You guessed it. Yet another Luke and Mara story.  This one actually has an interesting twist in it. Luke and Mara have been married fifteen years, and it’s almost their triplet children’s fourteenth birthday.

But when Mara takes her daughters out for a special celebration, they discover something more: a dangerous new Sith operation, whose new scheme could be the end of the Skywalker family.  NOTE: One thing you’ll notice about my writing style is that I portray the Star Wars characters more as human beings with human feelings and needs, and less as the heroes of the galaxy.  If you can’t stand at least a little of that, STOP READING NOW.
All the usual disclaimers. All characters/situations/etc belong to their respective owners. Some are mine, but most belong to George Lucas THE ALMIGHTY’S RIGHT HAND and Tim Zahn THE ALMIGHTY. I’m making no money (as usual) off this. Yadda yadda yadda.
Thanx to all beta testers, but also to the author of the story “Surprises”. Though my story is in no way connected to hers/his, this person’s story got the wheels in my brain slowly cranking, and eventually condensed their ways down into this story.
Enough of the usual babble. Enjoy the story!
 

PART 1: In the underworld.

    “I can’t believe I’m gonna be fourteen,” Loreina Skywalker gushed. She and her triplet siblings, Nyisha and Nathaniel were laying on the living room carpet, making birthday wish lists for certain relatives who hadn’t a clue about what to get teenagers (particularly boys) for their birthdays.
    “I can’t either,” Nathan said, chewing the end of his stylus as he tried to come up with another gift idea. “I feel so .  . . mature.”
    Nyisha laughed out loud at that. “You? Mature?”
    Nathan glared at his sister huffily. “Gods, you are
such a—“
    “Nathaniel Skywalker, watch your mouth!” his mother’s voice called sternly from her office. Nathan angrily rolled his eyes at his sister, stood up, and stalked out of the room.
    “Sorry!” Nyisha muttered, feeling guilt seep it’s evil finger into her conscience. She’d pretty much given up picking on her brother, but he’d so given it to her that time.
    “Don’t take it too hard,” Lora said. “He’s hit that ‘everything’s hormones’ stage we just pulled out of.” She leaned over and kissed her sister’s cheek. “Don’t worry, you’ll forget him as soon as you find out what Mom’s big present to us is.”
    “Big present?” Nyisha said, forgetting her brother and reaching out with the Force, trying to read her sister’s thoughts and emotions. The best she could do was sense the excitement Lora was feeling about that night.
    I don’t know what it is either. * Lora’s voice held excitement and curiosity that echoed in Nyisha’s mind.
    *Neesh, Lora, could you come here a sec? * came their mother’s voice through the Force.
Both girls scrambled to their feet and raced to the study.
    Mara was seated at her desk, looking over a report from the investigation she was doing on a planet in the Outer Rim.
    She swiveled in her seat to face her daughters. “Okay, I’ll cut to the chase since I know you’re both dying to know. I thought we could have a girl’s night out tonight. Just us. No guys.”
    The girls looked at each other, then back at their mother. “Mom, that is so cool. Whose idea was it?” Lora teased.
    Mara gave her a wounded look. “Mine, of course.Geez, I’m not quite the old crone you think!” They all laughed.
    “So where are we going?” Nyisha cut into the banter.
    “When? What am I gonna wear?”
    “The Hapen Embassy, right after I get Justin to bed, the fanciest dress you have. And for once, both of you, be ready on time!”
 
