.
The inauguration was planned in minute detail, the date set for fifteen days after the announcement of Palpatine's death- purportedly to give dignitaries a chance to get to Coruscant, in actual fact it was to give Luke a chance to recover - and for extensive repairs to the Throne Room in preparation, Reece insisting that the ceremony should be there.
Seven days before the ceremony, Luke flew to the Emperor's Hunting Estates on Issig peninsula. What remained of his father's body was cremated there. It was little, but then that wasn't the point, Mara knew; it was a way to say goodbye- to lay his father to rest with some dignity, something which he knew would not have happened without his involvement.
He was the only one to attend, the funeral not announced; even those close to Luke were not encouraged, so that in the event his final moments with his father were much the same way that they had always conducted their association; privately, whatever words spoken remaining between them alone. As much a mystery to Mara as the whole of his ambiguous, explosive relationship with the man he both loved and hated.
Still too weak to stand for more than a few minutes - a fact that was being very carefully hidden from prying eyes - he sat in sombre silence and watched the pyre burn, face neutral, gaze lost in the flames.
.
Both Mara and Hallin remained at a discrete distance throughout, knowing they should go no closer but somehow wishing to be there, aware of his grief without understanding or sharing it.
"He used him." Mara murmured at last of the limits of Vader's relationship to his own son, unable to hide her dislike, incensed at the injustice of it all.
"He knows that." Hallin said of Luke, bringing Mara's green eyes to him. The medic shrugged, his attention remaining on the lonely, melancholy, scene. "Some ties are deeper." he murmured simply, offering no more.
Mara turned back to the solitary figure, "I couldn't forgive." she said, very sure.
"It's a rare thing, the wilful determination to look beyond the obvious." Hallin said, turning to leave his friend in peace. Before he did so he paused to look pointedly back at Mara, though his voice held no censure when he spoke, "I would have thought you of all people would appreciate his ability to do that."
Mara stared at his back as he walked calmly away, her mind racing- did he know?
She'd tried several times to explain to Luke her unwilling part in the events which had led up to the death of his father and his own fateful duel with his Master, hoping to apologise; to be, if not forgiven then at least understood. But always Luke had made it crystal clear that he didn't wish her to elaborate; didn't want to discuss it in any way, always avoiding or curtailing it, never allowing her to continue.
She told herself that perhaps he wasn't ready yet, the events too fresh to talk about.
She told herself that he'd always known that it was inevitable. That those events had been destined to happen one way or another from the first moment Luke had stood before the Emperor, dragged there by his own father, three very different wills and intentions in play, all of them stubbornly intractable and uniquely incomparably gifted.
She told herself that he knew firsthand what Palpatine was like; how manipulative and underhand. Told herself that he knew only too well how quickly events rushed beyond your control when he turned on you. That he knew he too had to take his share of the blame in what had happened. She told herself that he just needed some time.
She told herself everything except the one thing she truly feared...
That he didn't want to know how deep her involvement had truly been... because if he did, how could he forgive her... ever.
.
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Reece walked the corridors of power like he belonged- but then he had always believed he did.
His attentions at the moment were concentrated on the security updates he was reading on his automemo. With just days to the inauguration, they were still sifting through the staff here at the Palace, particularly guards and Intel operatives, trying to sort out who was reliable and who needed to be removed. It was a monumental task and despite it being given priority, it would in all likelihood take several months to process them all- and there would always be a few who slipped through the net; that was what the new Internal Intelligence department had been set up for. The existing Intelligence network would eventually be absorbed into the new, more trustworthy one - when all relevant checks had been completed of course.
And in the meantime, with his father's reliable 501st and Skywalker's own 701st spread so thin, a few who had the means to be a genuine threats in the future had already dropped beneath the radar, some within hours of the Emperor's death.
Saté Pestage was nowhere to be seen, four Grand Moffs were gone, though their ships remained in the fleet, and Dangor had been sighted three times on Bilbringi. Sloppy; he'd be picked up inside the month.
Several members of the Ruling Council had gone to ground too, but Karrde's people had already tracked three down and were watching them. They'd give them a few weeks to see what they did; they should condemn themselves by their own actions, Skywalker had said. Personally Reece would have been happier simply to remove them and several others, but Luke had maintained that members of the Ruling Council were presently responsible for the day to day running of the Empire, still its de-facto legislators, and he needed stability... for now.
It was, of course, the right thing to do under the circumstances, though as far as Reece was concerned, those who had fled had already illustrated their doubtful loyalty by abandoning their posts, taking whatever they had amassed with them. But Palpatine had been diligent in maintaining files on everyone, and those files from the old regime's Intel divisions were in the hands of the new Emperor's agents within hours of the takeover. They wouldn't run far. The Empire still remained, and now as then, disloyalty would not be tolerated.
Those who had proved faithful would be accepted, those who had aided the transition would be rewarded. Those with existing ties would finally reap the benefit.
Reece firmly believed himself to fall into the latter of the three categories; his loyalty to The Heir had never contested or opposed his loyalty to the Empire; they were one and the same.
Since his early induction into the ranks of the Imperial Armed Forces and his recruitment to the Red Guard he was intensely loyal to the Empire, had always believed in it; believed in it still. It was only with assignment to the Emperor's entourage that his convictions had begun to falter- and not even that in truth. He still upheld the principles of the Empire; the ideal if not the reality. If Luke hadn't come along, he would still serve the Emperor and the Empire, still loyal to both, if no longer approving of the former in the flesh- what had been left of it.
They always said you should worship your heroes from afar- nearness withered them, and it was this which had slowly brought Wez to the realisation that his beloved Emperor may have lost his way in indulgent gratuity. Everyone came to the Palace with such high aspirations... but all too soon they felt as sullied and hopeless as everyone else, tainted by association.
And just as such thoughts had begun to percolate, Skywalker had come along.
Wez had been recruited by Saté Pestage, the Emperor's personal Aide- Amedda, like Dangor, was the public face of Palpatine's Offices; Pestage was well known as the Emperor's private voice; to have him approach one on the Emperor's behalf was tantamount to a personal command, as well as individual recognition; a solid foundation in the upper echelons of the Imperial Court. Wez had taken the assignment of course; it wasn't exactly a choice in truth- if he'd turned it down it would have ended his career, certainly within the Palace and probably within the military. And something nudged him on; curiosity, ambition, vanity even, that he'd been singled out.