Disclaimer: I do not own. Any claims at ownership are purely wishful thinking.
This story is now being cross-posted on Ao3.
Hahaha, it's been a while hasn't it? All excuses are at the end!
This chapter is un-beta-ed, so please be nice!
-Force Speaking-
Memories
"Sorry," Leia winced at the bloody hole that had been torn into Luke's left shoulder muscle. Obi-Wan knelt beside her, his experienced hands fashioning a makeshift bandage.
Luke tried to move his shoulder 一 probably to shrug as if it's nothing, "It's fine. I can't even feel it." 一 but gave up when his shoulder spasmed and a groan of pain hissed through his teeth, "It's … not bad."
Leia couldn't help her eye roll as she pressed down firmly on the muscle, trying to slow the bleeding, "Right."
"Here," Obi-Wan moved her hands and began wrapping the wound with the confidence of one experienced in healing. Leia tried to help as best she could, listening to her uncle's pointers and directions, and following them with as much precision as possible.
A series of loud Corellian curses preceded Han's arrival as he almost skidded into the sitting area, "We're not out of this yet. Who's coming?"
The three looked up, and Obi-Wan nudged Leia, urging her to her feet, "She volunteers, Captain."
Han's eyes ran over the clearly injured prince and the Jedi who was aiding him, and then back to Leia; she crossed her arms, defensive, and stiffened when he jerked his head towards the ladder at the end of the hallway.
Slightly peeved about being unable to stay to help take care of Luke 一 And why wouldn't she? It was because of her that Luke was injured. 一 Leia waved her stained hands in the Corellian's face, "You sure you want this over your precious scrap-heap?"
An actual pained look came over his face, and he growled, "So long as you clean it up after."
Leia snickered and followed Han, clambering down the ladder while he climbed up. At the bottom, there was a gunner's seat, and she sat at the controls, familiarizing herself with them as best she could in the few seconds she had. She tested the movement of the seat and was pleased at the easy response.
"You in, kid?" Han's voice came through a headset hanging from a hook fastened to the wall, causing Leia to jump before fumbling to put it on.
"Here they come!" Luke's voice, breathless and mildly irritated, rang through the comm as the first of the TIE fighters came into view.
A fighter zipped by, its guns blazing, aiming nowhere in particular. Leia spun after it, letting loose her own blaster bolts, but over shot.
"Dammit," she cursed before shaking herself out of distraction and focusing on the TIE buzzing past. Red lit up the white-speckled space and shot towards the H-shaped fighter. It tried to spiral into a dodge, but one of the blasts hit its left wing and sent it careening off into space, where Leia finished it off with several more shots.
"Ha!" A laugh exploded out of her, "I got one!" She turned away from the window to flash a smile up at Han.
"Great, kid! Now don't get cocky."
Another TIE flew directly at her, and Leia jerked around in her seat as she tried to hit it.
An explosion lit up the space just above the underside of the Falcon, and a shout of satisfaction sounded over the comm, "One more down!"
Leia grinned, and parroted his earlier words at her, "Don't get cocky."
"Har har, kid."
-I am Anakin Skywalker's legacy.-
Black boots paced down the halls, unrelenting in their furious pace. Officers and Stormtroopers alike all but pressing themselves against the walls in an attempt to stay as far away as possible from the suddenly more intimidating black figure.
-Leia Skywalker!-
"Tarkin," there was no evidence of mental turmoil in his voice, only the mocking derision that permeated every word ever spoken to the Grand Moff.
Tarkin nodded, too focused on the situation at hand to reply in his typically cutting fashion, "Are they away?"
"They have just completed the jump to hyperspace."
Tarkin's eyes flickered to a series of numbers flickering on the upper-right of the main monitor of the control room, the digits changing faster than a human's eye could follow as they tracked the coordinates of the frigate that the Prince had escaped on, "You're sure the beacon is secure, Vader? It would be a shame if they were to discover it on account of your infamous Jedi-slaying abilities faltering at the might of an old man."
"It's a shame, my former Padawan. You were once among the greatest of us, and now you have fallen to the lowest."
Anger. Hate. Fire. All-consuming.It's your fault!his mind screamed, egged on by the Dark Side,It's because of you that I am trapped, that I lost everything, that I have nothing left!
He gave in, all of his rage channeled into a single strike that would cut straight through the Jedi's torso, bisecting him cleanly in two. Kenobi should be thankful for the quick death.
"NO!" -NO!-the terrified scream rang through the hanger and was echoed through the Force, and a clumsy attempt at a Force push surged towards him, battering through all who stood in its path with ease and hitting him with enough power to shove through his defences despite the obvious inexperience of the girl who did it.
Vader stumbled, lightsaber flying off course by the sudden attack, even though he never lost sight of his foe. The look on Kenobi's face was a familiar one, exasperated set to the mouth and a wry … something 一 Fondness, a voice that sounded similar to that of a boy long dead whispered in a distant and deep part of his mind before being crushed ruthlessly 一 in his eyes. His eyebrow twitched, and Kenobi was pulled away, yanked sideways through the air towards the white figure of a woman 一 PadmeAmidalaLeiaLarsPadmeNabarrieLeia...一 with her arm stretched out towards him.
Vader's hands twitched, the only outward sign of the murderous thoughts burning in his soul, "An old man who only managed to escape on account of pure luck. Rest assured that that luck would not be afforded to any other old men."
Tarkin did not deign to acknowledge the obvious threat with words, a single refined sniff making his feelings on it clear, "I am taking a rather large risk for this, Vader. For your sake, you had better hope that this work."
