Star Destroyer (Dantooine)

Distracting himself from the nightmare of earlier, Lord Vader managed to almost finish his report on the Raioballo sector of the Outer Rim. The planet of Dantooine had been relatively neutral under the Empire with no suspicions of treason. The only thing Vader despised was the fact that it was in the Outer Rim. He hated the idea of being relatively close to his home planet as it served a reminder of one of the most painful memories he experienced.

Darth Vader couldn't wait to return to the core worlds such as Coruscant being that it depicted signs of order and intelligence. In a timely manner, three loud knocks could be heard from the entrance of his office.

The sith apprentice hated being interrupted especially while working diligently. Who ever was behind the door must've had a good reason to intrude or else will be faced with the wrath of the force.

"You may enter." Lord Vader ordered.

A middle aged imperial officer bravely entered the office, trying his very best to uphold his facade. Darth Vader was extremely terrifying and he himself had witness several deaths of his former colleagues for being slightly irresponsible.

"Excuse the interruption milord, the Emperor is requesting your presence immediately." He informed, going straight to the point.

Lord Vader was somewhat pleased at the tenacity of the the officer. Usually, the stormtroopers and officers would fluster and stutter under his presence. He would find them too weak to serve under is command. However for the first time in a while, he didn't have resentment or feelings of annoyance towards the guy.

"Very well Admiral Piett. You may be dismissed." Vader ordered as he nodded and left almost immediately.

The sith rose from his chair and answered the holo in front of his desk. Soon, the image of a wrinkle old man appeared before him, causing Vader to bow under his presence.

"What is thy bidding my master." Vader kneeled.

"Lord Vader..." Emperor Palpatine dragged with a smile across his face. Palpatine loved seeing his apprentice kneeling before him which proved his dominance "You may rise my friend."

Lord Vader followed the commands and stood up after a couple of seconds. He hated the fact that his suit gave him limited mobility and kneeling only made his discomfort worse. Sensing his discomfort, Darth Sidious laughed at his apprentice. He loved feeling the hatred and discomfort of his second in command. It gave him more power from the dark side of the force.

"How is the report coming along?" Darth Sidious asked with his hands interlocking with one another.

"Almost finished my master. Dantooine poses no threat and remains loyal towards the Empire." Darth Vader answered. "I alerted my pilots to make the jump to hyperspace within 0300 hours as we will return to Coruscant within two days."

"Good good. The Empire must remain strong and united under imperial forces which is why I have a special task for you my apprentice."

Darth Vader was happy that his mask could hide the look of his annoyed, dismembered face. "How can I serve you my master?"

"I sense a great disturbance in the force. I want you to find who created such tremor and eliminate them at once."

Finally, Darth Vader was happy to be back in action then confined within four white walls. The only thing he despised was the possibility of staying in the Outer Rim any longer. "As you wish my master but where shall I start the search?"

Palpatine haven't actually thought where to start or who to look for. All he knew was that there was somebody out there potientally as powerful as him that posed as a high threat against the Empire. "Investigate every corner within the Outer Rim. Whoever caused the disturbance must have fled into hiding within the least suspictable location. If the source so happens to be a remnant of the Jedi order, bring them to me at once."

"I understand my master." Vader said silently gritting his teeth at the confirmation of his worries.

"Do not fail me my friend or your punishment will be twice as brutal." Darth Sidious warned. Vader could see a pair of amber eyes glowing underneath the robes and he winced at the thought of getting electrocuted by his master again.

"I promise I will not fail you." Vader pleaded to the Sith Lord.

"Good my apprentice. I leave you be." Palpatine dismissed leaving the sith apprentice alone within his office. Lord Vader then went straight towards the comm situated on his desk.

"Admiral Piett." Vader stated, waiting for the response from the officer. To his pleasure, the officer responded quickly, earning more respect.

"Yes milord." Piett responded with ease.

"Set course for Batuu."

———

The soft touch of woven linen sheets felt like heaven for the little girl. Leia Skywalker was more than happy to finally be in the comfort of her new bed at her new home. Today had been rough for the young girl as tingling pain still lingered across her cheeks. Her mind drifted to the events of earlier especially the moment where the cup broke in the hand of the Duro.

Could she have possibly have done that? She didn't know but she somehow she felt something coursing through her veins. The only time she's ever felt something similar was when she found the grave of her late grandmother in the back of the farm. All Leia remembered was feeling intense sadness to the point where droplets of water could be seen lifted from the sand that surrounded her.

She didn't tell her aunt and uncle because she didn't want to be seen as a freak or possibly get in trouble.

Leia felt tiredness approaching her and closed her eyes, hoping to revisit her new favorite place even if it was just a dream.

——-

Light shined through her eyelids causing Leia to open her eyes slowly at the brightness. To her luck, she was in the same exact place with the sweet scent of fresh flowers by her side.

Taking in the scenery, Leia let the grass fiddle under her fingertips and took a deep breath, tasting the clean air that surrounded her. Unlike the previous dream she had, the skies were painted blue and pink with the suns either rising or setting. Leia couldn't tell but all she knew was the fact that it was extremely pretty especially at the view of the skies reflection on the water.

The only thing that was missing was her new found friend with the ice crystals eyes she found warmth in. Scanning her surroundings for the boy, she found no source of the blond hair which caused her to frown.

All of a sudden, she felt a comforting breeze flowing around her as if it was trying to hug her from the sorrows she experienced.

"Leia?" A childish voice called behind her, causing the girl to turn her body towards the sound.

"Luke!" Leia exclaimed, getting up from the grass and ran straight towards the boy. She didn't know what overcame her or why she decided to hug a complete stranger but she did.

