OUTER RIM, SESWENNA SECTOR, ERIADU SYSTEM
GRID COORDINATES M-18
THE BRIDGE OF ANAKIN SOLO, JACEN SOLO’S FLAGSHIP
“There’s no sign of the Millenium Falcon out there, Colonel.”
Jacen tried not to show his exasperation. “Do you mean that our intelligence was wrong?”
“They are nowhere in the orbit, sir. It’s possible they have already landed.”
“Eriaduan Security received direct orders to arrest them. Are you sure there are no signs of them jumping into hyperspace?”
“No, sir. But Eriadu is known for its resentment toward the GA. Maybe they…”
“Ignored them?” Jacen frowned. Then he faced about, so quickly his cute Darth-Vader-like cloak billowed, and started a quick strode away. “I’m taking a transport down to the surface. If my mother’s there, I’ll find her.”
“Colonel Solo,” the officer called at him.
He came to a halt and glanced back. “Yes, Captain?”
“There’s a ship heading to us, requesting permission to land in our hangar.”
“What kind of ship?”
“It’s a SoroSuub yacht. The Jade Shadow.”
Jacen nodded. “Let the Jade Shadow land. And find Special Agent Skywalker. He’s coming down there with us.”
The Captain saluted. “Yes, Colonel.”
*/*
PLANET ERIADU, CITY OF PHELAR DOCKS,
ONBOARD THE MILLENIUM FALCON
No real word in Basic can express the silence that filled the cockpit.
And not just because the silence was constantly broken by bubbling and hissing of overheated ship, slowly cooling by frosty wind of Eriaduan winter.
“I think we fried that baby,” Lando said from his navigator’s seat.
“You think?” Leia was unusually grim. “If she’s going to fly again…”
“She is going to fly again,” Han interrupted. “Just give her a while to cool down, okay? It was toil for her. She’s an old lady.”
Leia sank. “We need to get out of here,” she said.
Han nodded. “Yes, we have to, but if you are considering leaving the Falcon behind…”
“Jacen’s looking for us. If we won’t move on quickly enough…”
Lando let his look slide from Han to Leia. “You two can say hi to GAG prison.”
Leia nodded. “Yes. And you too, Lando. You’re our accomplice now.”
Han gripped the Falcon’s joke. “I’m not abandoning my ship.”
“But we’re not escaping in it, either.”
Lando stroke his chin. “I think I have someone owing me here. We can hide the Falcon here, have her repaired and loan another ship.”
Leia laid a hand on Han’s arm. “Han, do you want us to turn ourselves over to the GAG?”
Han’s brow was more furrowed than Yoda’s face. “No.” he stood up. “Let’s go. I hate parting.”
*/*
ABOVE ERIADU,
THE JADE SHADOW, EN ROUTE TO THE ANAKIN SOLO
Luke cast a reassuring look at Mara. “Don’t worry, if Jacen’s not going to listen to us…”
Mara looked at him. “Who’s worried?”
“Well,” Luke said, looking out of the viewport on the slowly swelling silhouette of the Anakin Solo, “I am.”
Mara smiled at him. “Don’t worry, Luke,” she said, assuming the reassuring stance instead of him. She reached down with one hand and drew out her lightsaber hilt. “If Jacen’s not going to be reasonable, we’ll make him reasonable.”
It was reassuring in the typical Mara Jade way.
This was Mara Jade. But was Mara Jade enough for Jacen?
*/*
CIRCA 41 YEARS AGO,
ERIADU SYSTEM,
EXACTOR, EN ROUTE TO PLANET ERIADU
“It is an overwhelming honor that the Emperor has dignified me such a magnificent escort to Eriadu,” Tarkin said, curling his lip just a bit, “However, I cannot help but feel a little… supervised.”
“It would do the Empire no good to have you killed, Grand Moff Tarkin,” one of the Exactor’s officers said.
Tarkin nodded. “Indeed. But especially now, with a Rebellion raging through our realm, I think that Lord Vader should be somewhere else, not serving as an escort.”
“He said almost the same to me, sir,” the officer nodded. “He feels that he’s needed more in the front lines.”
“That’s utterly right, Captain Piett.”
Door on Tarkin’s right opened.
A tiny officer stepped in. “Grand Moff Tarkin, Lord Vader wishes to speak with you on the bridge.”
Tarkin nodded and beckoned to Piett to follow him. “Let’s not have him waiting.”
*-*
“What is it, Lord Vader?”
Vader glanced back at Tarkin, then turned to him fully.
In his whole black magnificence, he almost threw Tarkin into the shade.
Almost.
“I need your permission to leave Eriadu after we drop you off,” Vader said.
Tarkin clasped his hand behind his back and rounded him to have a look out from a huge viewport. “And you want me to grant that permission, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
A while of silence followed, interrupted by series of hissing sounds as Vader breathed.
Tarkin knew very well why troopers call him Cybernetic Bronchitis.
He watched the magnificent starfield ringing his homeworld, silvery gray planet of Eriadu.
Then some of those stars started to disappear.
“What’s this?”
Vader stepped to his side. “Sensors!” he called. “Do you pick up anything?”
The blackness started to swell, biting off a bit of Eriadu’s gray sphere.
“It’s… something. Our sensors pick up nothing there. Perhaps it’s jamming them.”
“And it’s closing in. Or swelling.”
“Try to evade it!” Vader ordered.
“Too late, sir. With the speed with which it’s swelling, no evasive action can stop us from colliding with it.”
Piett looked like someone knifed him in his gut. “Should we deploy our squadrons, sir?”
Tarkin wanted to approve it, but Vader shook his head.
“No. There’s nothing in there. No people.”
Tarkin glanced at him. “Your precious Force again?” he snorted. “Leave the squadrons inside.”
And so the Exactor, with imperial elite onboard, with Grand Moff Tarkin and with Darth Vader, who were both crucial figures in the galaxy’s fate, continued its venture into darkness.

 
ETHEREAL MARAUDER, EN ROUTE TO ERIADU
“You okay, kid?”
Ben looked at the Marauder’s co-pilot. “Why, yessir.”
“You look puzzled.”
He returned his look to his sensor board. “It’s nothing, sir. I was just thinking.”
