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takadasaiko · 2 months

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A Flicker of Light Chapter Twenty-Four

Story Summary: A canon divergent AU in which Luke Skywalker is raised within the Empire to be either his father's heir as a Sith Lord… or his replacement.

Chapter Summary: Mara confronts Luke about his time on Jedha and Palpatine makes an unexpected power play.

FFN II AO3

She had been moving through a fog of questions whose answers only produced more questions. The Alderaanian security in Organa's ship hadn't taken Mara long to bypass once she'd dealt with the angry little droid. She'd hoped to find communications with known rebel cells or perhaps dealings with other connected individuals that the Empire suspected, but hadn't found proof against yet. What Mara hadn't expected was an encrypted communication with an old Corellian freighter. One that she herself had been on.

She'd followed the threads of information because that was her job. Unravel the senator's lies.

From Jakku she had found that the Millennium Falcon had landed on Jedha. She'd moved carefully from there, only barely talking herself out of physically going to see if she might catch them. She wouldn't. Her instincts told her she wouldn't, so she had to rely on sources on the ground.

There were plenty to choose from, she found, and more secrecy surrounding a project there than she would have expected for yet another dust ball planet. It took her time to track down a contact she could trust - time she spent moving back towards the Core - and she had been just hours away from Coruscant when the vid was transmitted.

Sand kicked up by wind left the images grainier than they would have been otherwise and some angles were entirely useless. She caught sight of a golden protocol droid first, then the petite princess second, a tall figure that she was certain was Solo, and a smaller man next to him. He had a hood pulled up around his face, the sand-coloured cloak leaving her blind at most angles. Then he turned and she caught a glimpse of his face.

For just a moment, Mara Jade had forgotten how to breathe.

It was possible that Luke was simply on a mission for the Empire, though something deep inside of her whispered that wasn't true. The fact that there'd been some kind of accident at a classified dig site on Jedha in the time he'd been there was either a very strange coincidence or he had helped the Rebel princess destroy an Imperial mining facility. As little as she believed in coincidences, she might have tried that day just as she knew she'd been trying for years now. All those moments - the early morning questions about leaving to all of the times he'd spoken as if his father and she were his only true allies within the Empire they all supposedly served - and the actions surrounding them. Padme Amidala's sister and the Rebel pilot he'd asked Mara to release for saving his life. Even the more recent incident of the intelligence they'd been after and that had been lost along with what should have been two high-level prisoners.

There were too many coincidences, and if she'd been tracking down these threads of information linked to anyone else, it wouldn't have taken her nearly this long to come to the truth. Luke had betrayed the Empire.

And Palpatine would kill him for this.

If he knew. Only if he knew.

By the time Mara's boots met the permasteel where she'd landed on Coruscant, a plan had formed. Those same boots carried her into the palace, through winding halls, and to the large doors the Red Guard opened for her. She steeled herself and her resolve, refusing to think of those three dangerous and unspoken - at least on her side - words that might be the death of her if this went wrong.

Mara felt the beckoning even before she heard her master's voice. "Come, child. What news of Leia Organa do you bring?"

I love you, Luke had said. I'll protect you.

It wouldn't be enough to simply look the other way this time, not if she wanted him to live. And Mara couldn't - wouldn't - imagine a galaxy without him. She could protect him.

"My Emperor," she greeted, bowing lowly. "I tracked the Senator's movements to the planet Jedha. The lies you spoke of were more dangerous than we thought."

They spoke, and Mara reported the half-truths as confidently as if it had been the whole. He waved her through points he cared little for until she reached the dig site. Mara admitted to not knowing why the site was important, but the princess' arrival, the timing of explosion, and her exit left her at the right place at just the right time while she'd received high-confidence reports that she'd been seen with Jedi sympathizers while there.

"And where is the Senator now?"

"I put a tracer on her ship. Its trajectory was taking it towards Alderaan."

"You've done well, my child," Palpatine said, those Sith-gold eyes peering out from beneath his hood. "Very well indeed."

With the dismissal she turned, pushing back at the guilt. It wasn't as if the princess was innocent, but she'd never knowingly shifted blame in her time serving as the Emperor's Hand. She'd served with honestly and dealt fairly until it was his life on the line.

There was no fair outcome with the choices Luke had made, and now she'd find out why.

With each step, the rage built. She kept a careful lid on it through the halls and finally to his apartment that he'd slipped out of to go on a treasonous trip with a princess. She waited. And waited. If her calculations were right, it'd be close to morning before he sauntered in there. Going back to her own quarters would have been a waste of time, though. There'd be no sleeping until she had answers.

The sun wasn't quite peeking up at the horizon when the door finally slid open and the lights motion-triggered lights snapped on at his entrance. She felt the briefest flash of surprise for him, even as he covered it with a smile. "Hey, Mara."

She should have played him. Led him down the path and let him hand her the information she needed. It was a tried and true method - one that he knew well as both an observer and a co-interrogated over the years - but that would be as pointless as his attempt to act so utterly nonplussed by her presence when he returned. "Luke," she greeted tightly. "How was Jedha?"

His façade broke with the question, surprise flashing across his features. He didn't deny it. Instead he stood there, blue gaze studying her and she felt the barest probes against her mind. She shut him out. Hard.

Luke raised his hands, palms outward in mock surrender. "I'm just trying to get a feel if I need to be ready for the Red Guard or not."