Luke was surprised at the girl's boldness but immediately returned the embrace of his new friend. Leia felt so familiar towards him that he didn't think twice about approaching her. After all, she was an angel according to him.

Breaking the embrace, Luke shyly waved at Leia with a bit of awkwardness towards the situation. Leia noticed a sense of discomfort and blushed completely.

Luke noticed the girl turned extremely pink and was confused at her demeanor. "What happened to your cheeks?" He asked.

Leia's facial expression turned serious as she remembered the bruises that formed from earlier. When she went touch her face she noticed that she experienced no form of pain but decided that the bruise was still there.

"It's a long story, I-" she began when the boy bursted with a fit of giggles.

"It looks just like the outside of a pink dragon fruit." He laughed. He could sense the girl was embarrassed and blushed a bit too hard.

"Oh." Leia replied nervously. He was talking about how rosy her cheeks had gotten; not the bruise. Leia felt at ease and laughed along with her pal.

"At least my hair isn't the same color as sand." She retorted which made Luke's eyes roll playfully.

Luke then ran towards her and tapped her on the shoulder, and ran away. Confused, Leia shouted at the boy by his questionable actions. "What was that for?"

"It's called tag and you're it!" Luke responded happily. He then noticed Leia standing in place and stopped for a brief moment in the distance.

"What's tag?" She asked, arching her eyebrow.

"What? You never played tag before?" He asked in disbelief. Leia nodded her head 'no' to which he replied

"It's a game where you have to run away from the person who got tapped and make sure they don't catch you!"

"Oh" Leia finally understood and gave off a mischievous grin. The next thing Luke knew was the fact that a little brunette girl was running rapidly towards him to which he bolted away from her.

Unbeknownst to the two children, a pair of eyes watched in the distance hiding themself behind a large tree.

~~~

What felt like hours later, the two kids took a break from playing tag with Leia boasting with pride. She managed to become quite good at the game despite only playing it the first time. Luke was a bit of a sore loser but decided to hide it because of what his parents taught him.

The children then laid on the soft grass and stared at the clouds together. From there, they both learned about each other's favorite things and hobbies. Leia learned Luke love building space cruiser models and flying. She also had a knack for building things but confessed that she's never been to space before.

Luke sat up and opened his eyes widely at that information. "You never been to space before?"

Leia could hear the shock from his voice and shrugged it off like it was nothing. "No, but by the looks of it I'm guessing you have." She answered watching the cloud that resembled a droid.

"Well it was only one time to Coruscant with my papa. My mom didn't want me to go but my dad thought it was good that I learned about history. The stars was so pretty" He informed reminiscing about the trip a year ago.

"I can't wait to see it when I wake up one day" Leia started. However she instantly became sad to which Luke noticed the abrupt change in her mood.

"What wrong Leia?" The boy asked, looking directly at her. He noticed that her gaze shifted from the sky to somewhere in the distance presumably the mountains. Tears started flowing across her rosy cheeks followed by a faint welp. This was the first time Luke saw the girl cry and he decided that he hated it.

As he stood up, Luke wiped the dirt from his hands and approached his friend who was still laying down on the grass. He then reached out his hand, where Leia grabbed it and stood up herself.

Luke gave her a warm hug and the same comforting breeze flew between the children.

"There there. I got you." Luke comforted the girl who then burst out of tears at such emotional words. She didnt know why she trusted the boy so easily especially with her emotions. He radiated so much peace that Leia did not want to let go at all. "My papa always does this to me when I'm sad too." Luke explained.

Leia just closed her eyes and reveled in his hug, not wanting to let go and show her face. "It's just that all of this is a dream and I don't want to want to wake up. You're not even real too." Leia rambled which caused Luke to break up the hug.

"Leia I am-" Luke began when loud buzzing sound pierced through the dream. Leia knew what was happening and a feeling of dread overcame her once again.

~~~

The sound of the alarm followed by loud snoring from the neighboring room, abruptly awoken Leia from her slumber. The girl sat up from her bed and gloomily climbed down the stairs from the bunk bed. Seba lied in bed awake groaning that the sound of the alarm clock.

Leia however shuffled her way towards the refresher, waking up Razé by knocking on his door loudly. Once in the refresher Leia looked in the mirror and noticed krust from her eyelids probably created from dried up tears from her sleep. Her bruise was a bright purple followed by her dark circles.

Turning on the faucet, Leia felt cool water drip from her fingertips and wiped her eyes. The only thing she was looking forward to was coming back home and falling asleep once again.

After turning off the faucet Leia looked at her self in the mirror once again and stared at the harsh reality that is now her life.

"Here we go again."

——

Hyperspace

The former Jedi master sat in the cockpit deep in thought, worrying about his 'niece'. Just day's ago his very own master told him to not intervene with the search of his former brother's daughter.

Remembering the times he met the little girl, he always noticed the raw strength she carried within the force. He had to commend the child for being more composed than her brother when it came to shielding herself from the power.

He had to admit, Luke's force presence was blinding compared to Leia's. Even Bail who was a non force sensitive felt how powerful Luke was especially when he had anxiety/panic attacks. It was one of the main reasons why he made trips to Aldeeran a few times. Luke needed to have some sort of training before unintentionally exposing himself in the force.

The trips to Alderaan has been quite successful previously. Obi-Wan knew Leia could manage a couple of days without his surveillance. Only now, he realized how much of a mistake that was. Now the poor girl had probably been captured or even hurt.

If Darth Vader were to ever find out, he'd be a dead man walking.