“Save this thinking for another flight, boy,” the pilot said. “I don’t want to hit something.”
Ben smiled. He knew they didn’t mean it bad. But they were troops and that came along with a specific way of communication. “Yes, sir.”
The Marauder swiftly broke away from the Anakin Solo, beginning a corkscrew descent toward the cloud-studded face of Eriadu.
“A ship’s coming out of Eriadu’s atmosphere,” Ben reported.
The pilot, Corporal Snage, brought the Marauder to a neat halt. “Is it the Falcon?”
“No, sir. It’s an A-Z-Z-3. Not even Corellian design.”
Snage nodded at his co-pilot. “Designation?”
“Pantoran Runner,” Ben answered obediently.
Snage’s Chev co-pilot tapped his ear comm unit. “Colonel Solo,” he said.
He was silent for a while as he listened to Jacen’s answer.
Ben guessed he scolded him because they stopped.
“Sir, there’s a ship leaving Eriadu…”
Another while of silence. Then Ben recalled he has his earpiece as well.
He turned it on, curious.
Jacen was just at the end. “…just because of a ship?”
His voice was nice and calm as always.
“Sir, it there might be the Falcon’s crew onboard.”
Ben reached out toward the ship and found a handful of presences onboard, but none belonged to his aunt. “They’re not there,” he said.
“See?” Ben could almost imagine Jacen shaking his head. “Get us moving, Lieutenant. Time’s valuable. Let’s not waste it.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
Lieutenant nodded at Snage, who continued the spiraling drop.
“Wait.”
The Marauder twitched as Snage winced.
“What’s wrong, son?” he asked.
A wave of swears sounded in Ben’s earpiece.
“Something has just appeared on our sensors.”
“A ship emerging from hyperspace?” the co-pilot asked, mocking.
“No, sir. Certainly not. It seems to interfere with our scanners. It causes a black mass.”
“A ship with scanner-jammers?” the co-pilot asked again, even more waspish.
Ben looked at him. “No,” he replied, utterly serene. “Unless you know any ships capable of growing.”
He got this habit from Jacen, appearing even calmer when he was getting annoyed.
He saw Snage’s knuckles become white as he crushed the yoke in his grip. “Vongs?”
“Yuuzhan Vong doesn’t have sensor jammers,” Jacen said from behind Ben.
Ben winced almost imperceptibly.
He glanced up at him. “Jacen?” he asked, forgetting the routine for a while. “What’s wrong?”
“This thing’s wrong,” Jacen replied, clinging to the door-frame over his head as the Marauder jerked again. “Corporal Snage, turn us about to face it. I want to see it with my own eyes.”
Ben almost immediately knew what was wrong with it – it was a deep gap in the Force. He could feel nothing in it. He could feel the buzzing sensation of a living universe above it, around it, behind it. But not inside. It was almost tactual, a big leak, a void in the Force.
“Wow,” he sighed out.
Almost imperceptible smile crossed Jacen’s face for a split of a second. “Yes, Ben, wow.”
Ben glanced up at him. “Do you know what it is?”
Jacen repaid his gaze. “If I knew it, I would most certainly do something with it. But, seeing that I don’t have a slightest idea what’s going on, I am afraid I can do nothing but sit tight and watch the show.”
Insufficient regulator made Marauder’s quick port spin a maneuver that caused almost everyone on the ship to experience a quick nausea.
Ben wheezed, struggling to settle his stomach.
Then he realized everyone else – even Jacen, his I’m-not-feeling-anything mask dropping for a while – is staring up through the viewport.
He didn’t want to spoil the business, so he joined them.
And found himself staring at nothing.
Well, that wouldn’t be so bad, but that certain nothing was in a place where something should be.
The seemingly swelling mass of darkness swallowed up Eriadu’s sun.
And then it spat.
Well, spat – there was a visible motion, if it’s possible in complete darkness.
It spat out a star destroyer.
And then it began to shrink quickly, until it wasn’t more than a little sphere with petite tentacles wrapped around the destroyer.
The tentacles drew back into the sphere, which suddenly vanished from being.
It didn’t make any noise, but Ben’s subconscious assigned it a flimsy pop, almost on verge of hearing.
“Wow,” Jacen said.
*/*
JADE SHADOW, APPROACHING THE ANAKIN SOLO
“That’s a Star destroyer,” Luke said.
Mara raised her brows, concentrated on bringing the Shadow into the hangar without scratching the paint. “Yes, Luke. It’s a star destroyer.”
Luke continued to stare on his sensor board. “And my father is onboard,” he added.
The Shadow turned so it was in parallel with the Anakin and started to fly sideways.
“Do you really thing that this matter with Jacen going dark is already so bad?”
Luke turned and stared at her instead staring on the sensor board. Is expression didn’t change a bit, and that was pretty scary.
“You don’t feel it, Mara?”
She shut off Shadow’s thrusters for a moment, her green eyes becoming glassy for a moment.
Then she nodded. “I do.”
Luke shook his head to shake off the startle. “What do you thing that happened?”
All of Mara’s senses were sharp and her brain was ringing alarm bells pretty loudly. “I have no idea,” she confessed, “But I don’t like it one bit.”
“Neither do I,” Luke nodded.
Mara engaged Jade Shadow’s engines again, angling away from the Anakin and flying under it, heading for the ship that emerged next to it.
“I feel my father, Mara.”
She nodded. “I do, too.”
“What that means?”
“That something in the universe had gone terribly wrong.” She spotted a GA transport as it turned toward the ship, making a slow, careful approach. “And if Ben’s going to board that ship, Jacen’s going to answer to me for this.”
*/*
CITY OF PHELAR, ERIADU MANUFACTURING SHIPYARDS HQ
“Well,” The man said. He was well-dressed, very refined and unbelievably condescending. “I could provide you with one of our company ships, but I would have to hire you first. Unless you want to work for me, I doubt I can help you.”
“We’re cheap to hire, sir,” Han said, giving him a jolly smile Leia would not believe he can manage in these times, along with a conspirator-like blink.
Man gave him an ennobled look that made him look taller than he actually was. He kind of reminded Leia of Grand Moff Tarkin.
