?" Solo asked, shaking him out of his
mental "Uh?" he groaned, recovering his full senses, "yeah... sorry.
Didn't hear you," "You tried to check it?" Han inquired, throwing another look at the temple. "Huh? Ah, yes, yes," he nodded, getting back in gear. "I felt
nothing. It's "I told you not to rely this much on this mumbo-jumbo--- Oh, Sith!"
the smuggler Han fired at the descending shadow, but Vader was faster and easily blocked
the Luke's lightsaber finally came alive when the new play became less of a "We meet again, Skywalker," Vader rumbled. The young Jedi waved his lightsaber threateningly, taking a step sideways as
if "Let him go, Vader. This is between you and me," he defied. "I'll break you friend's neck if you try to attack me," Vader
threatened him, "Luke, the hell with me!" his friend gritted, his arms held tightly
and Luke flinched at the pain in Han's voice. "You want to see your friend die?" Vader offered suavely. Luke knew that his father had merely created the best of excuses for him to He put away his weapon, his face one of disgust. Vader pulled the unlit "Good. Now we'll talk." He wedged Luke's lightsaber in Solo's jaw. "What do you want?" Luke snapped. *Father?* *Silence. Perform your part.* "Your sister," he answered in his
coolly "What?!" Solo gaped in disbelief. Luke tried to catch up with him on that reaction. He forced his eyes to bulge "Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, Skywalker. Don't play with me; she is
in "Rather clear," Han said, cutting in the conversation while he
tried to escape His arrogance earned him a tighter grip which put a painful strain on his He was ready to play along with whatever Vader had in mind, but he wouldn't
let Meanwhile, Luke caught a flash of annoyance in his father's mind and thus So that was why he had asked him to keep Han away from him, he nodded to He imperceptibly shook his head before he promised himself that when he would Vader addressed the recovering Solo. "You were saying?" he inquired tauntingly. "We don't know how to enter," Han answered shortly. "That's not a problem, Solo. I know the entry." He locked his dark gaze with the youth. Luke sighed. "All right, you win." "Luke, you can't!" Solo exclaimed. Luke gazed deep into his friend's eyes. "We don't have any other option,
Han." "But Leia..." "Move, " Vader interrupted---- And took a rough Force-hold on his son's arm before he pushed him hard down
the *Of course I have. There are no guards on this side of the building for the A second later, Vader and Han came up behind him---- and a door opened in
what "Sith Hell," Solo swore. Luke barely had time to draw back in shock before he was shoved inside the The dark lord and his prisoner followed him.
*How do you enter in a temple? How do you make a god see that you're not *Er..." He suddenly remembered his father's warning. "By making some offers?* *Exactly, and in this case, a sacrifice. For Arsharel, the best sacrifice is Luke fought his urge to turn and gape at his father at that, aware that it
would *To 'sacrifice' this emotion and open a door,* his father corrected seriously. *He won't like it,* Luke warned him. *Even I don't like it. What if the *It doesn't matter, it didn't happen,* his father replied coolly. *I guess so...* Luke grudgingly agreed. No matter what the dark lord used to They walked down corridor after corridor. Luke kept expecting trouble, Then they ran into a group of six pirates. The outlaws instantly drew their blasters and fired at them. Luke, who was Neither his nor Vader's were available. His father was using his green blade
to A hot bolt suddenly burnt the air near his right ear. Luke reflexively
whirled He kicked a first outlaw between the legs, then rammed his knee against his
nose He then jumped out of the way again and barely landed before he jumped again, When he landed back on his feet, it was over and Han was gaping openmouthed
at For a few seconds, Vader was unable to formulate a coherent thought, too As he tried to understand what had happened, he noticed that Solo, who had "I didn't know you could do that, Kid," the smuggler barely whispered. Luke brushed a stray hair out of his eyes and smiled shyly. "Neither did
I. Vader put two and two together. Of course, Arsharel had allowed the Force to One thing was sure, he grudgingly conceded: his son truly was full of
surprises. "They're dead, Skywalker, thanks to you," he told him. The child glared at him. "Thanks to me?! You have done the deed,"
he defied. Plan or not, Luke decided that he wouldn't take the blame for this. "If you hadn't fought my projection, we wouldn't have run into any
trouble," his "Fought your projection? What do you mean?" he frowned. "Uh, Luke, it isn't the best of places to ask about Jedi stuff,"
Han cut in, Then the young man realized that trapped as he was, Solo couldn't really
relish "Solo's right for once," Vader agreed. "Now walk, and let me
send them all "No," he mock-argued. "I can get Leia by myself if I can do it my way." "You forget that you can't use the Force here, Jedi. I can," Vader
ominously Luke grumbled something about bossy darksiders, turned around and walked
toward *Luke* his father's voice said in his mind. *What?* *It was truly impressive.* He couldn't suppress a shy smile. *Thanks.* *But you didn't have to risk your life,* the Dark Lord slightly scolded him. *I'm sorry that I disturbed your concentration,* he apologized in turn. *Don't do it again.* he answered simply, then added: *By the way, Arsharel is *My what?!* Luke gaped, barely keeping himself from whirling toward the *Their deaths were a really pleasant sacrifice,* his father explained. *I ... I didn't...* he mentally fumbled, horrified by the idea that he had
just *I'll never serve him,* he stated with finality while he sighed inwardly in *Who is asking you to? You are a Jedi, and it's fine with him as long as you *Oh... OK. Father?* he inquired again. *What?* *Why did you need us- me and Han- here? Arsharel would've told you were Leia
is *Wrong,* Vader corrected. *First, I'm a Sith of the Circle but not his.
