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Insurrection
The sixth Tale of Miklinar

NC-17

The Star Wars movies, their universe, concepts, and characters are the property of George Lucas and whomever else he has licensed. My characters and concepts, unless otherwise noted, are my property. In case of dispute, Lucas wins, no argument. There is no money being made on this story.

The gym is small, but well-furnished. Miklinar is wrestling with a droid programmed to stretch different muscle groups. "I've heard you're down here a lot," you offer.

"Yes. I have to be in peak physical shape if I don't want the work to kill me."

You grin, "Sex isn't enough exercise by itself?"

"It's uneven. I can't risk being out of shape and pulling a muscle at exactly the wrong moment." Mikli stands up, wipes his face with a towel. "So. You were looking for me?"

"That last tale ended rather abruptly."

A big grin. "So you want to hear more?"

You nod. Miklinar settles down on a bench, waves you to sit on the one across from him. "Vader's break from the Empire. What did I decide to name it? 'Insurrection,' I think... It starts just minutes after the last tale..."

Insurrection
told by Miklinar

      The conference room on the Star Destroyer. Vader, Garn, and Luke were still talking. Leia had just left, with her pilot/prisoner, and the two Imperial spies were on their way to detention, to await Vader's further attentions.

      Garn reached out to Luke mentally, encountered a smooth surface of shields. "I can't touch you. Your shields were never this good before."

      "I had an excellent teacher." His hand came out, very tentatively touched her belly. "Do I have any rights at all with the child?"

      "No. She belongs to my lord -- you are incidental." Then, more softly, "She'll be told who her father is, Luke, but it won't mean anything if you aren't there for her to know. You have that choice, as your own father did not."

      Luke froze for an instant, thinking, "Ben hid us from you," to Vader.

      "Yes. Or you would have been at my side, you and your sister both. You have a place with me, here, now, if you wish."

      A long silence, then, "No. I'll be around, but this isn't my place to stay." Then, in an odd voice, "Are you going to bring the child up here? On board ship?"

      Garn shook her head. "No. We're going home. Luke, come with us." Luke shook his head, almost imperceptibly. "You need to continue your training." Not tempted yet? Then she added, "We need someone to be liaison between the Sith and the Alliance."

      "Liaison?" Luke asked.

      Garn nodded. "It looks very much like the Sith will be hunted by the Empire as the Alliance is. Who would the Alliance trust as an envoy?"

      Almost a hiss from Vader, "Yes. And of course you would have a suite of rooms there... Luke, you will be working for both the Alliance and my people. And you can see your daughter."

      Luke snorted, "And father other children for you to keep? Is that part of it?"

      "If you choose, if the mother agrees. I'm not offering you Garn for your bed -- that negotiation is his. But do you want your children trained as Jedi?"

      Skeptically, "Can I trust you to train them without corrupting them?"

      Vader shrugged, "Ask Garn to train them. His 'purity' you can judge. He had absolute rule over you -- what did he do?"

      "Besides raping me? What he taught was clean enough. Yes, the idea has merit. And Princess Leia? Will you teach her children, Garn?"

      "If Her Highness chooses, yes."

      Another long silence. Luke finally broke it. "I guess it's time to go. Lord Vader, Lord Anthru." Luke bowed, went toward the door.

      Vader, "Lord Anthru, escort General Skywalker to his craft. I won't need your services for the next three hours."

      Garn nodded curtly, "Yes, my lord. Luke, which hangar bay?"

      Luke looked from Garn to Vader. "I... don't think that's what your master had in mind."

      Garn looked annoyed, "Your mouth has a mind of it's own. Luke, I'm just as happy that you don't work for us. Think."

      "Oh." Then, "Let's go."

      Alone in Garn's quarters. They stood apart, each reluctant to begin. Then Luke reached out and gently touched her belly. "He thought it was his."

      "With excellent reason."

      "Did he even know you'd taken me to bed?"

      "Yes. It was tied into how I was controlling you."

