After having disposed of Vader, she was able to move more freely, rushing down the corridor she pressed her comlink repeatedly. "Han please respond". After several minutes of static, Han's familiar voice appeared on the other end. "I knew you couldn't stay away from me for too long"

"Han, this is not the time for this. I need you and Chewie to take the Falcon to the starboard hangar. We are going after Luke. And bring threepio."

There was silence for a little while before he responded, sounding serious "The kid's really is in trouble isn't he"

"I think so, I'll explain everything when I get there." She replied, turning the corridor heading in the direction of the med bay. It was pretty empty at the moment, which suited her just fine.

"Ok, we are on our way. But I thought the starboard hanger was undergoing repairs?"

"Just do it Han, trust me, I will be there soon" Before he had a chance to respond, she turned to comlink of. Heading towards Doctor Kian's office, she entered after a brief knock. He was sitting behind his desk, busy working on his data pad.

"Your highness, it's good to see you, anything I can help you with?" he said looking up at her a fond expression on his face.

"There is, a matter of fact" she said approaching his desk "Luke is missing, and I am going after him" Then after a brief pause, she said the words that proved she was finally losing her mind "And I intend to bring Vader with me, but no one can know."

Doctor Kian didn't reply at first, just leaned back in his seat looking at her, brows furrowed. Just a she was about to start the speech she had made up in her head on the way here, to convince him. He spoke. "Alright what do you need me to do?"

She blinked, that was it? She had expected a protest at least. Narrowing her eyes, she studied him. "You know, don't you?" she asked him, as the realisation hit her. Was she the last one to know the truth? "How long?"

His flinch gave her the answer. "All this time and you never told me?"

"I made a promise to your father Leia" he said looking guilty.

"Which one?" she bit out.

"Bail off course, you know that"

Shaking her head, she glared at him "I am in a hurry, so this conversation will have to wait, but we are not done with this!" she told him, managing to push back her disappointment. "In the meantime, what I need you to do is cover for me, claim Vader has had a medical emergency. You are his doctor they will believe you."

"Off course your highness, but why all this secrecy" he asked, frowning in confusion.

Sighing she sat down on a chair in front of the desk "Because of Luke off course, he is a Jedi, you know what he is capable of. Yet someone managed to take him from his room, without anyone seeing or hearing anything. Either someone very skilled manged to sneak aboard our ship, take him and dispose of his fighter and Artoo and vanish. Or" she trailed off.

"Or we have a traitor among us" Kian finished for her, leaning forward running a hand through his white hair.

"Exactly, or several" she said, looking back at him "And I would rather they did not know we were on to them. They went through a great deal of effort to make us believe Luke left on his own accord. Let them believe we believe it." Someone of the evasive answers she had received earlier had started to raise her suspicion, but what she needed now was proof. If they hurt Luke she would make them pay, but for now she would be patient.

"Are you certain he is alive then?" he asked her cautiously. She didn't like the traces of pity she spotted in his eyes.

"I would know if he was dead" she said firmly, Luke was alive she knew it.

He nodded, taking her at her word. "Are you thinking imperials then? It could be vengeance, after all Luke has done more than most to destroy the empire."

"I don't know, but I intend to find out." She told him, getting out of the chair." While I am gone I want you to do some research, anything you can find. Who had access to Luke's fighter, the log, personnel on unauthorised leave, anything suspicious. But be careful." She turned away to leave.

"Wait Leia, you will need this." Doctor Kian got to his feet, moving over to a set of shelves, when he returned he offered her a container.

Curiously she opened it, and felt herself go pale when she spotted Vader's black mask gleaming in the light. "I don't want this" she told him, trying to push the container back into his hands, but he refused to take it. "I can't believe you even kept this thing" It was unsettling to admit to herself, but she had started to separate this Vader from the other one, the one with the gentle blue eyes. But it was the same man, wasn't it?

"Wherever you are headed, I imagine trouble lies ahead, and he is very vulnerable with just his breather on. Take it Leia, for his sake"

"Very well" she grumbled, but what she really wanted to do was to throw it down the nearest garbage chute. Which was strange, any reminder of what he was, what he had been, was good thing surely? She was half afraid a part of her didn't want to remember.

"And where is Vader now?" Doctor Kian asked, bringer her back to the present.

"He is around" she said evasively, hoping he had done what she told him. If not she would lock him up for good. "I should probably go find him. But remember to be careful, I am putting my trust in you."

He nodded "I will do what I can, but are certain you don't want to raise the alarm?"

"Yes. If we have traitors we need to flush them out, we may have won over the empire but we are not on solid ground yet. If we cannot trust our own, then who can we trust?" And with a last goodbye she headed back towards Vader's hiding spot.

Leia found him just where she had left him, clutching the container in one hand, she studied his pale face, he looked friendly, kind even. But she held the evidence of what he was capable of in her hand. The man behind that mask had known no mercy, was she being a fool putting her faith in him now? She shook her head slightly, it was too late for regret, she had set her course of action and she would follow through.

During her absence it seemed Vader had done some work to Artoo, as his head was no longer hanging off, but there were no reassuring chirps coming from the little droid. Noticing the direction of her stare, Vader spoke. "The damage is not as bad as it looks, with the right equipment I should be able to repair him"

She nodded "The Falcon should have what you need. Come" Turning away from him, she led them down a less frequented corridor, in direction of the hanger, where she hoped Han was already waiting.