“Look, Lorth, we just need a ride,” Lando said. “We’re not hard to please.”
“We cannot be,” Leia said. “Since we’re on the run…”
Lorth nodded. “I heard about that.”
“We were surprised that they didn’t arrest us in the port.”
“It’s about Eriadu’s business with Galactic Alliance,” Lorth explained. “It’s nothing personal, I assure you.”
“Not that we expected it to be,” Han grumbled. “I’ve heard you Eriaduans are still mad with us because of Tarkin.”
Lorth’s look was purely scornful. “I assure you, Captain Solo, that Eriaduans know better than to keep old grudges like that.”
“It wasn’t even our fault that he died,” Leia added. “He was the one that didn’t run when he should have.”
“That would be very unmanly to flee in heat of the battle, Princess Leia.”
Lando, carefully avoiding unpleasant – and time consuming – argues, rushed forward to place himself between Lorth and Leia. “Let’s get back to business, Lorth. Is there a way you can take us a ship?”
“Of course,” Lorth nodded and slipped a credcoin from his pocket. He threw it to Han, who caught it. “I’m hiring you. You’re now employed at Eriadu Manufacturing Shipyards as…ewww…”
“A general servant?” Han asked, grimacing.
“Yes.”
“Fine,” Han said, grinning at Leia. “Always wanted to be someone’s slavey.”
Leia glanced at Lorth, joking but not able to force a smile. “What’s his pay?”
“One credit per month.”
Lando glanced back at Leia. “Better than your payment as Chief of State, huh?”
Leia didn’t answer. She was serious once more. “We need the ship.”
Lorth nodded. “Of course. Follow me.”
Both Han and Lando followed, but Leia stood frozen at the spot, ashen-faced.
Han was first to notice. “What’s up, sweetheart?”
Leia was shaking her head.
He ran to her. “What’s up?” he repeated.
“Something’s happening up there.”
“Where?”
Leia’s voice was weak. “Above the planet.”
Han scowled. “Jacen?”
“No.” she looked at him, brown eyes wide with confusion. “Darth Vader.”
“Jacen’s nickname?”
“Han,” Leia was still shocked, but even at this state she managed to sound reproachful. “It’s him. Really him. I know it.”
“I thought we got rid of this guy…” Han said.
Lando was suddenly next to him. “We all hoped we got rid of him.”
Han glanced back at Lorth, who stood tactfully aside. “Uh, boss? I think we will need a big gun. And when I say big, I mean really big. You haven’t hidden another Death Star nearby by any chance, have you?”
*/*
ABOARD THE EXACTOR, ABOVE ERIADU
“Well, at least we are out of it,” some officer said maybe too loudly. “The blackness was becoming boring…”
The rest was cut off by sounds of gasping for breath, as Vader subtly choked the man.
He released him before he could do any damage.
Tarkin glanced at him. He had to be stunned. This was almost generous for him.
Then he looked back out of the viewport. They seemed to have attracted some attention. At least two vessels now turned and slowly drew near.
“We’re popular, sir,” Piett said nervously.
Tarkin’s eyes narrowed as he tried to recognize the closing crafts. “I’ve never seen such ships.”
“Nor did I,” Vader admitted. Then he jerked his thumb toward the bow of a ship filling the whole left side of the viewport. “But that seems like the prototypes of new battleships the Kuati were working on.”
“Yes,” Tarkin nodded. “It resembles the Empire.”
“Maybe we just ran across a test flight,” Piett suggested. “Maybe they just tried some new technology and we just happened to be at the wrong place in wrong time.”
“And what exact technology you have in mind, Captain Piett? We re-appeared on the same place we were when the blackness absorbed us.”
“Actually, sir,” a voice sounded from behind them. “We are few dozen klicks to the right.”
It was completely useless information, but no one cared to point it out.
Piett spoke as if no one spoke before him. “I don’t know, sir. Maybe some kind of black web to confuse the enemy?”
Tarkin dismissed the idea with a wave of a hand. “I don’t know about such technology being designed,” he said.
“Maybe it’s the Rebels developing it,” Vader said.
“Do you know anything I do not, my friend?” Tarkin asked.
“I feel strong users of the Force around.”
Tarkin raised his brows. “And that tells us what?”
“I haven’t encountered any of them before…” he let the sentence fade into silence, then winced. “Except one.”
“Who’s this?”
Vader dragged his heels. “It’s one of Empire’s operatives.”
Tarkin automatically slotted in his Emperor’s-annoying-secrets and nodded. “So those are Rebels.”
Vader shrugged. “It’s likely, yes.”
“Sir,” the comm. officer’s voice was surprisingly calm for someone who had been nearly Force-chocked to unconsciousness, “we have incoming transmission from one of those approaching vessels.”
“Let’s see to it.”
“This is Lieutenant Ben Skywalker from the GAG ship Ethereal Marauder to unidentified cruiser. Please identify yourself.”
“This is Exactor of the Imperial Navy.” Then there was a brief, but busy pause – at least on the side of imperial officers, who frantically tried to figure out who they were talking to.
“Does that lieutenant of theirs sound that young, or is it just me?” mumbled Tarkin under his nose and Vader quietly nodded in agreement, “By my opinion, he can’t be older than ten.”
At last, he officer turned to them. “Sir, we have no information regarding the “GAG”. No planet, trading company, or even a criminal organization we have listed doesn’t use this acronym. Well, at least if the Garos Art Glass haven’t built secret fleet recently and armed it with weapons we have never seen before.”
“Contact them and force them to make sense, sergeant.” Huffed Tarkin and leaned over his shoulder. “Let’s see what they really are.”
“This is Colonel Jacen Solo, the head of the Galactic Alliance Guard. Imperial Navy was not requested to join the Anakin Solo in Eriadu’s orbit. What are your intentions? And what was that black thing?”
*/*
ETHEREAL MARAUDER, APPROACHING THE EXACTOR
“We would like to know that ourselves, colonel.” Very characteristic sound of artificial breath has sounded from the comm unit.
Ben glanced up at his cousin. “This sounds like…”
Jacen held up his hand. “Don’t say it.”
“Why not? Brings bad luck and bad guys with helmets?”
