CHAPTER XXXVIII

Tales of the Dark

Jaina was fighting to control her helpless gales of laughter.

"That was the craziest flying I've had to do in years," she said, her eyes squeezed shut. She opened them and looked at her companions. "Still," she continued, straightening in her seat. "We're safe for the moment. I'm not sure if they'll be able to follow us or not, but I don't think we're going to be able to do another hyperspace jump; this ship got fried and we don't even have an R2 unit to fix the damage."

"Jaina," Kyp asked, his tone serious, "where did you set the coordinates?"

Jaina's expression became grim. "No place where Palpatine will think to look for us," she said. "No Yavin IV or Endor or any of the planets that had much to do with my parents."

"Myrkr?" Kyp asked after a pause.

Jaina froze. "Do you really think I'd put us within reach of ysalamiri?" she asked. "Don't be an idiot."

"I was just checking," he shot back. "Can't be quite sure."

"You could have just asked."

"I did."

"Shut up." Jaina sighed. "It's Dagobah," she said finally. "It was the remotest thing that I could think of that didn't have a major battle on it during the Rebellion years, or afterwards."

Kyp groaned. "Jaina, that's where Yoda exiled himself! It's where Luke went to train! Isn't it a bit… obvious?"

Jaina's eyes went flat. "No," she said. "There's the cave. Any sane person would want to stay away from that cave, and if Palpatine does know about it, he'd know that that's the last place any of us would want to go near."

Anakin was looking from one to the other, confused. The conversation made no sense to him, but two things were of intense interest to him: the fact that Yoda had apparently exiled himself on this planet they were headed towards, and that Luke – who had to be none other than his son – had trained here.

This presumably all took place in the future – if the future was right.

"What's this?" Anakin asked.

Jaina stopped talking. "Nothing," she said shortly.

Anakin scowled at her. "What was that about my son?"

Jaina sighed and rolled her eyes. She looked annoyed. "Okay, listen," she said. "It's not very complicated. In the future where we come from, before I was born your son was the only Jedi in existence."

"Wait," Anakin said, holding up a hand. "You mean you knew about the clone attack? About the Jedi Purge?"

Jaina glanced at Kyp. She remained silent.

"We knew about the Jedi Purge," he said grimly. "We just didn't know how it happened. The Empire destroyed many historical records of this time period. Before coming here, our knowledge was… limited."

Anakin's fingers curled into fists. "Why the hell didn't you tell us?!" he shouted. "We could have done something!"

"And you would have believed us?" Jaina snapped. "Think about it for a second, Anakin! Would you?"

He paused, then scowled. "I don't know."

She sighed and shook her head. "It doesn't matter anyways. We had no idea when the Purge was going to take place or how it was going to be done. On that note, we always thought that Darth Vader had more to do with the execution of the Purge than anything else—" She cut herself off, clamping her mouth shut.

"Ha!" Anakin exclaimed. "There it is! You've mentioned him again. Darth Vader. Who the hell is he? Some kind of Sith Lord?" He laughed.

Obi-Wan glanced at him. "Anakin," he said, his tone grim, "I don't think this is a topic you should take lightly."

Anakin glared at him. "And why not?"

Jaina took a deep breath. "Because Darth Vader's you," she said.

Any trace of a smile still left on his face dissipated. Anakin stared at her, uncertain of how to react. Darth Vader was clearly a Sith Lord name. He heard it and it sent chills down his spine. The name was associated with the Dark side of the Force.

And apparently this Vader was him?

"What did you say?"

Jaina brushed her hair out of her eyes. Beneath the bruises and scratches, her face was pale and deadly serious. There was no laughter in her expression.

"You're why we're here, Anakin," she said. "We're not just time travellers. We came here to save you. If we'd done nothing, then you wouldn't be Anakin Skywalker right now. You'd be a Sith Lord named Darth Vader. And you…" She paused and took a deep breath. "And you'd be half-man, half-machine, kept alive by a suit and a mask created by your Master so you could instill fear into the people of the Galaxy. Your wife would be dead and your son and daughter separated, one taken to Tatooine to live with Owen and Beru Lars, and the other to Alderaan to be raised by Bail and Breha."

