Everyone Searches, a Star Wars Fanfic

By Missmissa85

Ami Solo sat quietly at her computer console. She could hear someone banging on the door from outside. Then she heard her father threaten to get a laser torch. She didn't take him seriously, but she got up and opened the door anyway.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" he asked angrily.

Han Solo still looked like a war hero, albeit an aged one. His hair was shorter, gray, and his face had more wrinkles than it did when he was winning a war, but his eyes were the most telling. Aside from the present anger, there was an overwhelming sadness in them that would send many men from the room weeping.

"I'm looking for something," Ami answered shortly.

Han glanced around her quarters. "For once your room is the picture of cleanliness," he told her. "I don't see how you could be looking for something in here all day long."

"I wasn't looking for it in my room."

"Found it yet?"

"No."

"Then why don't you come have dinner with the rest of your family?"

Her back stiffened. "The rest of my family is not here." She turned away from him and went back to her computer console.

Han rolled his eyes. "Ami, I've told you a hundred times, I don't know where your mother is or why she left."

"And I've told you that you're lying at least a hundred times," she answered curtly.

"Watch your tone, Little One," he said sternly.

"I'm not your little one," she replied evenly.

Han bit his lip in frustration. "You may carry that damned lightsaber, and you may go two days without eating, and you may sit there with all that Jedi calm, but you're not even seventeen years old. You're not a Jedi yet."

A tear ran down Ami's cheek, as her bedroom door slid shut.

--

Night fell and the lights of passing vehicles flew past Ami's window. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find the link she wanted. Anakin Skywalker was her grandfather, this much she knew, but she could not for the life of her find someone who could possibly have been her grandmother. What data the Empire had not destroyed, the Rebellion damaged in the first years of the war and later the New Republic. She knew there had to be some reason a secret love destroyed what could have been her family, but she couldn't find the answer. She couldn't find it in any archive she linked up to, but perhaps the answer lay in the physical realm. Coruscant was simply one city built on top of another. Perhaps the answer simply lay beneath her feet.

A light rapping at her door shook her out of her reverie.

"Ami, it's Anakin."

"And Lukey," a second voice chimed in.

"Be quiet, you'll wake up Dad," the first voice ordered.

Ami shook her head as she opened the door to her little brothers. Anakin walked past her and plopped down on her bed. Lukey smiled and handed her a tray of cookies. "We thought you would be hungry," he said.

Ami smiled as the door slid shut behind them. Everyone always told Ami she was a carbon copy of her mother. They had the height, build, nose, and eyes. Ami's hair was just a shade or two lighter, more like her father's, before it turned gray, of course. Anakin, however, was the spitting image of his father. Even though he was just thirteen, he was already as tall as Ami. He even had a scar on his chin, which he got from falling off a hover-bike he shouldn't have been riding when he was ten. Luke, or Lukey as they called him, was a different story. The eight-year-old had their mother's chestnut hair, but he had inherited his namesake's blue eyes.

"So what have you been planning?" Anakin asked her.

"What are you talking about?"

"The only time you lock yourself away is when you're planning something," he answered. "So what are you planning, and can I come along?"

Ami rolled her eyes. "I'm not telling you and no, you can't come along."

"Oh, please, you know you're gonna tell me," Anakin replied.

"Can I come?" Lukey asked.

"No!" Ami and Anakin answered in unison.

"You're not coming either, Ani."

"Please don't call me Ani, and you'll need me to watch your back in the Under City."

Ami glared at him. "How did you figure that out?"

"Well, you haven't hacked into the Falcon's security system, which means you're not planning on swiping it and going off to another planet. The only other dubious thing you could be planning is a trip to the Under City," Anakin explained.

Ami sighed in resignation. "I haven't even really started planning yet," she admitted.

"If you let me help you," he said joining her at the computer console, "we can get this planned tonight and execute it tomorrow night."

"Can I come?" Lukey repeated.