      "I remember." His hand came up, touched her cheek, stroked her hair. "I wasn't afraid of you then, even when I met you. Why am I afraid now?"

      "You aren't sure I can't catch you again. And this time, I won't let you go."

      A faint smile from Luke, "If you were only catching me for yourself, I'd let you. I do not want to be bound to his service."

      "It's my duty to try."

      "Yes, it is. And so I must be on my way. With your permission, Lord Anthru."

      "No. Luke... "

      "I can't risk it. If it turns out Vader and the Emperor are still together, there's no one with a chance of stopping you if you get me."

      "They aren't. The Emperor is afraid of me. Not by myself, but the prospect of Vader with an ally the Emperor doesn't control."

      Luke shook his head, "The stakes are too high." A sad smile, "Even if you can convince me, you might be mistaken -- or deceived. Perhaps someday..."

      A long embrace, a soft kiss. "I miss you."

      No answer. He didn't dare admit how much he missed her in return? "I told Leia you were a prisoner. She wanted to rescue you."

      That got a grin from Garn. "I don't want to be rescued. My place is here, at his side."

      "At his side." Luke sank to the deck, back to a bulkhead. He patted the deck next to him, "Come here, sit." She sat with his arm around her, "Now. Tell me about my father."

      Vader was expecting either elation or dejection when Garn returned to duty. Instead, there was a distance, a remoteness.

      "Well? Is he installed in your bedroom?"

      She shook her head. "He's gone, back to them."

      "Without so much as a goodbye kiss?"

      A faint quirk of the lips -- good, she was back. "Without much more. But we parted friends."

      "And you spent the rest of the time crying? No. You're stronger than that."

      Garn nodded, "No tears. Well, he cried a bit, but that wasn't unexpected." She smiled faintly, "He just made the jump. He's gone."

      "And what did you do for three hours?"

      "We talked. And necked a bit, nothing serious -- 'cuddling for comfort,' he called it." She shook her head. "Security clearances."

      Vader didn't follow the last. "He tried to question you?"

      "No. We talked. There were subjects we couldn't discuss because he wasn't cleared."

      Vader was tired of having to drag answers out of Garn. Then again, it was obvious that Luke couldn't have gotten any unauthorized information from her either. "Lieutenant, report your conversation."

      "No, sir. Nothing worth reporting."

      Vader growled, "It's all worth reporting. What were you talking about?"

      She sighed, sat down, and looked up at him. "You."

      Silence, broken by the artificial harshness of Vader's breathmask and Garn's light breaths. Then, "Explain. All of it. And it is worth reporting."

      She nodded. "It started 'Tell me about my father.' I told him the easy parts, about my recruitment and training, but I couldn't tell him what we did, what our mission was, except vaguely. He knew about Yavin and Hoth."

      "That's what you meant about 'clearance.'"

      A curt nod, "Yes. So he asked me about earlier, about Kenobi. I'd read your files on Obi-Wan, Sorra, and Jon, but I didn't know what I could say.

     " What was the earliest thing I knew about you, the youngest Darth Vader? I told him about the skyhopper accident when you were sixteen. He's wrecked a few himself."

      A sound that could be a chuckle, "If you pilot much, it's hard to realize that close to the ground, three hundred klicks per hour is fast. It would have surprised me more to find him with a clean record. Go on."

      "He asked if you'd ever been in love. I told him I wasn't sure, but I think it had been twice. Once his mother, once mine."

      "Close, but not complete. The ones you mentioned, two others. Continue."

      Garn's eyebrow rose,"Whoa. Who else?"

      "If I tell you, keep your questions until you finish your report. Agreed?"

      "Agreed."

      "Jeroen Palpatine. Garn Anthru."

      The first -- wasn't that the Emperor? And, "What?" Garn was brought up short by a raised hand. "No questions until afterward. Yes, sir. We talked about your love life, what I knew about it. How you were injured. How you were healed. Then he told me what he 'knew' about you, mostly from Leia." She stopped. Then, "I could see your hand in any of those incidents -- nothing you wouldn't have done if you'd seen a need. But I couldn't explain 'why' to him." She gave Vader a list of systems.