So much for keeping a cool head. The anger exploded faster than she could keep control of it and it physically pushed Luke back against the door as she burst to her feet. "You bastard," she hissed, her voice low and dangerous, and she gave him an intentional shove for good measure. "I have always been on your side. Through every questionable action and every treasonous murmur, I've kept it to myself. For you. To protect you!" She watched the words slice through him like a lightsaber. Good. He could feel a fraction of what she was feeling right now. "And then you go behind my back with her and you betray everything we've helped build!"

The words hung in the air between them and Luke loosed a soft breath. "I was trying to protect you."

"Look where that's gotten us."

He flinched at that and moved further into the apartment. He was limping, the bad break of his leg in the final stages of healing, but clearly overused on his little adventure. She watched him as he made his way slowly past the couch, shrugging his cloak from his shoulders to toss over the back of it and unclipping his lightsaber from his belt. He set it down on the table and took a heavy seat, toeing his boots off as he did. There was a long and heavy silence, her rage mixing with his indecision. He pursed his lips together and, finally, turned to look at her. The next words rang in her mind rather than out loud.

Is it safe?

"Of course it is. I used a loop on the listening devices."

He nodded, accepting that without further question, though it didn't alleviate the deafening silence as quickly as she would have anticipated.

"I know how you feel about him and about his Empire," he started slowly, his voice soft. "I know how you see him."

Mara crossed her arms where she stood. "He raised me. Trained me."

"I had to be careful. Not just for me, but for you. He's more dangerous than I think even you know, but….he's the closest thing to a father you can remember." It wasn't an accusation or even a simple statement of fact. There was something deeply personal in his words, and as he continued, Mara felt her chest tighten. "I know that asking you to choose isn't fair."

"Then don't." The words escaped her despite the pang of guilt. Wasn't that the task Palpatine had given her: force Luke to choose between his own father and the Empire? Or, perhaps a bit more realistically: between her and his father. She'd pushed it as far as she could because she didn't want him to have to face that pain. Choosing to be Palpatine's apprentice rather than his father's would be the most difficult decision he'd have to make, but what decision was there, really? The Emperor Saw things in a way few others could. Even Luke wasn't capable of seeing the future as Palpatine did. If the Emperor wanted him, he'd Seen it, and that meant it would come to pass. That, or he'd no longer be alive to fulfill that destiny.

"Mara," he breathed her name like his world was ending. "You don't know what I do about him."

She wasn't sure when she'd crossed the space between them, but she was close enough to lean down and press her lips against his. He reached up, finger tracing against her cheek and she didn't move away even as they parted. "If you go, he'll kill you. I can protect you here."

"And where will that get us?" he murmured similar words to her own spoken just a few minutes before. His eyes flickered up and his gaze held hers. "If we can't leave, we're not free."

"You could choose to stay. With me. I believe in the future we're building." She would find a way to help protect Vader if that was the way to keep him there. She could convince Palpatine to let him live.

"And if you didn't?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let me show you what he's built - what he plans to do. If you still believe in what the Empire has become…."

"You'll let this go?"

"Yes."

She nodded, feeling no true relief in it. But there was hope that they could put this behind them. That had to count for something.

—-

If he thought he'd get away with it, he would have taken his time putting a plan together. Quiet, subtle moves that would ensure that he and Mara were the only people of note that would have known they were there.

But Luke knew he didn't have that kind of time. Less than a full rotation later he'd secured a shuttle and hoped that he'd sense the danger in a more concrete way than the anxiety that was quickly taking up residence if any real trouble lay ahead. He had no choice now. No time to wait for the perfect moment. Mara had to understand why he was making the moves he was making and she'd have to see the corner he was backed into. If she didn't… Well, he didn't know what would happen. She wouldn't leave, that was for certain, but he also wasn't certain that she'd turn him in, despite his immediate questions. More likely she'd get caught in the middle and get herself killed. No. That wasn't right either. If she stayed, he would be the one responsible for getting her killed.

Which left him with little time and a lot of urgency.

He'd gathered what he needed and had clipped his lightsaber to his belt as he started out of his apartment. The doors slid open to reveal two red-clad guards. Luke could feel their gazes on him from behind the masks and he forced the surprise firmly behind a mask of irritation. "Yes?" he snapped, even if he knew they wouldn't - perhaps even couldn't - give him a verbal answer. Instead one motioned and they both turned. The message was clear with or without words. The only reason the Red Guard would come unbidden to his rooms was if Palpatine himself had sent for him. Great. Just great.

As they walked silently down the empty halls, Luke pulled on every lesson he'd learned over the years to bury his thoughts and feelings and fears as deep as they would go. By the time they reached the throne room he was the outward picture of calm, and not even the Emperor would know what had been spinning through his mind for the last rotation. The doors swished open and Mara straightened just a little from her place next to Palpatine. Her presence wasn't abnormal, and not necessarily a cause for concern, but seeing his father standing there without even knowing he was on planet was enough for a flicker of surprise to make it through the calm.

And in turn, a satisfied look flashed through Palpatine's shrouded, gold eyes as he turned that strange gaze on Luke. "Ah. Young Lord Natus," he greeted.

Luke wasted no more time dropping to a knee by way of greeting, his own blue eyes focused on the dark permasteel beneath him.

"Rise, my boy. I trust the medical staff has taken good care of you."

"Yes, my emperor," he answered easily, pulling a chuckle from the old husk of a Sith as Luke straightened.

