23Ok, hi everyone. This is my first fic, so please be kind. I don't have a beta reader, so if anyone is up for the job please tell me in the reviews (you need to put your e-mail for this one folks!) and I'll contact you. Oh yeah, flames will be used to toast marshmallows, but constructive criticism never hurts;)
Thoughts are indicated like /this/
Force communication like *this*
Disclaimer: I don't own the universe, the Great Flanneled One does. I'm merely borrowing. The only character that's my own is Whitney, Luke and Mara's daughter, but if Uncle George wants her, he can have her.
Prologue
Mara Jade, Emperor's Hand, walked slowly through the doors leading to her master's throne room. Swallowing nervously, she knelt before her master. He would not be pleased when he heard what she was about to tell him.
"Emperor's Hand, what is it that you wished to speak, to me about? I am very busy, so this had better be worth my time." The tone of his voice indicated that if it weren't, then she would be severely punished.
"My Master," she spoke with utmost reverence, it would not do to anger him any more than she was about to with her next sentence. "I have been off my cycle for three months, and I fear that I am pregnant."
As he had been merely half listening to her before, Emperor Palpatine suddenly snapped to full attention.
"Your what?!" He hissed. His eyes were like yellow ice, as they glittered with pure anger.
"I believe that I am pregnant, my Master." /It's a good thing I didn't do anything to anger him further, at least not that I'm aware of./
"Who is the father of this bastard?"
"A rebel, my Master. By the name of Luke Skywalker."
The name of this man jolted Palpatine out of his furious state. An idea came to him of how he could use this child to his advantage.
"Mara Jade," he stated coldly, "you were careless and incompetent, not to mention stupid. Fortunately for you, I will let both you and your child live. However, the child will be separated from you, the moment that it does not require your care, and the sustenance you give it. This child will then be sent to a remote world and raised there. You will not know the location, and shall not visit you're child. Once you are sufficiently recovered, you shall pay Luke Skywalker a visit and terminate him."
Mara was speechless, she expected the Emperor to kill her the first second that he heard the news.
"If you fail me, the child shall be terminated." He paused to lean closer, "Immediately."
Or maybe he wasn't as magnanimous as he seemed to be. This was simply another way for him to control her. "Thank you my Master, I won't fail you."
"If you do... Now go down to the medcenter. I want this child to come out alive.
As his Hand left, Palpatine smiled. /If his Hand failed him in killing Skywalker, which he was sure she would, he would not kill the child,/ he mused, /No, he would make it appear that the child died, and then train the child to kill it's father./ Ahhh, the irony of it all. No matter what he would win. That was Palpatine's favorite way.
Ok, there it is! Whad'ya think? Chapter 1 will deal with the birth of Whitney, and he arrival on Earth.