Part IV: Yavin IV
Chapter 1 - RevelationsLeia had been expecting a welcoming party—a
few generals, maybe, and a med-droid—but she hadn't been expecting what
looked like all of the medical personnel on the entire station. As soon
as the ramp was down far enough to jump on, they descended on the senator like
a flock of janos, some shaking his hand, some asking about his injuries, one
went so far as to start checking his vital signs. At first he nodded to all of
them politely, trying to answer all the questions that were being asked at
once. But finally he turned to Han with a look of pleading on his face.
Han didn't even hesitate; Leia guessed that he had been wanting to do this all
along. He stepped in front of the senator, physically pushing away two
concerned well-wishers and announced at the top of his lungs, "Get off my
ship! Every last one of you!"
The people froze for a moment, not moving, until Chewbacca let out a very dangerous
sounding roar. A few seconds later, the ramp was clear.
"Thank you very much to you both," the senator told them. "I wasn't sure if
we'd ever get out of here."
"Any time," Han said with a shrug. He still looked somewhat miffed at the
intrusion on his precious ship. Leia could sympathize. If she had her own ship,
she wouldn't want anyone to set foot on it without permission, certainly not an
over-enthusiastic horde of rebels. Of course, her master wasn't going to give
her a ship any time soon so it was futile to...
Her master.
Rebels.
Damn.
What was she doing here?
Getting the droids, Leia, getting the droids.
Leia nodded to herself. Right. Getting the droids. For her master.
She moved aside, letting the senator, supported by Han, descend the ramp first.
The old man was looking much better than he had on the ship. She supposed that
he could be putting on a façade of well-being for the sake of the watching
rebels. The thought that he was a very good leader flitted through her mind and
then disappeared. She needed to focus back on her mission. Getting the droids.
Her mind already began forming a plan. The Death Star would be upon the rebels
within the next few hours and Leia had no doubt that the base she was on would
be annihilated as completely as Alderaan. So she needed to find a way off.
She glanced down at Chewbacca, who was following Han and the senator down the
ramp. The rebels seemed to be giving them all a wide berth, she noticed with a
grin.
Han, she realized. Han wasn't going to stick around for any battle. He would
get his reward and get out. Wouldn't he?
Upon reflection, she wasn't quite so sure. The man had surprised her often
enough on this trip to make her wonder whether he might not just stick around
and help out.
No, he would go. He had to.
And he would take her along if she asked. He had a soft spot for her, she could
tell, and even if not, Chewbacca would strong-arm him into it. Literally, if
necessary. She grinned to herself; well, maybe not literally.
There was a shuffling movement behind her and then a tap on her shoulder. She
turned back.
Luke.
"Are you going?" he asked, impatiently.
She glanced over his shoulder at the droids. "No, that's okay. You go first,"
she told him, turning to stay closer to the two robots.
Luke planted his hands on her shoulders and turned her firmly back around. "I
don't think so, Arica."
Instead of sounding guarded or suspicious, or even annoyed, Luke sounded
amused. Leia glanced at him in surprise and found him grinning at her.
"I think I'll stay with the droids," he said with a wink.
Leia opened her mouth to say something—she didn't know quite what—but Luke gave
her a gentle shove from behind, and it took all of her finely-tuned balance and
grace to keep from stumbling down the ramp.
What was that about? she wondered. Did Luke know? If he did, then why
didn't he say anything to any of the rebels? And why did he find it
funny?
It was almost as though he thought she wouldn't really go through with it, or
didn't really want to.
Well, he would get a shock when she left with the droids, she thought,
resentfully, as she settled into one of the waiting landspeeders next to
Chewbacca. Of course, now she would probably have to convince him to leave with
them, since he obviously wasn't going to let her alone with the droids. Or
maybe just knock him out. Then she could leave the convincing and drag him
along whether he liked it or not.
Or leave him behind, a small voice reminded her, but Leia shrugged it
off. What a waste for someone like Luke to die along with the rest of the
people on the station.
She glanced around the hangar, at the rebels hurrying about. It was very
different from an Imperial base. There was less structure—not all the soldiers
even had uniforms, and they certainly weren't marching—and more clutter. She
had to stifle a chuckle as a young woman tripped over a stray piece of
equipment and into the arms of a surprised, but very pleased looking, mechanic.
