The only excuse that I have is that Google Docs didn't share this chapter with Bryg when I thought it would. My bad.

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Ana sighed as she watched Han move around the Falcon. She had no training in the field of mechanics. For a long time she had been proud to be a true princess. She was willing to get her hands dirty in the metaphorical sense; diplomacy was certainly work, despite what some people might claim. But she had never had any inclination to get physically dirty, especially with something like mechanics that would get her hands greasy. Now she was regretting her decision. If she knew how to fix this bucket of bolts they might already be on their way.

"I'm shutting everything down except the Emergency Power," Han announced as he did just that.

"Does that mean that 3PO stays off?" Ana asked, almost hopeful.

"No, I need him to talk to the Falcon and see if we can figure out what's wrong with the hyperdrive," Han said.

Ana groaned as Han left to reactivate the droid. She really wished now that she had just given the droid to Luke or better yet, she could have left the Hoth Base sooner and avoided having to travel in this junkyard Han called a ship, too.

xxxxx

Luke sighed as he collected the last of the emergency supplies from his X-Wing. He slowly headed across the makeshift bridge he had created so that the thing living on the water wouldn't try to eat him.

He trudged through the swamp a short distance to the little camp that he had set up for the night. He walked over to R2 and plugged him into a portable generator. "What a strange place to find a Jedi Master." Luke commented to his companion.

Yes, it is. R2 agreed.

"This place gives me the creeps," he said as he picked up a ration bar. "Still...there's something familiar about this place." Luke said as he took a bite of the ration bar in his hand.

What do you mean? R2 asked.

Luke half shrugged. "I don't know I feel like-" Luke cut off as his senses screamed that someone was watching him. He spun around, pulling his blaster out of it's holster as he turned. A small green alien sat a short distance away. It yelped and cowered before him. "...Like we're being watched!" Luke said, a touch of anger in his voice.

"Away with your weapon. I mean you no harm," the creature said in a trembling voice. "I am wondering, why are you here?" The creature asked, moving his head up and arms his arms down.

Luke hesitated for a second, but such a tiny creature hardly seemed like a danger to him. It wasn't like it could report his presence to anyone. Its clothes were so threadbare that it was doubtful it had the technology to report to anyone off-world and it was the first intelligent creature he had met here. And it certainly looked too old and crippled to take him on in a fight. On the other hand, it might actually know where this 'Yoda' person was. "I am looking for someone," he told the the creature.

"Looking!" The creature said. "Found someone you have, I would say!" The creature giggled in a way that made Luke suspect the little green creature of being at least slightly insane.

"Right," Luke said uneasily, wondering what he had gotten himself into this time.

"Help you I can! Yes, mm," the creature said.

"I don't think so." Luke said. "I'm looking for a great warrior."

"Great warrior." The creature mocked scornfully, limping toward Luke's camp. "Wars not make one great."

Luke let out an aggravated sigh as the creature made his way to the rations kit, unwrapped ration bar, and took a bite. The creature promptly spat it out. "How you get so big eating food of this kind?" he asked Luke.

"That's the only food I have!" Luke nearly wailed as he quickly retrieved the rations kit and closed it.

"Why land in the puddle did you?" he asked Luke in an overly innocent tone. Either he was not very intelligent or he was being sarcastic and Luke was already annoyed over the landing and the wasted ration bar and this whole stinking place.

"Listen we didn't mean to land in that puddle but if we could get our ship ship out we would so -" Luke began only to notice that the creature was going through a bin.

"Cannot get your ship out," He nearly laughed.

Luke watched in horror as he tossed several things to the ground. Some of that equipment was delicate and he would have no way of replacing it here if it was damaged.

"Don't do that!" Luke begged but the strange creature continued to toss the things in the bin out. "You're making a mess!" Luke groaned as he started to pick up the things that the creature had tossed onto the ground, surreptitiously checking them for damage.

When Luke turned around the creature had a lighting device in his hand. Sighing Luke reached for the device. The creature moved his hand away. "Mine, or I will help you not!"

"I don't what your help. I need the light back. I'm going to need to get out of this slimy mud hole." Luke nearly snapped.

"Mud hole? Slimy? My home this is!" The creature objected.

