Chapter 3:
Darth Sidious had never felt the Force more strongly. All of his rivals were dead, and the Sith master shared his power with no one. His destiny was never clearer. It was all so easy, the Rebellion was all but destroyed and his next apprentice was even now being prepared to serve him.
It had taken some doing, but finally he achieved a link with Leia Organa without her knowledge. He could hear her anger; it sang to him from the other end of the galaxy. She was very much like her father, more so than Luke ever was. The overwhelming emotion she was experiencing was much like his former apprentice's anger after his mother's death.
The Sith closed his eyes as her despair washed over him; he savored it like one would a fine wine. He was looking forward to taking Leia's hand and showing her true power and there would be no Jedi to stand in his way.
All of those who followed the path of the Jedi were gone--Yoda, Kenobi, Luke, and even Vader were all dead. Even though his former apprentice gave himself to Sidious' teachings, it was impossible for him to be completely rid of Jedi philosophy. It was always there, waiting for the right time. Then, when the moment was at its most critical, Vader embraced the light and ruined his master's plans.
Leia has no Jedi philosophy to taint her. I will be able to mold her from the very beginning of her knowledge of the Force. Finally, the unlimited power that he had sought since a very early age was in his grasp.
There were things he needed to do, plans he needed to implement. Destroying the remains of the rebellion would be so easy. Their numbers were few now, thanks to their foolish attack on the second Death Star and those that were still alive had many doubts about their leaders.
He imagined that there was much division within the ranks of the rebel leadership. During his many years in politics, Sidious had seen what happens when an operation of such magnitude goes wrong. It would not take much to destroy what was left of the rebellion, but that would come later. First, he had an apprentice to collect.
Leia awoke to feel Han's arm around her. Even in his sleep, he was giving her comfort. Ever since she had been sleeping in Han's bed on the Falcon, she had been able to get better rest. His presence seemed to keep at least some of the nightmares at bay.
She felt silly that she needed him so much, but to her relief, Han had not made a big deal of the fact that she was sharing his bed. Of course, Leia knew that he probably wanted to do more than just sleep, but so far he had not asked for anything more. She needed comfort and he was being exactly that.
While the nightmares were not as numerous as before, her dream-life was still very active. She dreamed many times of Luke and the Emperor. The ruler of the galaxy did very little in her dreams; he sometimes did not even speak. He was an omnipresent force that only watched her most of the time. When he did speak, it was always to promise that she would one day serve him as Vader did. Leia was not sure which was more horrific, hearing that declaration from the Emperor, or dreaming of Luke being tortured.
She felt Han's arm tighten around her. "'Morning"
"Good morning." The first time that she had awoken next to him was very awkward. She did not know how to explain why she needed to be with him. However, over the course of the previous days, the early awkwardness had faded.
Han kissed her cheek and then wearily got up from the bed. "So, what's on your exciting agenda today?"
"An Alliance leadership meeting," Leia turned over to look at the chrono, "in about an hour."
He nodded, and then frowned. "You look like you're dreading it."
Leia shrugged, "I guess discussing the death of all of our hopes and dreams is never pleasant."
Han sat down on the bed next to where the princess was still lying, "How many times do I have to say this? It's not the end of the Alliance."
"That trap that we walked right into destroyed over half of our entire fleet." Leia sat up from the bed, "We thought that operation was a sure thing, and we put nearly all of our resources toward it. We underestimated the Emperor."
"If you recall, we destroyed many of his ships in that attack."
Leia threw her hands up in frustration, "What we destroyed was a fraction of the whole Imperial fleet, and new ships are being built as we speak. I've read reports that the Kuati shipyards are producing double the output than before." She got up from the bed and walked to the other end of the room.
Han crossed the room to her, "So, that's what you're going to do? You're going to surrender and let the Emperor destroy everything you ever cared about without a fight."
The princess looked up at him sharply, "I'm not surrendering; I'm just trying to be realistic!"
Han took her hand, "I know you've lost so much for the sake of the rebellion. If you decide that it's too much, just say the word and I'll take you away from here."
Leia wrenched her hand from his grasp, "I'm not abandoning the Alliance!"
He smiled knowingly, "I didn't think you would, Sweetheart. I just wanted to give you the option."
The princess sat down on the bed and Han followed, "I want you there at the meeting today."
"Me?"
"Of course, you are a general."
Han sighed, "Don't remind me."
"We need you Han; you are one of our best."
"Rebellion must be desperate if I'm considered one of its best and brightest." Han scoffed.
"Please, this is nothing to joke about."
"I know."
For the next few moments, neither of them spoke. Han could tell that Leia wanted to say something but was having a hard time getting it out. Finally, she got the courage to ask the question that had been plaguing her since Endor. "Are you going to leave?"
Han turned to her; his expression was a combination of confusion and outrage. "Do you actually think that I would?"
