"You don't know the power of the dark side, Leia."
The lightsabers of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa were locked, and Luke had his face very close to hers as he spoke in a voice that was almost cutting.
"You will be able to see things and do things that you can only imagine now."
Leia, using the tricks taught her by the greatest Jedi masters, attempted to drive Luke back but only managed to disentangle her lightsaber.
As she backed away into a dark corner of the plant, she thought how it wasn't so much Luke's skills as his casual coldness that was so unnerving.
There was something else. Imagine that you recently learned a friend was really your brother, and now you might have to kill him.
Through the Force, and the Jedi masters, Leia had learned how Luke arrived at this point.
It all began when Luke confronted their father to turn him back from the dark side.
Let's go back to that time.
"Good, good. Now fulfill your destiny and take your place at my father's side."
The Emperor spoke in a taunting manner during the most crucial moment of Luke Skywalker's life.
In the Emperor's throne room aboard the Death Star, Luke's father, Darth Vader, lay on the floor gasping and heaving. He held out an arm that had no hand. In a moment of fury, Luke had cut that hand off. Just as his father had once done to him.
Now, Vader was defenseless, unarmed, his lightsaber deactivated and lying out of reach. The Dark Lord was probably too disoriented to concentrate, to summon the lightsaber into his other hand.
In truth, both men were unable to think clearly.
Luke thought how he could kill his father and know the power of the Dark Side. Already, he felt that power welling up inside him.
Behind him, the Emperor laughed as he clapped his hands. But Luke hardly noticed him.
Luke was too busy thinking about all the things that made him angry.
The way his Uncle Owen wouldn't let him go to the academy.
The way he had to toil away on a moisture farm and take care of droids, even to the point of chaining them up.
The way his aunt and uncle nagged him and treated him like a child, even after he began his Jedi training.
The way Han called him "kid."
The way Darth Vader, at Cloud City, cut his hand off.
As anger swelled up in him, Luke took action. He plunged his lightsaber into the control panel on Vader's chest. The Emperor laughed loudly.
This was the culmination of a chain of events.
Let's go back and consider those events.
Because sometimes the fate of a galaxy can turn on the smallest of things.
Take, for example, the decision made by one Inis Dubrul, a simple merchant in Anchorhead on the desert planet of Tatooine.
When his red-and-white R4 unit began moving slowly while making loud whirring noises, Inis had to decide what to do with the droid..
In one case, he tried to fix the R4 unit, and a bunch of sparks flew out. Inis then sold the droid to some Jawas without telling them about his botched repair job. They wouldn't have understood anyway.
That malfunctioning R4 droid ended up with one Luke Skywalker who lived with his aunt and uncle on a moisture farm. The droid did not function well enough to run away (a fact that shall become important later, as you will see), But eventually the R4 unit did break down, and new droids were required from the Jawas.
This is the universe we know. The one where R2-D2 and C-3PO arrived on the farm. When the R2 unit ran away, Luke encountered Sand People and old "Ben" Kenobi. With the help of a mercenary smuggler, Luke rescued a princess and blew up a Death Star. He became a leader among the Rebels and trained with Yoda to develop Jedi skills. .
But as someone who keeps tabs on alternate universes could tell you, things turned out differently when Inis sold his R4 droid without trying to fix it. The droid still ended up on the moisture farm and in the care of one Luke Skywalker. But not for long.
When the droid ran away and got smashed by Sand People, Owen tore into his nephew. Luke became so angry he determined that any future droids would be chained up.
This Luke turned out a lot differently.
Which brings us to Luke killing his father and the Emperor expressing his approval.
"Good, good," the Emperor said, laughing and clapping his hands. Sparks still sputtered out of Vader's chest.
Maybe it should have occurred to Luke that someone laughing over the demise of his right-hand man wouldn't exactly be the best master. But Luke was too busy seeing new things through the Dark Side.
He saw, for example, how his father had been deceived. So caught up in the big picture that he couldn't see how the Emperor lied about his wife being dead.
Luke determined that he would not be as gullible as his father. And he pictured all the glorious new things he could do, now that he had embraced the power of the Dark Side. Ah, so glorious!
Luke's thoughts of glory were interrupted when he found himself clutched by the Emperor. He felt an impulse to send the Emperor flying through the air. But for his own plan to work out, he needed the creature. For now.
