Okay, it's a long week-end here, and there's no point delaying it, so here it is :) Hope it makes up for part 15 if it has disturbed you.

Hope you'll like it :)

Characters: all of them :)
Type: action


Dear Son 
part 16/16
by SJ
 

Disclaimers: None of those characters belong to me. See my 
front page for more details. (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702)

Note about the story's copyrights: All the rights related to the basic idea of 
Vader finding Luke as a child at his school, protecting him from any bad things and the Emperor, as well as the Emperor's scheme concerning Luke belong to 
Jessica (MoonArtist7@aol.com). Thanks for your suggestion, my friend ; this story wouldn't have come to be without it.

Also, special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, 
for her help with the final editing of my new stories. (Eh, I have no choice 
but to mention you, my friend ; your secret is still safe though ;) Thanks for 
giving us some of your precious time, my friend :)
____________________
 
 

Almost five hours later, the Falcon finally exited hyperspace. While Solo brought the ship down, Padme checked once again on her husband. 
It had been hours since he had felt their son's torment, hours during which he had remained in what she hoped was a healing trance and not coma...
Hours during which gods knew what had happened to her dear son.
"Ani?" she inquired softly, resting her hand against his strong biceps. "Ani, are you awake?"
He didn't steer.
"Please, be all right." she begged softly, brushing his cheek with her fingertips. "We need you." 
"Hmm," he groaned slightly, shifting a bit under her touch. 
"Ani, my love, please wake up. Don't let him win, please." she begged sadly.
Her husband stirred even more on his cot, then finally brought his hand to his forehead.
"What happened?" he slurred tiredly. 
"You've felt Luke's torture, remember?" 
Her statement had a miraculous effect on her husband ; he sat bolt upright, completely recovered from his forced nap.
"Luke!! Where is he now?" he inquired worriedly.
"Still in the Emperor's claws, I think. You have been out for almost five hours."

Five hours?, Anakin thought in horror.
So much could happen if one was left alone with the Emperor for five hours. 
"Could we have acted sooner?" he asked to his wife while he sat on the edge of the bunk and mentally prepared himself for battle.
"No, we've just arrived on Tatooine, but we don't know where to look for him." she explained while helping him up to his feet. 
Anakin took a moment to focus his thoughts, then searched for a Force disturbance on the planet. 
He almost immediately found it, huge, troubling and as dark as a starless night.
"They're in Beggar's Canyon." he informed her, then grimly added: "And we can't waste a single minute."
He exchanged an horror-struck gaze with his wife, then they both ran toward the ship's cockpit. 

******

As her father had told them, Leia reflected as she took in the awesome sight of their destination, the Emperor had indeed left a most unmistakable signature of his presence on the planet. 
A huge sandstorm was covering the whole area of what was known as Beggar's Canyon. Han landed the Falcon as close as he could to the atmospheric disturbance, then the five of them began to prepare for the upcoming rescue mission. While her lover and Chewie were coming along to protect her, Leia was surprised to realize that she herself was coming to save her brother from more torment.
If his story was like their father's, she reminded herself, then he had indeed been a prisoner for the past 6 years, forced to obey the Emperor or else be punished. 
She stashed her blaster in her holster, then handed her extra power cells to her mother who equally checked her weapons before securing them in her holsters. 
Next, they put on cloaks, goggles and face clothes that they had just acquired in a small village nearby. 
They were ready to face the monster that was protecting an even worse monster, she thought, exchanging a grim gaze with her mother.
They stepped out of the ship, silently studied the huge sandstorm while they tied a rope around their waists to remain attached to one another ; her father would guide them forward.
"Ready?" she finally asked in the grim silence.
"Let's kiss the Rancor." her father retorted with a determinate smile.

