The crew of the Millennium Falcon were not in high spirits by the time they got back to the ship. They were one crew member down, exhausted and bruised and none of them were in any mood for doing anything too strenuous for several days. However, Leia was too determined to sit down for even a second.
"I'm going use the scanners to see if I can track Vader's ship." She said as soon as she got on board.
"They probably went right back to the Imperial Fleet, got on to a Star Destroyer." Said Han, following Leia through to the cockpit. "Or the second Death Star, in which case I think we should seriously reconsider going after Luke."
Leia ignored this last statement and began flicking switches and pushing buttons on the console.
"If you're not going to be helpful then please leave." Said Leia, shortly. Han huffed and sat down in the pilot's chair.
"Fine, I'll help." He said, a little harshly. For a moment, the only noises that could be heard were the clicks and hums of the Falcon. "You were right." Said Han, suddenly. Leia looked up. "I just did a scan for life forms on the cavern," Han continued. "Didn't find anything so going on that information, I'd say Vader and Luke made it out."
Leia nodded, then she had a sudden thought.
"No life forms at all?" She asked. Han shook his head. "So if there's no life forms, then what happened to Arden?"
"I guess you're right," Said Han. "Damn it, I was hoping the galaxy was rid of that little snake."
Leia nodded, agreeing entirely. "And if she escaped that probably means she's with Vader." She said. "And Luke."
"Well that's just great," said Han, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "This whole thing started because of that little psycho getting inside Luke's head and now Luke's with Arden and Vader. I tell you, Princess, if you wanna save Luke so bad then we better be quick about it. Whatever part of Luke you think is still the Luke we know ain't gonna be there for long with those two twisting his head."
Leia knew Han was right. Vader would be able to sense the good still in Luke and she knew Vader wouldn't rest until he had squashed it out.
Suddenly, the console started to beep and whir.
"I've found Vader's ship, I've got a tracking lock on it." Said Leia, her fingers flying over the console, trying to maintain the lock.
"And they're heading for the Imperial Fleet, right?" Said Han, not looking up.
"Unfortunately." Said Leia.
"Told ya." Said Han, unhelpfully.
Leia glared. "We have to move quickly. Get the Falcon in the air and head for Dantooine. According to Rebel Intelligence, the Imperial Fleet is positioned there and that is the way Vader's ship is headed."
Han shook his head, knowing this was a bad idea and started up the engines of the ship.
"Look I know you don't wanna hear this Leia, but maybe Luke doesn't want to come back with us. When he collapsed the cavern, sure he gave us a chance to escape but that doesn't mean he wants us to launch a rescue mission. Besides, we're not exactly equipped to take on Vader and the Empire, even with the entire Alliance behind us." Said Han, steering the ship into the skies of Korriban.
However, Leia didn't yell as Han expected her to. Instead, she said quietly.
"Only he can defeat the Emperor, Han. We need him or else all hope is lost."
"Well didn't Vader say he was going to use Luke against the Emperor? Does it really matter whose side he's on so long as he gets it does?"
"If Luke is on Vader's side when he kills the Emperor, then there won't be peace afterwards! Just another Empire for us to fight against. We need Luke to defeat the Emperor for us, for the Alliance, so we can restore peace afterwards."
"I guess you got a point there." Admitted Han.
"Not to mention Luke is our friend. He didn't choose Vader because he wanted to. Arden tricked him and filled his head with lies. We can't just leave him with Vader, we can't abandon him now."
Han nodded, knowing all the words Leia spoke were true.
"I'm still kinda hug up on the fact he tried to strangle the life outta me though." Han said after a while, rubbing his neck.
"That wasn't Luke Han." Said Leia, quietly. "That was… a monster."
The statement was followed with silence, both occupants of the cockpit recalling what had transpired on Korriban. The one thing neither of them could get out of their minds was the calm way Luke had spoken when he said he was going to kill them. If the kid was acting to throw off Vader when he said that, thought Han. He did too much of a good job.
Unbeknownst to Han, Leia was thinking the same thing. I just hope I'm not wrong about you Luke, she thought desperately.
Han broke the silence.
"So what's your master plan to get Luke back, huh?" He asked.
Leia had been thinking about that and she was no closer to figuring it out than she had been when they left Korriban.
"First we need to find which ship Luke is on." She said.
"Shouldn't we try going back to the Alliance?" Asked Han. "If we are going to take on the Empire then don't we need some fire power or something?"
However, Leia shook her head.
"We can't let the Alliance know about this. If they find out Luke joined Vader for no matter how short a time, there is no way they would ever trust him with any mission ever again, much less trust him to defeat the Emperor."
Han knew Leia was right, however, he felt even more uncomfortable about their mission now than he had ten seconds ago.
"So we are going to rescue Luke from the Empire with no back up and minimal weapons? Great idea, your Worship."
"Let's just find where Luke is first, then we can work out a plan from there." Said Leia with a scowl.
Far away, near Dantooine, Vader's shuttle docked on The Executor and out stepped Lord Vader with Luke by his side.