The pilot looked back at Ben. “Boy, we are GAG. We are the guys with helmets.”
“But that guy sounds exactly like Darth Vader.”
“That’s who I am.”
“Yeah – and I am your granny.”
“I doubt that.”
“Seriously, you can’t expect us to believe something like that. Where have you been last forty years?”
Laughing sound… followed by sound of choking.
“You wouldn’t believe if I told you.”
“That is the first thing you said that I actually believe. By the way – who was that… unfortunate?”
A short pause.
“Lieutenant Bryzler, sir.”
“Do you have some especial problem with Lieutenants?”
“No, boy, he chokes everyone around.”
Another choking sound.
There was an exasperated sigh. “Now, everybody, stop joking before we will lose our whole crew.”
“Not much of a problem.”
“For you, you mean.”
“You know, I actually don’t much care about your situation. It’s not personal. I just don’t like jerks.”
“Jerks?”
Ben looked at Jacen. “Should I comm the Anakin and ask for a medical frigate? They will need some serious psychiatric help.”
“Stop being insolent or you will need first aid, sonny.”
“I disapprove that, Captain Piett,” someone said.
“I just tried to warn him, sir. Just protecting civilians.”
“We are not civilians, Captain Piett or whoever,” Jacen said. “This is Galactic Alliance Guard. We are a military organization, remember?”
A wheezy sound – Vader’s breathing – sounded. “I have never heard about any Galactic Alliance Guard.”
Ben raised his brows. “So you should better consult your doctor about your hearing. And you’d better have your lungs checked. You sound like a whistle.”
Ben’s comlink beeped. “Could you please give me a moment?” he went from a cockpit and stopped on the end of a corridor. “Yes?”
 “Ben, where exactly are you now?”
“Onboard the Ethereal Marauder. We have some weird discussion with the arriving ship.”
“How much weird?”
“Well, some guy told me he is Darth Vader, so… pretty weird.”
There was long, long… long silence.
“Ben, I am afraid that the man you spoke to actually is Darth Vader.”
“Really?”
“You can’t mistake him. Not even for Jacen… yet.”
“Mom…”
“Think about it, Ben. You are just facing the second most-known Sith lord. Tell Jacen: Don’t fight him, don’t make him angry, and…”
Ben gulped. “Don’t taunt him?”
“Exactly.”
“It’s little late for that.”
“And you are still alive?”
“I think so.”
There was a hint of smile in Mara’s words. “Boy, you are your father’s son.” What was that supposed to mean? “Is there a possibility that this whole situation is Jacen’s doing?”
“Unlikely. Jacen is pretty much perplexed himself.”
“How can you possibly know that?”
“I know him, mom. He’s as stunned as we. This was one of the few times I saw him drop his jaw.”
Short disbelieving pause. “Okay, Ben, listen up. No matter what just happened, this is going to be serious trouble. What about convincing Jacen to let us handle this one ourselves?”
“Mom, I doubt he will listen.”
“Is he nearby?”
Ben glanced around. “No, he’s still in the cockpit.”
“Okay. I’m going to call him and tackle it myself. This is going to need the old imperial way to make this solved, and however good Jacen became in doing things the imperial way, I’m the competent one here.”
“All right. So I’m supposed to go back to the cockpit and pretend that I’m not scheming?”
“Just make sure that Jacen’s going to respond to my call.”
“Sure.”
“Okay, Ben. Love you.”
“Love you, Mom.”
He snapped his comlink shut. He – and he was sure Mara did, too – noticed the short pause in the end, when they both expected him to say something more.
Tell Dad I love him, too.
He went back into the cockpit and caught the door frame like Jacen did when the Marauder quickly accelerated.
“Fun time’s over,” he said quietly to Jacen. “Mom and Dad are going to join this party.”
“What does that mean?”
“Mom wants us to back down and let them handle this.”
“Why?”
“Well, they are sure that Darth Vader really is onboard that ship. And they actually should be able to recognize him.”
Jacen’s eyes flashed. “Yes. Yes, they should be.”
Ben stumbled into his seat. “What happened when I was gone, by the way?”
“We’re going to discuss this incident with the Exactor’s occupants.”
Ben frowned. “Jacen, I think mom’s going to call you and try to talk you out of this.”
Jacen raised his comlink. “She already is.”
“I told her I’ll make you respond.”
Jacen sighed. “Okay. I’ll respond. But I’m not going to leave this to civilians. Not even to Jedi. This is GAG business.”
“It’s a ship packed with long-dead imperials and a should-be-dead dark lord of the Sith. Which part of this makes it GAG business?”
Jacen glanced at him. “You’re really much like aunt Mara,” he said and strode away from the cockpit with the comlink at his ear.
“Aunt Mara, you wanted to talk with me about something?”
“You know why I call.”
“Of course I do. However, I am certain that you understand the necessity of leaving this situation to be handled by the GAG. The Exactor is military vessel, so Jedi Order does not have authority to intervene.”
“Jacen, I don’t think dealing with the Dark Lord of the Sith is within the GAG jurisdiction either.” Yes, Ben really sounds like her.
“Everyone threatening the welfare of the Galactic Alliance is within our jurisdiction, aunt Mara. There is no need for your assistance. It would be nice of you if you went onboard the Anakin Solo and waited there until the problem is solved.”
“You…  Now listen to me, Jacen. I am not going to behave like everything’s fine when there is Sith on the loose.  We’re going to board the Exactor and I assure you: you don’t want me to see Ben there, copy?”
“Copy… Is that all, aunt Mara?”
“Yes, you don’t want me to regret trusting you, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay. So we are clear.”
*/*
ABOARD THE EXACTOR, SERVICE HANGAR
There were about twenty stormtroopers surrounding the Marauder – not enough to storm them effectively, but enough to send the proper message.
Ben looked up on his cousin. “Jacen, are you certain taking me here was a good idea?”
Jacen was studying their situation discreetly. “Of course it was. But I’m afraid that your mother doesn’t agree with me.”
“Mom just cares too much.”
They were awaiting the arrival of the most famous mass murderer in the galaxy in his own personal hangar and the pilot was nervous.
Loudly.