The man let one of his hands "accidentally" brush below the woman's waist,
before he let her go, leaving the faint mark of a greasy hand print on the back
of her coverall.
They all seemed so young and so... alive, though they couldn't be much
younger than most storm troopers. It was their faces, Leia realized, she could
see their faces and it made all the difference.
And there were women. While some of them certainly earned a few appreciative
glances, they all clearly had jobs and walked purposefully about. As their
speeders neared the end of the hangar where a group of three older, robed men
stood anxiously waiting, Leia caught sight of a girl, not much older than
herself, speaking seriously to two young men. They seemed to be disagreeing
with her about something, but with a few emphatic words from the girl that Leia
couldn't hear, the men nodded at each other and then at her. They spoke for a
moment more and went their separate ways.
Leia's eyes followed the girl for a few moments, amazed. She was probably one
of the highest ranking women in the entire Empire and no one other than Vader
had ever treated her with anything bordering the type of respect those
men had given that girl. She wondered what, if anything, that meant.
The speeder carrying the senator and Han stopped suddenly in front of them. She
watched as the senator got out slowly, with help from Han and one of the robed
men. The two older men embraced briefly but seemed to quickly get down to
business. As her own speeder stopped, the senator was gesturing toward the
astromech droid in Luke's speeder. A group of engineers rushed over with a wave
from the robed man and began to carefully carry away the droid. The protocol
followed along, voicing concerns over his counterpart that Leia tuned out. She
needed to stay with them somehow. She needed to...
She turned to find that Luke had stepped over to help her get out of the
speeder. He had a look of warning in his eyes and she ignored his offered hand
in annoyance.
By the time they reached the group of men, the senator was introducing an embarrassed
looking Han Solo with enthusiasm.
Leia did a double-take. Embarrassed? Han Solo? She almost laughed out loud and,
based on the looks that Han was shooting at Chewbacca, she had to assume that
the Wookiee's barked comments were no better than her own thoughts.
The senator turned quickly to introduce Chewbacca, who took the accolades in
stride. An anxious medical officer tried to step in, reminding the senator that
he really should be in the medical facility.
"Just a moment, just a moment," the senator said with a smile. "Then you can
poke and prod me all you like."
Leia didn't notice his gaze on her until his hand pulled gently on her arm. She
looked up in surprise, wondering what the old man was doing.
"And Commander, these are the people to whom I truly owe my life. You may
recognize them," he added with a grin.
His arm went around her shoulder and Leia was shocked to see an intense pride
in his eyes. He was going to introduce her, she realized. This man, who knew
her true name, was going to introduce her to one of the leaders of the
Rebellion! But before she could open her mouth to protest, the senator
continued, cutting her off. "This, Commander, is Leia Skywalker."
Leia's mouth opened and closed, silently, in shock and confusion. Skywalker?
Her name wasn't...
But the senator was either ignoring her bewilderment or simply didn't notice.
He reached past her and drew Luke close. Leia barely had time to register the
fact that Luke's face had gone pale and his eyes wide, when the senator added
softly, "And this, is her brother, Luke."
Leia said nothing. There was nothing to
say. She couldn't even think straight.
Should she deny it? Did she want to deny it? It wasn't true. It simply
couldn't be.
But he had sounded so sure and he had known her name... Her first name, at
least.
Leia Skywalker.
Maybe it was her name. Her real name. The one her mother, Padme,
had given to her.
Or maybe he was wrong. Mistaken. Lying, even. He was a leader of the Rebellion,
after all. Who knew what he was capable of?
Could he be feeding her false words, trying to turn her into a traitor?
She focused back on the senator. He wasn't even looking at her. He seemed
completely oblivious to what she was going through. The medical officer was
speaking insistently from behind her and the senator--standing very
unsteadily--nodded finally, with a look of resignation on his face, and was led
away.
Leia continued to stare at the spot where he had been standing, until her eyes
refocused and she found herself staring straight at Luke.
"So when were you two going to let us in on this little tidbit?"
Leia heard Han's remark. She even noticed the slightly hurt tone in his voice.
