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If You Honor What They Fight For
Revised Special Edition
Author's Note: I actually began this story elsewhere before posting the chapters to . It's hard to believe it's been over ten years since I first conceived this story. When I go back and read it, I am satisfied with the product. But I know I could have done better. There are some scenarios I would have done differently. I know some of you will always prefer the original and may accuse me of pulling a George Lucas, but that tale is always going to be available for you to read.
Initially, the story won't be that much different than what was originally told. But it will diverge until converging back to something resembling the original ending. Expect some things to be different, but also expect some things to be very similar. I don't really care for the backstory that much anymore, so the second act is going to be wildly different. I hope when this is all said and done, you the reader can put both versions side by side and decide which version is superior. If I may be allowed to quote Lex Luthor:
"I can say without a doubt there are an infinite number of universes. Some are just like our own… but for one or two significant events, exactly the same."
This story is dedicated to the memory of Carrie Fisher. She will always be a princess to us.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Act I – Seduction
Chapter 1
Luke Skywalker, hero of the Rebellion and Jedi hopeful, prepared to make one of the most difficult decisions of his life. Since Luke's first vision of Han Solo and Leia Organa suffering at the hands of evil, the dread grew stronger within him. It was almost as the future was growing closer to the present time. Luke did not wish to abandon his Jedi training, but his attachments to his friends urged him towards a different course. Luke prepared to board his X-Wing while his trusted astromech Artoo-Detoo prepared the pre-flight sequence.
"Luke!" shouted Master Yoda. The old green alien, the last living member of the Jedi Council, strode towards Luke. He relied upon his cane due to his advanced age. "You must complete the training."
"I can't keep the vision out of my head," Luke admitted before turning to face his Jedi Master. "They're my friends. I've got to help them."
"You must not go!" Yoda pleaded.
Luke was not in the mood to be told not to save his friends. He raised his voice to Yoda in kind, replying, "But Han and Leia will die if I don't!"
"You don't know that," said the voice of a dead friend. The Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi materialized next to Yoda. "Even Yoda cannot sense their fate."
Luke protested, "But I can help them! I feel the Force!"
"But you cannot control it," Ben told Luke. "This is a dangerous time for you, when you will be tempted by the Dark Side of the Force."
Luke remembered what Obi-Wan Kenobi told him about the dark side on Tatooine. Yoda warned him that starting down the dark path would dominate his destiny and consume him just as it did Darth Vader, the one who murdered his father.
"Yes, yes." Yoda pleaded. "To Obi-Wan you listen. The cave. Remember your failure at the cave."
"But I've learned so much since then," Luke addressed Yoda. "Master Yoda, I promise I will return and finish what I've begun. You have my word."
Yoda cast his eyes towards the ground sadly. Luke could sense his master's disappointment in him. The young Jedi hardened his resolve.
"It is you and your abilities the Emperor wants," said Obi-Wan. "That is why your friends are made to suffer."
"And that is why I have to go," Luke said to his original teacher.
Luke confidently replied, "You won't."
"Stopped they must be," Yoda said firmly to his apprentice. "On this it all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the Force as his ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil."
"Patience!" was Obi-Wan's plea.
Luke lost his patience and snapped at his masters. "And sacrifice Han and Leia?"
"If you honor what they fight for, yes," Yoda replied firmly.
Luke paused at his master's words. He thought of his friends and the vision he had in the Force. If Obi-Wan was correct, their suffering was due to a trap Vader planned to set for Luke. Luke did not wish to abandon his friends, but he always trusted his old mentor. It was through Obi-Wan Luke first learned of the Force, who told Luke about his father. It was Obi-Wan who saved the lives of Luke and his friends aboard the Death Star. It was Obi-Wan's Force ghost who guided Luke through great trials, such as the battle against the Death Star and surviving his recent encounter with a wampa. It was Obi-Wan who led Luke to Dagobah. If Luke had always trusted Obi-Wan before, he did not feel the need to start distrusting him now.
"Ben," Luke said, referring to his original mentor by this old alias, "I can feel their pain. The nightmares have been getting worse every day."
"Luke, the future is clouded and not set in stone," Obi-Wan told him. "We don't receive absolute visions from the Force. The Force can only serve as your guide."
"Trust in the Force," Luke said, thinking aloud. "This is the lesson for me, isn't it?"
"To grow in the Force, trust in it a Jedi must," Yoda lectured his student. He approached Luke slowly. "Think I expected to live here, did you?" When Luke shook his head, Yoda ceased his stride and stood in front of Luke. "A Jedi cannot see what he does not understand. Clear your mind, Luke. It is your vision you must see. On the pain, focus not."