"You've left before."
"Yeah, for about ten seconds before the battle of Yavin; but I turned back." Han then smiled, hoping to diffuse the sudden tension between them. "And yes, there was that time when I was a block of carbonite in Jabba's throne room, but you really can't hold that against me."
Leia shook her head, "Those were different times…simpler times."
"Didn't seem that way when we were going through it--especially the business with Jabba."
"Luke was with us then. It seemed like anything was possible with him around." Leia brushed a tear from her cheek. "You know, it's strange. Up until a few weeks ago, I had no idea that I had a brother, but now I'm not sure how to go on without one."
Han put his arm around her. "I don't know if it means anything, but you have me."
Leia rested her head against him, "I don't know how to explain it, but every fiber in my being is telling me that the rebellion is a lost cause."
"Please Leia, don't do this."
She spoke in a small voice, "If you want to leave, I won't think badly of you."
Han sighed, "You know I would never do that."
"Staying will probably mean your death."
"Sweetheart, I'm not an easy man to kill."
Leia broke from his embrace, "Can you please be serious?"
"You're the one not being serious; you actually expect me to abandon you?" Han took her hands in his, "Listen to me, I will be with you always. If you stay, I stay; if you go, I'll go. That's a promise."
"Leia, I'm glad you're here." Mon Mothma was smiling warmly as they entered the room where the meeting was to be held. Han immediately distrusted the smile, it seemed too forced. Admiral Ackbar and General Madine had already arrived and both looked very uncomfortable.
Mothma glanced over at Han, "I see you brought General Solo, I was not aware of this."
Leia gave the former senator a cold smile, "Last minute addition, I asked him to come."
"I thought this was only to be between top-level Alliance leadership. General Solo's rank was given to him because..."
"If you haven't noticed," Leia interrupted, "there is not that many in leadership left."
Mothma sighed and turned to address Han, "Very well, do I need to remind you that what you hear is to be kept in the strictest of confidence?"
"There's no need to remind me." Han did not hide his annoyance.
General Madine began the meeting. "I guess we all know why this meeting was called. We need to discus how we're going to proceed."
Admiral Ackbar spoke up, "We first need to regroup before we even think about future plans. We need to get our numbers back to the levels they were before."
Mon agreed quickly, "Yes, we need to rebuild."
Han kept his eyes on Leia the entire time. She, unlike the others, had not sat down. She was giving the appearance of strength and resolve. However, Han knew that most of it was an act. Luke's death had shaken Leia to her core; and she was not nearly as confident as she once was.
Leia spoke, "It took us over twenty years to get to where we were before Endor, resources and troop level wise. Now, with much of our fleet decimated, it's going to take us years before we can get back to our previous strength. While we wait, the Empire is going to grow even stronger."
Mon Mothma stood up to face Leia, "To be able to challenge the Emperor, we have to have a large fighting force--even larger than before."
Madine shook his head, "I'm not sure if that's even possible. It's not only the losses at Endor that we need to consider; many were killed in the massacres that followed. Those killed were those who we could have recruited."
The simultaneous attacks throughout the galaxy that announced the Emperor's survival had killed millions. Afterward, the governments of those planets raced to be the first to denounce the Alliance. Holo-Net news was filled with reports of various planetary officials from hundreds of worlds being turned in for supporting the rebels.
Before Endor, there was a time when there was hope for a future without the Emperor; a ray of light could be seen in the bitter darkness. That hope made otherwise weak governments defiant against the face of Imperial might. Among the allied planets, there was unity and a sense of purpose. Those days were long gone now; pragmatism, once again, ruled the day.
"What are you suggesting?" asked Leia.
"I don't know--I'm not sure if any of us know the right thing to do," Madine admitted. "There are very few options left."
Ackbar spoke up, "You are right, General. As distasteful as some of them are, we need to discuss those options."
"Our choices are either disbanding the Alliance and quit, or go out in a blaze of glory." Mothma, who had been fighting Palpatine since before he became Emperor, appeared lost. "I don't see any thing else we can do."
Han could not stay silent any longer. "So, you can't see any middle ground between giving in completely and suicide?"
Mothma glared at him, "Then, what do you suggest?"
Han threw up his hands, "I don't know, I'm not the military expert here; but even I can see that there has to be another option."
"We could pull back from engaging the Empire directly; but we could increase our covert operations." There was a faint glimmer of hope in Madine's voice as he considered the possibilities.
Ackbar disagreed, "Covert operations alone do not win wars."
"That is true, but until we regain our former strength we can weaken the Empire from the inside."
"How, by planting bombs?" The former senator from Chandrila stood up in frustration. "We would be seen as nothing more than terrorists."
Madine shook his head, "I'm not saying that we target civilians; but a few operations in some key facilities would go a long way. Besides, no matter what we do, we'll be painted as terrorists; we already are."
