"I never figured you for the type who'd run away, Skywalker."

"There's an opportunity here that will never come again."

"Opportunity to be known as a coward? There's no way they could have beaten us."

"To learn the Emperor's secrets. I doubt the way you hide your presence from Force users was the only useful thing he knew."

Mara snorted as they stepped off the elevator into a secret, private hangar. He would never admit it, but she knew Luke just wasn't ready to kill the woman who claimed to be his sister. Hell, he hadn't even been ready to kill his robotic father. She looked up at the ship they were heading toward and laughed. "For someone who claims to be nothing like him, you sure are taking a lot of Vader's stuff."

Luke touched the new weapon on his belt – his father's light saber - as he also looked up at Vader's personal starship. "Once you see how she flies, I don't think you'll object.

"So where are we going?"

"Coruscant. Where else?"

"Are you kidding? Anywhere else. Even the Emperor never felt safe there. You'll be found before you've even decided where to stay!"

"Who said anything about staying?"

.**********************************************************************************.

"I don't get it," said Kyle. The pyre they stood around had been burning for several minutes. "Why not just dump the body into space and be done with it?"

"He blocked the Emperor's attack from us. We could have died." Leia was quiet, more reserved than anyone present had ever seen her before.

"Happenstance. He was just trying to save his own skin."

"I don't believe that."

Han broke in. "So that's it? One good deed, maybe, and the guy gets a heroic send-off and reverent silence? Entire worlds suffered from his cruelty."

Leia lowered her head. "He was my father," she murmured. An awkward silence settled as she turned from the pyre she had set up for him and walked away.

Han went after her. "Hey, look. I didn't mean…"

"It's all right, Han, there's no way you could have known. Maybe you and Kyle are right."

"No, I get it. Family's different. Even if you didn't like 'em."

Leia's words were so soft he almost didn't catch them. "Should they be?"

"Of course they should. If you can't break the rules for family, who can you break them for?"

"The rules." She knew what Yoda's answer to that question would have been. No one. "Do you think Luke will try to take over the Empire?"

"Luke? Hey, he can be pretty strange at times, but I'm sure he'll come around."

Leia smiled sadly. "I guess you did miss a few things."

"So catch me up."

Leia took a deep breath. "Well, begin at the beginning, they say." Han nodded. "I was born a twin," Leia said. "We don't look much alike, and my brother and I were separated at birth to hide our identities from Vader and the Emperor."

"So you want to try and find your brother? I'm up for that."

"Ugh, don't you get it? Luke is my brother!"

Now that it was spelled out to him, it did explain some things. But not everything. "I'm still not clear on what happened to him."

Leia threw up her hands. "Neither am I. Except that somehow, the Emperor managed to corrupt him, even though Luke killed him in the end."

"Wait, Luke did that?"

Leia nodded.

"So… Uh… What you said about him taking the Emperor's place…"

"Now you see it."

"So you're actually going to go after him, if he does?"

"A protector of all can't play favorites with those she loves."

"'Protector of all' is a burden nobody should have to bear. Forget about the galaxy; it'll keep on spinning."

"It's not that simple."

"Yeah, it is. Let's just take off somewhere. You still love me, don't you?"

Leia sharply turned her face away.

"Well… I love you," Han continued anyway.

Leia took a deep breath, keeping her face hidden as a single tear trickled down her face. "I know," she whispered.

I'll find a way, she promised herself.