But she couldn't think about it now. She could only think of Luke.
Luke was still staring at her and the look in his eyes was... What was it?
Shock, anger, disbelief? She wished she knew what he was thinking.
"Luke?" she whispered.
Luke closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, he seemed to
be seeing her for the first time.
"Is it true?" he asked.
Leia opened her mouth to answer, but stopped, knowing she didn't have one. But
he was looking at her as though she would know, as though she would explain
everything.
"I... I don't..." She couldn't continue. What did he expect her to say?
Luke continued staring at her, as though waiting for her to finish. When he
realized that she wasn't, he took on a hurt expression.
"Is your name really Skywalker?" Luke asked, brusquely.
Leia found herself becoming annoyed with Luke. Who was he to get upset at her?
She hadn't done this to him. This was happening to her as well.
"No," she answered, the annoyance clear in her voice. "Not that I know of
anyway."
Luke's eyes flashed. "Not that you know of?!" He turned away from her and
ran both of his hands roughly through his hair. He seemed to be taking deep
breaths, trying to calm himself down.
But Leia wasn't willing to let him do it. "Listen," she said, stepping toward
him and grabbing his shoulder. "You know very well that I don't have parents,
so stop acting like I'm being purposely evasive!"
Luke spun back around and nearly caught her off balance. "Do I? Do I know
that?"
He moved close to her and Leia took a step away. She didn't bother answering
his question; she couldn't answer it, really.
Luke didn't seem to be expecting an answer, however. "From the moment I met
you," he continued, stepping toward her again, "you've been lying. You lied
about who you are, why you were with us. You wouldn't even tell us your real
name!"
Leia tried to stand her ground, but found that she didn't know how to deal with
a furious Luke. He wasn't going to hit her, wasn't expecting her to hit him,
but that didn't make the confrontation any less pleasant. In fact, it put Leia
on decidedly unfamiliar ground. She took another step back.
"You followed us off Tatooine. You snuck away on the battle station. You knew
some high level Imperial security code. You haven't taken your eyes off the
droids the whole trip. You... you... Who are you?!"
Luke had continued advancing on her, till Leia backed herself into a solid form
and had to stop. Two hands came up to rest on her shoulders from behind. Han.
"Luke, I think that you need to calm down," Han said, his voice surprisingly
calm, but with a hint of a threat in it just the same.
"We have a right to know who she is, Han. This has gone on long enough." Luke's
voice had calmed down, but Leia could sense the anger boiling just beneath the
surface.
"You're right," Han agreed, still calm.
Leia closed her eyes. No, this wasn't happening. She couldn't tell them, she couldn't.
Han pressed down on her shoulders and she turned to face him. Anything was
better than Luke right now. Han held her at arm's length, his hands still on
her shoulders and waited till she looked up to meet his gaze.
"Is your name Leia?" he asked, when he had her attention.
Leia barely hesitated; she had basically admitted to it by answering to the
name in the first place. "Yes," she answered.
"Alright," Han encouraged her with a squeeze on her shoulders. "Now, is your
last name Skywalker?"
"No," Leia answered, just as quickly.
"Have you ever used the name Skywalker as an alias?"
"No."
"Do you know anyone named Skywalker?"
Leia hesitated; she was usually good with names, if she had heard of someone
named Skywalker, she was sure she would be able to remember them. "No," she
decided, finally.
Han nodded and looked steadily at her. She could tell that the next question
would be important. Don't ask me my name, she begged silently. It went
against everything she had ever been taught as an agent to reveal her full
name.
"Is it possible that Skywalker could be your real name?"
Leia's relief that he hadn't asked about her name was overwhelmed by the
implications of his question.
"Yes," she said, very softly. "It is possible."
Han gave her a small grin and released her shoulders. He turned to Luke. "I
suppose that your last name is Skywalker."
Leia turned back hesitantly to see Luke nodding. All of his anger seemed to
have disappeared.
"Alright, kid. Is it possible that you might have a sister that your parents
forgot to mention?"
Luke ignored the sarcasm and nodded again. "Yeah, it's possible."
"Now what?"
