Entry 72

We are on Indupar and today is the big day. Within an hour my son will be crowned King of the Indupar Crown Worlds. My brother and his family are here and staying with my parents. Ben and Valla were assigned luxurious rooms adjacent to Zylie and my quarters. We haven't seen Marcus since we arrived on planet, but that is to be expected. According to my father he is surrounded by handlers who are ensuring every button is polished and every seam highly creased. Ben and I wore our full Jedi robes with lightsabers. My father showed up to the coronation in a uniform that suspiciously looks like a dark blue version of the Imperial Knight uniform. He has a black body suit covered with dark blue armor with gold trim and topped off with a black cape. HA! I think he is starting to like capes (either that or my mother is starting to like him in capes. Ha!). He is wearing his lightsaber and what looks like a ceremonial gold plated blaster.

The ladies in our group were wearing formal gowns provided to us by the Queen's wardrobe department. Valla and Zylie look beautiful. When my mother showed up to stand near my father I was taken aback by her beauty. She is getting up there in the years but despite the gray in her hair and laugh lines around her eyes she is still stunning. My father looked at her with such a smitten expression on his face that I actually laughed. Dad still has it bad for my mom.

"They are so cute together," Zylie whispered to me. "I hope we end up just like them."

"What? With me wearing ceremonial armor and an outlandish cape?"

She poked me with her elbow. "No, I mean how they're so much in love."

I gave her my best sexy grin. "In that case, we're already like them."

We were ushered out to a huge balcony overlooking the parade field and into a dignitary standing area. In the middle of the large terrace was the royal throne sitting on a gold and granite base. It was an ornate chair with a high back, plush red upholstery, claw and ball feet, and wide wood and gold trimmed arm supports. There were probably two dozen people on the balcony with us. Most were in uniforms with an exorbitant amount of ribbons and medals. On the other side of the balcony from where I stood I saw two fur covered creatures that I recognized as H'drachi Seers. They were shorter than humans with brown hair and cameloid looking faces. Both wore bright, garish clothing topped off with bright blue turbans. One appeared to be very old. The other seer was younger and hovered close to his colleague. I assume the older alien was the Head Seer and the younger was his aide. I guess I stared at them a little too long because they both glanced up at me. My stomach clenched nervously as they stared me down. Gods! Those guys give me the creeps. I can just imagine them consulting the time steam and seeing my highest highs and lowest lows. I don't like them at all.

Next to the seers was another person I didn't have much use for—Chief-of-State Mokk Streke. He was in some sort of ceremonial garb. It was a cross between a uniform and a business suit. He was standing there looking smug. I noticed the seers glanced over to him and then smirked. What the kriff was that about? They actually looked amused. Maybe they foresaw Streke getting hit by a speeder bus. One can only hope.

I jumped when a loud explosion was heard in the courtyard below. I relaxed when I realized it was a ceremonial cannon marking the start of the ceremony. There was a hush among the crowd as my son came out from behind the throne, walked up the steps and stood at attention before the seat of power. The Queen followed and positioned herself to his side.

Marcus was dressed in a dark blue military uniform with gilded tasseled epaulets and golden piping down the side of the trousers. He had a very serious look on his face as he raised a hand and then dropped it signaling the start of the ceremony. Parade music blared from the military marching band in the courtyard below. I glanced down and was shocked by the display of military might. There had to be at least fifty thousand troops standing in formation. My stomach sunk as I realized if they did a pass-in-review it would take hours to complete. Fortunately it didn't look like they were going to march at this point. Behind the troopers were hundreds of heavy artillery platforms hovering just above the ground, vehicle-mounted blaster cannons, armored personal carriers and ground attack vehicles. A sonic boom sounded as an attack wing of star fighters few over the parade ground in a 'V' formation. I glanced over to the Chief-of-State who looked a little spooked by the demonstration of power. Ha! I somehow don't think this visit is going to give Streke any warm fuzzy feelings about the Indupar monarchy.

The music and flybys continued for another half hour before the ceremonial cannon went off again. I was a little disappointed not to see the Indupar version of Void Jumpers. I was told my father ordered a thousand armored jet pack suits. Perhaps the soldiers haven't been properly trained yet.