"We must leave at once," the Emperor said.
The Emperor's red-cloaked guards cleared the way for the Emperor and his new apprentice. Once aboard the Emperor's personal shuttle, Luke piloted it away from the Death Star.
Not a moment too soon. The battle station exploded behind them.
Lando, Han, the fleet. They had succeeded. They might be obstacles, Luke realized. What would be the best way to deal with them?
Luke's master had more mundane concerns.
"Ewoks." The Emperor said it like a curse word. "Who would have thought such insignificant creatures could tip the balance?"
Luke spoke in a low quiet voice. "Do not be troubled, my new master. We have learned now that even seemingly insignificant things need to be watched."
"We have indeed." Leaning forward, the Emperor smiled. It was a rather terrifying sight with the upper part of his face in shadow and those inhuman yellow eyes peering out.
"I see you have great wisdom already, young Skywalker. You shall be my new Darth Vader."
Luke's lined face was stoic, as it usually was ever since he began Jedi training. "You honor me, my master."
On the Endor moon, Han and Leia, in the middle of an Ewok-aided victory over Imperial stormtroopers, watched the explosion of the Death Star.
For a moment, Han wore a grim look. But then the ex-smuggler/Rebel general was quick to reassure the princess.
"I'm sure Luke wasn't on that thing when it blew," Han told Leia.
Leia wore a thoughtful look but there was also a hint of concern. .
"No, he wasn't," she said. "I can feel it." More of that thoughtful-concerned look. Besides sensing Luke's presence, Leia felt something else, something disturbing.
Han, on the other hand, looked rueful as he spoke.
"You love him. Don't you?"
Now Leia looked puzzled at the obviousness of the question.
"Yes," she said plainly.
When Han made a face, it accentuated the scar on his chin. "All right. I understand. When he comes back, I won't get in the way."
At first, it took Leia a while to figure out what he meant. Once she did, she smiled broadly.
"It's not like that," she said sweetly then leaned forward. "He's my brother."
Han, quite naturally, wore a look that said "when did this happen?" But all such confusion was swept away when Leia kissed him. After that, Han responded with his own broad smile. He even laughed and tousled the hairy head of the nearest noisy Ewok.
But Leia continued to worry.
Night fell, and Rebel pilots danced with Ewoks and Ewoks with droids. Despite the festive mood of the celebration, Leia felt more of that sense of disturbance, of dread.
As Leia removed herself from the dancing, glowing spirits appeared to her.
"General Kenobi," she said. "Yoda."
Luke had spoken of the figures many times, but Leia did not know them by sight. Instead, she sensed who they were.
A glowing Obi-Wan held up open palms. "I offer my apologies, Leia. We wanted to give you more time to prepare. But now Luke has turned to the dark side."
"I know," Leia said, fighting to keep tearfulness out of her voice. Her whole life had been about looking strong for her people.
"I sensed it," Leia said with head bowed. "I didn't want to believe it. But I felt it." Involuntarily, she shivered.
Here, Obi-Wan put his hands in the long sleeves of his robe. "Luke can yet turn back. You are the key."
"Go to Dagobah you must," Yoda croaked. "There, find a temple you will. Spirits of Jedi masters long dead you will meet. Learn from them you will." Yoda's eyes widened as he nodded.
Leia simply nodded as she walked away.
She went to talk to Han.
She had barely gotten the whole story out when Han took both her hands and said, "Leia, you have to go."
"I do?"
"You're a leader. You always have been." Han wore a trembling smile. "Besides, Luke is my friend. If you can turn him back..."
"You'll be all right?"
"I have my own work to do, and where I go you can't follow." Han spoke in the low kind of mumbling way he sometimes talked, so different from his usual brash style. "We always knew this crazy war would get in the way." He shrugged. "Maybe we weren't smart to fall in love. But what are you going to do?"
"There's things here so much bigger than us," he went on. "With the Death Star gone, we can free some of the worlds that have always been up for grabs. The people there can help us against the
Empire. There's so many people we can set free now."
Despite the circumstances, Leia almost laughed. Han was so different from the man she first met, the one who seemed only concerned with money and reward.
She smiled as she said, "You're a scoundrel."
