Chapter 15
Leia frowned onboard the Arcturus' bridge, her heart suddenly skipping a beat, fluttering in her chest. The Sol lay dead in space before her, the Imperial Star Destroyer Fury nearby, both still floating slowly forward under their own inertia, the Fury making a ponderous corkscrew turn on its own axis as it did so.
Close to the Fury was the were the two battered freighters that had been so innocuouslyunder cover amongst the bona-fide shipping at Bothawuii, both dead, affecting a slow-motion tumble dangerously close to the front edge of the massive Destroyer. The true potential of the DEMP suddenly came home to Leia; the realisation of what it could do in a pitch battle if one side had shields and the other did not - if they did not. She took a slow breath to calm her sudden attack of nerves as they nestled close to the Sol, helm struggling to match its slow drift for tractor beams to engage, the vessels too close in mass for one to anchor the other securely without using its engines. She pulled her eyes from the scene of silent devastation, turning to Wyatt, "Are we in position, Captain?"
"Yes, Ma'am- we have a lock on the Sol. We'll begin evacuating immediately."
"Do so. Estimated time?"
"Around fifty minutes Ma'am- the best we can do with one shuttle."
Leia turned back; if only they'd had the room to take the Sol's shuttles onboard the Arcturus before it went to hyperspace, they could have halved the evacuation time. But with the Arcturus' other two shuttles already committed to ferrying boarding parties and its third lost along with Mon, she was painfully aware that every minute spent so close to the damaged Star Destroyer increased the risk of a second Destroyer turning up to check on its last location.
Theoretically they had up to an hour before the Fury would be considered to have missed a routine communication; longer if it was supposed to be in hyperspace, plus another hour response time, but they had no guarantee of either of these facts; it could have been just minutes away from its hourly check-in and another Destroyer could be trying to raise it now- there could already be a Destroyer on its way here. And if it was, anybody who wasn't onboard the Arcturus when it arrived would have to be left behind; there was no way this poky little freighter was about to outrun or outgun even a Frigate or Corvette, let alone a Destroyer. They'd been lucky once today in escaping the Fury only because of the Sol's intervention; she didn't want to have to try that luck again without it.
Which made her next command all that much harder;
"Contact Commander Solo and Commander Luss- tell them to launch their teams." Something buzzed at the back of her mind which she couldn't quite place, making her heart race and setting her nerves on edge all over again. "And start the calculations for a lightspeed jump in case we need to get out of here in a hurry."
.
In the bowels of the petty-officer's quarters, Luke stared out of the small viewscreen from a cramped, empty room, watching the lights of the distant freighter and feeling... something trickle up his spine.
"Why aren't they coming in any closer?" Mara asked uneasily, wondering what they were doing.
She turned back to Skywalker who remained silent, eyes locked on the ship... and again, Mara felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle as he summoned the Force; intense contact, accurate control, channelled like a laser specifically at the Rebel ship.
Was he everything that the Emperor was now, she wondered? Just as powerful, just as precise... but a completely unknown entity. She knew that he was Sith... she thought she knew; Palpatine was so sure now, so convinced... but he used his abilities so rarely that unlike Vader, she really had no concept of how extensive they were.
One thing she did know; he wasn't the man who had come to the Palace four years ago. Palpatine had invested a great deal of time and effort in creating his new Sith, some of it glaringly obvious and some of it so subtle that she was sure even Skywalker didn't know- and certainly there would be manipulations; hidden compulsions and coercions in place that she wasn't aware of.
But Palpatine had achieved what he wanted; because whatever else she saw when she looked into his eyes right now, she also saw her master's precious Wolf. She didn't doubt that Palpatine saw the same thing, but when he looked, he saw the opportunity to tame that will; bring it to heel, hold that source of power and potential. When Mara looked, she just saw the wolf - and the thought rolling round her head was; what did this wolf want?
At best, he was simply biding his time until leadership of the pack became available, and the more she knew him, the less likely she thought that to be. At worst...
His chin tilted up and his eyes widened as he took in a short, quick breath- "Well, well, well..."
.
Luke had shut out Mara's close presence, her dormant connection always making her glow within the Force, and reached out to the distant ship, narrowing his focus to try to track down just exactly what was happening. He was a long way away from the ship and the minds aboard were a diffuse mix of humans and aliens, all tense and wired. But leaders was seldom that difficult to find; they tended to have a singularity of purpose, a clarity of intent which made them stand out from the crowd. This time was no different.
Except that, whilst searching again for Madine, he had turned that intense Force-scrutiny on Leia...
She was as sharp and as focused and as doggedly determined as every memory he still held of her... but he sensed something else as well - it was only now, when he was acutely aware of Leia but looking for Madine that he sensed it; like trying to see a star in the night sky by not looking directly at it.
An unmistakable aura. Pale and faint, as insubstantial as a whisper... for a moment he dismissed it as some echo of Mara's presence, but this was different...
The corners of his scarred lips lifted just slightly in surprised amusement and he let out a short, disbelieving laugh, only too willing to consider that the galaxy could throw him this curve-ball so completely without warning.
She was Force-sensitive - how had he never noticed?
He could sense it quite clearly now, muted though it was, untapped and untamed. A resonance in the Force, compelling despite its indistinct diffusion. He held still for long seconds, mesmerised...
Palpatine must know - his Master had made several veiled attempts in the last few years to get hold of Leia Organa, always careful to try to keep them hidden from his fallen Jedi. Luke had always assumed that this was simply because of his past friendship with Leia - now he wondered...
"Well, well, well..."
.
"What?" Mara whispered, confused at his obvious revelation. For long seconds he remained silent, his features just visible in the cold starlight, attention rapt, focused entirely on the distant ship.
"There." He pointed to the vague shapes which slipped through the blackness, relieved to have something to turn Mara's attention away. Visible only by their edges, defined by the merest trail of diffuse starlight, their presence was detectable only when their shadowed bulk momentarily obscured the stars behind them - and in the Force of course; "Two shuttles - I think around twenty in each one."
Mara squinted into the endless pitch... for a second she saw the bright burst of a manoeuvring thruster flare in the darkness, "I see them... no running lights."
"Wouldn't want to draw attention to themselves."
Mara frowned, eyes locked on the moving shadows, black against black, "A boarding party?"
"They'll likely go for the aft bays; they're closest to the Detention Centre." He turned and set off into the darkness of the enclosed corridor, Mara's hand brushing against his hip and slipping over his belt.