My son sat down on the throne and waited silently. After a few minutes an old human male in white robes and a fancy hat came out carrying a very large crown. He started speaking in some language other than basic. I assume this is a leader of the local religious group that my son is expected to be part of. I politely listened to the man drone on in the unknown language for about fifteen minutes. He then slowly moved up the steps until he stood in front of Marcus. He muttered some more gibberish before slowly lowering the crown onto my son's head. He then bowed to Marcus and moved down the stairs.

A man if full military regalia came to a microphone set up at the edge of the balcony. "Exalted and noble guests, I present unto you Marcus Odaj Indupar, your absolute King and guardian of the Indupar Crown Worlds." He turned to my son. "King Marcus, do you solemnly swear to govern your people with justice and mercy?"

"I will."

"Will you preserve and defend the laws of the land and respect the rights of the citizens over which you rule?"

"I will."

The officer abruptly turned and raised a hand in a closed-fist salute. "Long live, King Marcus!" There was an exuberant outburst from the soldiers and civilians in the courtyard as a deafening cannon salute rang out.

After that I was escorted from the balcony and I followed my mom and dad back to their quarters. I kept looking for Marcus, but he was nowhere to be seen. Once my family was behind closed doors my dad gave out a loud sigh of relief. "Finally, it's over."

I grinned. "When will we see the new King?"

My dad gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Don't expect to see him for a while. He's in meetings with world leaders, including the Chief-of-State of the Galactic Alliance. I'll be surprised if we see him before tomorrow, but I'm sure he will sneak off as soon as possible. The visiting elite can't expect the boy to stay up all day and night." My father gestured toward the living room. "Sit down. I'll get you something to drink."

Jaden, Jysella and Jessa claimed my parents' sectional while Ben and Valla sat down on a couch next to my mother. Zylie and I pulled up some chairs from the dining area.

Ben turned to my dad who was in the kitchen. "Does this mean Talon can be more open when it comes to visiting Marcus."

My dad nodded. "I don't expect that Marcus' true paternity will ever be officially revealed, but at least there is little chance of him being ousted if the charade is uncovered."

"I just want to be able to see my son more often." My shoulders slumped as I realized Marcus probably would never ever travel with me again on the Vazy Princess. I'm glad he stowawayed when he did. I looked over to my father who was pulling sodas out of the kitchen refrigeration unit. "Dad, why weren't the Indupar Void Jumpers at the parade?"

My father's posture stiffened slightly. "Unfortunately, we don't have any certified jump troopers at this time."

A grin crossed my face. "Maybe I can help you train them. I will take some time off from Jedi business and come to Indupar to help out."

He walked out to the living area and handed out the drinks. "The training is not going to happen on planet, so if you expect to use it as an excuse to visit your son, it won't work."

My smile slipped from my face. "Where's the training going to happen?"

My father sat down next to my mother and gave a shrug. "We are going to contract out the training to an established jump trooper school."

"Oh." That made sense, but I was a bit disappointed.

My mother smiled at me. "You can always come to Indupar and train Marcus."

I looked over to Zylie, then Ben and Valla. The two women looked anxious to hear my response. I know the sisters are close and would miss each other terribly if separated. "I will have to discuss that with Zylie."

We talked for a few hours, catching up on what was going on in the family. Jysella had to cover little Jessa's ears when I started my Princess/Zorn love story. I apologized and promised to tell the adults the unrated story at a later date. We called it a night and retired to our separate rooms.

Entry 73

Late at night I heard a soft rap at my door. I got out of bed and pulled on a bathrobe. I found Marcus standing outside the front entrance. He didn't ask to enter, but quickly pushed past me. "Close the door."

I complied and ushered him to the suites sitting area separate from the bedchambers. "What's wrong?"

He grinned. "Nothings wrong. I just needed to ditch my escorts for a while. They get annoying."

I motioned him to sit. "Do you want anything to drink?"

He shook his head. "I just want to relax, if that's okay."

I sat down next to my son. "It's your palace, Your Royal Highness, King Marcus."

He rolled his eyes at my formality. "Stop it. I've heard more than my fair share fake venerations today. " His face took on a look of disgust. "Some of these world leaders are soooo annoying. On the surface they are acting all proper but I can tell they don't respect me as a leader. To them I'm just a boy. They patronize me most of the time. Not blatantly enough to cause a political affront…but I can sense it through the Force! I'm already tired of the title and job."