Anakin swallowed hard. This was rattling him – it seemed surreal. None of it could be true. Padmé, dead? The twins separated? And, worst of all – he had sided with Palpatine?

"You mean… you mean I'm supposed to be a Sith Lord?"

Jaina exchanged looks with Kyp. "Yes—"

"But that's ridiculous!"

"—and no," she finished. Her eyes went flat for a moment. "I'm not sure what is supposed to be right or wrong. You're the Chosen One, destined to bring balance to the Force. In our past, you supposedly did so by turning to the dark and serving Palpatine for twenty years before your son brought you back to the light. Your love for your family won out in the end, or so Luke always said." Her eyes tightened. There was caution in her voice, as if she was afraid of saying something. She swallowed before continuing. "You supposedly killed Palpatine the day you returned to the light, sacrificing your own life for that of your son. But it didn't work, and we didn't know it until recently." She stopped speaking.

"Your son is a Jedi Master, Anakin," Kyp said quietly. "He began the New Order. He said once that he called himself the last of the old, but he was really the first of the new. He created a new generation of Jedi Knights. He taught me everything I know – almost." There was a slight twist to his lips as he said that.

Anakin scowled at him. "What do you mean by that?"

Kyp laughed shortly. It was a grim laugh. "I was possessed by an ancient Sith Lord once," he said. "A long time ago, when I first came to Luke's Academy."

Anakin stared at him. "So you weren't kidding when you said you knew about the Dark side…"

Kyp shook his head. "No."

"But what went wrong?" Anakin asked, backtracking. "You said that everyone thought that I – that Vader – turned back to the light and restored balance. What went wrong?"

"You didn't kill Palpatine." Jaina's voice was hard and cold. Her fingers were clenched; she stared straight ahead, not looking at anyone. "You didn't kill him, though everyone thought you did. You threw him down an elevator shaft in a giant space station before the Rebel Alliance blew it up. No one ever could have thought that he could have survived that, but no – he can time travel. He can disappear there and reappear here. How he does it, no one can really be sure. Kyp and I don't even understand it, but he escaped that way – only to reappear thirty years later on Mustafar."

Anakin could sense that something was wrong. Jaina's face had become blank, her voice wooden. He was certain she was recounting a story that she would very much like to forget.

But she continued on anyways.

"Luke thought there was something wrong on Mustafar," she said. "There had already been some investigations there, and none of them returned. So we went. Luke and Leia… Leia's husband…" She paused. "Mara, who is Luke's wife, their friend Corran Horn, Kyp, my brother Jacen and myself. We found Palpatine there. We learned the truth from him. We fought him, all of us and he… he killed my brother." She was trembling now.

"Jaina, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to –"

"No!" She had shouted the word. She glanced at him; tears were shining in her eyes, but she refused to wipe them away. "What's done is done. Jacen's dead, and I'm doing all I can to reverse that."

Anakin raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Jaina smiled shortly and shook her head as she tried to wipe the tears out of her eyes. "Anakin," she said, "I'm in the past. Palpatine hasn't attacked my brother yet. As far as I'm concerned, he's not dead – yet. When I return to the future – if I ever get there – he'll be alive and well."

Anakin stared at her. "So, you came to the past to basically get revenge?" he exclaimed.

Jaina barked a bitter laugh. "No!" She locked eyes with him. "We came here to save you," she said.

"Save me?" This was getting more ridiculous by the minute.

Jaina nodded. "Save you from becoming Darth Vader. You were supposed to be the tool by which Palpatine would have complete and total control over Force users. He used Darth Vader to hunt down the Jedi – or so I was told. With the clone attack, I'm not sure how much my past's version of you had to do, but I'm sure you were very useful in tracking down the Jedi."

Anakin sat quietly. He was becoming unnerved by this revelation – what Jaina was saying was ringing true. Hadn't Palpatine tried to convince him to join him? Palpatine was a Sith Lord – a very powerful Sith Lord. What would have happened if he had joined him?

Perhaps Jaina knew.

But something didn't make sense.

