For one panicked moment, Luke considered jumping back into hyperspace without plotting a destination, a move known among experienced pilots as "the jump to end all jumps."
He then gave himself a mental slap. What kind of Jedi was he, to give way to fear so easily? He forced himself to reach out with both his eyes and his Force senses to assess the situation.
The Executor was surrounded by at least ten Rebel ships, and all was peaceful! And when he probed the mammoth ship, he could tell there were very few men on board, certainly not the tens of thousands usually staffing her.
There was also no fear in the crews of the Rebel ships.
Had the Alliance captured the Executor?
And if so, where was her fearsome commander?
Without a doubt, Darth Vader was nowhere nearby. His powerful presence was like a black hole in the Force. Luke would have sensed him instantly.
Interrupting his thoughts was an Alliance sentry ship, which hailed him on a basic security frequency.
"Alliance ship, please identify."
Luke transmitted his clearance codes, even while stretching out his senses. Leia was on one of the nearby ships! He felt a jolt of surprise, then joy in her heart and for a moment, their spirits touched. He could tell she was calm, at peace, certainly not a prisoner or in any kind of distress.
This was presumably her "surprise", and he would have words with her! He needed a little more warning than that, sister dear!
His musings were interrupted by the response of the Alliance sentry, who welcomed him back and instructed him to land in one of the Mon Calamari ships hovering near the Executor.
Luke obeyed, and found himself flying, somewhat in a daze, past the super star destroyer's apparently endless bulk. He had seen her once before, in space outside of Bespin as they made their escape. He had been in mental, emotional, and physical shock at the time, and his only thought at the time was that she was big.
But big was not the right word. She was absolutely enormous. Mammoth. Gargantuan.
R2D2 whistled worriedly, and he responded reassuringly, "It's Ok, R2. Leia is nearby and all is well."
He expertly banked his ship and he landed in a hanger bay of the Mon Calamari ship.
Standing in the hanger bay were Luke's favorite people in the entire universe: his sister Leia, her de facto fiancé Han Solo, the Wookie Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian. Luke smiled slightly as he finished his power down sequence. Han had been understandably angry at Calrissian for his betrayal at Bespin, but hibernation sickness had not allowed for a rapid resolution to his 'interpersonal problem' with Lando, as Calrissian put it. Luke had been visiting Yoda when Han had recovered enough to throw a few punches, and Leia had given her brother a humorous play by play of the brawl that ensued in the Falcon's main cabin. At the end, both Calrissian and Solo were sporting black eyes and a few bruises, and all was forgiven.
And while Calrissian was a gambler and scoundrel, he and Luke had managed to forge a surprisingly strong friendship since the crisis at Bespin – in spite of the inherent differences between the suave businessman and the farmboy Jedi. Both had suffered mightily at the hands of the Empire in general, and Darth Vader in particular. Luke knew more than most how hard, almost impossible, it was to refuse Lord Vader. Lando hadn't had a chance.
Luke unclipped his flight harness and opened the X-wing hatch as quickly as possible, then, disdaining the ladder, jumped to the floor with enthusiasm. His sister, with a smile of delight on her face, hurled herself into his arms. He spun her around, then hugged Solo as well. For one brief moment, he remembered a similar group hug after the destruction of the Death Star.
Life had been simpler in those days. Not easy. Both he and Leia had lost adoptive family and homes right before the Battle of Yavin. But neither had known then of their dark familial legacy.
Leia interrupted his musings by sniffing his flight suit and making a face.
He laughed, "I've been in that X-wing too long, definitely! I obviously need to know why that behemoth is hanging out there in space, but do I have time to go for a sonic shower and change?"
Leia pursed her lips, then nodded, "Yes, but let's make it quick, Luke. Alliance High Command is frothing at its collective mouth in their eagerness to talk to you. We apparently need you, or to be exact, your retina, to figure out what is going on."
"Um, what?" Luke said in bewilderment.
She pulled gently on his arm.
"Come on and I'll explain after you clean up."
Luke followed her rapidly as she marched out of the hanger bay. Solo, Calrissian, and Chewbacca followed, while C-3PO stayed behind to catch up with R2.
She guided the group to a door, then opened it by placing her palm on the security pad. The group moved into medium sized common room, shaded in numerous colors of blue and green, with a small kitchenette at one end. Numerous doors opened off of it. Luke was familiar with the design of Mon Calamari ships, and guessed that off this area were 4 small bedrooms, and a refresher. Given the different sleep and ablution needs of the various species on such a ship as this, these rooms were no doubt set up for humans (or near humans) as opposed to the aquatic Mon Calamari.