"I am," he said quietly. "I'm a scoundrel in your life."
"I like nice men."
When they kissed, Leia was not quite as resistant as when the "scoundrel" first kissed her aboard the "Falcon."
When they finished, Leia looked up at him with big brown eyes.
"I love you."
"I know," they both said at once.
As she walked away, Leia did not look back.
As the celebration went on, Leia took one of the X-wing fighters. Normally, as a princess and a Rebel leader, she should have had an armed fighter escort. But she knew if she talked with the other Rebel leaders, they would try to talk her out of going. That meant her only escort was R2-D2.
Han would have to persuade the other leaders of the advantages of having a Jedi Knight for a leader and turning Luke back to the good side. It was a simple case to make, and Han could be very persuasive.
As she approached Dagobah, Leia noted from her sensors that the planet was teeming with life. That was just before all her instruments failed and the X-wing went into a kind of free fall.
Oh, yes. Luke told her about this. But of course she was very distracted. Time to start concentrating.
Tapping into the Force naturally, Leia managed to land the fighter, right into a small body of water. Fortunately, the water was not very deep, and Artoo could navigate underwater while the princess didn't mind getting drenched. Once she and Artoo got to dryer ground, she looked around at the vine-shrouded sky, listened to the sounds of who-knew-what creatures, and took note of a few very large lizards watching her as some snakes slithered around.
It was good Han wasn't around. He hated snakes.
"What do you think, Artoo?"
The droid responded with a series of chirps and whistles.
The two went only a short distance when they broke into a bog-like clearing. There, strangled by vines, stood a stone temple.
At the entrance, a glowing figure rose, a bald dark-skinned man.
"Welcome, princess," he said. "I'm Mace Windu."
"Yes," Leia said. "You were on the Council. You worked with my father."
"Senator Organa and I did indeed work together," Windu said. "That was before your father killed me. Your other father, that is."
"Sorry," she said quietly. It occurred to Princess Leia that she had a lot of people to apologize to for her father's misdeeds.
Windu smiled and shrugged. "I went down fighting. And now, in a way, I'm even more powerful." He gestured to the now-open stone doors. "The masters are waiting for you. And don't worry about your little friend. Unlike a certain cantina in Mos Eisley, droids are welcome here."
As Leia began her training, Han's team went to Modron where the Empire controlled the planet's defenses from a central station. Once they were inside the station, Han's team quickly took out the stormtroopers and Imperial officers. After the team reset the controls, a small heavily armed squad was left behind. Han and Chewbacca guided the rest of the group to the exit hallway.
Most of the team was out that exit when Han and Chewie ran into a snag.
Vader.
First, the black-suited figure relieved Han of his blaster; the weapon sailed across the room into Vader's gloved hand. With a wave of his finger, the Dark Lord caused Chewbacca's crossbow to jerk out of his hands.
Han and his Wookie companion quickly ducked into an adjacent hallway. Dead end. And Vader wouldn't waste any time joining them there. Unless he had some tricks he could do from where he was. As he thought of this, Han briefly touched his throat.
Fortunately, the station was overrun by locals, a huge mass of them. They had been itching for some time to strike back at the Empire.
Vader then did something Han had never seen before. (Thankfully, his encounters with the big guy had been rare and brief.) The dark one fired some kind of blue lightning bolts out of his hands. Screaming men collapsed.
At first, the remaining Rebels froze. Then they roared and charged. More bolts. More troops down. Nevertheless, they charged. And more locals came pouring in.
Vader fired one more bolt but already he was retreating.
Han ran after him. But by the time he dodged all the people on the ground, Han found only scattered Rebel troops. No Vader.
When he got back to the Rebel ship and all the difficult work of transporting unconscious troops was finished, Han got an earful.
"Vader is still alive? And he can do that?" one Rebel sputtered in disbelief.
"Relax," Han said. "We took back control of this planet, didn't we?"
"With how many people now knocked out?"
"That's the thing," Han said. "They're not dead. Just knocked out. And it's probably not even the original Darth Vader. Just someone else taking his place. This guy's got a different way of doing things."
"Or maybe Darth Vader can't be killed," one soldier said nervously.
"When people on other worlds hear about this, they're not going to rise up in one big mass like they did here."