      "Boker and Lubin were not my work. The others are. You have access to those files."

      "But I haven't studied them. It's not news that Luke and I don't agree on what's necessary."

      "Luke has the rebel ideals. Is there anything else?"

      "He asked me to come with him. I turned him down. We cuddled. By the time it might have gone further, he noticed the time. I walked him to the hangar deck. He left."

      More questions, "Was he disguised? as what -- or who? Were there any problems with his getting onto the hangar deck?"

      "They called him 'Commander.' No obvious disguise, but I may have been immune."

      "I see. Write up a full report, encrypted. I want to know everything you told him. The information he could use against us."

      A sharp breath out, "I'll write your report, but he won't use our talk against us. I have his word on it."

      Vader shook his head, "Too many men's oaths are ... pliable ... at need. Dare we trust him?"

      She touched her midsection. "He sees his daughter as a hostage to his good faith.He doesn't know how much I value her. But he hopes -- and that buys his silence."

      "I see. Write your report." Then, in a much milder tone, "I'm curious as to what you let him know."

      "Yes, my lord. Now -- tell me about you and the Emperor."

      "Physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually? Or my nightmares?"

      "Physically, first."

      "We were lovers, yes. He was quite ... accomplished."

      "What did you do together?"

      "Specifics?" She nodded. "Let's postpone this discussion until we have absolute privacy. This evening?"

      "The whole discussion?"

      "About him, yes."

      She shrugged. "Very well. That leaves me with one last open question."

      "Yes?"

      "You're in love with me?"

      "I've risked my life, my career, and my sanity for you to stay with me."

      "Because you were in love."

      "Desperately. But if I'd thought it through, I'd have risked it anyway. I could not better serve the Sith, the Jedi, or my own desires."

      "And the Empire?"

      "The Empire has lost me because it begrudged me your presence. A small thing to topple an Empire." He sighed, removed his helmet and the attendant mask. His face was tense, but there was a deep peace behind the tension. "The Empire has lost me -- no, tossed me aside. It's time to marshal my forces, call on favors owed me ... although I expect most of my debtors to just run for shelter." He turned to the commconsole, audio only. "Admiral Wychulis, I'd like to see you in my office. Bring the Captain with you. And the leader of the ground forces."

      Voice through the console, "Yes, my lord. At once."

      Vader pulled up personnel files. "This ship is predominately Sith, with a sprinkling of political officers as watchdogs. Garn, I need a list of every predominately Sith-crewed ship in the fleet, the location of our fighter bases, and any base or ship where we have sizeable minorities. I have to protect my people."

      "Yes, my lord." She started working at the other computer console, pulling data. The door chimed.

      "Come." Vader only glanced up as the door opened. An admiral, a captain, and a field commander, all pulled inside by the imperative of the command, but stopped stunned inside the door. "Gentlemen, thank you for your promptness. Lieutenant, some seats?"

      Garn sprang up, arranging chairs. The visitors stood, still, almost dazed. Vader looked at them. They were pale. "Is there something wrong?"

      The admiral stammered, "M-my lord," and gestured vaguely at something to Vader's left, on his desk. The mask!

      In his calmest, most reassuring voice, "It's alright. Please, sit. Lieutenant, perhaps our guests would like drinks."

      Garn prodded the dispenser into releasing strong stimulants and ferocious distillates. When Garn handed the tray around, the distillates were taken. And chugged.

      "My lord, I thought..."

      "Life support? At one time, yes." The admiral and the captain had recovered their color, if not their nerve -- the field commander signalled for another drink. "I kept the image once I was healed. Being a demon has its uses."

      "And Lord Anthru..?" Implied: is cleared, knows about, has been dealing with, helped?

      "Among his other talents, he is my current medical technician. Please. Will this small thing so disrupt our council that it would be better it I remasked? I'm surprised."