Leia shooed her brother into the refresher, even while promising to throw in some new clothes for him. Luke intended to be quick, but when he stepped into the shower he discovered that it was a water, rather than sonic, shower!
Oh, those blessed Mon Calamari.
He spent a full ten minutes relishing in the clean liquid that carried away the accumulated dirt and sweat of numerous hours in the desert of Jakku and in his X-wing.
His personal idea of paradise definitely included a shower with a limitless amount of water.
After ten minutes, military discipline kicked in and he reluctantly turned off the water and quickly dressed in the black clothes that Leia had hurled in at some point.
He emerged into the common area to find Han and Chewbacca lounging on chairs. Chewie looked slightly absurd, as the furniture was not meant for a sentient of his stature. Both were holding drinks in hand.
Leia was on a nearby sofa, but jumped up to give her brother another hug. She then ran a hand through his still wet hair.
"Your hair is growing out," she said with a smile.
It was, though it was still quite short. He had shaved himself nearly bald after the Champala mission, when he had dyed his hair very dark brown as a simple disguise. The agreement among all Alliance personnel was that bald was not Luke's best look.
Luke grinned at her, grabbed a drink of water from the kitchenette, and flopped onto a chair.
"Ok, guys, tell me what is going on."
"Everything all right, Lando?" Leia asked.
Luke noticed, belatedly, that Calrissian was carefully scanning the room, obviously for listening devices. Luke quirked an inquiring eyebrow at Leia.
"We need to know this conversation is private," she responded simply.
Lando completed his sweep.
"All clear. I'll catch up with you later," he said, and swept somewhat dramatically out of the room. Luke smiled inwardly. Lando would probably look debonair in a garbage compactor.
As soon as the door was shut and locked behind them, Leia turned and looked directly at her brother.
"Wedge Antilles was captured by the Empire two weeks ago, Luke," she said gravely, "Did you hear that?"
Fear clutched at Luke's heart, "No."
Wedge! He was one of Luke's closer friends, and the leader of Rogue Squadron now that Luke's Jedi duties took him elsewhere on a frequent basis. And Vader might know that he and Wedge were comrades…
Leia looked contrite and spoke quickly.
"He's back here now," she said reassuringly, "Though he's confined to quarters, along with many others, to ensure that there aren't any security concerns."
"How did he escape?" Luke asked, puzzled.
Leia shook her head, "He didn't. Vader let him go."
Luke opened his mouth to speak, but his sister forestalled him, "Let me explain the situation as simply as possible, Luke. About a week ago, we received a coded message from Wedge, saying that he, and a group of other Rebel prisoners, had taken control of the Executor. We were naturally very suspicious, extremely suspicious, but the message included the proper security codes so we sent some droids in ships to the coordinates Wedge provided.
"The droids found the Executor hanging in deep space, manned with a skeleton crew consisting of a lone Imperial admiral, a bunch of technicians who said they had Alliance leanings, and exactly 413 Rebel prisoners who had been captured by the Empire over the last 6 months. Antilles was one of them. We followed up with a small task force, which landed on the Executor and interviewed Antilles and the others. Their story was at least consistent among most of them, that Vader had appeared on a prison planet where they were being used as slave labor and had them all transferred aboard the Executor.
"Wedge was a bit different. He was captured and held for a few days without, oddly enough, being interrogated."
While Leia's expression didn't change, Luke sensed a twinge of anguish as she remembered her own torture at the hands of the Empire.
"Wedge was eventually transferred by shuttle to a prison cell on the Executor. After a few anxious hours, the door opened and Vader entered his cell."
Again, Luke sensed his sister's distress. A couple of years ago, en route to a Rebel base, she and Han and Luke had found themselves in the main meeting area of the Millennium Falcon one night, unable to sleep due to the adrenaline high following a successful mission. Leia had opened up that night, pouring out the full details of her torture at Vader's hands, starting with the door of her Death Star cell opening and Vader stepping in with the interrogation droid hovering behind him. It had broken Luke's heart that his precious friend had suffered so at Vader's hands.
And that was before he knew she was his sister. And Vader his father.
Leia took a deep breath, "Vader told Wedge that he knew you two were friends. He told Wedge that he would be released soon, and Vader instructed him to bring a droid to you with a message – a message that requires your retinal scan to open. Vader then disappeared, leaving the droid with Antilles. A few hours later, all the cell doors opened automatically and when the prisoners timidly emerged, the ship was nearly deserted. As I said, there were a few technicians running the ship, but mostly the Executor was on autopilot. Our task force did as thorough as scan as they could on that monster, and they don't think the ship has any beacons on it. Though really, it is so big we can't be sure. We have charges on the main power core so that if the ship suddenly moves through some kind of slave circuit, we should be able to destroy it.