"No!"

"If I don't come with you, I might tell dad what you're doing," he answered slyly.

Ami and Anakin turned and looked at their little brother. "That's blackmail," Ami told him.

"Uh-huh," he answered.

"That's illegal, you know," Anakin added.

"Not if it's your brother and sister," Lukey said, smiling.

Ami rolled her eyes. "Fine, get over here and help us."

--

An outsider would probably think that it would be extremely difficult for the daughter of a princess and a war hero to make contacts in the Coruscant underworld. For Ami, however, it was much easier. Before her father took on the mantle of war hero, he was a smuggler, thief, and part-time mercenary. She had a ready-made list of contacts because, no matter who was in power, the crooks would always be crooks.

The bar she was in was on the lowest level of the Upper City. This is where the highest and lowest in society intermingled. She saw prominent merchants making clandestine business deals with heavily armed smugglers, diplomats enjoying foreign drinks, and she was sure she saw at least one high-ranking senator snuggled in a corner with a Rodian prostitute.

She had her hood up so no one would recognize her. She strode up to the bar and ordered a Nubian Ale. The person she was supposed to meet wasn't around. She reached out with the Force and extended her senses. People were talking about her mother's disappearance. Most people believed she had a fight with her 'low-brow' husband and left him. Other wilder stories claimed infidelity from one side or the other.

As angry as Ami was with her father, she knew that none of those reasons was true. Sure, her parents fought half the time, but as much as they fought they adored each other. There was no way they could have been unfaithful, or just given up after a fight.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Her contact was here. He took a place two seats down from her at the bar. He was nothing Ami expected. He wasn't slimy, bulbous, or balding. He was tall, in his early twenties, and rather good looking with his high cheek bones, dark eyes and long black hair tied at the nape of his neck. His only drawbacks were his pale skin and the sharpness of his features, which proved he rarely ate well.

He caught Ami staring at him and she quickly looked back into her ale. She felt him move next to her. He leaned his back against the bar and said, "You need to work on your technique, Princess."

She looked at him. "I am no princess."

He smiled. He had a nice smile. "Yes, you are."

He grabbed her face and kissed her hard on the mouth. Ami at first winced in surprise, but she found herself kissing him back. He broke it off and hovered millimeters from her face. "I'm Izakk," he whispered. "Where do you want to meet?"

He started kissing her neck beneath her ear and Ami suddenly found it very hard to concentrate. She placed a hand on his face and guided her mouth to his ear. "There's an entrance, two streets from here," she whispered.

"I know it," he answered before moving back to her lips. "When?" he asked, shifting to the other side of her neck.

Ami moaned involuntarily and whispered, "Two hours."

"I'll be waiting," he answered.

She kissed him hard on the lips once more before breaking away and readjusting the hood on her cloak.

"Walk away slowly, Princess," Izakk told her quietly. "You don't want to be conspicuous."

She cocked an eyebrow at him before walking away, slowly.

--

"What happened? Did you make contact?" Anakin asked as he let his sister into the family apartment.

"Where's Dad?"

"He's in a meeting with the defense council."

"Did he take Threepio with him?"

Anakin smiled and answered, "Yeah, much to his dislike. Moni and da'Nala are gone as well, in case you're wondering."

"Good, we're meeting our guide in an hour and a half," Ami told him. "Make sure we have some extra food and blankets to sleep with."

"You honestly think we're going stay missing over night? Dad's gonna realize we're gone by dinnertime," Anakin told her.

"But he won't know where to look," Ami said, throwing her cloak on her bed and sitting down at her computer console.

"What are you doing now?" he asked her.

"I'm wiping my computer's memory, so they won't be able to find the last thing I was looking at," Ami explained.

"You know those memory wipes aren't perfect," Anakin said. "No data is ever irretrievable."

"I wasn't born yesterday, Ani."

"Don't call me Ani!"

