DEADLY LAWS
		       Sharon Beckerle

Star Wars Fan Fiction 1997. DEADLY LAWS.
Copyright 1997 Lucasfilm limited.

Sharon Beckerle.No copyright infringement is intended.
This is one of my first attempts at fan fiction, comments and criticism can
be reached to me at Gerbeck@Yorku.ca. Your criticism will not be read if
foul language is added.

Summary: After leaving Nom Charios and approaching his Forties, a deadly
Law for all Tatooine citizens comes into effect   One that will force Mara
Jade to make a decision once and for all...

Chapter1-Despair
     

	Luke Skywalker tried to hold his grief at bay for the loss going
through his whole body as he waited in the aft cabin of the Millennium
Falcon
    The pain washed through him in giant waves, he could no longer detain
them. He failed,there was nothing he could do. Trying to breathe through
heartbreaking sobs, tears  stung his eyes and draining all  his
strength.  Why can't I ever find a woman who will have me?! What am I doing
wrong?!
      Luke brushed his eyes and blew his nose on his handkerchief .
Disgusted, he flung it into the recycler.
    Luke cursed  himself for going on so foolish a mission and being naive
to believe  love could cure anything . He  reached under the bed to the
small liquor cabinet there staring long and hard at the Tatooine gin
bottle, he  opened it and took a deep drink off it hoping his pain to go
away.
     As he did so, he heard the door behind him slide open. Immediately ,he
turned to see Han standing in the doorway.  His expression grim  "Can I 
come in Luke?" he asked.
   Luke gestured to  his bed . Watching him, Han sat down with a
seriousness Luke had never seen before.Luke kept the  bottle hidden from
Han's eyes.
    "We have to talk" Han stated.
   "About what?" Luke asked. Did it have to be now?
    "Luke, I tried talking to you about this before. But  I can't hold this
back anymore. I"m concerned about you.  You acted so much like a Jedi for
so long  you've forgotten what it means to be human!"
    "Han I don't want to discuss this-"Luke began, then hiccupped softly
and giggled
    "You're gonna have to admit it sometime Luke!" Han Yelled  "The weight
on your shoulders is Killing you! It's destroying you inside and out!"
    "Yeah well, you really should care Han." Luke said with bitter Sarcasm
dripping off his voice  Han flinched, then threw his hands up in
resignation at his brother in laws obstinacy.
   "Leave me alone Han.Your son's calling you." Han Knew his son had done
no such thing but Luke laughed anyway. Annoyed Han slipped out. Bumping
into Leia on her way in.
    "Han-' she began trying to brush past him but Han caught her.
    "No,Leia."
   'But Han Luke is-"
   "is in pain and needs to be alone.Both of us are going to do more harm
than good if we see to him now. Come on,We're going back to Courascant."
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     Luke chugged the contents of the first bottle easily. with his force
powers, he could easily swallow three bottles before feeling the effects of
the alcohol. Already he was starting to feel a bit fuzzy. he snickered.
     "Fools, fools. "he berated himself,  "this wash you only shance at
seeing love shlip through those dang fingers of yours. Now this last chance
has been lost forever"he giggled at the thought of what was lying ahead of
him in the next three weeks...and promptly collapsed onto the deck!
****************************************************************************

    Several hours later,Luke woke from his unplanned nap. He winced in
pain. "oh gods Why in the heck did I do this?" he sat on the edge of his
bed and waited for the worst of the pain to subside. Noticing how quiet it
was.
   "Han?" he called
   No answer.
   'Leia?"
   Slowly, he got up out of bed and walked to the cockpit his footsteps
echoing  in the loneliness of the deserted ship and looked out.They were
indeed on Courascant . Han and Leia must have left hours ago.
   Glancing at the cockpit again, he disembarked  and headed for his
quarters. Opening the front door ,he went to the small kitchenette and
fixed himself a drink as his answering machine played itself back.
    There was one message from Mara Jade, saying  she was heading out on a
private mission for Karrde and would have to cancel her planned arrival to
Yavin again. Luke snorted in disgust.
    Then a trivial message from Lando Calrissian saying how tough his
underground housing project was coming and his brand new girlfriends .
Boring.
    But  the third one terrified him...
****************************************************************************

    "Artoo Deeto where are you?" See Threepio Luke's protocol droid
exclaimed . A soft whistle and a toot in a corner of the office turned the
golden droids head stiffly he walked over with a very annoyed tense in his
voice.
    "Artoo what in  the stars of Courascant do you think you're doing?
Captain Solo said we have to head over to the Milenium falcon to check on
Master Luke. Oh, I do hope our poor master is not ill from a virus  going
through all the computer systems recently. How dreadful
    Artoo made a series of whistles beeps and electronic sounds. Threepio
whipped his head back to his companion.
     "Don't you tell me about how to handle our masters mood. Why after he
wakes up, he'll be as bright as a sunflower on Yavin! you'll see Artoo. Ah!
here we are. Master Luke?"
   No answer.
"Master Luke where are you? "
Moving stiffly through the corridors of the ship and calling every few
minutes Threepio finally met artoo back in the Cockpit.
    "Oh dear ,oh dear Artoo! where could have our poor master gone.
Mistress leia isn't going to like this one bit. Not one bit!I knew this was
all your fault you rustardly overweight blob of grease you!"
   Artoo let of a series of shrill beeps and whistles and the two droids
bantered a great deal the rest of the afternoon.
****************************************************************************