The question took both Leia and Luke by surprise. They had both been expecting
Han to somehow miraculously solve the mystery for them, but it seemed that his
mediation was done. It was up to them now.
They turned to each other again. Luke took a hesitant step forward, as though
expecting her to back away again, but this time Leia allowed him to get close.
Encouraged, Luke reached for her hand and—to her own surprise—she let him take
it.
"Ari... Leia," he corrected himself. "Leia, is it true?"
Leia's eyes widened in shock. They were right back at the beginning. Only this
time Luke wasn't challenging or accusing her.
"I don't know, Luke."
Luke looked down at their hands. "But what do you think?" He looked back up at
her. "What do you feel?"
Leia couldn't say anything for a moment. She could only stare into his eyes.
Those blue eyes that had seemed so familiar from the moment she met him. Why
hadn't she realized that then? His hand grasping hers—it felt so right, so
comfortable. She had noticed that before. That, and the way their force
senses seemed to meld together so effortlessly. As though they were two halves
of a whole.
"Yes," she said softly, as her eyes filled with tears, knowing that it didn't
answer any question he had asked. "I think... I feel... It's true."
She could barely make Luke out through the tears in her eyes, but she knew that
he had nodded, that he was smiling. And she smiled back.
The medical officer, who had the
misfortune—as he was quickly discovering—of being stationed outside of the
senator's room, was polite, sympathetic, understanding and absolutely no help
at all. Even a few thinly veiled, but rather creative threats from Han and
Chewbacca failed to convince him to let them in. The senator had just been
sedated and there were strict orders not to rouse him for anyone less than
General Dodonna himself.
After a few more attempts with what seemed to be the officer in charge—Leia
found it hard to tell—Luke and Leia convinced Han that they could wait. For
some reason Han was more insistent about the senator telling them the whole
story than they themselves were. Leia couldn't figure out why. Eventually he
went off with Chewbacca, mumbling something about a reward.
Which left Leia alone with Luke. They looked at each other uncomfortably for a
while, making stilted conversation about the ships they saw.
Suddenly, Luke grinned at her. "We both love flying. Does that prove anything?"
Leia looked out at the pilots and technicians moving about. "Us and about half
of this station." She turned to smile at him. "I don't think so, Luke."
He shrugged. "Oh well, it was worth a try."
There were a few moments of comfortable silence, before she heard Luke take a
deep breath and turn to face her.
"Maybe... maybe we should talk," he said, hesitantly, as though he were asking
her something shocking.
"We are talking."
Luke rolled his eyes. "I mean, talk about... us. Whatever us is."
Leia felt something tighten in her chest. How much would she have to tell him?
Nothing. You don't have to tell him anything. He is nothing to you.
But she knew it wasn't true. She hadn't really needed to talk to the senator to
confirm his statement. She believed—she knew—absolutely that this boy
was her brother. It was one of the few things she felt sure about at the
moment.
"Privately," she answered finally. "Where no one else can hear us."
Luke nodded. "Any ideas of where?"
"Yes. Follow me."
She found the row of storage closets again quickly. One door was open and
showed a clear amount of space at the front of the room. She slipped in and
activated the lights, while Luke followed her and shut the door behind them.
"How did you know about this place?" Luke asked, clearly surprised.
"I noticed it on the way back from the medical facility. We passed right
through here. You must have seen it too."
Luke laughed. "I must have, but why would I remember it?"
Leia didn't have an answer. She had always been taught to notice and remember
everything about her environment. Who knew what could come in useful?
Luke wasn't waiting for an answer, though. He was looking at the piles of
crates around them. After a moment he pulled two of the smaller ones down and
arranged them across from each other. When he was done, he glanced up at Leia
and the two of them sat down facing each other.
Leia composed herself for the interrogation she was sure would follow. "So,
what do you want to know?" she asked, looking intently at her hands.
After a moment, Luke answered, "I don't know. What do you want to know?"
Leia looked up in surprise. She had been expecting him to take control of the
conversation.
"Oh," she managed.
Luke laughed nervously. "Look at us. We don't even know what to ask each
other."
Leia smiled at him, but couldn't bring herself to laugh. She was trying to pin
down just one of the questions that was swirling through her mind.