"This will at least make the process more difficult," Ami explained.

"I've got everything packed," Lukey announced, dragging a couple of knapsacks into Ami's room.

Ami and Anakin both raised their eyebrows in surprise. "Did you get food and blankets?" Ami asked him.

Lukey nodded. "I even packed extra clothes for everyone," he explained. "I heard temperatures vary greatly in the Under City."

Anakin nodded his approval. "What's in the other bag?" he asked.

"Stuff we might need," Lukey answered.

"What kind of stuff?" Ami asked dubiously.

"Stuff," Anakin reiterated. "Trust us on this."

Ami rolled her eyes and went back to her computer console. Her brothers were almost as famous for building gadgets as they were for taking them apart. Once, when Lukey was only five, they took Threepio apart and decorated the apartment with the pieces. Their father thought it was hilarious, though he couldn't show it because their mother was furious. Everything was always Anakin's idea, but Lukey was the one who always put it into motion.

"Alright, I'm all done," Ami said getting up from the console and throwing her cloak back on. "We'll have to get out through the servant's corridors to avoid being seen."

"Ami, we went through the plan last night," Anakin reminded her.

She rolled her eyes as she unlocked the door to her parents' quarters and strode inside.

"This isn't part of the plan," Anakin called after her.

Ami unclipped her lightsaber from her belt and sliced the lock off of a safe door. She reached in and pulled out a gun belt and blaster.

"Oh, yeah, Dad's really going to appreciate you stealing his favorite gun," Anakin said as he watched her strap it to her waist and thigh.

Ami, in response, threw him another blaster. "Keep that close," she told him.

"You've gone insane."

"Do I get one?"

"No," Ami and Anakin answered their little brother together.

"You have a lightsaber," Ami reminded him as she moved toward the back of the room.

"Just a kid one," Lukey whined.

"That's because you're just a kid."

"Am not!"

"Shut up!"

Ami pushed in a panel on the wall and a door slid open.

"Mom and Dad have a servants' entrance? I feel deprived," Anakin said.

"Be quiet," Ami warned. "Lukey, I want you to stay behind me. Ani, you take up the rear."

"Don't call me Ani."

The trio wound their way through the stairs and passages of the high-rise building. Five stories from the ground, Anakin looked out a window.

"Ami, there's two guards down there," he reported. "They must have tightened security since Mom left."

"Then we'll have to jump."

"Jump!" Lukey exclaimed.

"It's okay, Lukey, we know what we're doing," Anakin assured him. "Ami, how are you planning to get out? It's not like there's a balcony, or –"

A window, frame and all, landing in the floor answered his question.

"Lukey, get on my back," Ami told him.

"What?"

"Trust us, Lukey," Anakin said, raising his brother onto his sister's back.

"And try not to scream," Ami added as she stepped into the hole left by the window.

Lukey bit his tongue to keep from screaming as he traveled down five stories on his sister's back. She landed quite gently, and he slid off as he heard his brother land behind them. "How do you do that?" he asked them.

Ami and Anakin looked at one another and smiled. "You'll learn someday," his sister promised.

They spied around the corner at the guards. "We still have to get past them without being seen," Anakin reminded them.

"I have something," Lukey said as he pulled an odd-looking metal object out of the bag of 'stuff.'

"Do I even want to know?" Ami muttered to Anakin.

Lukey activated the device and they immediately heard a baby crying from the far end of the building. The two guards looked at each other and then followed the sound. Ami cocked an eyebrow at her youngest brother.

"It throws sound like a ventriloquist throws it's voice," Lukey explained happily. "I call it a cry baby, cause, well, it's a crying baby."

"It's brilliant, isn't it?" Anakin added.

Ami just rolled her eyes. "We have to go."

She hurriedly led her brothers through the lowest level of the Upper City. Lukey had to practically run to keep up. Anakin grabbed his hand to keep him from falling behind. The sun had nearly disappeared when they reached their destination. Ami couldn't help it, her heart sped up when she saw Izakk waiting for them.