Second, *Why is he not trying to stop us if he wants to keep Leia in here then?* Luke *Laws. I'm a Sith. He has no right to oppose me directly with no fault from
my *Oh?* *Now, if you excuse me, I need to concentrate.* *Sorry,* he apologized contritely before refocusing on his sister. They kept walking down empty corridors, even in the detention quarters. Luke When they reached the detention quarters, Leia's presence seemed to react to
his "She's in one of those rooms," he informed his 'captor', indicating
the doors of "Go get her. I will wait here, but no tricks, Skywalker, or Solo will
pay," he Han had long since then stopped arguing, having been Force-silenced by Vader. "She's not well. It will take more than a minute to get her out." "You have five minutes," the darksider declared. Luke walked down the corridor, keyed the door opened, then took a deep breath
to She was laying on her side on the rough ground. Her clothes were torn up, as Her face... *What?* his father asked him. *I... She......* he tried, then finally allowed his father to see through his He felt his father's instantaneous anger. *Take her out, Luke. I will restore Luke reverently knelt beside her wounded, unconscious body, carefully slipped Luke rejoined the two men in the still-deserted corridor. Han drew a sharp "Well done, young Jedi. Now, we're getting out, no tricks, no focus on
the Luke walked past the imposing silhouette of Vader who was still holding Han, They had barely disappeared around the corner when he heard someone shout an *I told you not to do that,* his father warned him, accompanying his *Ow!* Luke complained. *Hey! You didn't have to do that.* *Yes, I had. Your focus is strong, Son. It can destroy the effects of mine. *No.* he admitted, subdued. *Father, what are we going to do with Leia? She's *I will make sure that she lives, Son,* his father cryptically answered him As his father had told them, they didn't run into anymore trouble on the way They finally made their way outside the temple and down a secret rocky
corridor Luke cradled his sister closer, unsure as to what would happen next. His
father "Hold," Vader commanded. Luke obeyed, then turned around to face his 'enemy'. "Now what? I give
you Vader interrupted him. "You are all coming with me," he stated flatly. Luke couldn't help but take a step backward in uncertainty. Sure, things had Han struggled even more against the dark lord. "I have enough of you, Solo," Vader proclaimed, then knocked him
out with the "I could say the same about you turning to the dark side," Luke
rejoined, still Overhead, a shuttle began its approach. "Don't worry, Son, I haven't helped you this far to merely capture you Luke's lips moved as if he wanted to argue the point. "You'll be safer with me, all of you," his father commented with finality. The young Jedi shut his mouth, speechless. He simply couldn't find any
argument Meanwhile, Vader threw the tall Correllian on his shoulders, then took hold
of "For appearance's sake, we better pretend that you're my prisoner...
just in Luke silently pursed his lips but reluctantly agreed. As the shuttle came within boarding range, he dimly wondered how far this
'fake' He could unfortunately still remember the last time that he had been in his ****** The flight to his father's ship went uneventfully; he and Han were both
locked Once aboard the main ship, the men were taken to the detention block, but not The also heard that he would keep Leia with himself. As Luke sat on his hard bunk, he finally took some time to consider what he
had His father was a darksider, yes, but he was also human. He had feelings like This, he chuckled in amusement, had to be the least expected feeling coming
from He turned serious once again. Now, if he considered his own relationship with Now that the Rebellion was over, for him at least, he had nowhere to go. He Of course, he conceded that his father was not exactly the epitome of love
and He sighed and settled in to wait. He had no doubts that his father would send He closed his eyes and tried to find his sister's waning presence, hoping to ****** Burns, fractures.. the list of injuries went on and on, all of them graver
than "She will never walk again" was the conclusion of the medical droid.
"She will Vader looked at the monitor without seeing the lines. 'Invalid for the rest of your life...paralyzed... attached to the life
support In his case all those crow cries had been proven wrong, but nobody knew what Nobody knew what it was like to lay in dark silence, for months, with his
Force There, in the black void, he had first seen the Circle; it had saved him from He had survived. He had been able to resurrect from the ruins... Leia's case, he sighed inwardly in relief, was fortunately less grave that
his Weeks of hell, he calculated, perhaps months. He only hoped that she would be strong enough. He also hoped that she would
be After all, he calculated, she would have no choice but to live in his
Coruscant Vader sighed again, then called his aid. "Have Skywalker brought to me." "At once, my Lord." ****** To be Continued in part 6: The Offer Copyright 2001/2002, SJ and Tatiana (aa354105@econophone.ch) Home | Fan Fiction | Links | Site Info | Challenges | Fan Art |