“I’m sorry, sir.” He murmured, when he noticed the grumpy look from Jacen, and stopped tapping with leg. But just a moment later he started afresh.
This time Jacen turned to him.  “You will come to no harm, Corporal. I will make sure of that.”
“It’s just …”
“I am aware of that.” In the end, is there any non-human enjoying being onboard ship full of good old xenophobic imperials?
“Shut up.” One – captain? – of the white bad guys barked. No mood for chatter, friend? Thought Ben, but stayed quiet.
The door slid open and six white-armored stormtroopers marched in, lining out in two rows, setting up a short passageway.
There was a short, almost imperceptible dramatic pause.
Then a man strode in.
He was about Jacen’s height, elderly but vivid. He had a soldier-like pace and bearing.
Colorful insignia on his chest indicated his rank as a Grand Moff.
He was trailed by a man in something that resembled dark armor, with helmet and long, rippling cloak.
He needed no insignia. Everyone knew who this man was.
Corporal Snage’s tapping became almost frantic.
Jacen couldn’t help but feel thrilled. He was attended by two of the most powerful man of the Empire.
Willhuff Tarkin and Darth Vader.
Their small suite was closed by a squad of six troopers.
Tarkin came to halt about two meters away from Jacen.
“Which one is Colonel Jacen Solo?” he asked.
Jacen stepped forward, gesturing subtly at Ben to stay behind. He reached out to Tarkin. “I am Colonel Solo.”
Tarkin nodded. “Very well.” He raised his hand and beckoned to the stormtroopers behind him.
They rushed forward and secured all four of them.
Ben noticed there were two troopers holding Jacen.
Good idea.
“You are suspected of cooperation with the Rebellion,” Tarkin said. “As suspects, you will be questioned properly and temporarily placed in the prison block until your court. As presumable members of the military, you will be provided with a military court.”
Jacen quietly listened. Ben wondered if he has some trick up his sleeve.
Stupid question.
He always did.
One of the troopers paused next to Ben with handcuffs in his hand. “Sir,” he asked Tarkin. “Should I arrest the boy, too?”
“Hey,” Ben said. “I’m a full-fledged junior officer!”
Trooper didn’t answer.
“Yes, arrest him, too,” Tarkin said, pinning first Ben then Jacen with a look. “Military cruiser is a dangerous place. His parents ought to know that.”
Trooper saluted and handcuffed the boy.
Ben was waiting for Jacen’s order to defend himself.
It didn’t come.
“Hey, son,” stormtrooper said to him in conspiratorial whisper. “I have some candy in my belt. Want some?”
Ben merely glanced at him, with a hint of disdain. “I don’t like candy.”
*/*
ABOARD THE JADE SHADOW
 “Ben is onboard,” complained Mara with the eyes on the star destroyer. “Is Jacen that dumb? What did he expect? That they would give him a candy and send him home?”
“Maybe just not to kick him out of the air lock.” Luke frowned when he used the Force to check Ben. “If so, he was right – Ben’s calm.”
“I hope that he hasn’t become friend of Vader.”
“At least part of the family would get along with each other.”
Mara gave him a look. “It feels bad to say it, but it’s Jacen I’m feared about.”
Luke responded with a tight smile. “I think he and Vader may get on with each other just fine.”
Mara looked back at the Exactor. “That’s what worries me.”
Luke followed her look to the ship. “At least it’s not the Death Star.”
Mara frowned. “Not even think about it. I am afraid Jacen would know exactly what he’d do with it.”
Luke shivered mentally. He surely would.
“What’s your plan?” he asked her.
“Well,” Mara shrugged. “Vader knows us, so I’d rather choose some sneakier approach.”
“They already know about us.”
Mara nodded, musing. “Any idea how to use that to our advantage?”
“No.”
“What about some heads-on attack?”
“Suicide.”
“Any other idea?”
“No.”
“Perfect.” Mara sighed. “As always.”
“Imperial Is, do they have an emergency airlock?”
Mara slowly nodded. “I think they do.” She looked at Luke. “Pressure suits on?”
Luke shrugged. “We can give it a shot.”
Mara’s hand dropped to her lightsaber. “I don’t have my whole kit here.”
“I almost killed him just with a lightsaber. And I was alone. And twenty-two.”
“But he didn’t have a whole ship of troopers backing him.”
Luke smiled. “That’s where you come, sweetheart.”
Mara glanced at him sourly. “You want to spoil me of fun, Luke.”
Luke shrugged and unbuckled himself. “Fun is not everything, Mara.” He stood up. “Remember that our son’s there.”
“That meant what? That we have him as a backup or that he’s the excuse for eliminating whole ship of imps?”
Luke paused in motion. “Who spoke about eliminating?”
Mara switched off Shadow’s engines. “I, Luke. No one on that ship is safe to pace about here.”
“Mara, my father was redeemable.”
“And he was dead.”
Luke breathed out slowly. “What do you think went wrong?”
Mara unbuckled herself and stood up. “I don’t know.” She gave him a slight reassuring smile and squeezed his arm. “Anything it was, we are going to make it right this time.”
“Mara…”
Her grip became a bit tighter. “Luke, we don’t need two dark men running about. We have Jacen.”
“It’s true that Jacen and Vader puts the odds a bit elsewhere.”
Mara retrieved her blaster and went out of the cockpit.
“If Jacen really is becoming dark,” she said, “Vader’s certainly going to help him with it.”
“So the time presses.”
“Exactly,” Mara said, struggling to put on the pressure suit. “So get into the suit before your nephew goes dark.”
*/*
ABOARD THE EXACTOR, PRISON BLOCK G-22, CELL 75/H/12
Ben tried to amuse himself with doing something.
There wasn’t much to do in a plain, empty cell.
He tried nevertheless.
So he clapped his heels on the floor.
It made a nice sound. Almost like applause.
Jacen, who sat cross-legged on something resembling a cot, opened one eye.
“If you are jumpy, try a meditation,” he said.
Ben took the hint and stopped. “I’m wondering why we surrendered to them so easily.”
Jacen opened both his eyes and nodded. “That’s a good question. Do you know the answer already?”