Meanwhile R2 opened one of his panels and slowly extended a pincer to grab the device from the creature. The two fought over the device for several seconds before Luke decided that the light device wasn't worth it.

"R2, let him have it." Luke told his droid friend. The fighting continued. "R2!" Luke said a little louder and with a hint of annoyance.

This time the astromech complied and retracted the pincer. The creature used his cane to close the panel and laughed.

"Move along, little fellow, we have a lot of work to do." Luke told the creature, thoroughly exasperated with him.

"No, no! Stay and help you I will! Find your friend." The creature declared.

"I'm not looking for a friend; I'm looking for a Jedi Master." Luke told the creature, letting his annoyance show.

"Oh, Jedi Master!" The creature said in excitement; his ears moving up. "Yoda! You seek Yoda!" He declared.

Hope blossomed in Luke. Quickly in knelt in front of the creature. "You know him?" he asked the creature.

The creature nodded. "Take you to him I will! Yes, yes! But first you must eat. Come!" he said to Luke. For several moments Luke watched as the creature moved away and into the swamp. "Come on! Come on!" the creature called out impatiently.

Luke made his decision. "R2, stay and watch over the camp," he told his friend. He stood and headed after the insane creature. It might be a waste of his time, but at this point he was willing to try anything that might get him off this planet sooner.

xxxxxx

Han sighed. Work on the Falcon had proceeded to the point where he could risk taking a short break. As often happened, his thoughts turned to Angel the instant his mind was free of immediate concerns.

He had no doubt that Angel was with her father. He also had no doubt that her father would follow them. He took his responsibilities very seriously and he would hunt them to the ends of the galaxy if he must to capture them. He wondered if flying into the asteroid field had really been such a good idea. Had it actually accomplished anything or would Lord Vader simply collect them on the other side?

He scowled and pushed his concerns aside for the moment. He hated thinking of people he loved and respected as enemies. Much better to remember the good times. Reaching into a compartment he retrieved a small crate filled with holos, memory crystals and some other memorabilia from their time together. He knew he shouldn't have kept them, but he had nothing else left to him from that time.

He activated a holo and watched as a much younger Angel played tag with two older girls. It was an older holo, one of many that Angel had given him. Adults could be heard laughing as the girls chased each other in circles. He liked this one because she was so carefree. Life had gotten more complicated for her and he knew she was harder, less trusting, even if he never saw her anymore.

Han deactivated that holo and pulled another one from the crate. This one showed him and Angel racing their swoop bikes on Coruscant. It was early in his time with her but she and her father trusted him with their secrets.

The sound of Ana approaching the area alerted him and he quickly turned the holo off, placing it back in the crate. He was about to put it back in it's hiding place when Ana entered. "What are you doing?" she asked in a tone that was a hair shy of demanding.

"I'm hiding some holos of my girlfriend from Chewie." And you, he added silently. "Chewie is a romantic. He would want to be introduced to her and then the next thing we knew he would want me to court her and probably take her with us." Han explained.

"Well, why isn't she here?" Ana asked. "I can't imagine you would be interested in a girl who couldn't take care of herself."

"It's none of your business why she isn't here!" Han snapped. "All that matters is that I love her and I refuse to forget her."

Ana raised an eyebrow. "If you love her that much, then why isn't she here?" she demanded.

Han glared at her. "I told you it's none of your business!" Seeing her stubborn expression, he sighed. "If you must know I was told if I kept on seeing her I would be killed, so I left."

Ana folded her arms and snorted. "Sounds as if you didn't really love her that much. The mighty Han Solo running from a threat of violence and not even taking the girl with him. No, if you really loved her you would have fought for her to the bitter end."

Han leaped to his feet, livid. "You know nothing! If I thought there was even the slightest chance that staying or fighting would have helped either of us, I would have stayed, but I know when I am outmatched."

"What was she? A crime lord's daughter?" Ana asked snidely.

"It's none of your business what she is!" Han snapped as he pushed the crate back into it's hiding place. "And leave her father out of it. He had nothing to do with it." He would rather not hide the box in front of Ana, but if something happened to him, Luke would need to get his hands on the holos anyway.

Ana made a rude sounding noise and walked away. Han indulged in a few fantasies of strangling her or throwing her out an airlock as he returned to his repair work.

xxxxx

Lord Vader stood in front of holograms of the captains of the other ships in his fleet. "That was the last time they appeared on any of our scopes." Captain Lorth Needa finished his report. "Considering the amount of damage we have received it's very likely that they must have been destroyed."