"Your father too holds little regard for them." Interesting. Palpatine wanted him to know that he knew how little the younger Skywalker thought of Coruscant's best. But did he know that Luke had slipped out and where he'd been? Force knew there were layers to every word he uttered. It kept people guessing as to just how far his visions took him, just how much he Saw, and if they could truly get something past him. Just because he hadn't been hauled out for the first public execution didn't mean that he was in the clear. Or Mara. Or his father.

"I fear I don't have the patience for medical staff in general," Luke answered and that seemed to amuse his father's master.

"Or for protocol."

Luke found gold eyes focused on him and he felt his father touch his mind over their bond, looking for what this might all be about.

Palpatine's focus remained solely on Luke though. "Did you not think I would discover that you have been making moves to undermine Grand Moff Tarkin?"

There it was. He had two choices: grovel and beg for forgiveness or stand firmly by his decision, protocol be damned. Not that anyone in his position would have been fool enough to choose the former. Few found forgiveness from the Emperor.

Luke squared his shoulders and tilted his chin a little higher. "Tarkin's own hubris was delaying your weapon, my Emperor." Palpatine motioned for him to continue as he studied him intently. Any word could land him in an early grave and everyone in the room knew it. "He wants the credit for a project that he doesn't have the technical knowledge to scrape the surface of what's been created. Krennec knows that, and knows that once the project is done that Tarkin would toss him away for the glory."

"But not you?"

Luke shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage. "I convinced him that I see his worth. He'll complete the weapon with confidence that he'll receive assignments following its completion."

"And if he does not?"

"The decision is ultimately yours, my Emperor. My intention was simply to move a project that Tarkin had stalled forward."

Palpatine flashed a smile of rotten teeth and nodded. "Good. Very good," he offered. "Come closer, Natus. Lord Vader."

The two men moved closer and Luke caught Mara's gaze very briefly. She didn't seem to have any more insight than he did.

One thin, bony hand reached out and a Red Guard approached, setting a device down for all to see. As the robed figure moved away, Palpatine's fingers twitched and the device whirled, an image leaping up from it to show the bridge of the Death Star. Tarkin stood waiting, Krennec sulking behind him, but it was the scientist that the Emperor spoke to. "Director Krennec, Lord Natus speaks very highly of the weapon you have built for me. Are you prepared to prove its worth?"

A startled expression was shared by both the Moff and Science Director, but the latter stepped forward, bending in reverence as he spoke. "At your command, my Emperor," he answered, his voice trembling ever so slightly.

"You may fire when ready."

The image flickered out to provide the same view the Death Star showed through its own viewing port, giving all four in the throne room a clear view of the planet Alderaan. Luke felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

"You seem ill at ease, Lord Natus," Palpatine said quietly.

Luke clamped down on his emotions with everything he had in him. Not only did his, his father, and possibly Mara's life depend on it, but Leia and her adopted family's too. "Confused, my Emperor," he answered. "Half of the palace is furnished with goods exported in large part from Alderaan and the minerals found in their forests are used to power comms and control panels across the galaxy. Not to mention how much of the trade moves through their ports. Destroying the planet -" he felt Mara tense at the phrase - "would throw entire systems out of balance."

"Adjustments can always be made. They are far from irreplaceable."

"Forgive me. I'm just… trying to understand why Alderaan specifically was chosen." He tried not to cringe as the crew on the Death Star counted off the steps until utter destruction.

"Of course. You have been healing from your injuries," Palpatine murmured in a way that left Luke questioning if the Sith believed that or not. "Their young senator has been discovered as a traitor. An example will be made of her with the very weapon she'd hoped to cripple." He turned to Mara as if she'd spoken to him through their connection. "Billions may die to save trillions more, my child," he answered her out loud.

Luke opened his mouth to argue - to beg, if that's what it came to, but the firing sequence commenced, and if the thought of it had felt like a punch, the act sent him reeling. Billions of voices screamed out through the Force and for a fraction of a moment he could feel all of them. The utter terror ripped through him like lightning, burning through his veins and threatening to shatter his heart. And then nothing. Billions of lives snuffed out on the word of one man.

And now the whole galaxy knew what Palpatine was capable of.

Focus, his fathers voice broke through the all-engulfing silence and Luke swallowed down the bile in his throat. When he looked up, he found those thin lips spread wide to show off rotting teeth while Sith-gold eyes bore in as if their owner was looking to take hold of his very soul.

Luke's fingers twitched at his side, his lightsaber tugging lightly on his belt. He had the element of surprise. If he moved fast enough, he could kill him.

"Good," Sidious murmured, closing his eyes and breathing deeply as if he were inhaling a scent. "Your rage, their fear….. Let their cries fuel you until you no longer hear them. I have Seen how strong they will make you."

Surprise pulled him to the outer edges of his murderous rage. "You Saw this?"

"Of course, my boy. There's nothing I do not See."

And then he lost it. The element of surprise along with the drive to act on it. Instead he felt only pain and he turned, not bothering to wait for a dismissal as he stormed out.

Just before he hit the door he heard Palpatine speak. "Let him go. You've done well in raising him, Lord Vader. He will be…"

What the Emperor Saw him to be didn't matter. Nothing did. His sister was dead and his father or he would be next. There was no stopping Palpatine now. They had lost.

—

There are no fair trials in Palpatine's Empire. That was what Los had said to her. He's been so certain that she'd been fool enough to assume that a Rebel had fed him a plate full of lies to turn him. She'd never dreamed that he could be right.