******

Inside the fortress, the Emperor finished himself in the barely whimpering boy. Oh, he knew that the youth was going to recover some of his edge when he would see his would-be rescuers, but his actual passivity satisfied him since it allowed him to revel in his victory. 
The strong-willed boy was finally broken, had begun to pay for his betrayal, and would get more once his family would have been dealt with ; then he would be able to resurrect Luke Vader, the real one. The one who had earned a fearful reputation throughout the galaxy. 
With the clone of his father, they would wreak havoc for his greater glory... and he would now have the pleasure to have the gorgeous youth in his bed when he would be planetside. 
He might even keep him around for a while, he admitted while he continued to probe his mind. 
When the time for the real attack would come, he decided, his vulnerable spot would be his fear of punishment.
By striking through it while causing him near-death agony, he knew that he would have him body and soul. 
But right now, he needed him to incite his rescuers to step in his trap, so he satisfied himself by invading his mind and reveling in his feelings of despair, utter defeat and his lost love for Jade.
That very thought excited him anew, and he would have taken the boy again--- except that he felt his ex-right hand invade his senses.
They were here, he smiled against the blood-stripped skin of his slave. 
"Looks like your father hasn't heeded your warning, slave." he slurred in the boy's ear, rousing him from his listless state. 
He waited for a glimmer of hope to appear in the boy's mind, only to crush it with his unforgiving fury that was delivered as a mental slap ; the boy groaned as he fell half-conscious once again.
"You had better get used to not seeing him." he growled warningly while he pulled away from the still entrapped boy. "I will soon kill him, and all your family."
The boy moaned in weak protest, then yelped as the Emperor picked him up with his powers and hurled him against the rocky wall that was right beside the door that led back into this temporary throne room.
Unable to protect himself from the side-effects of the impact, the youth slumped to the ground, out cold.
The Emperor used that time to put his clothes back on, then grabbed hold of his slave’s wrist with the Force and pulled him after himself. Once near his throne, he slapped him into the locks that were waiting for him on the wall right beside his throne.
The Jedi-proof cuffs snapped shut around the unconscious youth's ankles and wrists, entrapping him in a spread-eagle position.
He didn't bother to cover the boy's body. He reasoned that the more his family would see of him, the more crushed they would be. 
And now, he only had to wait for Jade and Vader to accomplish their part of the plan. He activated his different viewscreens.

******

The moment that Anakin’s group had hit the sandstorms, their progressed had slowed enormously, the strong winds trying to knock them away from their target, but Anakin kept pushing. 
Padme followed him too, along with their daughter and her friends. While the younger persons and her husband were used to seeing action, she herself hadn't used her shooting skills in a long, long while. 
Oh, her trainers had always told her that she couldn't forget their lessons, but still... she hadn't fired at a moving target in over 20 years.
That didn't keep her from helping her son though ; he had risked his life to save her, it was only normal that she did the same for him, not to mention that she didn't want to abandon him again.
Once had been enough.
She trudged on behind her husband, remembering how he had also taken her through a sandstorm on their first meeting.
Then he stopped and looked around themselves.
She wished that she could talk, but she knew that she would probably choke to death despite her clothe ; she worriedly watched around herself to see what he was sensing. 
The huge, black silhouette seemed to appear out of nowhere and attacked their group.

For a precious second, Anakin gaped as he faced himself, but no, he reminded himself. He couldn't be in two places at the same time.
He was here, and he used to be Vader, so that only left---
A clone, he realized while he drew his lightsaber. 
The clone's lightsaber cut through the rope that kept him attached to the rest of his group, then relentlessly attacked him.
Anakin, who had grown on this planet, knew exactly how to fight and not be too hampered by the strong, buffeting winds.
His red blade crossed again against Vader's red one, then he parried his attack, meant to kick him in the groin, but found himself blocked before the other tried to slash his head off.
Red blades crashed one against the other.

Leia watched in astonishment as the two Vaders fought against one another.
Even though she wasn't an expert in the Jedi arts, she could detect the similarities in the fighting styles, how both seemed to mirror each other.
She had yet to detach herself from that strange, murky sight when she felt her rope coil around her wrists before she got pulled against her mother, then both were forced to walk on--- leaving Han and Chewie behind, she realized. 
"Han!!" she screamed--- and sand seemed to find its way in her mouth almost instantly, forcing her to be silent.
She coughed to expel the sand that had invaded her mouth, doing her best to not choke herself to death by coughing in the direction that was opposite to the winds.
It didn't help much.
Meanwhile, her mother fought against whoever had managed to capture them both, doing her best to delay their being reeled in, but she wasn't strong enough to resist the strong pull on her arms ; Leia was also forced to walk forward.
Then, the ground suddenly disappeared from under their feet and they both fell down in some kind of metallic corridor before the trap above them closed up, cutting off the roaring sound of the storm. 
Leia continued to cough, desperate now to recover her breath.
Then her mother's hands found her cloth and pulled it down from her face.
"Spit Leia!" she instructed her with a certain urgency. "Don't try to inhale just yet."
Seeing no other option that might work, Leia obeyed her mother and spat as strongly as she could.
A good quantity of sand left her mouth and she could finally breathe--- the lights around them turned on, revealing the cell in which they had fallen. 
Padme was still holding Leia, undoing her bounds, when the lights increased in intensity and she saw where they were.
A red-haired woman was training a wicked-looking blaster on them.
"Are you about done with your childish behavior?" the stranger snarled at her daughter.
"Try to breathe an inch of that and you too will be choking to death." Padme retorted hotly.
"I'm not a pampered princess who isn't used to unsanitary air." The woman sneered, then motioned with her blaster. "To your feet ; the Emperor is waiting for you."
Even as Padme meant to think that the woman hadn't noticed their weapons, their three blasters were pulled from their holster and stuffed themselves in the woman's belt. While Leia drew in a sharp breath upon seeing what seemed to be magic, the older woman knew that she was dealing with yet another Jedi trainee.
"To your feet!" the woman snapped, this time threateningly.
Helping Leia up, Padme slowly stood up and walked toward the woman who motioned them to walk in front of her.