      Hasty reassurances, "No, my lord. However you're more... comfortable." Garn placed a cup full of the stimulant at Vader's hand. "If I could have a cup of that, Lieutenant..."

      Garn ducked her head, "Certainly, sir. Anyone else?"

      Stimulants all around. The lieutenant returned to "his" correlating job while her seniors talked. "Here you are, my lord, ship list, squadron list, Sith commanding officers, and large concentrations. Several outposts and colonies, and one excellent technical school."

      "Thank you. Message to appropriate officers, contact me."

      "Yes, my lord."

      The field commander, "Aren't those orders a little vague for a mere lieutenant, sir? 'Appropriate officers'?"

      "If the lieutenant were not also my apprentice and de facto my deputy, perhaps. Commander, you haven't met him -- Lieutenant Lord Garn Anthru, heir to House Vader."

      "Anthru? Bright Star, yes! I've heard of his piloting. I haven't seen such..."

      "Since I stopped actively leading a wing. I saw no chance of my producing an heir. I found one I liked and adopted him. Lord Anthru has full clearance for all of my work." Vader nodded and Garn proceeded with "his" instructions.

      "Our withdrawal will cripple every ship in the fleet, until the slots are reshuffled. We can't strike that many targets at once, but we can strike the larger ones."

      Garn, "his" voice raised just a little higher-pitched from excitement, "My lord, two Star Destroyers and one command Star Destroyer have just dropped out of hyperspace into out system, Captains Feiyal and Lungan, Admiral Ygotai. They're declaring for us!"

      After two hours of reports, Vader ordered one of the tactical rooms opened up. "The data will be easier to see plotted." He rose, restored the mask and helmet. The admiral looked startled, almost as if Vader had suddenly appeared from nowhere. The field commander grinned, almost fiercely.

      Garn was busy posting information on the screens. Wychulis remarked, "Puts me in mind of election night. Who haven't we heard from, Lieutenant?"

      Garn paused for a moment, displayed a list.

      Very, very late, after reports had stopped trickling in. Vader dismissed Garn, sat back, and looked at the charts. There was a good chance, if the data were accurate, of standing off a gutted Imperial Fleet. To kill a man, you didn't need to chop him into tiny pieces -- removing his head, or the three kilos closest to his heart would be enough.

      He rose and left the tactical center, the light dying behind him. The ship lacked the bustle of daytime activity, all too soon to start again. He paused at a viewport. He never grew tired of watching the stars.

      "My lord, you're tired. Please." It was Garn, performing one of the more common duties of an aide -- babysitting the senior officer.

      "Yes. I'm coming. I noticed you were quiet when the Admiral compared this to election night. Didn't you..." The question trailed off, because it couldn't be finished in a public place.

      "I was never really that interested in politics, but, yes, I've seen similar gatherings. They're usually much noisier, though. I remember... recall votes are much closer in tone. Someone barely missed losing his office. Votes of no confidence are rough, too, if they're close."

      "A fair spectrum of experience. Perhaps you were not as disinterested as you thought."

      "Perhaps." Into Vader's quarters. Garn helped him with helmet and mask, and then with the rest of the armor. "The 'fresher's set for your preferences, and then there's dinner ready."

      "Thank you, 'wife.'" Vader said as he headed for the 'fresher. He didn't see Garn's face grow rigid.

      He returned to the front room in a robe, hair still slightly damp. "I'm still too keyed up to sleep. Tell me about election nights."

      "Usually spent them at campaign headquarters. I was bored silly, and worried. It wasn't always ... Senator Calydon's elections."

      "You don't want to talk about it?"

      Garn shrugged, "It's pointless. The man is dead, the people he represented are ruled now by a system viceroy or regional governor appointed by the Emperor." A quick glance at Vader, "Your old friend."

      Vader snorted, "Much more than that. In fact..." Vader steered Garn to a seat, used high level and personal security codes to call up a file. "Watch." No further explanation.