 

    When Luke got home that night, he almost ran into a very eager party of girls hurrying toward the door.  “Hey, what’s going on?” he demanded as they came to stand in front of him, each stepping forward for a quick hug.
    “Girls night out,” Mara explained. “It’s in celebration of the girls’ fourteenth birthday tomorrow.”
    “Aha,” Luke said. A very Mara thing to think of. “I take it I’m stuck here?”
    “You a woman?”
    “Of course not!”
    “Then yes.”
    He sighed, giving them a hurt look. “Well, have a good time.” He got a good bye kiss from Lora and Neesha, then Mara who whispered as she passed, “Don’t worry, I think you’ll be just fine here.” Luke tried to decipher her double meaning, but soon gave up and headed for the kitchen—
Where he found a whole crew of men sitting around the table, engrossed in a game of sabaac, Nathan right in the middle. Sensing his father, he looked up, smiling brightly.  “Hey, Dad.”
    All the other men turned as well, giving enthusiastic greetings of their own, and offering him a seat. Luke saw Lando, Han, and Zekk, Jaina’s husband studying their hands’ intently at the end of the table. At the other end, Jacen and Prince Isolder (Prince Isolder?) were giving Nathan pointers, while Nathan’s best friend Kieran sat between General Wedge Antillies, one-year-old Justin Skywalker (who Mara was supposed to have put to bed by now) who was sitting on his lap with his fingers in his mouth, and Chewbacca. And last, but most certainly not least, sat Anakin Solo next to Kyp Durron and Lando’s son Pheilyn, who were leaning over Anakin’s shoulder and whispering in his ear.  Luke circled around the table to where his son sat.
    “Who set this up?”
    Nathan grinned. “Mom. Felt sorry for me cause she was taking Lora and Nyisha out, so she called all the family friends she could think of who were guys and asked them to come over tonight. She even had Threepio make dinner—“ at which point the droid’s prissy voice called from the kitchen.  “Gentlemen, dinner is ready.”
 
 

    As the speeder cruised to a stop outside the Hapen Embassy, Nyisha and Loreina both gasped. It was beautiful.  Elegant, but not overly so. Their mother laughed.
    “Pretty impressive isn’t it? I thought so when Skywalker and I came here last year for that diplomatic conference, and I thought you guys would like it.”
    Both girls nodded. “So what are we waiting for?” Loreina demanded impatiently.
Mara said nothing, her gaze seeming to glaze slightly. Then she smiled and pointed. Nyisha and Loreina turned to look—
    And gasped again. “Isn’t that Aunt Leia’s speeder?” Neesha asked in surprise.
Mara nodded. “Come on, let’s go say hi.”
    The girls scrambled out of the speeder and hurried to greet their Aunt. Leia smiled and reached up to hug both her nieces. It hadn’t been too long since Lora had gained some height on her aunt, but Nyisha had outgrown her long ago.
    The butler who met them on the inside of the door was definitely Hapen, Nyisha thought, as she eyed him carefully. Incredibly handsome, the men and women of the Hapen cluster were known for being some of the most beautiful in the galaxy.
    What intrigued Nyisha was when her mother said “Reservations for Skywalker,” the Hapen nodded and led them not toward the grand tables in the main dining room, but toward the turbolift.
They traveled up about three levels to what appeared to be a balcony overlooking the vast span of Imperial City. A large table sat in the middle of the balcony and around it sat—
Lots of very familiar faces. Tendra Risant Calrissian, Tennenial Djo, Tendra’s daughter Renah, Winter, her daughter Amoura, Jaina, her daughter Illarya, Tenel Ka, her daughters Justine and Prika, and Chewie’s wife Wookallrra.
    Mara grinned. “Happy Birthday, girls.”
 
 

    It took him several moments to realize he’d finally found it. A way to turn Skywalker and his family and destroy all of their damned relatives. They deserved it. They’d killed him at Endor years and years before, but now that he finally had a host body to latch on to, the galaxy would once ago feel his wrath.
    Maybe Anikan Skywalker had been weak enough to turn back to the Light Side of the Force, but Darth Vader could go on just fine without him.
And this time, he would rule the galaxy.
 