"Most likely they'll stay home."
Another Rebel nodded. "There are guys here who took down the statue of Palpatine. Now they don't want to go on any more missions."
What a surprise, Han thought as he scowled. Taking down a statue was one thing. Going on raids was another. Han had made sure to keep those guys in the rear.
"Some of the troops are saying they can't go on," one soldier whispered.
"I get that." That's what Han wanted to say. But as a leader, he had to project strength, confidence. It would demoralize the troops if he showed weakness. And the troops were shaky enough.
"Let's keep a little optimism," General Solo said sharply. "Vader's only one guy. We can take him."
"I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself," one Rebel quipped.
Han smiled. "See? That right there. That's what we need."
The troops dispersed, with some grumbling along the way. Han stayed behind.
As a leader, Han kept one suspicion to himself.
He was pretty sure the new Darth Vader was Luke.
Maybe Luke didn't consider the irony of it.
He turned to the dark side because he believed it would lead to a greater glory.
Yet here he was hanging out in a deserted power plant with the Emperor..
They tried to return to Coruscant but they ran into a great big angry mob there. Each time they tried to go to an alternate palace, more angry people. Most of the fleet was destroyed; what was left was busy fighting off Rebel forces. So while the Emperor mustered what forces he could, here they were.
Luke saw it as a step on the way to ultimate greatness.
And sometimes to get where you're going you need to remember the past.
Briefly, Luke thought back on his old life on the moisture farm. Shortly after his arrival, C-3PO said R2-D2 claimed to be the property of an Obi-Wan Kenobi. For Luke, that was all the more reason to chain them up, both of them.
When Imperial stormtroopers showed up to seize the droids, Luke found that, incredibly, he was able to fight them off. Of course, it helped that Old "Ben" Kenobi showed up with a few tricks of his owns.
Even though they could have been killed by the stormtroopers, Owen and Beru argued with Luke that he must not go with the crazy old man. If Luke had listened, who would have blown up the Death Star?
Once he started working with the Rebels, Luke arranged a safe place for his aunt and uncle. Naturally, they didn't like living with Han's smuggler friends and sent frequent transmissions to say so.
When Luke was training with Yoda, he followed the Jedi master's instructions when told he should complete the training rather than rush off to help Han and Leia as they were endangered and tortured by Darth Vader on Cloud City. Initially, Luke showed some control. He trusted that somehow his friends would be all right.
But when he got another nagging transmission from his aunt and uncle (how did they locate him on Dagobah?), Luke became so angry he headed for Cloud City. Actually, it was more like he went for a ride in his X-wing fighter and decided then to go to Cloud City.
Of course, had he listened to his aunt and uncle, he wouldn't have had his hand chopped off.
No, instead he'd be sitting on his uncle's moisture farm with two intact flesh-and-blood hands. Fortunately, that was not his destiny now.
"I sense your feelings about your aunt and uncle." The cold raspy voice cut into Luke's thoughts.
Positioned in front of a control panel, the Emperor sat in a giant swivel chair. A far cry from a throne.
"Would you like them executed?"
"Not at this time, master," Luke said. "There is a right time for everything."
"Hmm," the Emperor hmmed. He pressed flat palms against each other then formed a kind of spider web with his long gnarled fingers. "And what of your former friend General Solo? Why did you not dispose of him when you had the chance?"
"All part of the plan, master. The same reason I made the Rebel soldiers comatose instead of killing them. Taking care of patients is more of a burden than burying corpses." Luke wore the faint trace of a smile. "Once General Solo and the Rebels are weakened enough, they will practically surrender themselves to us."
Another "hmm" from the Emperor, this one a bit more happy. "An interesting strategy. Not the way your father would have done things but..." He nodded. "There is much wisdom in you, my new apprentice. You will surely exceed your father."
"Of course I will." As he spoke, Luke did not look at the Emperor. Instead, he turned to the stars outside his window. Those stars represented worlds that were now his to conquer. But in his own way.
"My father had a clumsy way of doing things. Choking his officers, making heavy objects fly around. Almost like he was grandstanding. And he was ruled over by his emotions. A certain Jedi master taught me control. Which I now offer in service to you, my master." Luke offered a slight bow.