"The task force and the technicians brought the Executor here, and Alliance High Command and a group of technicians and staff also arrived here to take charge of her. As you may have sensed, there are hyperspace abnormalities nearby which will make it challenging for Imperial ships to drop in on us without the predetermined route."
Luke shook his head uneasily, "It seems risky."
"Do you sense anything, Luke? Do you sense this is a trap?" his sister responded anxiously.
Luke looked at her with a fond smile. He knew that she trusted him and his abilities, really more than he trusted himself. Could he even tell if it was a trap?
He might as well try.
He leaned back and closed his eyes. He sensed both Han and Chewie quieting themselves, which in its own way was even more touching than Leia's faith in him. Han had long been a skeptic of the existence of the Force, though Luke knew that the past years had made him into a reluctant believer. Still, he knew it was hard for his old friend to accept that the naïve farmboy of 4 years ago was now a fledgling Jedi, with Force powers to match.
Carefully, Luke stretched out into the Force. He reached out to the Executor, to the men on board it, to the void surrounding the former Imperial ship and the Rebel ships surrounding it.
And felt peace. There was no danger surrounding the vast behemoth of Super Star Destroyer, as far as he could tell anyway.
He stretched out farther, and forced himself to relax.
The fabric of the Force felt … different. He frowned. Something seemed to be shifting.
Master Yoda would have understood it, no doubt. He was merely confused.
At any rate, he felt safe right now. Almost protected in some new way.
He opened his eyes and sat up.
"I don't sense any danger," he said, "so for now I think we're all right."
Leia heaved a sigh of relief, then continued, "The admiral in charge, positively identified as Admiral Firmus Piett of the Executor, is locked up in one of our cells here, and he also refuses to talk to anyone but you. So you, my dear, are the apparent key to the entire mystery, and High Command wants to talk to you, preferably a few days ago."
Luke shook his head in dismay, "You realize…"
Leia nodded, "I know. There is a good chance that Vader says something in the message about you being his son. I've thought a lot about this, Luke. Especially given what you did on Champala with that Malintis Syndrome trick, it's going to come out. I think it would be better for you to openly acknowledge it than to have it appear that you've been hiding it."
"I have been hiding it."
"I know," she said, "But now…it's time. Whether we're ready or not."
Luke shook his head, not in disagreement but in concern, "I really don't know how High Command will react."
Leia's expression grew fierce, "If anyone gives you a hard time, I'll tell them I'm your sister and also the offspring of that…monster."
"Absolutely not!" Luke and Han said simultaneously.
Leia looked, if possible, even more mutinous.
Luke spoke up quickly, "Leia, I appreciate your willingness to stand with me, but you absolutely must remain a secret. Vader doesn't know about you. The Emperor doesn't know about you. If they did, they would start hunting you, or possibly would put out an assassination order."
Leia looked distressed, and Solo sat up with a disturbed look on his face.
"Luke," his sister said after a long pause, "We don't even know that I'm a strong Force sensitive. It doesn't follow that all of…Anakin Skywalker's offspring would necessarily be strong in the Force."
(He noticed she couldn't say Vader's offspring. This was even harder for her than him.)
He reached out a gentle, loving, and sympathetic hand and laid it on Leia's knee, even as Han moved over to sit next to her on the couch and put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
Luke spoke gently, "Leia, you are very strong with the Force. As strong as I am, though I suspect our gifting manifests itself in different ways. I am a gifted pilot and fighter. You are an amazing diplomat and leader, and I know your Force sensitivity gives you an edge that seems natural to you, but is actually remarkable. You also shield your Force presence incredibly well, whereas Yoda told me more than once that my Force presence was about a subtle as a Rancor at the Coruscanti opera. Not a compliment, I assure you."
She smiled a little at this, but he still sensed her distress at leaving him to face the potential wrath of the High Command on his own.
"Don't worry, sweetheart," Han said firmly, "They give the kid a hard time, and Chewie here will pull their arms off."
Luke chuckled, even as Chewbacce roared in agreement.
Leia's datapad beeped, and she picked it up to read a message.
She looked up, "High Command wants us in the main meeting room, now."
Author Note: I know, that was mean! You want Vader and Luke to meet! I don't blame you. It is coming, and fairly soon. I tend to think I'll be somewhere in the plot in a couple of chapters, and then it stretches out because I write write write. But I really think 2 or 3 more chapters and they will finally cross paths.