But Leia Organa hadn't received a trial, only an execution along with billions that had dared to share a planet with her. If she hadn't seen the Death Star's capabilities and hadn't witnessed her master's command, she wouldn't have believed it. She wasn't sure she agreed with the way Luke had gone about this, but she was starting to understand the reason behind it at the very least.

It was everything she could do to remain where she was after Luke left the throne room. The Emperor continued to shower Vader with praise for his son's actions in supposedly pushing his project forward to completion. Both would be rewarded, of course. They would be reassigned to the Death Star to ensure that they had everything that they needed to continue. Whatever Luke and the Organa girl had destroyed on Jedha didn't seem to phase Palpatine's expectations. Everything was moving forward… just as he's foreseen it.

Mara wasn't dismissed with Vader, much to her frustration. She buried it down and didn't dare allow her mind to wander — either to what she'd seen or what that truly meant.

"You have done well, my child," Palpatine said once they were alone. "Young Natus' trust in you grows by the day. The time has come to make use of that." Gold eyes slipped closed for a long moment. "Should he stray, it will surely mean his death."

She took a moment, weighing her words carefully. "You seemed… pleased, my master. With his anger towards you."

"Do you think that Lord Vader always followed my commands without doubt? Such loyalty is forged through trial and fire."

Mara swallowed the questions born out of his answer, nodding instead.

"And until he has reached true loyalty to me, he will have you to guide him. Go."

The sudden dismissal added a bit of surprise to the fear his predictions brought, but she didn't dare linger.

—-

The Senate chamber was empty, just as he'd known it would be. The silence weighed heavy on the large room that had once been the center of galactic democracy. From what he knew - from what Leia had told him - few Senators had attended the sessions in recent years. Luke wagered even fewer would now. Palpatine had never cared to hear the will of the people he ruled over, but until now he'd needed a clever way to keep them in line. For those willing, he bought off their representatives with lavish homes and expensive gifts. For those less willing, well… that's what he, his father, and Mara had been for. To dispense Imperial Justice. But with the Death Star not only operational, but on open display… no one would dare go against him for fear that they'd cost the lives of an entire planet. The Rebellion was essentially over, as was any hope Luke had had to escape with the people he loved.

A familiar flicker in the Force warned him of Mara's approach. Luke didn't bother to look back, but instead ran his fingertips along the dusty permasteel of the pod that hadn't been used in some time now. Anger flashed through him, twisting up with guilt and helplessness that were both much less useful to him, but seemed determined to burrow deep into his chest. His fingers tightened as she stepped closer. "Now's not the time," he bit out.

"Luke…"

He spun, his words clawing up his throat and off his tongue before he could stop them. "What did you think he'd do, Mara? Arrest her? Put her on trial?"

"I didn't think he'd kill an entire planet with her," she murmured. She was still in shock. Still reeling. Luke didn't care.

"She was my sister!"

Green eyes blinked in confusion. "What?"

"My sister," he repeated, his own voice threatening to break. "We were separated when we were born. I don't know the details, but I know who she is. Was." He squeezed his eyes shut, desperately trying to swallow back his emotions.

"I… had no idea."

"Would it have changed anything?"

"It would have made more sense."

He snorted. "What did you think it was, Mara?"

There was a beat before she answered. "I did what I could with the information I had. It was her or both of you, and you're not the only one that gets to protect the people you love."

The confession took a moment to break through the next sharp retort that was piecing together in his mind. She loved him. He'd known it even if she never actually said it, but he couldn't even revel in it now. Instead of joy, all it did was deflate his anger and leave him feeling hollow and exhausted. He caught her gaze and saw fear tangled up with her own flared temper.

Somewhere below, one of the lower chamber doors opened, the sliding door scraping across the permasteel with an unmaintenanced squeak. Luke loosed a breath. "I know," he admitted after a long, tense moment. "But right now I have to go find a way to tell my captain that his family, friends… his entire planet was just destroyed. By us."

He turned to make his way down to the lower levels and Mara caught his wrist, but she couldn't seem to say whatever it was she'd stopped him to say. So he leaned in, pressed a brief kiss to her forehead, and squeezed her hand. "I love you too. I just need time."

Mara nodded and released him to move towards a conversation he wasn't even sure that he knew how to have.

----

TBC

Notes: This took a bit different turn than I expected at the end of the last chapter, but I'm glad it did. It's funny, while I know where this story is going, I can't always predict how it's going to get there. Makes it fun ;)

Next Time: Luke and Vader find themselves under scrutiny overseeing the Death Star project while Mara makes a discovery that will change the course of their lives.

#star wars #star wars fanfiction #Luke Skywalker #Mara Jade #Sheev Palpatine #Darth Vader