"Ugh!" Anakin grunted. "Did you kiss that guy?"

He didn't see her hands move, but he felt something punch him in the jaw. "Ow!" he yelled. "How did you do that?"

She looked back at him slyly. "You'll learn someday."

"You've brought a couple of kids," Izakk said as they got close. "How very inconspicuous of you, Princess."

"Oh, they're my bodyguards," she answered facetiously. "The little one is an Ewok in disguise."

Izakk laughed breathily and smiled at her. Lukey's face scrunched in confusion. Anakin groaned in disgust.

"Could you please just show us where we're going?" he asked haughtily.

Izakk's eyes rolled over to him. "I don't take orders from you, boy."

"My name's Anakin."

"We call him Ani," Ami said smiling.

"We do not!" Anakin insisted.

Lukey giggled.

Obviously amused, Izakk said, "Whatever you're called, say goodbye to the sun, you won't be seeing it for a while."

Izakk led them into the darkness. "Stay close," Ami whispered as she took Lukey's hand.

"Just because this is the underworld doesn't mean people won't recognize you," Izakk told them. "Keep your hoods up."

Ami pulled hers forward and Anakin pulled his up from his back.

"I don't have a hood," Lukey whispered to his sister.

"Just keep your head down," she advised.

Ami squinted as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. Some places in the Under City were all but pitch black, others were lit up bright as day. The varying light was starting to give her a headache.

"How do you deal with the light down here?" she asked Izakk after almost half an hour.

"Like most things, Princess, you get used to it," he answered.

"Do you really think you should be calling me 'Princess'?"

Izakk stopped and turned so suddenly, Ami nearly walked right into him. As it was, she found herself only centimeters from his face once again.

"Every man has a princess, Princess," he said. "I'll call you what I like."

Ami was stunned silent. Anakin's face reddened. "Stop playing my sister," he said, anger boiling under the surface.

"Ani!"

"Don't call me that."

Izakk's grin had an almost evil look about it. "You think I'm afraid of you, boy?"

"I think you don't know me," Anakin said, placing a hand on his lightsaber.

Izakk chuckled. "Come on, we have to get down as far as possible before your father realizes you're gone."

Izakk's steps quickened, and the Solos struggled to keep up. Anakin eventually had to resort to carrying Lukey on his back. Lights became dimmer the farther down they went. The people became darker as well. Lukey held on tighter to his brother's neck as they went. After the quartet had walked for a good two hours, Izakk held a hand up to stop them.

"I'll give you a chance to turn back here, Princess," he said.

"Turn back?"

"This has been the darkest place in the Under City for nearly forty years," he explained. "Only the most desperate venture here."

"Why's that?" Anakin asked.

Izakk glanced at him before turning his gaze back on Ami. "This is where most Jedi met their end, in their temple. This place is filled with their spirits. Few who go in come back out with their wits."

"Have you been in before?" Ami asked him.

"I was born in there," Izakk answered.

"That explains a lot," Anakin muttered.

"We need to go where no one else has probably ever been," Ami explained. "We need to see the Jedi archives."

Izakk crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't tell me you're so naïve, you don't think the Empire destroyed every piece of Jedi data they could get their hands on?"

"Oh, no, I'm pretty sure they did," Ami answered. "I just think there was some data they couldn't get their hands on."

Izakk nodded. "I have thought the same. But, know this, from here on, I'm only operating on supposition. I can't make any guarantees you'll find what you're looking for."

"I understand."

Izakk grinned. "I hope you're not afraid of the dark, Princess. We're going down as far as we can go."

Lukey produced a lamp from his bag and turned it on. It gave out an almost blindingly bright light. Realizing everyone's discomfort, he turned it down to half-power, which gave them more than enough light to see where they were going.

"Kid, how did you get that thing to do that?" Izakk asked him.