Vader nearly rolled his eyes. These people had no idea what smugglers were capable of, and rumor claimed that this particular ship had been known to survive what most smugglers though were impossible situations. Reaching out with the Force he got his answer and felt a moment of smug satisfaction.

"No captain, they are alive." He raked the line of captains with his eyes. "I want every ship available to have the asteroid field swept until they are found," he told the captains. They bowed and the holograms disappeared.

Vader sighed and started to walk away. He needed time to think far enough ahead to anticipate their next move or they would escape yet again once they were flushed out of their current hiding place.

"Lord Vader!" Admiral Piett's voice rang out urgently. Vader immediately paused and turned.

"Have they been spotted?" Vader asked him.

"No my Lord; it's the Emperor." Vader felt his blood freeze in his veins. "He commands that you make contact with him immediately!" Piett nearly whispered.

"Move the ship out of the asteroid field so that the transmission is clear." Vader ordered and quickly hurried to his chambers. Once there he locked the door, lowered his hood and removed his face veil, then knelt on the holo scanner and waited for his Master to answer. When he might be giving his Master bad news, it was best not to keep him waiting.

Finally a soft noise told him that his Master was answering. "What is thy bidding my Master?" He asked curiously as a hologram of his Master appeared.

"There is a great disturbance in the Force," Sidious said in greeting.

"I have felt it," Vader agreed carefully, unwilling to admit how much he had sensed and learned.

"We have a new enemy. The young rebel that destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt that this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker." Sidious nearly spat.

Vader scowled. Did his Master truly think that he had helped hide the boy? Ever since he had learned Luke was a Skywalker, he had wanted to get his hands on the boy to discover the truth of the matter. Still, there was no good reason to admit that he had neglected to report what he had suspected. "How is this possible?" he asked his Master. He didn't have to feign the emotion that went with the question. He was still half-convinced that this was some cruel ploy set up by Obi-Wan.

"Search your feelings Lord Vader; you know it to be true." Sidious answered, in some annoyance.

"That would support what I have uncovered about him." Vader said bitterly. Which would be worse, that Luke was just an impostor or that he had had a son all these years and never knew - a son who wanted nothing more than to kill his own family?

"He could destroy us." Sidious continued, ignoring his apprentice's comment.

Vader scoffed. "He's just a boy. Obi-Wan can no longer help him." Curse Obi-Wan. Whether he had stolen Luke as a baby or convinced him he was a Skywalker, it was his fault. He wished now that he had captured his old Master instead of fighting him. Perhaps then he would have gotten some answers.

"The Force is strong with him," Sidious continued as if he hadn't heard his apprentice's comment. "The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi."

"If he could be turned he would be a powerful ally." Vader suggested, fighting to keep the hope out of his voice. The more he searched his feelings, the more he felt the truth of it. He had a son. He had no desire to kill his own son if he could avoid it.

"You already have a pet. What would you need with two?" Sidious spat. Vader nearly rose from his kneeling position. "She is more than a 'pet'," he hissed angrily. "She is a valuable asset to the Empire. Did she not help destroy many of your enemies in the Senate? She is loyal to the cause of the Empire."

"She is loyal to you, not to me." Sidious pointed out. "Still, ever since the death of that lowly lieutenant she was so fond of, she has been most useful against the Rebels."

Vader felt his suspicions growing. He had ignored them for years, but the smug statement brought them back to the front of his mind. Han had been a major part of his and his daughter's life for three years. He didn't believe for a second that Han would accept a backwater post without at least coming to tell Angel good-bye. Not unless someone made it impossible for him to do so and there was only one man he knew that could and would do such a thing.

Sidious was silent for several seconds. "You have my leave to attempt to convert him. If you cannot convert him, then dispose of him." Sidious hissed.

Vader lowered his head so that his Master couldn't see the pain in his eyes. "Yes, my Master," he replied obediently. What else could he do? He could not sacrifice his daughter for his son. He would do what he must, but he didn't have to like it.

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I have written a new story that connects to Dark Angel it will tell parts of her story that we haven't seen. Keep your eyes open for Dark Angel Chronicles.