"What I don't get," Anakin said, "is that you came here to save me, but you barely did a thing at all. I mean, you went gallivanting off to Shanthrai with Obi-Wan, Jaina! Sure, Kyp and I had a few chats now and then, but I wasn't about to trust him. So – what went different?"

Jaina looked lost. She shook her head. "We may never know," she said. "My knowledge of this time period is very limited. I can't say what we did, if we did anything at all. Time's a very flexible thing, Anakin. It's never set in stone."

Anakin glanced at her. "So you don't think I'm going to become a monster? Half-man, half-machine?"

Jaina laughed hollowly.

"No."

"Good."

"Are you happier now?" Jaina asked. "Now that I've spoiled you on the future that doesn't exist anymore?"

Anakin frowned. "What do you mean it doesn't exist?"

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Well, evidently what happened in my past isn't happening right now, is it? The entire course of the future has been changed." She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. "That's what we were sent here to do. Stop Palpatine here by stopping you from turning to the Dark side. In our present, he was unstoppable without you. You were the only person who could defeat him, and you couldn't very well do that if you were dead."

Anakin stared at her. He wasn't sure what to think. It sounded like a story, like a fairytale. Something that was fun to hear about, but didn't have an inkling of truth.

Yet he knew Jaina was being dead serious.

Anakin felt unsettled. He decided that he didn't want to know anything more about the future. As Jaina seemed to be putting it, the fate of the entire future – and not just the immediate one – was resting on his shoulders. Billions – trillions – of lives depended on him to do one deed.

Kill Palpatine.

The worst part was, he wasn't sure if he could do it. A little part of him protested against the thought. Palpatine, for all his faults, was a human being. Sith Lord though he was, he had been Anakin's friend and protector for many years, ever since he had arrived on Coruscant when he was nine years old. Though Anakin had seen Palpatine's power, had witnessed the destruction that power could do, had fought it, even run from it, some part of him still said that he couldn't – and shouldn't kill Palpatine. There had to be some other way of dealing justice for the man's crimes.

There had to be something other than murder.

"Anakin?" Jaina's voice said, seemingly from very far away.

"Just – shut up!" Anakin unhooked his crash webbing and stood up. He stared down at the petite, brown haired Jedi from the future, the one who had so simply laid out his possible future in front of him and calmly said what he could have become. Suddenly, she looked completely hateable. She had come here to choose his life for him. She had come here and was purposefully messing up time to control his fate.

At that precise moment, Anakin could have cared less if he never saw her face again.

"I don't want to hear any more from you," he hissed. "I've had enough."

He turned and strode away, his boots stomping so hard on the floor it shook the walls. He turned his back on his companions and found his way to one of the cabins. He palmed open the door and shut it, wishing – juvenilely – for once that there were more doors that could be opened by hand so they could be slammed shut. It had been years since Anakin had slammed a door shut.

He had so many questions, and all of them were answerable by Jaina and Kyp. Why had Yoda imposed a self-exile upon himself? Why had his son trained on Dagobah, of all places? What had become of Obi-Wan? Surely he had not become a Sith Lord, but Anakin could not imagine him being killed by him – Vader.

Anakin grunted. It was all too strange for him. Too unreal. He found himself wanting to know more, but he was repulsed by what he might find.

Sitting down on the bed, he kicked off his boots and lay down. He needed a rest. However, while he tried to close his eyes, he found that his mind was far from easy. He was continually aware that Padmé was not lying beside him as she had in their cabin onboard the Tantive IV. Luke and Leia were not there in their crib. The name Vader kept whirling around his head and every time he closed his eyes, he saw a vision of a tall man in a dark suit and a fearsome mask.

Anakin shuddered.

He hated the future.

The atmosphere onboard the Tantive IV was decidedly grim, Padmé decided. The weight of Bail's decision had affected the entire crew and everyone else onboard. The absence of the four Jedi was felt by everyone, and there were some who went about the entire business as if the Jedi had died back on Alderaan.

Padmé would have none of that. She knew Anakin. She knew Obi-Wan. And she could also dare to say she knew Kyp and Jaina. They would not give in so easily to the clones. They would either escape, or go down fighting. In her heart, Padmé knew that Anakin was still alive. And she had a feeling that the twins would know if Jaina had died and they would let her know – one way or another.