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dazzledbybooks · 5 years

Quote

A thief. An officer. A guardian. Three strangers, one shared destiny . . . When the Last Days came, the planet of Laterre promised hope. A new life for a wealthy French family and their descendants. But five hundred years later, it’s now a place where an extravagant elite class reigns supreme; where the clouds hide the stars and the poor starve in the streets; where a rebel group, long thought dead, is resurfacing. Whispers of revolution have begun—a revolution that hinges on three unlikely heroes… Chatine is a street-savvy thief who will do anything to escape the brutal Regime, including spy on Marcellus, the grandson of the most powerful man on the planet. Marcellus is an officer—and the son of a renowned traitor. In training to take command of the military, Marcellus begins to doubt the government he’s vowed to serve when his father dies and leaves behind a cryptic message that only one person can read: a girl named Alouette. Alouette is living in an underground refuge, where she guards and protects the last surviving library on the planet. But a shocking murder will bring Alouette to the surface for the first time in twelve years…and plunge Laterre into chaos. All three have a role to play in a dangerous game of revolution—and together they will shape the future of a planet. Power, romance, and destiny collide in this sweeping reimagining of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, Les Misérables. Sky Without Stars (System Divine #1) by Jessica Brody & Joanne Rendell Publisher: Simon Pulse Release Date: March 26th 2019 Genre: Retellings, Young Adult, Science Fiction Review: Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell is fantastic. I am loving this book. If the cover doesn't grab you right away then the story will draw you in. As the reader you are introduced to three characters, Chatine, Marcellus, and Alouette. These three people couldn't be more different but they will all touch each others lives in a different way. Chatine is a thief. Chatine has lived a hard life. She is considered to be part of the lowest part of society, the third estate. No one cares about her or others like her. Obviously she doesn't have the best outlook on life. Marcellus is the son of a renowned traitor. Marcellus wants to be the best solider that he can be but he just isn't cut out for it. He is so used to being alone that he really just wants to be loved by anyone. Alouette has a secret. She has lived underground her entire life. She grew up helping the sisters record history. Now she lives in a time that people don't remember the written word. Alouette wants nothing more than to go outside but once she is outside she discovers secrets about her past that she wasn't ready for. I really enjoy these characters. Just as importantly, I enjoyed the world building. Brody and Rendell brought us a beautiful world that is so vivid. Even the drabby parts were described so beautifully. I really enjoyed this book. One thing I really appreciate is this book makes me feel like I am there and that I am part of the story. I have read Les Miserables and I have to say that this is a great retelling of Les Miserables but I feel like a lot of backstory is left out compared to the book it is based on. I think someone who has not read Les Miserables won't have any issues with this story and they will probably breeze straight through it. Someone who has read it, will definitely notice the differences and the backstory that is missing. You should definitely check out this book. I really like it and I think it is worth your time to read. Plus there are so many good and fun things coming out about this book. Check it out because I don't think you will regret it. Favorite Quotes: High on a hill, the family built their Grand Palais under a vast climate-controlled dome. And in the flatlands below lived their chosen people. Since the day she was born into this Regime, she was fated to die young. She would never see the stars. She would never feel the warmth of real Sol-light on her face. She would never escape. He had to prove to himself, once and for all, that he was not his father’s son. He was a loyal grandson and a proud member of the Second Estate. She was so sick of it. The secrets. The mysteries. The torn-out pages. The hidden boxes. She needed answers. And she needed them now. The Map: Excerpt: Chapter One Chatine The rain was falling sideways in the Marsh. It was never a straight downpour. It was always crooked. Just like the people here. Con artists and hustlers and crocs, the lot of them. Anyone can be a saint until they’re hungry enough. Chatine Renard was perched high above it all, watching the stream of people churn through the busy marketplace like clotted blood through a vein. She was straddling an exposed metal beam that once connected the old freightship to its roof. At least, that’s what Chatine had been told—that the Frets were once titanic flying vessels that soared across the galaxy, bringing her ancestors to the planet of Laterre, the coldest and wettest of the twelve planets in the System Divine. But years of neglect and crooked rain had corroded the PermaSteel walls and ceilings, turning the staterooms in the passenger freightships into leaky, mold-ridden housing for the poor, and this cargo freightship into an open-air marketplace. Chatine pulled her hood farther down her forehead in an attempt to block her face. Much to her dismay, she’d noticed over the past few years that her eyelashes had grown longer, her chest had filled out, her cheekbones had become more pronounced, and her nose had slimmed to a dainty point, which she despised. She had streaked her face with mud before coming to the Marsh today, but every time she caught sight of her reflection in a puddle or the metal of a partially collapsed wall, she cringed at how much she still looked like a girl. So inconvenient. The Marsh was far more crowded today than usual. Chatine leaned forward and balanced on her stomach, hugging the beam to her chest as she scanned the countless faces that passed beneath her. They were always the same faces. Poor, downtrodden souls like her trying to find creative ways to stretch their weekly wages. Or con their neighbor out of a larg or two. Newcomers were rare to the Marsh. No one outside of the Third Estate bothered with the picked-over cabbages and mangy turnips for sale. With the exception of Inspecteur Limier and his army of Policier droids tasked with keeping the peace, the Frets and the marketplace in its center were normally avoided at all costs by anyone who didn’t live here. Which was why the man in the long coat immediately caught Chatine’s eye. His wealth was written all over his groomed black beard, matching hair, pressed clothes, and