As the princess walked past her, Mara threw her such a hateful glare that she knew that her loyalty wouldn't be questioned.
Wary for any tricks, she escorted the women down the long corridor that led to the throne room.
While she did so, she closely monitored the cameras that were watching her progress--- and she finally felt that the Emperor had shifted his focus on another part of his plan.
Probably Vader, she decided, which meant that it was her chance to act and free her lover.
After their forced rape, she had decided that she too would free him, or die doing it.
"Stop!" she ordered the two women, then walked closer. "We're not in his surveillance field anymore." she informed them, aware that she had just identified herself as an ally instead of a foe.
She only hoped that the Emperor truly wasn't watching her.

But he was. He and Luke were equally monitoring the different viewscreens, if for different reasons.
When Luke heard Mara's sentence, he felt his heart leap for joy, but his relief was short-lived. 
"That little harlot!!" the Emperor snarled, then turned toward him and zapped him with fiery bolts of energies.
Luke's shrieks echoed all around the throne room, then made it past the sealed double doors.

In the corridor, Mara blanched as she realized what she was hearing.
Luke was being punished because of her. 
"Where is he?" Luke's mother instantly asked her, taking her two blasters from her outstretched hands.
"In the throne room, at the end of the corridor." she indicated. "If we hurry, we might be able to save him."
"Where are the others?" the Princess asked her, not quite aiming her weapon at her, but not quite trusting her either.
"Your companions seem to have made their way inside... although I don't know for sure where they are. Vader is still dueling."
Padme cocked her weapons then exchanged a grim glance with her daughter. "All right, it looks like it's up to us."
The three of them headed for the locked door.

******

Outside, still caught in the raging sandstorm, Anakin continued to fight against his clone, slowly understanding that he was at the advantage since the clone was a copy of himself.
He followed patterns, but didn't create new ones. Hence, Anakin slowly began to foresee his moves even without the Force, then allowed his mind to think of how he could surprise himself.
Any parries was out of question ; the Force was guiding the clone as well. Throwing rocks at him might also work, but he could also deflect them.
Then, he thought that the sandstorm was really beginning to annoy him--- and figured out what to do.
While he continued to parry the clone's attacks, he focused his mind on his surroundings, enlarged his focus--- Then all of a sudden, he and the clone were standing in a perfectly quiet desert.
As he had surmised, the clone wasn't able to react to this in time ; Anakin used his distraction to run him through with his blade, right where his heart and breastplate were. The clone gurgled something unintelligible before he crumpled in the sand, dead.
The storm started again. 
While the sand slowly covered what he had been in the past, Anakin hurried to make his way toward the Emperor's hideout.
Now he knew how close he was to it.

******

When Leia, her mother and their new ally reached the throne room, they expected to find it locked, but instead, it opened upon their approach.
Quite conceited, Leia evaluated, keeping her blaster at the ready. Beside herself, her mother watched their surroundings for any new trap while Jade, as she called herself, drew a lightsaber from a hidden holster. 
The three of them stepped inside the throne room proper, and immediately spotted the beaten, ‘familiar’ form of her brother on the wall right behind the Emperor's throne. 
He looked the worst for wear, she noticed. She also noticed that she wasn't thinking about him as Luke Vader, but as Luke Skywalker, her brother...
Unlike the room on Coruscant, that one wasn't filled with a huge stair, only a raised dais and plenty of computer screens all around it. 
"Do you really think that you will defeat me?" the Emperor's voice drifted from behind the throne, then the young Emperor revealed himself, a lightsaber handle in his hand. 
"Do you really think that we're going to abandon my brother?" she defied him, bringing her weapon to bear on the despot.
"Well, if you want to die for him, who am I to disappoint you." he snarled, then brought his double lightsaber to life even as the three women opened fire on him. 
Leia had never seen anything like this, she thought as she used her blaster to aim at the apparently invincible Emperor who was slowly advancing toward them with his dangerous blades. 
She missed his move when he swept his blade at her midsection, but Jade was there and shoved her down before firing and dueling briefly against her former master.
"Your death shall be the slowest of them all, traitor." He growled at her, but Jade didn't seem fazed by it. 
Instead, she kept his blade trapped for a few seconds during which her mother managed to hit the Emperor in the shoulder.

