Chapter 2:
The Rebel Alliance was in chaos. What started out as a celebration with the natives of Endor, quickly turned into a very unorganized evacuation. The commanders tried to keep control, but were finding it harder and harder to do so ever since the reports of the Emperor's simultaneous attacks. What should have been their finest moment of victory quickly became a nightmare.
After the attacks, the Alliance agreed with Princess Leia that they had to quickly move the fleet out of the Endor system. They knew that the Emperor's revenge would be swift and devastating, and the attacks on the demonstrators were only the beginning. It was going to get much worse.
The loss of Luke Skywalker was a major blow to the morale of the entire Alliance, from the top down. Everyone felt the young Jedi's loss greatly; the more superstitious among them believed it to be a bad omen.
Han Solo had been pulling double duty since the evacuation. He had been assisting with the monumental task of getting all personnel and equipment ready to move and he had also taken it upon himself to take care of Princess Leia. It was becoming the most frustrating job he had ever had; she was the most stubborn woman he had ever met. Han sometimes wondered why he even bothered, but every time he saw her he knew that he would do anything for her.
"How long has it been since you've slept?"
Leia did not bother to look up at Han Solo as he strode into the empty mess hall that she had been using as an office for the last few hours. "What do you want?"
Without being invited, Han sat down across from the princess. "I want to know how long it's been since you've slept." He asked again.
She looked up sharply in annoyance; this was not the first time that they had this conversation since the evacuation. "Why do you care?"
Han sighed, "You shouldn't have to ask that question."
Leia threw down the datapad, "If you care for me, you should leave me alone."
"You've hardly slept since Endor!" The Corellian's frustration was growing. He could not understand why she was being this stubborn. "You can't go on like this."
"I case you haven't realized, we are in the middle of an emergency."
"I haven't forgotten." Realizing that matching her frustration with his own was not going to help the situation, he tried a different tactic. Han took Leia's hands in his own. "The fleet is away from Endor; it will be hours before we get to the rendezvous point. You have time to rest before then."
Leia closed her eyes; Han could tell that she was trying to not break down. "I'm asking you again, leave me alone."
Han smiled, "I'm afraid I can't do that Sweetheart; I'm kind of invested in your well-being." Leia did not respond. Han knew the princess enough to know that he had finally cracked the hard emotional shell that she had put up after Endor. "Leia, I didn't have the chance earlier to tell you because of all that is going on; but I wanted to say I'm sorry about Luke."
Leia sighed and shook her head, "Please, if I hear one more expression of sympathy, I think I'm going to go insane."
"He was my friend too."
A flash of guilt went across the princess' face. "I know, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I just wish that I knew what really happened to my brother."
Han winced inwardly at the reminder. He was not upset that Luke was her brother, but he certainly was not thrilled that Leia being Luke's sister made his princess the daughter of Darth Vader. Over the last few hours he had tried to come to terms with that fact, but it was really hard to do so. He could not imagine what she was going through.
"And now, we're running away from what was to be our greatest victory."
He shook his head, "We're regrouping, that's all. The Emperor didn't defeat us."
"Oh Han, I know you're not that naïve. We lost over half of our fleet and much of our manpower." Leia closed her eyes momentarily to ward off the tears that were threatening to fall. "It was a foolish assault; we should have seen that it was a trap."
"It wasn't foolish Leia; it was the best intelligence we had."
The princess sighed as a few tears fell, "We should have seen that it was too good to be true...I should have seen it."
Han held onto her hands tighter and leaned in closer, "Listen to me, I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, but don't you start blaming yourself for this."
Leia angrily wrenched herself from Han's grasp, "I was the one who pushed for this."
"As I recall, Princess, it was not only your decision. The entire Rebel leadership was in complete agreement."
"I should have known better."
Han shook his head, "Leia, you're not all-knowing."
The princess laughed; the bitterness evident in it disturbed Han very much. "You would think that I should be, considering who I'm related to." She slammed her hand down on the table, "I mean, if I'm supposed to be Darth Vader's daughter, you would think that I would have inherited some of his abilities. Luke said that I had the same power as he did; he was so wrong."
The Corellian was speechless; he had no idea what to say to her. He wanted to help her, but did not know how to do it. Before he could open his mouth to say something, Leia angrily stood up from the table. "I have to go, there's too much to do for me to sit here."
As Leia was walking out the door, Han called out to her, "Please don't shut me out; let me help you."
The princess shook her head, "There's nothing you can do."
Within the Force, time was a difficult thing to grasp. Obi-Wan was not certain how long he had been dead, sometimes it felt like just minutes and sometimes it felt like centuries. The former Jedi knew that keeping the identity he had in life was only a temporary thing; soon he would completely join the ocean of energy within the Force.
He was not sure how he felt about that. On one hand he was relieved that he would no longer have to carry the weight of his many failures and regrets; but on another hand, he had to admit that he was not thrilled about losing his identity within the Force. Let go you must, what you fear to lose. Master Yoda's long-ago teaching still applied. A Jedi had no possessions and no attachments, and that included his very identity.