sparkling adornments. Second Estate, to be sure. She’d never known the First Estate to ever venture out of Ledôme. The climate-controlled biodome sat high on the hill just outside the capital city of Vallonay, shielding the First Estate from Laterre’s persistent downpours. And the slums below. Chatine’s eyes raked over the man, taking in every stitch and every button. Her gaze expertly landed on the gold medallion dangling like bait from his neck. She didn’t have to see it up close to know it was a relic from the Last Days, rescued from the burning embers of a dying planet. The Second Estate loved their First World relics. Five hundred largs easy, Chatine calculated in her head. Enough money to feed an entire Third Estate family for weeks. But it wouldn’t be long before the rest of the crocs in the Marsh spotted the treasure too and made their play. Which meant Chatine had to move fast. Gripping the beam with both hands, she swung her legs over the side and launched her body to the nearby catwalk, landing silently in a crouch. Directly underneath her, the man continued farther into the marketplace, weaving around the loose chickens that roamed the stalls searching for scraps. His gaze swept left and right as though taking mental inventory of the space. For a moment, Chatine wondered what he was doing here. Had he gotten lost on his way back up to Ledôme? Or was he here on some kind of business? But then she remembered the annual Ascension happening later today and reasoned he was probably a foreman of a fabrique, come to round up his workers who were skipping out on their shifts to get jacked up on weed wine, all the while hoping to win a new life. “Win a new life?” Chatine muttered to herself and let out a bitter laugh. Deluded fools, all of them. She crept across the grid of overhead walkways and ramps, skillfully ducking to avoid broken water pipes and leaping over giant chasms in the grated floor. All the while, she kept a close watch on the man, making sure she was never more than a few steps behind him. He finally slowed near Madame Dufour’s stall, pulled an apricot from his pocket, and took a large bite, the juice dripping into his beard. Chatine’s mouth started to water. She’d only ever tasted an apricot once, when a crate had fallen off the back of a cargo transporteur delivering fruit from the hothouses to Ledôme. Chatine watched Madame Dufour size the man up with sinister fascination. The old croc was practically licking her lips at the sight of such an easy mark. It was now or never. Ducking under the broken railing, Chatine grabbed onto the raised rim of the walkway floor and somersaulted over the edge. She whipped her body forward, fell three mètres down, and adeptly caught the beam below her. She circled around until it rested against her hips and she could balance there. She was now only a mètre above the man’s head. Yet with the buzz of the busy marketplace, no one even bothered to look up. “What a pitiful sight,” the man said, taking another bite of his apricot. He didn’t even bother to hide his disgust. The Second Estate rarely did. It was something about being stuck in the middle, Chatine had always noticed—not quite rulers and yet far from being one of the wretched like her—that gave the Second Estate their shameless sense of arrogance. They were almost more intolerable than the First Estate. Almost. Chatine’s gaze cut to the left, taking in the tower of empty crates stacked up next to Madame Dufour’s stall. She shimmied along the beam until she was directly above them. Then, she tipped forward, rotated around, and kicked both feet out in front of her. The crash was louder than she anticipated. The crates toppled to the ground, avalanching around the man as he fell to his knees with a grunt. Chatine moved quickly. Landing in a squat, she crawled through the wreckage until she found the man and graciously helped him back onto his feet. He was so busy brushing dust and cabbage leaves from his coat, he didn’t even feel the medallion being lifted from his neck. “Are you all right, Monsieur?” Chatine asked in her friendliest tone, slipping the pendant into her pocket. The man barely looked at her as he straightened his hat. “Quite all right, boy.” “You must be careful in the Marsh, Monsieur. It isn’t safe for someone of your rank.” “Merci,” he said dismissively as he tossed the apricot he’d been eating toward Chatine. She caught it and flashed him an appreciative smile. “Vive Laterre.” “Vive Laterre,” he echoed before turning away. Chatine grinned at the man’s back as she turned on her heels and slipped the half-eaten apricot into her pocket. It took all her strength not to consume the entire thing here and now. She knew the man would hardly even miss that gold medallion from his neck. He probably had ten just like it back in his manoir in Ledôme. But to her, it was everything. It would change everything. The wind picked up, howling through the stalls and biting viciously at Chatine’s skin. She pulled her tattered black coat tighter around her, trying in vain to stave off the chill. But the holes and ripped lining of her clothes weren’t the problem. It was the hunger—the ribs poking through her skin. There wasn’t a single shred of insulation left on her body. But after that score, she was finding it hard to care. As Chatine headed toward the south exit of the Marsh, weaving through stalls selling moldy potatoes, slimy leeks, and pungent seaweed dragged in from the nearby docks, there was a new lightness to her gait. A new hopefulness in her step. But just before passing through what used to be the old cargo ship’s loading bay, Chatine felt a large hand clamp down on her shoulder and she stopped dead in her tracks, a shiver running through her. “So nice of you to help out a member of the Second Estate,” a cold, robotic voice said. “I’ve never seen such chivalry from a Renard.” The emphasis he placed on her last name made Chatine squirm. She closed her eyes, mustering strength, and painted on a blithe smile. She slowly turned around. “Inspecteur Limier,” she said. “Always a pleasure.” His stony expression didn’t change. It hardly ever did. The circuitry implants on the left side of his face made it nearly impossible for the inspecteur to express any emotion. Chatine often wondered if the man was even capable of smiling. “I wish I could say the same for you, Théo.” His tone was flat. Only her parents called her Chatine. Everyone in the Frets knew her as Théo. It was the name she’d given herself ten years ago, when they’d first moved to the capital city of Vallonay and Chatine had decided that life as a boy would be much less complicated than life as a girl. Chatine clucked her tongue. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Inspecteur.” “What did you take from the kind monsieur?” Limier asked, his half-human, half-robot voice clicking on the hard consonants. Chatine refreshed her smile. “Whatever do you mean, Inspecteur? I know better than to steal from the hand that feeds me.” She nearly gagged on the words. But if they saved her from a one-way ticket to Bastille—the price you paid for stealing from an upper estate—then she could choke her way through them. Chatine held her breath as the inspecteur’s circuitry flickered on his face. He was computing the information, analyzing her words, searching for hints of perjury. Over the past ten years of living in the Frets, Chatine had learned how to lie. But lying to a human being was one thing. Lying to a cyborg inspecteur, programmed to seek the truth, was quite another. She waited, keeping her smile taut until the circuits stopped flashing. “Will that be all, Inspecteur?” Chatine asked, smiling sweetly while pressing her hands against her tattered black pants. Her palms were starting to sweat, and she didn’t want his heat sensors to pick up on it. Then, slowly, Chatine watched the inspecteur’s gloved hand extend toward her. With a soft touch that chilled her to the bone, he pushed up her black hood to reveal more of her face. His electric orange eye blinked to life, scanning her features. It seemed to linger a beat too long on her high, feminine cheekbones. Panic bloomed in her chest. Can it see who I really am? Chatine hastily took a step back, out of the inspecteur’s reach, and yanked her hood back down. “My maman is expecting me home,” she said. “So, if you don’t mind, I’ll be going now.” “Of course,” the inspecteur replied. “Thank you, Inspecteur. Vive Laterre.” As Chatine turned to leave, she felt her entire body collapse with relief. She had done it. She had fooled his sensors. She was a better liar than even she had come to believe. “I’ll just need to check your pockets first.” Chatine froze. She quickly surveyed her surroundings. She spotted five Policier droids in her vicinity. More than usually roamed the Marsh, due to the annual Ascension ceremony today. The droids—or bashers as they were referred to around here—stood at almost twice the size of an average man and their slate-gray exoskeletons crunched and whirred as they walked. Chatine wasn’t afraid of them, though. She’d escaped Policier droids plenty of times. They were fast and stronger than ten men, but they still had their limitations. For instance, they couldn’t climb. Careful not to move her head, Chatine glanced up, thanking her lucky Sols that there was an old pipe running directly over her head. She refused to get flown off to Bastille. A neighbor was currently serving three years for stealing a measly sac of turnips. A First World relic lifted off a Second Estater? She’d be looking at ten years minimum. And hardly anyone lived that long on the moon. She slowly spun back around to face Limier. “Of course, Inspecteur. I have nothing to hide.” Flashing another smile, Chatine stuffed her hand into her pocket and felt the medallion cool and smooth against her skin. The inspecteur once again reached a hand in her direction. Then, before he could react, Chatine hurled the apricot the monsieur had given her straight at the inspecteur’s face. His circuitry sparked as his brain tried to make sense of the incoming object. Chatine bolted, scrambling onto a table full of fabric scraps before leaping toward the pipe. For a second, she was flying, soaring above the inspecteur, the shoppers in the Marsh, and the Policier droids who were just starting to take notice of the disturbance. As she caught the pipe, she used her momentum to circle her legs around until she was straddling the rusty, metal pole. “Paralyze him!” Inspecteur Limier shouted to his droids, peering up at Chatine. His circuitry was going haywire, like someone had hacked the signal. “Now!” The bashers maneuvered their bulky PermaSteel bodies around one another, assembling into attack formation. Chatine knew she had to move quickly. One rayonette pulse she could dodge, but five? That would be rough. The pipe was too narrow to walk on, so Chatine shimmied across it on her stomach, weighing her options. The north exit was out of the question. It backed up to the Vallonay Policier Precinct, where she would certainly run into more droids. There was a catwalk about three mètres ahead of her. If she could reach it without getting shot, she could crawl the rest of the way to the east exit, back near Madame Dufour’s stall. A split second later, she felt the heat of the first rayonette pulse whizz by the side of her face. She sucked in a sharp breath and shimmied faster. A second droid took aim below her, its shot perfectly aligned at her left knee. She braced herself for the impact. But just then, a group of drunk exploit workers stumbled through the fray, arguing about who among them had the most Ascension points stored up. One of them crashed right into the droid, and the pulse barely missed her leg. “Oh, excuse me, Monsieur,” the drunk worker slurred to the droid, bowing ceremoniously. His friends broke out into hoots of laughter while Chatine took the opportunity to slide the rest of the way across the rusted pipe. Thank the Sols for strong weed wine, she thought as she launched herself toward the catwalk. She caught the railing with both hands just as a third pulse was fired from below. This one glanced her left shoulder. It wasn’t a direct hit, but it was enough. The pain was instant. Like someone had scraped her skin with a blazing-hot knife. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. The sound would only improve the droids’ aim. Within seconds, her left arm started to lose sensation from the paralyzeur now pumping through her blood. She scrambled to swing her feet up over the ledge of the walkway but was unsuccessful. Now she was just dangling there, her feet paddling against the air. The droids shoved people aside as they zeroed in on her location. More rayonette pulses tore past her, rippling and bending the air. It was only a matter of time before another one found its target. Chatine knew she needed a distraction. She spotted a crate packed with chickens directly in front of her. She shook out her left arm, trying to chase away the numbness that was spreading toward her fingers, but it was no use. The paralyzeur was quickly working its way through her muscles. Favoring her right hand, she gripped the railing as tightly as she could and pumped her legs until she’d built up enough momentum to reach the crate. She arched her body and kicked her legs out hard. The crate crashed to the ground and busted open. The chickens squawked and tried to fly away, but their useless wings barely allowed them to get off the ground. The commotion was enough, though. People were screaming, the stall owner was desperately trying to wrangle the loose birds, and the Policier