"Yes," the Emperor hissed. "Just as I could not see the Ewoks, I was blind to the defects in your father's methods."
That faint smile again from Luke. "My way may take longer, it may be more subtle. But the results will be worth it."
"I am quite certain that is so," the Emperor said.
"Everyone gets a chance to turn around," Windu said in the stone-fenced courtyard. "On some of the more cut-throat worlds, people wouldn't go for that. People aren't always willing to give someone another chance."
"I suppose that's true," Leia said.
Windu held out his hands in a kind of beseeching gesture. "Your father could have turned around. That's the way it could have gone." He glanced at the Jedi master on his left.
"Always in motion is future," Yoda said.
As she swung her lightsaber, Leia noted that Yoda did not actually speak much during training sessions.
Leia battled Andro, a training android with a lightsaber. It was a task she took on with great vigor. Since she wasn't battling flesh and blood, she didn't have to worry about anyone getting hurt. So she didn't have to hold back.
"That's good, princess," Windu said. "Andro's been programmed with every possible lightsaber move and trick. And you're more than holding your own."
"A natural she is," Yoda said.
Size mattered not, as Yoda had pointed out to Leia many times.
Though petite, Leia had been taught ways to compensate for her lack of upper body strength. This allowed her to parry and thrust as if she had great strength.
Consequently, she brought Andro down for the seventh consecutive time that afternoon. The droid lay on its back making loud buzzing noises. Then it fell silent.
Unlike an android, Leia was drenched in sweat and she had to use part of her white tunic to wipe her chin, Once she finished, Windu motioned for her to sit. She was happy to do so.
"Years of Jedi training in a few short weeks. And you've eagerly absorbed it all." Was there a hint of pride in Master Windu's voice?
Leia found the spirits of the Jedi masters all had different styles. Some were very rough and stern, others more positive and encouraging (the female ones mostly). Windu seemed to strike a balance between the two extremes.
Of course, he could also ask intrusive, and difficult, questions.
"It hasn't been an easy life for you, has it, princess?"
After dabbing her forehead with a towel, Leia shrugged. "I grew up in a palace. It wasn't that bad."
Windu nodded. "You had a few luxuries, I'm sure. But you also had to be a leader, to take some responsibility." The glowing Mace Windu sat back. "Someone once said that with great power comes great responsibility."
"Yes," Leia said with nodding of her own. "I've heard variations of that."
"I imagine for Luke, life was much harder.
"From what he told me, yes. We've taken different paths with different hardships on our way to finding the Alliance. And now toward being a Jedi."
As she said it, Leia still felt awe and amazement. A Jedi Knight. Her.
"It hasn't been easy for either of you," Windu said.
Leia felt grateful that, after weeks of intense training, she could have this nice normal moment with Mace.
And then he had to ruin it all.
"You lost Alderaan."
Leia's heart jumped a little as she recalled watching the explosion of her home planet.
"I did," she whispered as she shifted uncomfortably. "But I didn't tell Grand Moff Tarkin anything really important or useful."
Smiling, Windu waved a finger for emphasis. "And that's the thing about you, princess. Even under great stress, even in a time of great tragedy, you keep the cause in mind and you don't buckle."
"I suppose that's true.."
"Come on now. Don't be modest."
"I'm not. It's just fact. Anyone would have done it."
"No, princess. Most people would crumble. But not you." Windu wore a sly grin. "There you go again throwing up those defenses of yours."
Leia stiffened. "I have to. Especially now."
"It's all right." The spirit of Mace Windu grinned as he motioned patting her hand. "Those defenses could serve you well, Leia. Though they may not serve Luke so well."
At the mention of Luke, Leia drooped a little.
With any trace of a smile gone now, Windu spoke in a casual quiet voice.
"If you have to kill Luke, will you be able to do it?"
"I can't see it coming to that. He hasn't been turned that long. He isn't that far gone."
"Doesn't have to be turned that long, princess. The dark side is the quick easy path. I saw that with your father."
With wide sad eyes, Leia gave a simple answer.
"I can do what I have to."
"I hope so, princess. For all our sakes." As Windu faced her, the trace of a smile was back. "But then again, isn't that what you always do?"
Windu's words were still ringing in her mind as Leia faced her brother.