Jaina. The information she had uncovered – quite by accident – still unsettled her. Padmé's logical side demanded that she ask Jaina herself about her lineage, as it needed an explanation, but her heart knew that there was no arguing with the facts. Jaina was her granddaughter.

Jaina was her granddaughter, and now she had to keep that secret. Padmé dreaded to think what would happen if the wrong people found out about that information – or, indeed, that Jaina was a time traveler. Did Palpatine know? Something within the small part of her logical side that believed that Jaina was her granddaughter said "yes." It made sense – Palpatine was behind the attack on the twins. When Jaina had sped off to find the twins when the Tantive IV was under attack, she had been in extreme pain. Padmé had no doubt that that pain would have become fatal if Luke or Leia had been killed – she still wasn't sure which of her twins Jaina's parent was, but she was assuming Luke since Jaina had said that her mother was Alderaanian.

If the twins had been killed, Jaina would have gone with them. An easy way for Palpatine to get rid of a threat. And it was a double hit – killing the twins was also a sharp blow to Anakin. If their children ever died, Anakin would be destroyed.

Padmé glanced down. She was seated on a soft couch in a well-furnished room near Bail's state rooms, cradling both her children in her arms. They were sound asleep, resting peacefully. Padmé smiled slightly.

"Don't worry," she murmured, placing a kiss on both of their foreheads. "Your father will come home. He always comes home. There is nothing to fear."

"Tender mother, you are, Senator," a voice commented from the doorway.

Padmé looked up and smiled. "As a mother should be, Master Yoda," she said.

The Jedi Master was leaning heavily on his gimer stick as he approached her. The events at Alderaan had worn him out. Padmé had never seen him look frailer than he did now.

"Attempted to contact the ship which they took, Senator Organa has," Yoda informed her. "Unsuccessful, so far, he has been."

Padmé looked away. "Somehow I had already guessed that," she said quietly.

She felt Yoda briefly touch her hand. She looked back at him inquiringly.

"No fear, Senator," he said reassuringly. "Alive and well they are, I am certain. No fear for them, you should have. Be patient – find them, we will."

He turned to leave. Padmé watched his slow progress, a question burning in her thoughts. She started to call out, but then thought better of it and silenced her voice. She paused – Yoda might know the answer to her question. Who knew what lay in his fathoms of knowledge? He kept so much to himself it was impossible to know how much of the truth he really knew.

Padmé quickly made up her mind.

"Master Yoda," she called, "wait a moment, please."

He paused and turned back to her. "Question, have you, Senator?"

Padmé blinked. She swallowed hard, wondering how to word the question appropriately. "If you found out something about a… person you and a close friend knew," she said, "but that person always remained something of a mystery to both you and your friend, should you tell the friend what you know, even though the secret is one of the most important things about the other person?" She winced after hearing the words come out of her mouth. "Does that make sense?"

Yoda looked up at her, unblinking. "Know, Jaina Solo's origins, you do," he stated.

Padmé nodded. Should she be surprised that Yoda knew, too?

"I know she's my granddaughter," she said.

"Told you, did she?"

Padmé shook her head. "No. I figured it out… on my own."

Yoda sighed. "And ask me, you do, if you should tell Skywalker, hmm?"

Padmé nodded.

"Decide for yourself, you must," Yoda told her. "Keep your granddaughter's secret for a time, you may need to. Or, perhaps, not. From now on, uncertain, it is, for me to say. Always in motion, the future is. Set in stone, it is not. Your own decisions, let their course take, Senator."

With that, he moved away across the room and out the doorway, leaving Padmé to her contemplations. She sighed; this was such a huge secret she did not know if she could keep it. It was dreadfully important to Jaina, of course, but Anakin had a right to know.

Perhaps Jaina would tell him herself. But then another question came – would Anakin take as good or ill when he finally found out the truth of Jaina Solo?