Luke closed his eyes slowly and stretched with his senses, probing with the Force. He exhaled slowly, gaining a picture in his head of Leia clutching Chewbacca as they looked on in Han's direction. Luke quickly opened his eyes, shocked back to the world around him.
"I see suffering," Luke said. "I see sadness and fear, but no death."
"Hard to see, the dark side is," Yoda admitted.
"Trust the Force, Luke," Obi-Wan pleaded.
Luke feared for his friends, but he also knew it was necessary to complete his Jedi training. "Artoo," he said to his droid, looking to the X-Wing. "Cancel the launch. We're staying here." Luke hoped he was not making the wrong decision to leave his friends with Darth Vader. Still, the Force did not indicate immediate danger for his friends.
"The right decision, you have made," Yoda told his student.
"I hope you're right, Master Yoda," Luke grimly admitted as he began walking away from his X-Wing.
"They told me they fixed it!" Lando Calrissian growled after he failed to engage the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon. "It's not my fault!"
Leia Organa groaned inwardly. "Of course it's not," she said. "The Empire probably sabotaged the hyperdrive."
In a turn of events Leia never anticipated, Lando Calrissian had betrayed them to Darth Vader. Han Solo was interrogated, tortured, and frozen in carbonite. Lando then turned against Vader, freed Leia, Chewbacca, and See-Threepio before attempting to rescue the frozen Han from Boba Fett. The whole situation in Cloud City was supposed to be a trap set for Luke Skywalker, but Leia did not know if Luke arrived. She originally hoped Luke would have stayed far away from Bespin, but now Leia wished Luke was there to help them.
And now they were stuck on a ship without a working hyperdrive being pursued by the Imperial fleet.
"Chewie, see what you can do with it back there," Lando said before Chewbacca roared something in his language.
"I'm trying my best over here!" Lando said. "Someone's gotta pilot this thing."
Chewbacca protested, but left the cockpit in hopes of fixing the hyperdrive before the Imperials captured them again.
Leia quickly moved into the copilot's chair beside Lando. "You think you can outmaneuver them?" she asked.
"I'd better," Lando simply stated. It didn't inspire Leia with much confidence. "I can't believe they disabled the hyperdrive. It's like Vader thought of everything."
"Not quite everything," Leia said, thinking of Luke.
Darth Vader entered the bridge of the Executor. His black mask obscured the rage he felt. The carefully laid trap for Luke Skywalker was all for naught. Not only did the boy never arrive at Cloud City, but his friends were attempting to escape. The Dark Lord of the Sith would not allow them to foil his plans again. He looked to Admiral Firmus Piet, who was observing the escape attempt by the Millennium Falcon.
"Did your men disable the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon?" Vader asked.
"Yes, milord," Piet replied after looking to Vader. "We'll have them in our tractor beam shortly. They won't be escaping."
A lieutenant approached Vader and the admiral. He was a young fair skinned male with blue eyes. "Admiral, Lord Vader, we have the Millennium Falcon, in our tractor beam now," the lieutenant said.
"Excellent work," Vader said. "I will be there to greet our prisoners when they arrive. I want them alive." Vader quickly turned and began walking towards the turbolift, his ebony cape billowing behind him as he strode.
Lando Calrissian's hands tightened into fists. A look of defeat crept onto his face and he slumped back into the pilot's chair. "They've got us in the tractor beam," he said.
"Oh dear!" said Threepio. He was still in pieces, wrapped in a bundle at the far corner of the cockpit. "We're doomed!"
Leia inwardly cursed, but realized their situation was not completely grim. She looked to Lando and said, "This whole thing was a trap for Luke. They won't kill us."
"I know you must think highly of Luke, but it's not like he took the bait yet," grumbled Lando.
Leia glared at Lando. "You sound like you actually want Luke to get captured!" she barked at the scoundrel.
Chewbacca growled as he returned to the bridge.
"Chewie, tell her that's not what I meant," Lando told the Wookiee.
"Oh shut up!" Leia yelled at Lando. "You're the reason we're even in this situation in the first place. Han is being taken to Jabba the Hutt because you decided to cut a deal with Darth Vader."
Chewbacca echoed an affirmative, but made no move against Calrissian. It was more of a statement to try to calm the situation, but it wasn't working.
"Oh I'm sure the Empire will be gracious if we just surrender peacefully!" Threepio exclaimed.
"Shut up!" Lando and Leia yelled at Threepio at the same time. The Lando said, "I'm going to regret what I did for the rest of my life, Leia. I'm sorry."
Leia turned away from Lando and observed as a hangar bay grew ever closer. Dread filled the pit of her stomach. Luke, we need you, Leia thought. I need you. Leia closed her eyes, hoping that Luke was somewhere safe out there.