Luke had that blank distant look on his face, and that face was partly in shadow behind the glow of his lightsaber. Adding to the eeriness, Luke spoke in a voice that was casual and cold.
"It was different for me, Leia. Since the only parents I ever knew irritated me, it was easy to kill our father. I wasn't torn at all. What did he matter to me?"
As brother and sister moved in a circle, Luke tipped the edge of his lightsaber toward Leia.
"That's not true for you, Leia. You're torn. You could kill me to save Han. And everyone else. But you don't want to kill me. You can't do what you have to."
"I don't want to kill you," was what she wanted to say. But as a leader, she often had to hide her feelings. But what difference did it make if Luke could sense what she felt?
They locked lightsabers once again, and Luke pushed her into a wall. There, the tip of his lightsaber came dangerously close to her pale slim neck.
"I can...if I have to," Leia said.
"No," Luke said. "Your eyes betray you, as do your feelings."
Those eyes narrowed as Leia brought her lightsaber up with amazing swiftness. The quick strong action sent Luke reeling back a little, and for a moment, he looked surprised. Then, as he leaned in toward her, a slight sinister smile formed.
"Good, good," he said. "But let me make things easy for you, Leia. I'll spare Han just as I already have done." He spread out his hands. "There's no need to fight me at all then."
"You are unwise to lower your defenses!" Leia shouted as she brought her lightsaber crashing down on him. Two, three times she brought it crashing down. Each time, Luke seemed to parry effortlessly. As she backed away, Leia saw no reaction in her brother's face.
In contrast, she was quite sure Luke could sense her conflict: the worry, the concern, the love. The leader and the human being clashing.
"But." Here, Luke lifted a finger for emphasis. "If you fight me for the sake of your cause, I'll destroy Han." He waved a cupped hand back and forth. "Choose, Leia. Your cause or the man you love."
"It's your cause, too."
The sinister smile spread. "Not anymore. I'm the only cause I believe in now."
Leia erupted. "He's your friend!"
A wide-eyed Luke yelled back. "A friend who insulted me!"
"Enough of this!" the Emperor snapped from his giant swivel chair throne. "Kill her, my young apprentice. Now."
For a moment, Luke looked exasperated, like he couldn't believe he was working with such an impulsive idiot. After that, Luke's distant look was a little wide-eyed.
"She could be turned into a valuable ally."
"Never," Leia hissed.
"Too much effort would be expended on an unwilling servant," the Emperor said.
The great leader seemed to miss the irony of what he was saying: he was the head of a system that expended great effort on coercing millions of unwilling servants.
"I shall finish this," the Emperor declared.
With that, he fired blue bolts of energy at Leia, who convulsed and screamed but amazingly remained standing.
"She is strong," the Emperor said in an almost purring tone of admiration.
Next to his master, Luke looked incensed.
"This is between her and me!" he roared.
With that, Luke picked up the Emperor and threw him into the nearest energy shaft. Even as a burst of blue energy spat out of that shaft like a geyser, Luke had already walked away.
Picking up Leia's discarded idle lightsaber, Luke faced his sister, who was gasping loudly as she clutched a wall for support.
"Thank you, Luke," Leia wheezed.
"Don't thank me," he said coldly. "This was just to help me on my way to being Emperor. This galaxy needs order, and I intend to bring it."
To Leia, this sounded like the path of hubris their father had gone down.
As he headed down a dark corridor, Luke turned his head so only the right side of his face was visible.
"Don't worry, Leia. I'll be a humane leader. I'll make the people do what's good for them, what will help them."
"Whether they want to or not," Leia said. "I think on Alderaan they learned all about that."
"I won't be like that."
In that moment, Leia saw that Luke couldn't turn back. He had just enough good mixed in with the evil that he couldn't see what he was doing.
Using the Force, Leia reached out her hand and the lightsaber snapped into her grasp. Moving swiftly behind Luke, she swung the glowing blade.
"It's done, it's over," she said, fumbling her words.
Leia stepped out of the dark place and found a glowing Mace Windu with arms crossed over his robe. Surprisingly, he was not only smiling, he even looked proud.
"Congratulations, princess. You just faced your greatest fear. When he was training with Yoda, Luke went through something similar. Just not as detailed or intense.
