Disclaimer: The characters below are property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm LTD. Only the situations belong to me.

The Long Way Home

Chapter Two: Matters of State

Luke Skywalker sat inside the cockpit of an X-Wing fighter, R2-D2 happily beeping away in the back. The Jedi Knight kept an eye on his sensors, tracking the larger frigate that traveled beside him. Inside that ship, along with all the other leading members of the Alliance, was his sister.

Sister. It had only been a month since he had found out the truth, less since he had told Leia Organa, Princess of the now non-existent planet of Alderaan. So little had changed between them, and yet so much. Luke did not need the Force to know that Leia was avoiding him on anything but a business level, knew she wasn't really ready to talk about it.

But Luke didn't really understand. Until that moment on the Endorian bridge, both had thought they had lost everything—family, friends, all gone. And now, there was something, a family to create, or re-create. Questions needed to be asked, even if there were no answers.

Questions she doesn't want to ask, he told himself. He could close his eyes and picture the look on her face when he'd told her about Darth Vader, the thing their father had become. Revulsion and horror had fought for dominance, only to be won over by confusion in the end. Luke wanted to tell her about that moment, with the Death Star falling apart around them, that their father had said all he could. He wanted to help her come to terms with all that Anakin Skywalker had been, before and after.

R2 beeped to get his attention. They would be in the Coruscant system soon.

"Thanks, R2. Could you hail Freedom's Dream for me and see if you can get Leia on a secure line?"

R2 tweeted and whistled for a few moments, and then a tired, throaty, female voice filled the cockpit.

"Yes, Luke?" She didn't sound annoyed, or angry, just busy.

"I…well, we'll be at Coruscant soon."

He could almost see her rolling her eyes. "The sensors seem to indicate that, yes."

"I'm going to be scouting the Jedi Temple once we land, to see if there's anything left."

"I doubt the Emperor or…Vader," the word was a curse on her tongue, "would have left much behind."

"No," Luke said softly, "but Anakin Skywalker might have."

"Luke, I don't have time…"

"That's not why I wanted to talk to you." He took a deep breath. "Look, I don't know what kind of reception we're going to get once we come out of hyperspace. If there looks like there's going to be trouble…trust your instincts. Don't be afraid to tell the Admiral what your gut is telling you."

The silence was deafening; he thought they'd lost their connection. He could feel her out there in space though, processing what he had just asked her to do. Trust the Force.

"If we're going to be having that much trouble, I think our pilots are better equipped than I am to develop a strategy."

Luke sighed. "All right." He thought for another moment. "Leia?"

"Yes?" Now the annoyance was creeping in.

"When we land…don't be afraid to contact me. Any time. Just in case you need to…talk, or something."

The smile had crept back into her voice. "All right, Luke. I'll know where to find you, won't I?"

Luke smiled too. "Yes, I suppose you will."

------------

They reverted to real space and were immediately hailed by the planetary defense system, or what was left of it.

"Approaching air craft," it said in a mechanical voice. Clearly, the Rebels on the capital planet had not gotten around to this yet. "You are flying under unauthorized com signatures. Prepare to be…"

The voice cut off and a frantic female voice, very alive, broke through. "Sorry about that! The system is fighting me every step of the way." She slowed her breathing, taking on a more professional demeanor. "Please identify yourselves."

"This is Admiral Ackbar," the watery voice of the Calamari said over the com waves, "along with Mon Mothma, Princess Leia Organa, and a contingent of very tired but victorious star pilots. Requesting permission to land near the Senate building."

"Permission nearly granted," the woman said. "But first…X-Wing pilot, please identify yourself."

"Luke Skywalker." The droid beeped angrily. "…and R2-D2, astromech that saved the galaxy."

The woman laughed. "Well, thank you, R2-D2, we all appreciate it. I'm sending you the landing vector now. Please do not deviate, unless you're up for some thrill-seeking. The air space is filled with people trying to get off, and on, the planet."