To her relief when they entered the derelict hanger, the Millennium Falcon was already there. Evidence of repairs littered the large open space, but her luck seemed to be holding as it was empty except for her, Vader and Han. Who when he spotted her made an immediate grab for his blaster, pointing it straight at Vader. "Get away from her" he hissed. "Chewie get down here" he yelled back towards the Falcon, his eyes never leaving Vader.

"No, it's alright" She said, placing herself between Vader and Han's blaster. "I brought him here" Han's eyes went even wide, and he looked between her and Vader in confusion.

She opened her mouth to explain, but Chewie came running down the ramp faster than she could blink, going for Vader's throat with a growl. It would not surprise her if he actually could rip a man's arm of with is bare hands, but this was hardly the time or the place to test that theory, though it would be some kind of justice if she let him choke Vader to death she thought drily.

Vader om the other hand was busy trying to keep Chewies arm's length away, and was holding him tightly by the wrist, his mechanical arms having super strength of their own. "Get the wookie of me" he grumbled, but made no move to attack. Leia pushed her vengeful thoughts away and approached Chewie, putting a hand on his arm.

"Chewie please let him go, we need him to find Luke" at the mention of Luke's name Chewie looked at her, and roared something she didn't understand, but she thought it was a reluctant agreement for now, because he stopped, and Vader let his arms go, taking a step away.

"No hold on here a moment princess, you can't be doing what I think you are doing" Han said pacing in front of the falcon, before he stopped and pointed a finger at Vader.

"I am not letting him anywhere the Falcon. Not until you tell me what is going on. Have you forgotten what he did to me, to Luke, to you? And don't think I don't know you are hiding something from me"

Han always kept a brave face of bravado, but she knew what had happened to him, had startled him to the core. Nor had she forgotten her own terror, and the thought she may never see him again. Crossing the distance between them she reached out a hand cupping his cheek, making him look down at her. "I will never forget what he did Han, never. But he can help us find Luke, you need to trust me on this"

Han gave her a reluctant smile, shaking his head. " You are crazy princess do you know that, why would he help us?"

Leia looked past Han towards Vader, who was standing at the side, trying to look inconspicuous and failing miserably. This time was so very different from the last time, when they had been his prisoners, and now he was hers. He met her gaze, then he looked at Han, then back at her before he turned slightly away, avoiding her gaze.

She turned away to face Han, he deserved to know the truth. All of it. Her palms had suddenly gone sweaty, so she tightened the hand holding the container with Vader's mask, afraid she might drop it. At the same time as she wanted to throw it away as far as she could. This was it, she could not put it of any longer.

Sensing what she was about to do Vader spoke " I will give you some privacy" he said, starting to move away.

"No" Leia snapped "You stay her" Vader stopped in his tracks, shrugging "As you wish" She was not even sure why she had wanted him to stay.

Han's mouth opened wide, snapping it shut he shoot her an incredulous stare, Chewie made some strange rumbling sound in his throat she had never heard before.

"What have you done to him? " Han asked, stealing another glance at Vader.

"Nothing, he did it to himself, I don't quite understand it." Swallowing she looked down at her feet, she knew Han would not judge her, still this was harder than she had thought it would be.

Steeling herself she turned her face up and just said it " He will help us, because he is Luke's father."

Heart beating nervously in her chest she studied Han's expression, he blinked, before staring at her in disbelief. " I though the kid said his father was a fancy star pilot or something. A Jedi."

"He was once" Leia answered, and it was the truth, she knew that now.

"But Luke is your brother" he stammered, as the final piece of the puzzle slotted into place. "He is your father?" He added incredulously, "How is that even possible" he asked, taking a step back ruffling his own hair, before looking Vader up and down, "He is a machine"

"He was once Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father, and mine." she said, the words were out now, and she couldn't take them back.

"Not much of a family resemblance. Hey, wait hold on here a moment. This is not why you sent us away is it" he asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously "Because you were afraid to tell me?"

"Partly" she admitted, and she couldn't avoid seeing the brief flash of hurt on his face, though he quickly covered it up. "But only because if I didn't tell you, I could pretend it wasn't true. But I can't pretend any longer" she looked up at him beseechingly. "Please don't fight me on this, just trust me, I know what I am doing" And she sincerely hoped she did, if she was wrong about Vader the result of this could be catastrophic.

Han still looked unconvinced. "Isn't he a wanted prisoner? We can't just take him"

"Since when did you start following the rules, and besides you keep bragging about how fast the Falcon is, we will be there and back before anyone notices. Doctor Kian is covering for us" she knew he was just fishing for excuses to get out of this, but she wasn't having any of it.

"You have really thought this through, haven't you?" he asked, and she could tell he was relenting.

"Yes, and let's just get out of here, before anyone notices, I'll explain everything on the way"

Han gave Vader one last scathing look, before he nodded. "For the record I think this is very bad idea" he said, now pointing his finger in her face. "But I'll do this for Luke" With that turned away from her and headed up the ramp. She indicated for Vader to follow, Chewie growled deeply in the back of his throat as they walked past, before he took up the rear, and followed them inside.

Notes:

It did occur to me I might not have been very clear in what happened to Luke, I hope this helps a bit, I am learning as I go along her:)