      Two men, one apparently in his forties, the other barely not a teenager. The action started as a heavy cuddle, became considerably more. Garn sat and stared, intrigued. She fumbled backing the sequence up to see a segment again. "Curiosity satisfied?" came a mild voice.

      "Almost. I'd like...I wish I could ... damn." She shook her head violently, as if to scatter cobwebs. "Strong stuff, and much more palatable than Nasive's journals. The younger one looked a little like Luke."

      She did not expect the answer she got: "He's Luke's father."

      "But you're ... oh." She started the file over from the beginning, half speed. Vader turned it off. "That was you. And the older man?"

      "Jeroen Palpatine."

      "He's..."

      "You seem to be having problems finishing your thoughts, Lieutenant."

      She tried to speak, finally managed to gasp out, "Yeah." Another try, "Envy. It's envy. I want that, to be..." She couldn't continue.

      "Do you want a copy of that file, to look at on your own time?"

      "No. I don't dare. I want too much to be in it."

      "Then you don't mind if I destroy it?"

      "Why? There's no need... yes, sir. You don't dare leave that around."

      Softly, he murmured, "I could run it through the computer, add a female of the right height and build... or even Garn-as-a-male. Would you enjoy that? Make the older man myself and the younger one Luke?"

      "Enough!" She squeezed her eyes shut, balled up her fists. "I don't need this." She stood, "Good night, my lord. I hope to be sane in the morning."

      "You are not dismissed."

      "Yes, my lord. But I am tired beyond sensibility."

      "When a few moments ago you were so excited? Garn, come here." Garn obeyed, Vader held her gently. "I will give you part of what you want, and some memories of the other." Into the bedroom, Garn on her back on the bed. "No. Better." She leaned against the dresser, while Vader knelt at her feet. "Relax. Feel."

      Uniform trousers around her ankles, then his hands petting... she startled, was soothed. Entirely new sensations, not normally part of her. The sensitive areas were different, the the sensations quite different ... there was the feel of a mouth and tongue teasing, exciting "him." The sensations flooded in -- Garn became this male -- erect, thrusting, being enveloped, then the flow of release. She sagged afterward; Vader supported her and arranged her on the bed for his entry. As if she were another male.

      Her body was relaxed from the orgasm that her body had shared with the male. The entry was gentle, with healing energies swirling around the area to repair even the slightest damage.

      Memory flashbacks. Even the rear penetration brought up memories, especially the shared memory of the erection. Garn gave up trying to keep male and female separate and just condensed them into the sensations of Garn-as-male. Garn's lover, gently riding, reached around and coaxed Garn's erection into full size, and another explosion. Or was that his memory?

      Vader let himself release and withdrew. He pulled light covers over them, not bothering to peel Garn out of a uniform top. "Sleep."

      A soft murmur, then, "No, not yet. Got a question, 'bout something you said."

      "Yes?"

      The quote was obvious, "You addressed me as 'wife.'"

      "I'm sorry. I was tired, I didn't mean it to hurt."

      "It's not that it hurt... Am I your wife? You've changed my identity on me before."

      "Not legally, no. Your legal identity is male. Perhaps later, you can become female again. I thought you liked being male." He ran his hand down her back, cupped her cheek in his hand. She shivered with pleasure and backed into him, presenting herself. "Rest."

      "I don't care about legal."

      "Without 'legal', there is no 'wife.' And you are more to me than any 'wife' could be." A low chuckle, "There is no divorce in adoption -- you are mine forever, unless you take an entirely new identity."

      "You could disinherit me."

      "Within limits. The regency council confirmed you as heir -- it would be difficult to remove you without their consent."

      "But it was on your say-so."

      "They are ... inclined ... to agree with me." A shrug, "You cannot cease to be my adopted son. You may choose to throw me out of your bed..."

      An unheeded interruption, "We're never in my bed."

      "...to be assigned somewhere else, to stop being a pilot..."

      Another interruption, "To stop breathing."

      "...to stop being my student. If being my aide offends you because of the 'wifely' duties without being granted the name of 'wife,' I will change your duties. Medical technician, pilot, or correlation analyst for our information net would suit you -- and we need all of those personnel, especially now. You have many options."