Luke, who was still reeling from the numerous abuses that he had suffered during the past hours, was following the ongoing fight as best as he could, hoping that there would be an opening for him.
He was amazed to see Mara actually try to kill the Emperor, then tried to send her all the strength that she needed to be true to her will.
When his mother nicked the Emperor's shoulder, he felt the despot’s veil falter around his mind and instantly worked on focusing the Light on the Emperor.
Unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough to attack him, and the Emperor wasn't distracted enough to fall.
Instead, he mentally slapped him back under his veil, then attacked his sensory center with wave upon wave of agony.
Luke screamed for as long as it lasted, then lapsed into silence and near unconsciousness as the 
fight for his life went on not far from him.

While the Emperor had been punishing Luke, Anakin, Solo and Chewbacca finally arrived. Solo and Chewbacca barged in, aiming their weapons at the Emperor and trying his best to kill him, but Anakin took a moment to analyze the situation.
What they needed was to get rid of his double-lightsaber, he evaluated. Then they would be able to kill him for good. Of course, he then reflected to do that, he needed two lightsabers himself, unless---
He spotted Jade as she tumbled back and away from the dangerous blades.
*Jade!* he sent.
*What?*
He quickly explained his plan to her and made sure that she could do it
She nodded grimly. 
*Anything for Luke.* she answered him while she positioned herself for her part of his plan.
He then took a moment to check if his son was up for his part of the plan. His pain greatly affected him, but the fact that he wasn’t lost yet heartened him. 
They were going to save him for good this time, he reassured him.
When he refocused on the ongoing fight, he noticed that the Emperor was now aware of his arrival.
He felt the despot’s anger flood the room like a pervasive sickness.
*You will pay for this, Skywalker.* he snarled at him in private while he made his move on his daughter.
Aware that it was now or never, Anakin focused his mind, envisioned exactly what he wanted his weapon to do, drew his arm backward and behind his shoulder--- then threw his lightsaber. 
The ruby-red blade scythed through the air, barely missed Solo and the Wookiee before it swerved slightly to the left--- and bisected the Emperor's weapon right where the activation switch was. Both of his blades died out in his two hands--- then before he could react, Mara's blade embedded itself in his heart.
"Take cover!!!" Anakin shouted to the non-Jedi fighters, then pulled his daughter and wife away from the dying Emperor.

Meanwhile, near the throne, Luke was again released from the Emperor's control, and this time, he was ready. His father had showed him what he intended to do. The moment that the Emperor lost his control over him, Luke stroke once again with the Light.
This time though, his focus was pure and strong... and the Emperor's strength was too diffuse to resist the onslaught.
While the despot’s body exploded thanks to the powers of the Dark Side, Luke eradicated his soul with the Light, straining to retain his control when his senses began to slip away from him thanks to the shockwave of the explosion that rammed into him.
Then, it was over and he slumped in his restraints. 
They had won, he thought with a slight smile before he allowed unconsciousness to claim him.
"Luke!!!" Mara's voice then called, rousing him again. 
Before he could open his eyes, she was beside him, kissing his lips even as she tried to open his bonds. 
"I'm so sorry, Luke, forgive me, please." she whispered while she tugged on the restraint of his right wrist.
"Hold him up," Solo's voice said, surprising him, then he felt the man strain against his cuffs to free him. 
He tried to force his eyes open, to gaze at his lover who had, after all, wanted to escape from the Emperor. 
He caught a glimpse of her, then of his father as he walked forward, then he felt him pick him up in his arms before she covered him with some kind of cloth. 
"I'm sorry, Father..." he whispered while he slumped in his strong, reassuring hold.
"Next time, Luke, I'll make sure to remove the fuel cells before leaving you alone in a ship." he teased him half-seriously, half in relief.
"And I'll knock you out before letting you venture on you own again," Mara rejoined. 
That drew a slight chuckle from every one who was nearby, relieving the tension of the past minutes.
"I hate to break this up," Leia’s voice suddenly said with some urgency, "but it looks like reinforcement is coming from space." she pointed out.
"Right," his mother’s voice agreed. "Let’s get out of here."
The others didn't argue with her ; they all made their way out of the base, which wasn't protected by a sandstorm anymore, then Mara set the auto-destruct and they all headed for the Falcon.

Three minutes later, they left Tatooine.
While the ship climbed for altitude, then made the transition into hyperspace, each of them reflected that from now on, they would be together, that nothing would ever make them part from one another, no matter what their past had been.

The end for now :) 
 
Liked it?  I hope so :)
 
Thanks to everybody who has read this and double thanks to those of you who have taken some of your time to write feedback ; it made sure that this story would be followed by many more :)  Thanks :)
 
SJ