Obi-Wan did not know how much longer he had before who he was now would cease and he would be fully transformed into the Force. There was much for him to do before then, he had one more Skywalker to help save.
Obi-Wan thought about the last living Skywalker and her grave danger. Through the Force, Yoda had watched Leia growing up like he had Luke. He told Obi-Wan that the girl was very much different than her brother. Luke favored Anakin physically, but inherited his mother's temperament. It was the opposite with Leia; she looked more like Padmé, but favored her father in terms of how she reacted to situations.
That was the main reason that Obi-Wan was so concerned. Leia had no Jedi training and was now alone. She had no one to guide her down the right path. Anakin was guided down the right path, but he still chose evil. What chance does Leia have?
The former Jedi tried to banish those thoughts from his mind, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. He knew that if Leia fell to the dark side, there was a good chance that the Sith would reign supreme for a very long time. She was the galaxy's only hope now. It was hard for him to not be pessimistic about the outcome; he knew Darth Sidious' power.
If Leia was to have any hope of facing what was coming, they would somehow have to get in contact with her. He had tried to appear to her like he had Luke, but her complete lack of training in the ways of the Force prevented it. Because of the biological connection, the only one who would have any hope of reaching her now would be her father.
Anakin--It was still hard to believe that his former padawan was here among them, among the light. His return to the light was a surprise to him, but he felt that it was not a surprise to Qui-Gon. During his exile on Tatooine, Obi-Wan spoke to the transcended form of his old master many times and in those conversations learned that Qui-Gon never gave up on Anakin. I gave up on him though.
Ever since Anakin's death, the transcended Obi-Wan had only seen him a few times. In the Force, one fades in and out of awareness. One second he would be with Qui-Gon or Yoda, and the next he would be alone. His transcended form was very hard to control.
Obi-Wan's view changed and he was suddenly in what looked to be the Jedi Council chambers. Being in the Force sometimes was like a dream. The things he perceived would change quickly. One moment he would be inside what appeared to be his hovel on Tatooine and the next he would be on Coruscant. The things he saw would not look exactly how he remembered it; everything always took on a surreal quality to it.
The former Jedi looked around the large room and found Anakin staring out the window. "Hello."
Anakin turned around quickly, "Obi-Wan." His eyes held a hint of confusion. "Why am I here?"
Slowly, he walked up to stand beside his former apprentice. The view from the window was different than the one he remembered from his life. It looked like Coruscant, but the skyline was much different. He saw large forbidding buildings that he knew did not exist when he was living on the capital planet.
Anakin sensed his confusion, "It's the Imperial Palace complex."
"Oh."
"Sidious began building it nearly a year after he became Emperor; although I think he had the plans drawn up several years before."
"I imagine he did." Their conversation was becoming uncomfortable and Obi-Wan felt that it was even more so for Anakin. After so much had happened, it was hard to know what to say."
"Qui-Gon said that sometimes transcended beings can project themselves into the physical world and appear like ghosts." Anakin waved his hand, indicating the entire room and what appeared through the window. "It looks so much like it does in real life, are we now projecting ourselves into the living world?"
"It's possible, but that would assume the Jedi temple exists now. I figured the Emperor destroyed the temple."
Anakin shook his head, "No, he kept it as sort of a shrine. The whole place was hermetically sealed and nothing was touched."
"A shrine to his greatest victory, no doubt" Obi-Wan could not keep the bitterness out of his voice.
"Yes." Anakin again looked around the room, "I don't think we're actually there now. The room is too clean."
"Clean? You said nothing was touched."
"There would be bodies," Anakin stated simply with a far off expression. "Afterward...they were identified, but not left where they were."
Obi-Wan winced as he remembered the aftermath of the temple purge. He painfully remembered seeing the corpses of those killed by the clones and Anakin's unrelenting blade. He remembered going up to the Council chambers all those years ago and finding the scattered bodies of several younglings, just like the others he had found all over the temple. And there they still lay, as trophies for a Sith lord. "We didn't have time for burial," he whispered.
Anakin nodded, "I know." He then sat down on the floor; Obi-Wan noted that he did not sit in any of the Council member's chairs. "Why am I here? Why do I still live within the Force? I expected oblivion."
"I don't know all the answers." Obi-Wan knelt down beside his former student, "We just have to make use of the time we have; we have your daughter to save."
"Leia," Anakin shook his head regretfully. "Sidious is going to go after her, and she won't stand a chance."
"Then we must help her. Qui-Gon believes that you are the key to reaching her."
Anakin stood up quickly and began pacing; his fear and frustration was evident. "You don't know what I did to her!"
"You interrogated her." Since his death, Obi-Wan had become aware of some events previously outside his knowledge. He knew many of Anakin's greatest sins.