Vader turned away, his patience exhausted to its absolute limits, and began walking out of the command room. Tarkin's voice sounded behind him, an indecipherable change to it, "That girl, she was the one found on the freighter before. Who is she?"
They were escaping; Leia Lars stumbling backwards up the ramp of the freighter, clearly having drained all of her strength, as she leaned heavily on Kenobi, who was also supporting Luke Organa, injured from taking a blast to the shoulder in place of the woman.
Vader reached out with both hands, one pushing downwards to force the blast doors to remain open for him to step through, the other outstretched and grasping towards the ship, straining to keep it from taking flight. Just before he managed to get a firm hold, a shield covered it, deflecting and withstanding the pull with a familiar ease.
He exploded, rage and despe-frustration一 A Sith does not feel desperation 一 coursing through his veins and burning him alive as he once had twenty years ago. He focused on the woman's presence in the ship, its radiant light all but singing to him, and thundered,-WHO ARE YOU!-
His control strained against the sudden increase of murderous irritation and Vader faced the contemptible man again, briefly noting how easily the fire inside him flared up at the mention of the girl. Tarkin's back was to him, his posture indicating his perceived superiority over a Lord of the Sith, attention apparently turned back to the main monitor which was playing several scenes from security footage of the girl in question 一 her supposed capture, a badly captured video of her escape from the cell bays, brief clips of her and her companions running through hallways, and a looped recording of her outburst in the hanger.
Tarkin continued, not acknowledging Vader having remained in the room, but directing the statement at him nonetheless, "She looks very familiar, wouldn't you agree? Perhaps a hidden child of one of the Jedi…?" His voice trailed off suggestively.
Her mind was in a state of turmoil, turbulent emotions 一 terror, exhaustion, fury, all-encompassing relief 一 manifesting as a silent and wordless scream. The scream cut off as she registered his voice, confusion replacing it. The bewilderment only lasted for an instant and a snarl 一 anger … it didn't suit her 一 answered him.
Had he been several years younger 一 in a different situation, a different time, someone who was no dead 一 his answer would have been a derisive snort combined with several inelegant insults. As it was, Vader merely looked at the 一 fool, idiot, pompous ass, sleemo 一 man, and answered, "There are many blonde-haired and blue-eyed female humans in the galaxy. No doubt your aging eyes and mind must have mistaken her for one of them."
Determined to ignore any more remarks, Vader left, considerably more interested in preparing for the inevitable Rebel attack.
-I am Anakin Skywalker's legacy. Leia Skywalker!-
Leia yanked off her headset, a proud flush climbing her cheeks. She spun out of the chair, her crows of delight echoed by Han, and clambered up the ladder. Reaching the top, she chased after Han as he made a beeline for the cockpit, stopping only to help a flustered Threepio out of some wire he'd managed to get himself entangled in.
She passed by Luke who was on his way out, clutching at his shoulder where blood had begun to soak through the bandages. "Your friend is the epitome of a mercenary," he said to Leia, a disappointed set to his face as he carefully walked past.
Obi-Wan followed him, shaking his head with an amused look in his eye. "Reckless," he commented to Leia. "He refused to sit still long enough to let me finish fixing that shoulder of his."
Leia shrugged helplessly and made to continue her way into the cockpit, but was stopped by a gentle hand on her wrist. She looked back at Obi-Wan, confused until he asked, "Are you alright?"
BlackHelmetRaspingBreathingChokingGaspingFading 一 "Ben's just a crazy old man! Please一!" 一 ExplosionConsumingFireRunningRunningCan'tBreatheWarmSmilesColdHisses 一 -Goodbye, little Leia Skywalker. I know you will make me and your parents proud.- 一 -NO!-
"Yeah," Leia did her best to smile, jubilation from the successful getaway evaporating as quickly as water in the hot Tatooine suns, "I'm fine."
She knew he didn't believe her, even without seeing the eyebrow that inched just a little bit higher at her attempt, but her uncle didn't push her, knowing that she wasn't prepared to talk about it. Even though the look on his face said that they definitely would talk about it soon.
She gave him a weak smile and continued on to her destination, shutting away the screaming voices in her head until she was in a safe place. She walked into the small room, her arrival heralded by the muttered swearing of Han Solo as he fiddled with the controls on the panel.
" … kriffing troopers … just had to mess around … if I ever find the one that did this … "
Leia dropped into the co-pilot chair, "You'll rip their intestines out and then launch the body out of the nearest airlock?"
Han didn't miss a beat, "Sounds about right." His eyes flickered over to her before moving back to the buttons in front of him, "How you holding up, kid?"
Leia shrugged, "We got out, didn't we?"
"And according to your prince, it was only because they wanted to," Han snorted, making his opinion of Luke's suspicions clear.
Leia's mouth twisted, her question more of a statement, "He thinks that we're leading the Empire straight to the Rebellion?"
"Well," Han said, "if we are, at least we're giving them the perfect opportunity to use those all-important plans His Highnessness was raving on about."
Leia sank further back into the seat, "Do you think that Luke is right?"
Han glanced over at her again, taking note of the shadow of fear in her eyes and the way her hands twitched upwards instinctively, and felt a surge of unfamiliar protectiveness, "I don't know."
Okay, so I sincerely apologize for the 7-ish month hiatus. Long story short, that illness I told you about last chapter? It got a lot worse. I had to go to the hospital more than once thanks to it. Luckily though it has been beaten back a little bit, so, while I am in no way in the clear yet, I am in a better place than I was about a month and a half ago. I can't promise that there will be weekly updates, but with any luck, the next one should be out before summer ends.
So what did you guys think? What do you guys think should happen next? Please leave me some feedback so that I can continue to improve. Feed the writer, she doesn't bite!