Padmé attempted to continue her contemplations for another hour, but soon found that she kept returning to the same point: she just truly did not know what to about the subject of Jaina's secret. Finally giving up on it, she stood and returned to her room to place Luke and Leia in their crib before going to find Bail. Though she still remained somewhat cold in their conversations, she knew that she still could trust him. It was not his fault that he had been forced to leave Anakin and the others behind.

She found Bail in the meeting room they had used after the Coruscant affair. He was sitting in front of a screen, playing with the settings. Sheltay Retrac and several of his other aides and members of the Tantive IV crew were also present. Padmé sat down beside him and caught his attention.

"Well?" she said.

"No luck," Bail replied, sighing. "I have the codes to access that ship anywhere in the Galaxy. Either it's so far out of range that our transmissions can't reach it, or something is wrong with the ship and it needs repairs." He rubbed his forehead. "Either way, it's not good news."

"Keep trying," Padmé said.

"We will," Bail assured her. "But not right now." He paused. "We've been trying to open communications with those still friendly to us. Other Senators who were on our side before the events at Coruscant – those who wish to make a stand against Palpatine."

Padmé nodded. "And?"

"We've had moderate success. We're trying to contact Mon Mothma right now."

Padmé was about to respond when Sheltay interrupted.

"Sir," she said. "We've been able to transmit on a secure line. They're receiving now."

Suddenly, the screen blurred into focus. Padmé shifted slightly as she saw her old friend, Mon Mothma, look back at her. The Senator of Chandrila looked tired. Her face was haggard and there were grey bags under her eyes. There was a tightness about her expression that Padmé had never seen before.

"Bail," she said with a smile. "Padmé. You're safe."

"Well, for now," Padmé said.

Mon Mothma's smile faded. "I've heard about what happened on Alderaan, Bail," she said. "I'm sorry."

His expression was like ice. "Thank you."

"There will be a very publicized trial," Mon Mothma added. "Palpatine is not going to let this one go, not when he can milk it for all its worth. He'll make the Galaxy fear the Empire and make those ignorant enough to fall under its sway fall in love with it. He knows how to play to the people, Bail. He's been doing it for years. Besides…" Her expression became dark. "It's one way of drawing you out by putting your wife on trial. He thinks there might be a chance of you trying to come and protect her."

Bail's expression had become a scowl. He said nothing.

"What of the Senate, Mon?" Padmé asked. "Is there any attempts to stand up to him?"

Mon Mothma shook her head sadly. "Our hands are tied," she said. "Any attempts to defy the Empire are crushed. Those of us who are against it are forced to wear a façade to protect our own lives. If he ever found out our true intentions and beliefs, he would have us killed off one by one. If you hear any news of me… agreeing to something you know I would stand against, do not believe it. It is only an act. There is much more that can be done underground, in secret, out of the Empire's eye than openly declaring war against him."

"A resistance of kinds, then," Padmé murmured. "Has anything been organized at all?"

Mon Mothma tilted her head. "In a way. I have my own people attempting to run an underground organization, but it will take a very long time before anything can be done in the open. The Empire's eyes are everywhere." She paused. "I cannot keep this line open for very long," she said, "but I must warn you now. Do not go near any civilized systems. A bounty has been put on both your heads – and quite a large one at that. You have been labeled 'disturbers of the peace' and 'public enemies' by the Empire. You're both wanted – at any cost."

Padmé swallowed hard. "And Anakin?" she asked.

Mon Mothma frowned. "Jedi Skywalker?"

Padmé nodded.

Mon Mothma's lips became a thin line. "All Jedi are wanted – dead."

"That does not surprise me," Bail said.

Mon Mothma shook her head. "No, it does not. Democracy is crashing around us. It exists in name only. The Jedi, the protectors of peace and freedom, were the first to go. Soon, I doubt the Senate will be anything more than a public figure head. All the power in the Empire is in Palpatine's hands. We have to obey him – we have no choice."

"We will do something, Mon," Padmé said. "You can count on it."

"I can only hope." Mon Mothma smiled slightly. "Best of luck to you both."

"And to you."

Her image flickered once and then the transmission was cut. Padmé glanced at Bail.

"It is a dark time for the Galaxy, Padmé," Bail murmured. "To see everything come to this."

She clenched her fists. "Indeed."