Luke spoke first however. "Well, what do you know about your parents? I mean,
your real parents. Our parents."
Leia thought about it, trying to recall any snippet of conversation she might
have overheard that dealt with her parents. She couldn't think of anything. "I
don't know anything. Except, I guess our last name is Skywalker, since the
senator thought we were both called that." She motioned toward Luke with her
hand. "What do you know?"
Luke shook his head. "I'm not even sure what I know anymore. Our father's name
was Anakin Skywalker..."
"Was our mother Padmé?" Leia interrupted him, remembering the senator's first
reaction to her.
Luke seemed at a loss, however. "I don't know. I don't think anyone ever told
me her name." He rubbed his forehead. "I don't know why it never occurred to me
to ask." He looked at her closely. "Padmé? Where did you hear that?"
"The senator, Organa. When he first saw me he called me Padmé. I guess maybe I
look like her. I think that might be how Ben recognized me too. Vader said
I..."
Luke's face suddenly went red. "Vader?"
"Darth Vader. Do you know who he is?"
Luke's blue eyes seemed to turn icy. "Yes, I know who he is. How do you
know him?"
Leia hesitated. This would be the time to tell him, if she was going to do it.
But she had already decided to do it, she knew. The senator might be lying to
her. Han and Chewbacca might be lying to her. But Luke was not lying to her. He
was probably the first person in her life she absolutely believed. His
sincerity practically oozed out of him. He wasn't lying, so she wouldn't lie to
him.
"Luke," she said softly. "Luke, I'm an Imperial."
To her surprise, Luke's expression softened. He did not seem at all angry, or
even surprised. "I know," he said. "I figured you must be. Or had been."
"I guess I was pretty obvious," Leia acknowledged.
"Just a little," he agreed with a grin. "Did Ben know?" he asked, more
seriously.
Leia shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess so; he seemed to know everything else
about me."
"And that's how you know Vader."
"Yes."
Luke stood up suddenly and moved over to the door. He stared at his feet for a
few moments, then he turned back to her, leaning against the door. He had
pulled his lightsaber out and was rotating it in his hands slowly.
"I was always told that our father, Anakin Skywalker, was a spacer. Uncle Owen
said that he was a navigator on a freighter. But he was lying, I think. Ben
said that he was afraid I would go off and get myself killed like my father
had."
Leia found herself entranced. Luke seemed bitter that his uncle had lied, but
she could see that he understood on some level. Owen cared about him. He had
cared about Luke enough to lie to him in order to keep him safe. It wasn't an
idea that Leia had ever come in contact with.
"He was a Jedi Knight," Luke continued suddenly, surprising Leia. "That's what
Ben said." He motioned with his saber. "This was his lightsaber." Luke
hesitated, eyeing her. "Maybe you should take it. You know how to use it."
Leia shook her head decisively. "No, he gave it to you, didn't he?"
Luke shrugged noncommittally, but he hooked the saber back to his belt.
They were both silent for a moment. Leia tried to weave together all the
strands of fact and fiction she'd been told and suddenly something slipped into
place.
"Vader killed him," she said.
Luke nodded, not looking at her. "He was Ben's student, but he used his
training for evil. He betrayed our father. He killed him." He paused for a
moment. "He killed Ben, too, didn't he? That was Vader."
Leia nodded her head numbly. It made sense, it all fit. "On the station, Vader
said that Kenobi had been his master once." She added, "He also said that I
might have reminded Ben of someone."
"Did he say who?"
She shook her head. "No. I asked him, but all he said was that it was someone
who had died a long time ago. I guess he meant Padmé."
"I guess," Luke agreed with a shrug.
And that was all, Leia realized. Between the two of them, all they could piece
together about their parents were a few names, an occupation, and a death. It
felt like something precious had been stolen from them. Their lives, their
family, their very identities. And they didn't even know who to blame.
She didn't know who to blame. Luke blamed Vader, that was clear. Vader
had killed their father, so Vader was to blame. But Leia understood that it
wasn't so simple. Even if Vader had killed Anakin Skywalker—and she didn't
doubt that he had—he wasn't the main catalyst. Anything dark, anything evil,
originated from one source as far as she was concerned.
She did know who to blame.
Her master.