    Han was getting Jacen ready for a family trip together. He deserved a
rest . After Leia's kidnapping Han knew he and Leia needed some time alone.
Luke too, needed to get rid of his pain as well, But not with him or his
family.
   A ring at the doorbell startled him, who in the heck was it? He and Leia
weren't expecting any kind of company.
   There standing in the doorway was Luke smiling .
    Han didn't know exactly what to expect as he slowly opened the door and
stepped out to talk to his brother in law. But he had a bad feeling about
it.
    "Hi Han." Luke said good naturedly.
    "Hi. What's going on? I-I wasn't expecting you to come here."
    "Yeah well, things happen." he shrugged his shoulders on the matter and
got right to the point of why he came.
   "look Han, I'm sorry I treated you so badly in the falcon. "Luke's tone
changed a bit as he spoke the next part. "I want to make it up to you.
Let's go out tonight."
   "Tonight?"
   "Yes." Luke said softly. his blue eyes innocently stared right at Han's.
filling the space between them with a mesmerizing energy. "you do...want to
have..a guy's night out...don't you Han?"Luke's tone was coyly innocent and
suggestive.
   Mesmerized by his brother in laws eyes,  a wave of fog went through
Han's brain. What was he doing on a boring night here?
     "You...have...some time free? don't you? just a few hours"
   .Time?free?a few hours. A few hours wouldn't hurt him. he'd be back,
Leia wouldn't miss him. shaking his head a bit he slowly headed for the
speeder luke parked in front.
    "Sure...Luke" Han said slowly "let's,go"
   ********************************************************
     The Bar Luke chose for their outing was not sanitary, in fact it was
very  disgusting. . Han was revolted and anxious at the bizzare assortment
of aliens around the room. Many of them were very drunk and unclean.
   "What in the seven suns of Corellia are we doing here? This is even
worse than the Cantina on Tatooine" .Beside him, Luke giggled and laughed
deliriously while chugging happily on his beer. Now on his third round Luke
was  obviously not caring  what was going on.
    'Luke," Han suggested carefully standing up and trying to take his arm
"I think it's best if we went back to the Palace and-'
   "Palace, scmalace Let me be Han-' Luke waved his arm back and collapsed
to the floor,giggling.
   'Luke you're acting Like a jerk here can't you see-'
   'I can see you've got everything this galaxy has offer Han and I've got
none of it!" Luke shrieked. Han flinched, part from the harsh words and
part from the brandy.
   Still sitting on the floor Luke looked hazily around the room, like he
was pouting. Slowly his eyes focused  on  an argument happening on the
other side of the room.
   "Ohh, Han look." he lisped . "Something to have fun with." Luke
scrambled to his feet and staggered slowly over to the aliens.Not hearing
or paying attention to Han's protests.
     Luke approached the arguing bonthan and twelik cautiously.listening to
the conversation. Shaking his head slowly  he tapped the bonthan on the
shoulder and smiled.
    "Hello." Luke said sweetly, knowing full well  the bonthan didn't
understand him and punched him hard in the face sending him reeling into
the table across the room knocking two gammoreans in the process and a
barmaid laughed in delight.
    Angrilly the bothan got to his feet and charged Luke which he easily
side stepped making him ram headfirst into the lower part of the bar.
   'Ohh,  must've hurt!" Luke sneered flinging himself onto another
civilians back who drew a knife. Several occupants in the bar were cheering
and stamping their heels and clapping. Some for Luke and some for the
civilian.
  Han couldn't believe what was happening here. During the war years he and
Luke had gotten into a fair share of brawls in taverns. But this was
unacceptable!
    "Luke!" Han bellowed to luke over the din of the crowd "Stop it!What
are you-" but was cut short as luke whalloped him with a hard right to the
chin sending him crashing into a nearby table.
    Luke didn't have time to notice who he'd hit before another twelik came
charging at him with a knife drawn. Brabbing the tweliks wrist as another
man came from the right side. In one deft move, Luke stabbed the tweliks
knife into the mans stomach and bashed both their heads together.
   Stepping back with a bit of a stagger. Luke suyveyed the damage merrily.
    "That was fun."he said walking over to Han and pulled his brother in
Law to his feet.who'd gained some consiousness.
      After Han had regained his legs back and was in good enough conditon
to drive back home he got both of them in the nearby speeder. Both men were
very quiet as they headed back to the palace. Han suspected something was
very very wrong. But couldn't figure out what. Luke just kept quiet keeping
his eyes on the road ahead. Not seeing it or Han either. He stared out to
the darkness ahead of them.
   Luke's silence sparkled in the air like static electricity. There was
something very wrong and very secret building up in that mind of his.
Something was bound to cut loose sooner or later. But Han knew he couldn't
say anything to him. Not now. But he wasn't sure if he weren't making a
bigger mistake by letting his brother in law go home alone without talking
things over. Which would do the worser damage.
    Finally ,they pulled up to the front of the palace. It was close to one
in the morning. Their evening out had been much longer than either one
expected. Han glanced over At Luke and both men got out. Luke walked with
Han to the door as he quietly opened it. Luke had his eyes downcast and an
expression of genuine sorrow was on his face.
   "Come on in?" Han asked softly gesturing. But Luke, his voice low and
surprisingly strong said."No. I can't. You have a vacation to go on with
your family tommorrow.I-I have some business of my own to take care of
myself. Han, I,I"m sorry for what I did back there I don't know what came
over me. Tell Leia it wasn't my intention to keep you out so late."
    "I'll tell her."
   "Good. and Han?"
   "yes?"
   "give my best to the kids. Tell them I'll be thinking of them. Okay?"
   "Okay."
   "Well. I'll see you later then Han." he paused and added with a shake in
his voice. "Have fun" then he turned and ran back before Han could chase
after him.
******************************************************************
     The next morning, after quietly watching Han and Leia leave in the
falcon from the balcony. Luke made a hasty departure in a un-marked shuttle
to Tattoine.

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