“No,” Ben confessed, dragging his legs under him to assume a proper meditation position. “I still haven’t puzzled it out.”
Jacen offered him a slight smile. “If we put up a fight in the hangar, how would you think it will end?”
Ben frowned. “In a firefight?”
“I mean the outcome.”
“We would clear out before everyone would get hurt?”
Jacen nodded. “That, or ended up under arrest anyway.”
“What’s bad on clearing out?”
Jacen took a while to compose his answer. “Ben, I am sure you have already thought about the fallout of the situation we are facing now.”
“Yes.”
“What are your conclusions?”
“That I am not completely sure what the situation is.”
Jacen shook his head. “There were lots of hints, Ben.”
Ben shrugged. “I somehow couldn’t believe my granddad’s arresting me for cooperation with the Rebellion.”
“That’s one of the hints.”
Ben looked straight at his cousin. “Is this how Aunt Leia and Uncle Han feel like?”
Jacen tilted his head. “I suppose it is.”
Ben glanced around the room. “Is this what’s awaiting them if we managed to round them up?”
Jacen shrugged, self-contained. “GA prisons aren’t that crude, but yes.”
Ben embraced his knees. “But it’s our duty to arrest them, right?”
“Yes. They are Corellian agents.”
“But we are not rebels.”
“No.”
“So we are not supposed to be here.”
“Yes.”
“Shouldn’t we tell them?”
“I think they are not going to believe us anyway.”
“Ah.” Ben laid his chin on his knees. “So what are the hints?”
“First: We are imprisoned because of collaboration with the Rebellion. Doesn’t that sound somehow wrong to you?”
“So that means that they think they are still in the era of the Empire.”
“Yes.”
“Ah.”
“Yes.”
“So they are from the past?”
“It seems very likely.”
“How’s this possible?”
“I think the black mass we saw before may be sort of a…” Jacen was lost for words.
“Gate between times?”
“That’s an interesting way to put it.” He nodded. “Yes, I think you’re right.”
“What do you think that opened that gate?”
“I don’t know. I just know it wasn’t me.”
Not deliberately, at least. And it wasn’t Lumiya. If this is not a test.
“Oh.” Ben started to sway slowly. “It wasn’t me, either.”
“I sense your mother and father.”
“Yes. Mom’s going to be angry.”
“She feels very decisive.”
“Yeah. I am afraid she’s going to make matchwood of this ship if she will find out that they imprisoned us.”
“That’s very rash. This situation may prove to be interesting.”
I can ask my Grandfather how he felt when he was falling to the dark side.
“She’s my Mom,” Ben shrugged. “She cares. And she’s armed.”
Jacen managed a smile.
“What am I supposed to do when they will question me?” Ben asked.
“Tell them the truth? I don’t want to have your mother on my back because I let them torture you.”
“Won’t the truth just make them angrier?”
“Well, if you will say that you are with the Rebellion, they can execute you.”
Ben frowned. “Come on,” he said with a hint of alarm. “I’m a kid. They won’t shoot me, will they?”
“You’re GAG junior officer.”
“They don’t even know the Galactic Alliance exists.” Ben suddenly realized something. “Should I tell them my name? If Vader’s going to be there…”
“The name Skywalker might ring some bells?” Jacen considered it. “I think you can do this little retouch.”
Ben seemed genuinely concerned now. “They saw our lightsabers. They know we are Jedi.”
“We can try to tell them that it’s a regular weapon now.”
Ben didn’t seem soothed. “No one else had a lightsaber.”
Jacen was half cursing, half blessing Ben’s wit. “Special forces weapon?” he tried it.
A paranoid light flickered through Ben’s blue eyes. “Jacen,” he said slowly, “what if they are tapping us?”
Jacen frowned. “I feel nothing.”
“I don’t, either.” Ben was uneasy. “That’s what worries me.”
Jacen made another sweep with his Force-senses. “Trust me. There’s nothing there.”
Ben unrolled from his huddled position. “But there should be something.”
“Ben, this is probably a ship from time when your father was still a farmboy on Tatooine and Alderaan was still… well, still was. This is old-school cruiser. Less money, less paranoia.”
Ben appeared a bit calmer. “Yeah, Mom always complained about the low-price imperial stuff.”
In that instance, the door slid open and revealed a unit of stormtroopers beneath it led by a short brunet officer of truculent expression and a scar over his left cheek. “Hands up, children, and no fast moves.”
“Not even blinking?” Ben asked with innocent look in his face.
“So you are the crack-a-joke type, ain’t you?” the officer gestured towards him and a pair of stormtroopers grabbed Ben’s elbows and pulled him up – painfully, so he groaned. “Then let’s see how tough you are.”
My mother will skin you… after doing the same with Jacen, I’m afraid.
They dragged him through seemingly endless corridors into small dark room. They seated him on a chair and left him there for a long, long time, when he was probably supposed to nearly scare himself to death with speculations about what they could do with him. Instead, he was trying to figure out how bad the situation would be if his mother founded out he was killed by Vader and chosen to take revenge – whether it would change the history and Vader would not kill Palpatine and… It wasn’t nice either.
“You are?”
 He hadn’t noticed the man to enter, so he was there from a start or he was sneaky one.
“Ben.” The person nodded with eyes on datapad in front of him.
“Ben Skywalker?”
“Ben Jade.” That earned him doubtful look from his interrogator.
“Someone during the communication between Exactor and Ethereal Marauder introduced himself as Ben Skywalker. There are three of you who are not Jacen Solo and only one of you is a human. It is human name. Who was that?”
“Me.” The man darted up and slapped his face. “It was me!”
“Why did you lie, then?”
“Well, Darth Vader tortured my aunt, tried to have her executed, then to blow up a planet she was on, nearly shot off the sky my uncle, shot after my father, went on hunt after my father, sent a bunch of bounty hunters after my uncle and aunt, cheated my uncles best friend, tortured my uncle and then froze him into carbonite statue and sent him to Hutts, cut off my father’s hand, put a bounty on my father that high that it would buy you a planet, nearly destroyed everything my aunt ever held dear and saved my father’s neck – in this sequence.” They stared for a moment at each other, the personnel with blank face. “Is that enough of a reason to you?”