 

    They were well into the evening of eating and talking and laughing and enjoying themselves when Mara felt her danger sense tingle in the very back of her mind. Not warning her of immediate danger but potential danger in the future.
    Though the other Jedi and trainees at the table would surely feel the disturbance later that night, Mara knew she was the only one here who felt it this early.
She excused herself and headed for the turbolift, following the feeling down out of the hotel. She had reached the door and was just climbing into the airspeeder when—
    “Mom, wait!”
Neesha and Lora were hurrying toward her from the
Embassy entrance.
    Mara shook her head adamantly. “You are absolutely not coming. Go back and tell Leia something came up and I’ll be back as soon as I take care of it.”
    “Look, Mom,” Lora said, her voice sounding as defiant as her mother’s sometimes did (of all the characteristics she had to inherit, Mara thought), “we’re pretty much fourteen now, and we’re ready to start facing the galaxy, okay? You don’t need to be as overprotective anymore.  Neesha and I are both very talented in the Force, and I think we need a challenge.” And with that she crossed her arms over her chest, as if daring Mara to contradict her.
    Mara sighed, and then reached deep inside herself with the Force, listening for guidance. Unfortunately, it was the guidance she’d been fearing.
Giving both her daughters vicious glares that had absolutely no effect on them, she said finally, “All right, but we’re playing by my book here, girls. You do as I tell you no matter what. Got it?”
They both nodded eagerly, saluting their mother mock-seriously before climbing into the speeder. Mara climbed in after them, and hit the accelerator, heading towards the feeling.
 
 

    It didn’t take them long to find. Buried deep in the underworld of Coruscant, in a torn up old building. Even if Mara had said to be careful, Lora wouldn’t have needed to be told. The slums of galaxy dwelt here. She had never been down this low before, but she’d gotten a pretty good idea of what to expect from the stories her Uncle Han had told them when she and Neesha and Nate had been younger.
    “Yuck,” Neesha murmured from beside her.
    “Yeah, it is,” their mother said. “And I don’t think I
have to tell you two that you are not to leave my side for any reason, unless I tell you. Understood?” Both girls nodded quickly.
    “Wouldn’t want to anyway,” Neesh said softly, her face twisting into a grimace. “Hey, Mom, do you think we should just communicate through the Force? I think that would be safer,” and Lora saw her sister shiver involuntarily.
    “I was just gonna say that. And I have a uniform I need both of you to put on. It’ll make us look more . . . in place. Under the left seat in a med box” Lora didn’t bother asking why her mother had the suits in there. She knew from experience just how “prepared” her mother could be sometimes.
They pulled to a stop in what looked like a one-time docking bay, and changed quickly into their disguises. At a suggestion from their mother, the girls reached up to smudge their make-up. Then they were ready.
    “One minute.” Mara dug around in the glove compartment, them pulled her hand out, gripping three utility belts, and handed them around. Adding this to their outfits, the girls climbed out of the car, each gripping a blaster. Target practice had been a skill Lora and her siblings had been doing since age eight, and despite their father’s misgivings, Mara insisted.
    This way, Mara said in their minds.
    Lora had to walk quickly to keep up with her
mother’s fast pace as they passed through the Spaceport and onto cracked and crumbling streets. Lora felt Neesha shiver involuntarily from behind her, and reached out with her mind to her sister reassuringly. Neesh reached back in thanks.
    They traveled in utter silence lower and lower into the under levels of Coruscant, feeling the grime as though it reached out and touched them.
    Suddenly, Lora’s danger sense flared and the walkway they stood on creaked threateningly. Mara grabbed their hands and pulled them back, but Neesha stumbled and with a cry fell after the walkway.
    Lora felt a scream in her throat, but was too horrified to make a sound. Her mother had managed to pull her to the safety of the walkway before the unstable one, but she had dove after Nyisha, Lora dropped on her stomach and peered cautiously over the edge.
    Mother will fix it, she thought fiercely over and over. She’ll use the Force to catch Neesh and bring her back up.  They’ll be fine . . . Nyisha and Mara fell about fifty feet, and just when Lora was summoning the Force to try and help her mother, there was a flash illuminating what appeared to be a pool of . . . of energy, there was no other way to describe it.
    And Neesha and Mara disappeared into it, and it imploded on itself and vanished.