"You did well," he said. "I'd shake your hand but you know." The spirit offered a sight shrug.
Windu's hands then dropped to his side. "You're ready to face Luke now."
"Glad to hear it." Leia used the back of her hand to wipe away tears.
"Hey," Windu said gently. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. But if it does, you're ready."
And so it was that Leia locked lightsabers with Luke. More than once. They also circled each other. More than once.
As this went on, Leia tried to reason with her brother. Even with the Emperor laughing in the background.
"Luke, it doesn't have to be this way," she said in a loud pleading tone. .
"Why continue on, Your Highness?" the Emperor said in a taunting manner. "You must know your cause is lost."
"Because one man is lost? I don't think so," the princess practically snorted.
Stepping out of the darkness, Leia grasped her lightsaber with both hands.
"One very valuable asset," the Emperor pointed out.
Leia kept her focus on her brother. "Luke, we will go on. With or without you. I'd rather it be with you."
Luke did not respond. Instead, they circled each other with lightsabers buzzing and humming.
"Luke, I feel the conflict within you."
"There is no conflict."
As lightsabers locked, Leia spoke through gritted teeth.
"Listen to me. You haven't even been with the dark side that long. You haven't killed a bunch of Jedi Knights like our father did. In fact, outside of our father, you haven't killed anyone. It's obvious you've been holding back."
Luke had that distant look in his eyes even as he pushed Leia and her lightsaber away and the two stepped back from each other. As they once again walked in a circle, Luke spoke in a low voice.
"I won't be holding back any longer."
"I think you will."
"You're the one who has a conflict, Leia."
Once again, thrust, parry, retreat.
"Through the Force, while I trained with the Jedi masters, I saw it. With a little more time, our father would have turned back. If he could turn back, so can you." Leia held out her free hand. "You even more."
"It's too late for him now."
"But not for you."
"Enough of this!" the Emperor snapped. "Soon we will see the end of the Rebellion itself."
Ignoring him, Leia spread out her hands. "Luke, I'd rather give my life for you than destroy you."
There was that distant look again. But there was something more in Luke's eyes.
He spoke in a quiet thoughtful voice.
"You would, wouldn't you?"
"Yes," Leia whispered.
It was then that R2-D2 rolled forward and unleashed fire extinguisher smoke on the Emperor. After some brief coughing, the disgusted Emperor blasted the droid with blue bolts, sending him crashing into a wall where he vibrated violently as blue electricity raced through his metal body. The shrill screaming-like noises abruptly ended.
"Artoo!" Luke shouted.
Again, Leia held out her hand. "Luke, we can fix him. Just like we can help you, too."
This time when Luke looked at her, there was no more of the distant gaze. Instead, he looked like the old Luke once again.
"I would die for you, Luke," she said. "We all would."
Slowly, Luke lowered his lightsaber. At first, he simply held it at his side. Then, to Leia's relief, he deactivated it.
"I believe you, Leia."
The Emperor scowled deeply. "In that case, I shall destroy you both."
The hooded figure raised both crackling hands. But before he could act, three blaster shots distracted him. After his startled cry followed by a low groan, the Emperor fell face down in front of his giant swivel chair.
Behind him, Han stood holding a blaster. Next to him, Chewbacca held his crossbow as he stood over two red-garbed guards.
"Han," Luke said. He suddenly looked tired and weak.
"It's all right, Luke."
Leia helped him stand. "The question is: are you all right?"
With tired eyes, Luke nodded. "Once again, the Emperor couldn't see that little insignificant things mattered. When I turned, I thought of all the things that made me angry. But when I saw Artoo just now, it reminded me of all we'd been through together. It reminded me who I was."
"We'll do what we can to fix him." Leia and Han both helped him sit.
Luke looked up at his sister. "Then there was you, Leia. You made me realize. The dark side may have some power. But there's something with even greater power."
"What's that?" Leia asked.
"Our friendship," he said.
As Chewbacca roared his approval, Han smiled as he tapped Luke on the shoulder.
"Hey, pal. When you're ready, how about pulling some people out of their comas?"
With tired eyes, Luke smiled and nodded. "Will do, Han."
As she put her arm around her brother, Leia spoke in a gentle soft quiet voice.
"When you're ready, we'll start on our way back."