"We don't have a choice, Mon." Leia was reaching her limit; she did not want to hear any more of this but had little choice.
Mothma turned to Leia, "This would require better sources than we have now. We all know the consequences of bad intelligence."
Leia glared at the former senator. "You don't have to remind me," she reminded her coldly.
"That's good; let's hope that you don't make the same mistakes that led us to this point."
"You'd better not be implying what I think you're implying!" Han interjected, not caring at the moment that he was yelling at a superior. He was not going to just sit there and let this go on.
Ackbar, wanting to calm the rapidly escalating tensions, tried to reason with all involved. "Please, we're not blaming anyone for this."
Madine agreed, "We need to discus this rationally."
Leia ignored the calls for calm, "Senator Mothma, if I recall correctly, you approved of the Endor operation."
Han had seen her angry before, but not like this. He was seeing something new; there was something in her eyes that he had never seen from her before. He saw flashes of hate and malice; and he could not help but be disturbed.
Mon refused to back down, "You were the one who said that the Bothan intelligence was correct. You so badly wanted to go after the second Death Star that you didn't even think that it might be wrong. You then got us all to go along with you!"
"This is unbelievable; you saw the same information!"
Han went to Leia's side and took her arm. The situation was escalating so fast that he feared that, in the mood she was in, she might go so far as to attack. "You know you're wrong, Mothma."
Madine stood between the two women, "I suggest we adjourn for the day, before things get out of hand."
With a glare in Leia's general direction, Mothma left the room; she was followed by a nervous Madine and Ackbar. Only Leia and Han remained in the command center. When the princess did not immediately acknowledge him, Han decided he had to fill the uncomfortable silence. "It wasn't your fault; I don't care what she, or anyone else, says."
Leia began pacing the room, "Of all people, I never thought she would do this to me."
"People do crazy things when they are afraid." Han could tell that she was nowhere near calm. He did not like seeing her this way; there was something in her demeanor that frightened him somewhat. "She's the only who feels that way."
She turned to him, "Is she?"
"Yeah, she is."
Mark my words; she's not going to be the last." Leia then took a deep breath, and seemed to calm down somewhat. "The Emperor doesn't need to destroy us; we're doing a fine job of it on our own."
Han never thought that he would ever be in the position of being the voice of reason between the two of them. Usually, it was Leia that was trying to get him to think rationally. "Things are going to be tense for a while, but eventually she'll see that she was wrong."
"Maybe she wasn't."
"Oh no, don't you start that again. I'm not going to stand here and listen to you berate yourself."
Leia wiped a tear from her eye, "Mon Mothma did present the plan to the Alliance; but I was the one who presented the original intelligence to the leadership. I told them that it was solid; it is my fault that..."
Not wanting to hear anymore of this, Han stopped her the only way he knew how at the moment; he kissed her. To his surprise, Leia did not back away from him. When it was over, he looked deep into her eyes and gave her his most charming smile, "I told you; I'm not going to listen to this."
She returned his smile momentarily before it vanished. "I'm so tired."
"I know Sweetheart, this will be over soon."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
"I believe that Sidious has formed a link with Leia." Anakin had been working on contacting his daughter, but so far he had been unsuccessful. There had been moments when he almost reached her, but something had been always blocked him. He realized that another outside influence was the only thing to explain it.
"Do you think he suspects what you are doing?" Qui-Gon asked, concerned by this new development.
Anakin shook his head, "I don't know; it's possible."
"We must assume that he does. Have you had any progress?"
"Some, when she is asleep it is easier; but that is when he's most likely to go after her. There were a couple of times that I think I got to her; but it only frightened her."
Qui-Gon nodded, "If she is easier to contact while she is sleeping; then maybe in her dreams is the only way you'll be able to speak with her."
"I have no idea how to even begin to do that."
"We will do this together."
Anakin frowned, "When Sidious knows for certain what I'm doing, he'll step up his efforts to get to Leia."
"Then we must get to her before then." Qui-Gon smiled, "Stop focusing on the negative."
"All right, I'm ready."
"Good, now focus on your task; block out all distractions."
Anakin complied, and reached out to his daughter. She was difficult to find in the ocean of the Force, but eventually he found her. Leia was sleeping and the shields that she had no idea she had put up were down at the moment. "I see her."
"You must reach out even more to speak with her."
Anakin extended his mind even further. He focused on nothing but his desire to save Leia from the fate that had once been his. He felt a connection forming; but as soon as it was there, it was broken. "I lost her; she was right there but I lost her."
As Qui-Gon was about to encourage the former Sith to attempt contact again, both of them felt a strange disturbance around them. Before either had a chance to comment on the new development, a woman's voice drew their attention. "Who are you?"
Both former Jedi stood in amazement at the sight. Before them, in the netherworld of the Force, was the one that they had been seeking. Anakin spoke first, "Leia, is that you?"