Anakin clenched his fists as waves of emotion hit him, "That word is not sufficient to describe what I did to her. Obi-Wan, I tortured her for hours; I injected her with drugs that cause indescribable pain and then I used the Force in the most brutal way to extract information from her." He stopped pacing and looked directly at his former master, "When she didn't break after all of that, I stood by and let her planet be destroyed right before her very eyes. I did that to my own child!"
Obi-Wan stood up to meet his former apprentice's gaze. "Anakin, there's nothing I can say that will make what you did go away. Yes, you did terrible things, but that doesn't mean that Leia still does not need your help."
Tears began to fall; Anakin wiped them away and looked down at them on his hand. He seemed almost amazed by the sight; it had been a very long time since Anakin Skywalker shed any tears. "She was in the public eye her entire life, and I saw her many times as she grew up. I knew she had a strong Force presence; so much so that I even..." He trailed off, looking away from Obi-Wan.
"What did you do, Anakin?" While he was aware of some of his deeds as Darth Vader, Obi-Wan did not know everything.
"I knew she had great power--power that could be shaped and molded. I knew that I couldn't kill Sidious on my own, so I considered her as a possible apprentice when she came of age." He turned back to his former master. "I can't believe I didn't see it, Obi-Wan. I looked her in the eyes many times and I did not see what is so obvious now. I should have seen Padmé in her!"
Obi-Wan was not sure what to make of Anakin's confession. If he had done as he planned, things would have been much different. "Now you know. What are you going to do?"
"I lost one child to Sidious and I won't lose another. What he has planned for her is much worse than death, and I can't let that happen. I don't know where to begin, though."
Suddenly, the voice of Qui-Gon could be heard as he appeared next to them, "You must try to contact her; Obi-Wan and I will show you how."
"Lando's never touching my ship again!" Ever since Calrissian docked in one of the landing bays of Home One, Han had been finding too many things wrong with the Millennium Falcon. "He promised me that she wouldn't get a scratch, and he brings her back completely wrecked."
Chewbacca growled in annoyance as he came up to his friend, "Stop complaining, your ship is not wrecked!"
Han pointed to large scorch mark on the underside of the ship, "What is that then?"
"Well, you were the one who let Lando have your ship; be thankful she's still in one piece."
"Very funny."
"Why are you here, anyway? I told you that I would get the repairs done. Anyway, don't you have other things to do, seeing as how you're a general now." Chewbacca had been very much amused by his partner's reluctant transformation from smuggler to military leader.
"There's nothing much for a general to do until we reach the rendezvous point." Han replied as he climbed up into the ship.
The wookie followed him into the cockpit. "How is Leia coping with Luke's death?"
Han sighed as he sat down in the pilot seat. "She's handling it the same way she does everything else, working 'till she drops." He knew the pattern; she did the same thing after Alderaan's destruction. "I'm worried about her."
"She's strong, she'll survive."
"Maybe, but I'm not sure the rest of us will. Things are bad, Chewie, I don't know if the Rebellion is going to survive what happened at Endor."
"What are you going to do, then?"
"I'll stay by her side, no matter what."
"I knew that, kid. I just wanted you to say it, for your own good."
Despite the seriousness of their situation, Han could not help but laugh with his friend, "If things get too bad, we could kidnap her and take her away from all this."
Chewbacca shook his head and laughed, "She'd kill you if you tried and you know it."
Leia could not put off sleep any longer. She feared the nightmares that she had been having, but she had no choice but to face them again. It did not take long for her to fall into a deep sleep, and predictably her horrific dreams returned.
They were always different but they all shared one theme, Luke. This time, she was watching her brother getting tortured like she had been on the Death Star. He called out to her but she could not get to him no matter what she did. She had no choice but to listen to Luke's painful screaming.
Leia then saw the Emperor; this was a first. Usually, her nightmares featured Darth Vader alone as the perpetrator of Luke's many tortures. Palpatine was not doing anything but watching. He then turned toward her, "Greetings, apprentice."
The princess did not know what was going on, "What do you mean?"
"You will call me master, as your father did."
What does he mean by "apprentice", or by "master"? The sounds of Luke's screaming faded into the background and she was left alone with the Emperor. "I am nothing like him." Leia might not have understood everything he said, but she resented being compared to Darth Vader. Palpatine laughed as he began to fade away, "We will see, young Skywalker."
Leia awoke from her dream in a cold sweat. She felt silly turning on the light, like she used to when she would have nightmares growing up. This time, the light did not help. She was still just as frightened. What the Emperor said continued to replay in her mind over and over again.
Suddenly, she heard what sounded like a voice. It sounded both close by and far away at the same time. She had never heard the voice before, but she felt like she should know it. "Leia! Leia!"
Forgoing all of her pride, the princess quickly got up from her bed and ran to the bay where the Millennium Falcon was docked and where Han was sleeping. She did not want to be alone tonight.