droids fought to barrel through it all. But their efforts only managed to rile up the birds even more. They fluttered about, scraping people with their sharp claws. The droids started firing with abandon. But with all the chaos below, their aim was poor. They hit more chickens than anything else. The birds absorbed the stun of the rayonettes and fell limp to the ground. They wouldn’t be able to move again for a few hours. With the droids distracted, Chatine was finally able to pull herself onto the catwalk and crawl, one-handed, across the rusty, metal plank before shimmying down a support beam next to Madame Dufour’s stall. She glanced back to see the bashers still trying to push their way through the crowd to reach her. But with the number of people in the Marsh today and the riled-up chickens, it wasn’t an easy task. Madame Dufour glared at Chatine, her wrinkled arms folded across her chest. “Like father, like son,” she said, making a tsk sound with her teeth. “Mark my words, boy, you’ll be rotting on the moon before the end of this year.” Chatine flashed her a goading grin before swiping a loaf of chou bread from one of Madame Dufour’s crates and darting toward the exit. “Arrête!” The old woman’s command sounded like a croak. “Get back here, you wretched croc!” “Thanks for breakfast!” Chatine called back in a singsong voice. And then, before the droids could track her or Madame Dufour could catch her, Chatine was gone. Once she’d put a good distance between herself and the marketplace, she slowed to a walk and massaged her dead arm with the opposite hand. It wasn’t the first time she’d been shot by a rayonette. And it probably wouldn’t be the last. The sensation would return soon enough. Chatine reached into her pocket and pulled out the pendant she had lifted from the Second Estater. She sucked off the sweet apricot juice and held the medallion in her open palm, studying it. For the first time, Chatine noticed the ornate golden Sol carved into the surface. It was unlike any of the three Sols that hung in the sky of the System Divine. This was a First World Sol. Its brilliant, fiery rays flared out to the edge of the medallion. Chatine reverently clasped the pendant around her neck, a rare genuine smile creeping across her face. She hadn’t seen the light of a Sol in nine years. This was definitely a sign of good things to come. Excerpted from Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell. Copyright © 2019 by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Book Links: Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34513785-sky-without-stars Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1534410635/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=theunoaddboof-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1534410635&linkId=feb74b0ddbf635416ba2f226261deeed Bookdepository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Sky-Without-Stars-Jessica-Brody/9781534410633?ref=grid-view&qid=1549403509338&sr=1-1 B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sky-without-stars-jessica-brody/1128863849?ean=9781534410633&st=AFF&SID=www.barnesandnoble.com&2sid=Royal+Social+Media_7992605_NA&sourceId=AFFRoyal+Social+Media&cjevent=2866ff23299011e9829a01080a180514&dpid=tekz25v83 iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/sky-without-stars/id1431862368?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 Google Books: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Jessica_Brody_Sky_Without_Stars?id=Yj1qDwAAQBAJ&hl=en Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ch/en/ebook/sky-without-stars-1 Pre-Order Campaign: Pre-order a hardcover of SKY WITHOUT STARS by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell from a participating indie bookstore* before March 26, 2019 and you’ll receive an exclusive Sky Without Stars Gift Pack, including the following: · A limited edition two-sided 12”x16” poster featuring the ONLY available colored version of the book’s world map · A Sky Without Stars bookplate, signed by both authors · A Sky Without Stars postcard · A Sky Without Stars bookmark The gift pack will be included with your book when it is shipped or picked up in store. *Click here for participating stores. About the Author: Jessica Brody Jessica Brody is the author of more than 15 books for teens, tweens, and adults including Addie Bell’s Shortcut to Growing Up, A Week of Mondays, Boys of Summer, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, and the three books in the sci-fi Unremembered trilogy. She’s also the author of the Descendants: School of Secrets series, based on the hit Disney Channel original movie, Descendants. Her books have been translated and published in over 23 countries and Unremembered and 52 Reasons to Hate My Father are currently in development as major motion pictures. She lives with her husband and four dogs and splits her time between California and Colorado. Visit her online at JessicaBrody.com. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram @JessicaBrody Joanne Rendell Joanne Rendell is the author of three novels and holds a PhD in English literature. She teaches fiction writing to teens and kids and is a board member for the youth Shakespeare company, New Genesis Productions. With her husband and son, Joanne divides her time between New York City, and New Paltz, New York. Visit Joanne at JoanneRendell.com. Giveaway: Prize: Win a copy of SKY WITHOUT STARS by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell (US Only) Stars: 20th March 2019 Ends: 2nd April 2019 a Rafflecopter giveaway Tour Schedule: http://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2019/02/tour-schedule-sky-without-stars-system.html March 20th The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club - Interview with Joanne Rendell March 21st NovelKnight - Guest Post Andi's ABCs - Book Spotlight L.M. Durand - Review Book Beach Bunny - Review + Dream Cast That Artsy Reader Girl - Interview with Jessica Brody March 22nd BookCrushin - Guest Post Hauntedbybooks - Review + Favourite Quotes Dazzled by Books - Review + Favourite Quotes The Mind of a Book Dragon - Review + Playlist March 23rd Wishful Endings - Interview Lisa Loves Literature - Review Moonlight Rendezvous - Review + Favourite Quotes everywhere and nowhere - Review March 24th Here's to Happy Endings - Review Malanie Loves Fiction - Review A Dream Within A Dream - Review Confessions of a YA Reader - Promotional Post March 25th Library of a Book Witch - Review Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile - Review Adventures Thru Wonderland - Review Camillea Reads - Review + Favourite Quotes March 26th Book Slaying - Interview Bookwyrming Thoughts - Review It Starts at Midnight - Review In Between Book Pages - Review + Favourite Quotes

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