As the com line went down, R2 beeped warningly and Luke laughed. "No, R2, we'll do it by the book this time."

R2 whistled happily as they began their descent.

The com operator wasn't kidding. Flight lanes were packed with inter-stellar vehicles of all sizes, and the intra-planet vehicles created a blanket over the entire planet. Luke and R2 maneuvered the X-Wing through the crowd, tipping to port suddenly when a Y-Wing lumbered into their path. In the corner of his mind, Luke felt for Leia, who radiated anxiousness and excitement.

He was so focused on Leia and his landing, that Luke didn't really appreciate the planet until he stepped down the ladder and onto the landing platform. Besides the flying vehicles, more vehicles than he had ever seen in a non-combat situation, there were the buildings. They soared above his head and below his feet, covering every square millimeter of the planet's surface. His connection to the Force was almost overloaded as the myriad of beings finally penetrated his perceptions.

He staggered a bit, only to feel a soft hand hold him around his bicep, steadying him.

"Luke? Are you all right?"

Leia stood next to him, dressed in the white gown she had worn after the victory at Yavin IV. She looked every bit the princess yet there she was, his sister, making sure her brother was all right.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…there are so many beings here. It's a lot of feelings to have hit you all at once."

She let go slowly, looking over his face. He had lost much of his Tatooine tan, and his hair was darker now than when they had met five years previous. Still, as she watched him experience Coruscant for the first time, the farm boy who had rescued her came back with a vengeance. It made her smile.

She pointed towards a waiting hover car. "That Bothan there will take you to the Jedi Temple, or what's left of it. Take R2 with you; he might be able to tap into some of the computers. The Emperor didn't tear the whole place down, but we don't know what kind of security he set up. No one has been inside since…" She stopped, choosing her words carefully. "No one has been inside in twenty-five years."

Luke nodded. "And what are you going to be doing?"

Leia gestured towards Ackbar, Mon Mothma, and several other senators who had been fighting the good fight from within a corrupt system. "I'm going to see about putting the pieces of the galaxy back together again."

Leia gave his hand a squeeze, slipping something cold into his palm. "This is my personal communicator. If I don't answer it, 3P0 will. Just in case…"

Luke nodded. "Just in case."

Leia walked off, straightening her shoulders and taking long, measured steps towards the assembled crowd. The senators greeted her with warm hugs, smiling with relief that they were seeing her again.

"What's happened since?" she asked as they began the walk into the Senate.

"We had to do some crowd control immediately after the news arrived. Some beings were very happy about our victory, and some were not. Arrests for looting sky rocketed, but there wasn't too much violence." The man speaking, Senator Dinh of Mygeeto, was not much taller than Leia, with pitch-black hair and almond-shaped brown eyes. He had curried favor with the Emperor when he was merely Chancellor and had been awarded a Senator-ship of a nearly deserted planet.

They had arrived at the Senate offices now, having by-passed the hall entirely. Leia had felt a chill as she walked passed the sealed and guarded doors. The last time she had been in there, her father's messenger had arrived. The last time she had been in there, her life had changed.

"And what about the remainder of the galaxy? How are the other systems coming along?" Mon Mothma asked in her even tone as they reached her former offices. The room had been looted of much of the furniture, save a desk and a chair. Clearly, Mon Mothma's fall from favor had excited the younger senators, who had probably redecorated their offices with her abandoned items. Mon Mothma looked around and shook her head, offering the chair to Ackbar. He sat gratefully.

Senator Solada of Kamino, a human female, produced three identical data cards and handed one to each of the arrivals. "The most problems arose in Confederacy systems. They seemed to think they could overthrow the men and women put there by the Emperor. We haven't lost anyone yet." She paused. "Some of the other systems, though…well, they're sending communiqués indicating they might not want to join whatever government we come up with next."

Leia nodded. "That is to be expected. Please get me a list of those ambassadors who are expressing discomfort. I will get to work on them immediately."