“If I were you, I would spend my breath better than on joking, boy.” The officer spoke very low now, but when he became quiet, the door opened and torture droid flew in. Now he sat on the table in front of Ben from left side and looked down upon him. “You are going to have a very bad time if you don’t answer my questions properly.”
No fun in that.
Officer noticed his expression, and it brought a tight smile to his face. “You don’t trust me that I’m going to harm you. You probably think that you are too young to be tortured, that if you have almost nothing to interest us codes, locations or coordinates you posses would be safe. Let me reveal a secret to you, Ben: this is not the way of the galaxy. We are not some poor sentimental weaklings you may have faced.”  While saying this, he was leaning forward until he was talking right into Ben’s ear, with hand rested on his shoulder. After a while, he vigorously straightened up with a smug smile. “Shall we move on?”
“Yes,” this sounded like a first lost exchange. I really could use a time out.
“What is your position within a Rebel Alliance?”
Gimme a break! What am I supposed to answer? Ben didn’t react to this, just frowned helplessly.
Officer smirked and gestured to droid. “Playing a hero? Then …”
“This is enough.” The door opened and Vader walked in. Ben fought back a wave of relief and urged himself to stay guarded – It’s still a Sith Lord. The sense of uncontrolled dread suddenly emanating from an interrogator helped a lot. “Leave us.”
Once the officer left, Vader used the Force to shove Ben with his chair into wall, then rushed to him and towered over him. In the Force he felt as if built-up of unforgiving cold menace. “The droid will not be necessary.” It seemed that he smiled. “You will tell me everything, won’t you?”
I will tell you everything. It seemed that there was some kind of a Force mind-trick in Vader’s statement, powerful and undetectable, because for the moment Ben almost gave up to his command. Come on, you are better than that. He shook his head. “It depends on what you are going to ask. For the record: I’m not a rebel.”
“You are. I don’t care if you call yourself part of the Rebel Alliance or the Intergalactic Cookie-selling Company or the GAG… Did you really think that we would not find out there is nothing named like this?”
“Galactic Alliance Guard is.” This earned him a thud in his stomach. “Sorry – couldn’t help myself.”
“Who are they?” You don’t want to know, thought Ben, but he answered:
“Galactic Alliance Guard is a governmental organization similar to Coruscant Security Force, focused on… well, clampdown of terrorism on Coruscant. It’s something like military and intelligence in one establishment. Its competence is extending to the whole GA territory. We just seek out the bad guys and take them out, so they won’t be trouble anymore.”
“Nice. The problem is …” his open palm hit Bens head, “that if you are as good liar…” he repeated that from the other side, “as you are, you shouldn’t waste your talent…” now he dragged him up and slapped him on wall, “on such a nonsense and try to convince me…” Ben was suddenly running out of breath, “with something I could believe.” He let Ben fall gasping for breath. “Try it again.”
You son of a Sith. Okay, let’s try another way. “Thanks. Now, can the GAG do anything for you? We have the experience and the equipment to handle illegal organizations like rebels.” Something in Vader’s presence moved from angry and impatient to angrier and more impatient.
“Not a good idea.” Yeah, in that we both agree. Now Vader’s tone became calmer, almost kind, and he lowered himself to Ben’s level and Ben found out that he no longer can avoid looking into his mask. “I assure you, you will answer my question sooner or later. I prefer it to be sooner, so sooner it will be. What you can choose is whether it will be painless or painful.” In the middle of ‘painful’ something on his belt beeped and his performance of power turned to dust. “You should better hope it’s worth it, commander.” he snapped when an officer appeared as he turned a holotransmitter on.
“We have incoming transmission on one of the confiscated commlinks – the boy’s.”
Vader turned his attention to Ben again. “Who’s that?”
“How could I know? My mother probably. She was an imperial interrogator for seven years and she doesn’t like people who try to harm me.”
“She should not change sides then.”
“She didn’t. Not until …” he trailed off, even when Vader’s stare urged him to continue.
“Until what?” he insisted, but Ben shook his head dismissively.
“I’m not telling you. It’s personal – not even a rebel thing, so why are you interested?“
“I am.”  In Force was a difference between a sense of threatening menace of death and feeling of immediate danger of being skinned, ripped of ears, tongue, eyes and fingers, thrown into boiling sulphate, left on Hoth naked, shred into pieces and thrown to a pack of hungry nexu as an midnight snack. Vader now moved from first to second. Wha… ah. Family affairs. ”I will ask you just once more: Why and when did she join the rebellion?”
It was a New Republic, but… never mind. “Her superior was killed by another imperial. She had nowhere to go, so she tried smuggling. That was how she met my father. He saved her life many times and taught her ways of the Force. And when they got engaged… well, he was a rebel and imperials don’t look forbearing to… this kind of… things…” he let his voice fall as he felt a death warrant hanging over his head. Oh crap.
“Fairy-tale.” Vader dismissed. “I was the end of Anakin Skywalker. He hasn’t lived long enough to experience this.”
“I know that.” Ben plucked up his heart. “He was my grandfather, after all.”
Vader was not impressed. “You really don’t know when to stop talking stuff and nonsense. Your father would have to be seventeen years old by now, and you would have to be a toddler.”
Well, that tells pretty accurately from when are they, at least. Now, how can I survive this to pass that to anyone?
“You noticed that ships and equipment you faced after you plopped out of that… black thing or whatever… are different, didn’t you?”
“Are you trying to impress me with rebels’ technology? Of course I did. Why?”
“Because it’s now forty two years since the founding of Rebel Alliance.”
Vader slowly, carefully, dragged him up to his face. “We do not need to repeat this, do we?”
“Now I know how aunt Leia felt.” sighted Ben.
“What?”
“It was during the whole mess about the Killiks. They threatened the Chiss territory because they had nowhere else to go and the Dark Nest urged them to fight the Chiss. Well, Chiss had a stupid idea and wanted to exterminate their whole kind, so cousin Jaina was trying to stop them while others were trying to find a solution for the Killiks. So when Killiks captured a vessel of Galactic Alliance and used it against Chiss, they got angry and took aunt Leia as a prisoner and were interrogating her about why they were trying to destroy them.”