The Millennium Falcon landed in a hangar bay of the Executor, brought in precisely by a tractor beam. TIE Fighters were docked around the Rebel ship and a squadron of Stormtroopers awaited the Rebels aboard it. Darth Vader stepped towards the ship, passing through the ranks of the Stormtroopers. The boarding ramp of the Falcon opened. The Stormtroopers readied their blaster rifles as Leia Organa descended the ramp first. She was unarmed and had her arms raised above her head.
"You win, Vader," Leia told the Dark Lord. "You can set your trap now."
"Princess Leia, you overestimate your worth," Darth Vader told her. "Your courage in exiting your ship unarmed is admirable, though foolish. You presume far too much, child."
Lando Calrissian followed after Leia next along with Chewbacca carrying Threepio on his back. Darth Vader turned his face towards Calrissian, glaring at the Cloud City baron administrator. Vader had little tolerance for those who thwarted his plans and reacted with predictable fury. He raised his right hand and reached out with the Force, using it to choke Calrissian.
Lando started gasping for air and reached for his throat, falling to his knees. Chewbacca roared at Darth Vader and pushed past Leia, hoping to charge at the Dark Lord. Without releasing his Force hold on Lando, Vader used the Force to push Chewbacca against the hull of the Millennium Falcon. The Wookiee hit the ship with a loud thud and fell to the floor of the hangar, still alive though badly injured.
"I'll deal with you next, Wookiee," Vader said coldly before returning his fury towards Calrissian.
"Stop it!" Leia yelled at Vader. She leveled her gaze coldly at the Dark Lord of the Sith as her newfound ally gasped for air beside her. The fury of her voice grabbed Vader's attention, but he also sensed something else. He sensed a spike in the Force.
Vader released his hold on Lando Calrissian, who quickly began gasping for air while clutching his throat. The Dark Lord then approached Leia, stopping before the Rebel leader. He towered over the young woman and observed she glared at him with undying hatred. Yet Vader could sense no fear in her. Still, there was something odd about her.
Vader then looked to the Stormtroopers. "Escort Calrissian, the Wookiee, and the droid to their cells," he said to them. "You will escort the Princess to my quarters immediately." Vader briefly returned his attention to the Princess, allowing his gaze to linger briefly. There was something very familiar about her. The Dark Lord then turned on his heels and walked away from her, allowing the soldiers to take the Rebels as prisoners.
Leia's wrists were in binders. The Rebel leader was not anticipating the torture that certainly awaited her at the hands of the Dark Lord of the Sith. She knew Vader planned to use Leia to draw Luke into a trap, so she resolved to resist Vader's torture to the best of her abilities. Vader's quarters did not have any sort of visible interrogation structure, which only served to confuse Leia. She noted it was drab and undecorated. There were workbenches, droids, and a hyperbaric chamber. Leia noted the chair within the chamber had medical equipment surrounding it, likely the sort of equipment required to service the Dark Lord's cybernetics.
"Why would he bring me here?" Leia asked aloud before the door to Vader's quarters slid open. Darth Vader's imposing frame stood before her as did a medical droid. Vader accompanied the droid inside his quarters as the door slid closed behind him.
"Collect the blood sample from the princess," Vader commanded the medical droid.
Leia looked to Darth Vader quizzically. "A blood sample?" she asked as the droid approached her.
"Lord Vader requires a sample of your blood," the medical droid simply stated. "Please extend your arm and lift your sleeve so I can obtain a small sample."
"Do as the droid requests," Vader told his prisoner. "I will not ask as nicely."
Leia glared at the Dark Lord before she complied with the medical droid's instructions. Leia extended her arm to the medical droid, who found her vein with ease. The droid took the sample and handed her gauze and bandage with its free hand. "Apply these to stop the bleeding," the droid told her.
Leia bandaged herself as Vader told the droid, "Perform a paternity test at my medical station," Vader told the droid. "Also, provide me with her midichlorian count."
"Are you serious?" Leia asked Darth Vader. "What sort of sick twisted joke is this?"
Vader simply turned his gaze to Leia, saying nothing for the moment. It unnerved Leia to hear no answer from the Dark Lord. The medical droid quickly performed the DNA analysis and the midichlorian analysis at the medical station. The medical droid recorded the information on a data disc before returning to Darth Vader.
"Lord Vader, the results are conclusive," the droid said. "The prisoner is your daughter. Her midichlorian count is 22,000."
"Thank you for your service," Vader growled before pulling his lightsaber from his belt. He ignited the glowing red blade and sliced through the medical droid's body, destroying it. He then called the data disc to his hand with the Force before deactivating his lightsaber.