"It was very complicated," Lukey answered as he handed the lamp to their guide. "It took me forever to figure out a way to increase the power without blowing out the bulb."

"Well, you did a damn good job," Izakk told them as he started leading them on. "Stay close."

Do you really think we should trust him? Anakin's voice said in Ami's head.

No, but we don't really have a choice at this point, Ami answered. We're committed now.

Anakin looked behind them. Dad will have realized we're gone by now. In a few hours, all the police and half of the military on Coruscant will be looking for us. They might even think we've been kidnapped.

There's no ransom demand; Dad'll figure we just left. He's not stupid, Ami reminded him.

"Will you two shut up?" Izakk asked them angrily.

Ami and Anakin froze. "We weren't talking," she told him.

"I heard you whispering," Izakk insisted.

"We weren't speaking," Anakin said.

Izakk narrowed his gaze toward them. "Just keep quiet. I don't know exactly what's down here."

That was weird, Anakin said as they ventured into the darkness.

Yes, it was.

--

"General?"

"You don't have to call me by my rank, Wedge," Han answered.

"Sorry, it's a habit," Wedge Antilles said as he entered the room. "There hasn't been any sort of communication indicating a kidnapping."

Han shook his head. "Oh, I didn't think the kids had been kidnapped," he said indicating the open safe.

"You think it was a break-in?" Wedge asked.

Han shook his head again. "No, the lock wasn't burned off by a blaster. Only one thing leaves that kind of burn; a lightsaber. The kids took the blasters themselves."

"How many did they take?"

"Just two."

"Where would they be going that they'd need blasters on top of lightsabers?"

"I'm not sure," Han answered. "Get a tech to pull all the files on Ami's computer."

"Yes, Sir. Where are you going?" Wedge asked as Han quickly got up and left the room.

"I have to check something on the Falcon," he answered. "Keep everything under control until I get back."

--

"Chewie, lower the ramp, I'm coming in," Han said into his communicator as he approached the Falcon.

His faithful Wookie companion, Chewbacca, met him at the top of the ramp. "Has Ami been in here in the last couple of days?"

Chewie growled affirmatively.

"Do you know what she did?"

Chewie shook his furry head and growled mournfully.

"It's okay, Buddy, I understand," Han said. "She probably just accessed some files. I'll be in the cockpit."

Chewie nodded. He understood Han needed to be alone. Han closed the cockpit door and sat down in the pilot's chair. He knew why Ami sneaked onto the Falcon. There was only one thing she had access to there that she didn't have anywhere else; the black files, Han's list of mercenaries and underworld contacts. From what he could tell, Ami limited her search to his Coruscant contacts, which meant they hadn't gone off-world. That was only a small comfort. He knew a lot of disreputable people in the Under City.

After nearly an hour, he found what he was looking for. Ami downloaded information on Kadesh Murin, a Corellian smuggler and pilot who had spent the last thirty years or so based in the Coruscant underworld.

He opened a comm line to his apartment. "Wedge, are you there?"

"Yes, General, did you find what you were looking for?" Wedge answered.

"Well, I found something," Han admitted. "I'm sending it to you now."

"Kadesh Murin," Wedge said. "Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Corellian Flight Academy," Han answered. "He was probably an instructor when you were attending."

"He was," Wedge said, "but he was gone before the end of my first term. Nobody knew exactly what happened."

"He got a better offer," Han explained. "See if you can find him in the official records. I'll be back in an hour."

"We'll be here."

Han worked the Falcon's control panels until he was sufficiently satisfied that he had scrambled the signal. His wife's image appeared on the comm screen. She seemed more tired than usual, but she was still beautiful to his eyes.

"Han, what do you think you're doing? Is this a secure channel?"

"I know how to scramble a signal, Sweetheart," he answered.

"What's wrong?"

Han took a deep breath. "The kids are gone."

"What?!"