“Who are the Chiss?”
“Arrogant, cunning, harsh and blue from hair to toes. The race of Grand Admiral Thrawn.”
“He is not even a captain.”
“I assure you, it’s only matter of time.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“He reunited the Empire after Ysanne Isard had lost Coruscant and disappeared.”
“What does she have to do with it?”
“Led the Empire after the Sate Pestage, and, before you ask, he had torn the Empire off the hand of the death Emperor when Palpatine had died onboard the second Death Star.”
“Second?”
“The first… had a malfunction.” Induced by my father’s brilliant aim.
Vader was speechless for a while. “What about me?”
“The second Death Star… I’m sorry.” Ben added. Vader seemed to wither.
“You know who I was, don’t you?”
“Who you are – yes, I do. My father told me.”
“I really cut off his hand?”
“Everything I said was truth.” Not whole, however.
Vader seemed to chew over his words for a while. Ben was hoping he finally made him listen.
Then a hand flashed in Ben’s peripheral view, backhanding him in face.
“Liar!”
If his whole face wasn’t in paralyzing pain, Ben would sigh.
“You lie!”
Invisible hand clasped around Ben’s throat, compressing his windpipe painfully. He automatically reached up to free himself.
“I…” he gurgled, the grip on his throat choking out his words. “Don’t…”
Vader wasn’t obviously listening. He was deaf to the voice of an officer coming from his holotransmitter, crushing it in his hand.
Ben was quickly running out of time – and air.
He tried it one last time. “Your…” the sentence vanished into a sound resembling chirrup. “Wife…”
The grip slackened. Just a bit, just enough to keep him conscious for few more seconds.
“Senator.”
Vader released him. Ben took a deep breath that ended up in terrible cough.
That was close.
Two black gloves grasped his fatigues and drew him closer to the black mask.
Vader was panting. Even under the black armor, Ben could feel his heart pounding quickly.
“What do you know about her?”
Ben dragged his feet. “Not much.”
“Is she alive?”
“In your time? No. She died after my dad and aunt were born.”
“How did you find out?”
“Artoo had a recording of you two.”
Vader let go of his clothes and stepped back. “You claim to be my grandson.”
Ben nodded. “Yes.”
He felt Vader reaching out to him in the Force, scrutinizing him, looking for resemblances. Ben let him.
Something in Vader’s posture buckled. “I have children.”
“Yes. Luke and Leia.”
“Leia?”
“Yes. Leia Organa.”
“Princess Leia?”
Ben nodded.
Vader shook his head. “She’s a rebel.”
Ben didn’t answer. Answering still could throw his aunt in terrible trouble. She already was in trouble, but he liked her enough to spare her this one.
When Vader said nothing for far too long, Ben risked speaking.
“She’s mostly your daughter.”
He saw his grandfather’s hands become fists. “I didn’t know about them.”
“They hid them from the Emperor.”
“They hid them from me.”
“It was the best they could do.”
“I didn’t recognize my own daughter.”
“You couldn’t know. You didn’t even know your kids are alive.”
Ben found himself calming down an upset adult.
Calming down upset Sith Lord.
He wondered if his mother would be proud of him.
“Maybe I deserve this. For killing my wife.”
“It was not your fault,” Ben said, honestly worried about his granddad. “You didn’t kill her.”
Well, not exactly.
He considered laying a hand on his arm, then thought better of it.
Ben felt his mother reaching out to him, reassuring and concerned.
Ben returned her touch with a subtle warning.
Don’t be hasty. We’ll handle this.
“Sir, what’s happening?”
Vader held up the transmitter. “Nothing, Commander. Just interrogation in progress. What about the comlink?”
“Still beeping.”
Ben’s father nudged at him with feeling of urgency.
We need to talk.
Ben was sure Vader looked at him.
“Take it to the interrogation room three.”
“As you wish, my lord.”
Vader switched off the transmitter. “You know who’s calling you.”
“Yes.”
“Who’s this.”
“Dad. He’s worried about me.”
“Your father?”
“Yes. Or Mom. They’re together.”
“Do you know where they are?”
Approximately. Ben sensed them somewhere above and more to starboard. They were both drawn into themselves, hiding in the Force from anyone but Ben.
Maybe Jacen can sense them.
Jacen.
Mom’s going to strangle him with her bare hands.
Ben looked at Vader.
Or maybe Dad.
“Sort of.”
“Are they near?”
“They were in this system when we were boarding. They came to talk some sense into Jacen.”
“Jacen?”
“Colonel Solo.”
“Who is this man? I can’t feel him in the Force.”
“He can shut himself down in the Force if he wants to. It’s useful technique… but nothing else.”
“He’s a Jedi, then?”
“Something like that.”
The door opened and former interrogator strode in, placed the commlink in Vader’s open palm and disappeared, trying not to stare at Ben, who looked remarkably fit given the time spend with a Sith Lord. Vader picked up the call.
*/*
“I trust that you have many things to tell me.”
There was the unmistakable sound of artificial breathing in the call. Luke noticed the look in Mara’s face and his eyes filled with pain and dread. “Sure I do, wheezy one, how about: Give me back my son or I will rip you to pieces and sell you as spare parts. Am I clear?”
There was very quiet “Yes… this is certainly my mother.” in the background of transmission, then Vader said:  “Completely. You are Mara Jade, aren’t you?”
“Well done. I hope for your own good that you haven’t compelled this information from my son by force. That you are an Emperors pet doesn’t concern me any longer.”
“Your concern is not in place, Jade. Your beloved offspring came out as… compliant at least, in the end.” Mara stared at the device with hint of distrust. Vader continued. “However, it was your presence, unchanged by the flow of time, and your voice, what enlightened me. The one with you is my son, I believe. I want to talk to him.”
“Not a chance. You haven’t said please, have you?”
There was a slight pause. “I would allow you to talk to… Ben, I believe his name is.”
“I suppose you wouldn’t say please, however.”
“Bright as ever, Jade.”
“No deal, then. Have a nice day!” she turned the commlink off.
“Now that was unexpected.” Mumbled Luke.
“Would you rather have chatter with him?”
“Well, no.”
“Then why are you complaining?”