      "I wasn't offended. This once, it was depressing. Irrational of me -- my oath was service, in any fashion." Two deep breaths, a sigh. "When I was young, about nine or ten, I saw you at Court. There had been some treason or other uncovered, and you brought two traitors to the foot of his throne and beheaded them with your lightsaber.

      "You were so striking -- I had pre-adolescent daydreams about you for months. Then someone told me you killed my mother." Pause, "It felt un-true, but their disapproval of you made me bury my interest in you really deep." She wriggled her bottom into his lap, "Please, take me that way again. And don't heal it this time. I need to be ... slightly damaged ... for the meetings tomorrow."

      "Why?"

      "To show someone that I'm owned."

      Tactical room. The field commander was there already, tallying. Garn set out drinks and food ... The other noticed him "walking funny."

      "Problems, son?"

      The face Garn turned toward him was exaltation blended with pain. "No, sir. Too much celebrating last night, that's all."

      "I think you'd better report to medical section, to see what was damaged."

      "I would rather you didn't make that an order, sir. Lord Vader is supervising my ... recovery."

      The field commander thought, "Of all the stupid things..." Then aloud, "You're certain that you're alright?"

      Vader spoke from behind the two, "Commander, don't you find a certain amount of pain ... instructional?"

      "I dislike this application, Lord Vader. You could have been more ..."

      "Gentle? Careful? Lord Anthru asked that I not heal him." The great masked head turned to regard Garn, who looked back calmly, face marked with pain and joy. "At his word, I will take his pain, soothe the wounds. But then, for the goal he seeks, he will have to accept the pain again. Commander, let him be. The worst is over, and he's in no danger."

      "Deliberate, then."

      Garn, "Oh, yes. He would not have touched me so, else."

      The field commander shuddered lightly, turned away. Silent conversation, Vader, "What were you trying to accomplish?"

      "You lost prestige yesterday when you showed yourself as human to him. Now he fears you again -- and envies me. He's what we'll have to deal with -- an Imperial officer, not Sith, who sees his best course with you anyway. You have to maintain your ... air of the eldritch."

      "I'm not sure I agree."

      "Probe him. See how this last conversation affected him."

      Silence, then, "For this one, you are right."

      "It's one of the Imperial mindsets. You're solicitous of me today after abusing me last night -- that happens frequently between Imperial officers. But because I begged you not to heal me, it moves the relationship into some dark mystic realm. Something that transmits power from you to me in a way he can barely imagine, can never join."

      "His thought was 'stupid Jedi tricks.'" Silent laughter, "For a while, he thought you were a female. Now, he's unsure again. And he's seeing himself in your place. One word, and I could have him."

      Garn closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the field commander twitch. "Excuse me, commander, could I have you look at this, please?"

      He came over, puzzled but curious. Garn reached out, brushed his hand, and at the same instant triggered the four nerve centers in sequence.

      The commander smile faintly, "It's so easy for you to bestow that, isn't it."

      "If you are worthy, the difficulty is nothing. Continue to be worthy, Commander."

      "Nothing more, Lieutenant?"

      "You will never be my lover, or his. Accept what you've been given.

      "Very well. How may I serve you, Lord Anthru?"

      "You were loyal to Lord Vader rather to the Empire. Why?"

      The field commander blinked, "My own superiors are not worthy. They're busy with party politics, using fleets and troops for their personal enrichment. Slavers and looters."

Miklinar mops his face once more and tosses the towel onto a pile waiting for the laundry droid to collect. "And so it begins -- the separation of the Sith from the Empire. We didn't join the Alliance, not directly. But we certainly found more common ground with them than with the Empire -- especially since the Emperor was hunting Vader." Mikli stood, "I'm going to catch a quick shower, then back to work."

You remember your manners, "Thanks for the story." Then, as he heads into the 'fresher, you call out, "What's the next one?"

You think you hear, "It's called 'Liaison.'"

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