"What?" Leia said, shaken to her core, as she backed away from the Dark Lord. "This has to be some mistake. My parents were Bail and Breha Organa. You can't be my father."
"The proof is on this disc," Vader said to her, raising it in his gloved left hand. "The Jedi hid you from me and their failure is now complete. You have the potential to become very powerful, Princess. Through me, you can gain knowledge to use the Force. If you accept my offer, I will train you. You will even become powerful enough to save the man you love."
Leia overcame her initial shock and walked towards Darth Vader. She grabbed the data disc from the Dark Lord's hands and brought it to the computer terminal by the medical station. After inserting the disc, she read the results for herself. The Princess fell to her knees, her mouth open, completely speechless. Part of her wanted to believe the results had been forged, but deep within herself, she knew it was true.
"How is this possible?" Leia asked, choosing not to look at her father. "You're a monster. You are not a man."
"I was once more man than machine," Vader revealed to Leia as he walked towards her. "Obi-Wan Kenobi tried to use your mother against me and left me horribly scarred and disfigured. He then had you hidden from me. Your mother looked forward to having you, Leia. What Obi-Wan took from you cannot be forgiven. It was your destiny to rule the galaxy with me. But it is not too late for you. Let me train you in the ways of the Force. Through the power of the dark side, you can save the one you love and rule the galaxy with me."
Leia closed her eyes. "Han," she said as she rose slowly. "His name is Han Solo." She would do anything to save Han and felt powerless when he was being frozen in carbonite. It was all due to the monster now offering Leia the power to save Han and rule the galaxy with him. Luke never came to help them. In Leia's mind, the possibility was slim that Han could have been saved had Luke arrived. But now she needed to take care of herself.
Luke Skywalker once told Leia about the dark side, saying it was incredibly corruptive and destructive. But Leia wondered if that was truly the case. Her own adoptive father had lied to Leia all her life about her true heritage. Even if Leia did believe in the cause of the Rebel Alliance, Leia understood the Rebellion lived on shaky ground. With the teachings she could learn from Darth Vader, not only could Leia save Han, she reasoned, but she could also gain power to help the Rebellion. It was risky, but Leia still could not shake the fact that she hated Darth Vader, the monster who stood by while Grand Moff Tarkin ordered the destruction of Alderaan.
"But I don't have the Force," Leia told Darth Vader.
"The midi-chlorians are a measure of your potential as a Force user," Vader told her. Leia turned to face her father as he continued. "The Jedi used this knowledge to find potential recruits for their order."
"But you betrayed the Jedi Order," Leia told him. "Luke told me you were once a Jedi, but you betrayed and murdered his father."
"Is that what Luke was told?" Vader asked rhetorically. Leia almost thought she could detect a hint of amusement in the cyborg's mechanical voice. "Luke's father remained loyal to the Repbulic, but he was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. It was the same battle in which Obi-Wan nearly killed me."
"Give me one good reason why I should believe you," Leia told her father. "My father told…"
Vader pointed his finger at Leia and menacingly interrupted, "Bail Organa was not your father. He lied to you. I have given you nothing but truth."
"You're still a monster," Leia said as she turned to face her father. "Even if you are my father, you're still a murderer. You're an accessory to the deaths of all who lived on Alderaan."
"That was foolish scheme of Tarkin," Darth Vader told her. "My master delighted at their deaths while I took no pleasure in it. If you want vengeance, and I sense you do, the power I offer can allow you to do so. You will also gain the power to save the one you love."
"Why should I believe you?" asked Leia.
"Search your feelings, my daughter," replied Vader. "You know it to be true."
Leia wished she could sense deception in the Dark Lord, knowing full well he was capable of deception. She was still shaken by the knowledge her entire life was a lie. Leia found herself growing slightly jealous of the power Luke wielded. If she had that power, Leia knew she could save Han. That Vader was offering power freely was something Leia believed she could use against the Sith Lord. Even if it was the dark side, it could be used for the greater good. Leia could save the Rebellion by overthrowing the Sith Order from within.
Leia dropped to one knee in front of the Dark Lord. "I pledge myself to your teachings, father," the Princess said with resolve. "I'll do anything to save Han. I just ask you to spare my friends whom you now hold prisoner."
"That can be arranged," Vader said to her. He motioned with his left hand. "Rise, my apprentice. We will begin your training on Vjun where I will present you with a lightsaber. I will secure a pardon for you, but until then, you will remain my prisoner."
"Understood," Leia said to her new master. She only hoped she could survive Darth Vader's training long enough to be able to save Han and the Rebellion.