I gave him a warm smile. "I guess I am going to have to thoroughly scan the Vazy Princess for stowaways before I leave."

Marcus chuckled. "Probably." He gave me a quick glance before looking down at his boots. "I never found out if you were mad about what happened on Upekzar. You know, monitoring the time stream and sending grandpa out to help you and Ben."

I shrugged. "No…as long as you are giving me and Zylie privacy."

Marcus made a face. "Yuck. Don't go there, Dad."

I had to chuckle. "I'm glad you are looking out for me. If you ever foresee me being eaten by a large creature…please don't hesitate to intervene." I reached out and pulled him into a hug.

When we parted I noticed him chewing on his bottom lip nervously. "So…now that I'm King things can be different."

There was a long silence between us before I spoke. "I know you want me to stay…and I would like to."

"But…"

"But I have obligations to the Jedi and to Karrde's trade organization."

He smiled broadly. "I think I found a solution for that. I can make some very lucrative deals with Talon Karrde. Having continuous and copious shipments to Indupar will keep you coming back."

I grinned. "I like that idea."

"And meanwhile you said you might settle down if Zylie has a baby." He hesitated for a moment. "How's that going?"

I scoffed at his audacity. "It's going great. Not that it's any of your business." I reached over and tussled his hair. I then thought maybe that was no longer appropriate to do to a King. I was relieved when he just laughed good-naturedly. "Be patient, Marcus. I want some time with Zylie as a couple first."

He gave an understanding nod. "Okay."

I picked up the remote and turned on the holonet. "Do you want to watch a vid or do you want to do a hologame?"

"A hologame. Let's play Sith vs. Jedi…you can be the Jedi." He grinned at me as he set up the holoprojector for hand movement controls. I stood next to him, arms out to my side as the gaming machine located our hands. I moved experimentally making sure the character projection followed my body movements. I reached down to my bathrobe belt and the character followed my actions, extending his hand and grasping his lightsaber. I then stood there with the unactivated lightsaber looking like an idiot while Marcus' character—a huge and dangerous looking Zabrak Sith Lord—approached me with a red crossguard lightsaber. "How do I turn on my lightsaber?"

Marcus laughed. "Just flick your wrist."

I did so and a blue blade extended from the hilt. Marcus turned to me and gave me a deadly grin. "Ready dad?"

I rolled my eyes. "I was born ready."

Forty seconds later my character was missing his head and Marcus was doing his 'I won!' dance. Zylie heard the commotion and came outside in her pajamas and bathrobe. She reset my characters and took over for me. Thirty second later she thoroughly trounced my son at his own game. Ha! All that time she spent with Information Technology geeks in college paid off.

Marcus stayed for another hour before he said the royal guards would have a conniption if they noticed him gone from his room. I gave him a tight hug. He then turned to Zylie who kissed him on the cheek making him blush.

"I'll come back to Indupar as often as I can," I told him.

"I know." He gave me another hug before he snuck out of our quarters.

I put an arm around Zylie's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "They grow up so fast. He is no longer the eleven year old boy that stowed away on my ship; he's now King of multiple worlds."

She reached around my waist and pulled me closer. "And you are still his father."

"Yeah," I said softly. I sometimes wish I was a normal guy with a normal life and a normal family…but that was not to be. I am Talon Marcus Tantiss, son of Mark Tantiss, altered clone of Luke Skywalker and retired Jedi Master. I am father to Marcus Odaj Indupar, King of the Indupar Crown Worlds. I am married to Zylie Karrde Tantiss, daughter of Talon Karrde, the man who killed the Emperor Reborn. My entire family consists of Jedi, former smugglers, Royalty and warriors.

A wide smile crossed my face as I realized I wouldn't have it any other way.

I leaned down and kissed Zylie softly. "I can't wait to see what the future holds."

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AUTHOR NOTE: That is the end of this year's Journal. I am writing the further adventures of my OC Talon Tantiss in another TFN Diary Challenge for 2015. I should start posting it in a few weeks if anybody is interested.

I want to thank my readers. I know I only have a dozen or so faithful readers to this story. OC stories are a tough sell. I enjoy doing writing challenges and especially the Diary Challenges because I don't need to have a firm storyline. Thanks to everybody who read and took the time to review. It is much appreciated.