Okay, to everyone asking; Darth Talon is still alive, just missing in action.

I don't own Star Wars.

Chapter 37: Imperial Pursuit and Degobah

Luke, along with his co-pilot Dak, maneuvered the fighter around the barrage of firepower being thrown at them by the enemy. Luke spiraled around and set his sights on one of the AT-AT Walkers.

"Dak, ready the harpoons and tow cables! They might be our only chance!" Luke said. Suddenly, a blast hit Dak's part of the ship, killing him.

"Uncle, I've lost my gunner! You're going to have to make the shot!" Luke called.

Rex, with Ahsoka as his gunner, did so and wove the cable around the Walker's legs as soon as the harpoon was attached. As a result, the walker tripped and fell. A Rebel ship flew by and destroyed it with a torpedo blast. Anakin grinned and decided to try what they just had.

"That's looks like fun, Master, let's try that," he said.

"Your idea of fun is not the same as mine," Obi-Wan retorted.

"Just keep on those guns, Master, I'll take care of the rest," Anakin said as his harpoon latched onto another Walker. Anakin spiraled and wove around the legs, before releasing the cable and shouting in victory. Obi-Wan's stomach lurch violently again as he shot a missile and destroyed the now toppled walking weapon.

"This is no way to treat your old Master, my old padawan," Obi-Wan scolded. Anakin grinned slyly.

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Luke shook his head in amusement as he watched his father's ship spiral.

A huge explosion drew Luke's attention, as he realized that the Imperials had taken out the main generator. The base was beginning to crumble under the heavy fire.

A stray blast clipped Luke's ship and he went down. He quickly got out just before an AT-AT Walker crushed his ship.

Luke took out his extending cable and hooked it onto the side of the AT-AT, before climbing up the side of the walking monstrosity. He placed a thermal detonator on the walker and then used his saber to cut the cable.

He fell back into the snow and watched as the AT-AT exploded. Anakin grinned at his son's handiwork.

"That's my son," he said proudly. Obi-Wan smiled and shook his head. Suddenly, a dark tremor pierced through Anakin and Obi-Wan's senses.

"Vader...he's at the base," Anakin said as he began undoing his restraints.

"Wait, where are you going?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I'm going back for Padmé, Leia, and our babies. The base is lost. You should get Satine and Annie to one of the escape transports. The other Rebel leaders are probably on some of the last few. They'll need protection. Rex, you and Ahsoka should get Sola, Darred, Lux and Rukto and make sure they get to the escape transport too," Anakin said as he opened the hatch of the ship.

"Anakin wait!" Obi-Wan called as his former apprentice jumped into the air, floating downward toward the ground.

"A Jedi's work is never done," Obi-Wan griped as he took control of the ship and flew it for the base to retrieve his family, while Rex and Ahsoka followed him.

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Luke watched in amazement as his father jumped from his ship and landed on his feet in the snow.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Luke asked.

"No time Luke, I've got to go back to the base for your mother and siblings. I sense Vader," Anakin replied.

"Wait, I'll come with you!" Luke called.

"No, your X-Wing is waiting and Artoo, Mara and Aisha are already there. Go to the Dagobah system like we discussed. Your trials have begun and your first task is to seek Master Yoda," Anakin said as put a hand on Luke's shoulder. Luke nodded.

"Be careful Dad," he called. Anakin smiled and nodded as he broke into a Force assisted run, heading for the base.

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Padmé clutched a whimpering Bella to her chest and Leia held Aiden as Han led them through the crumbling base, trying to get them to one of the transports. But it was no use as the duraplaster was coming down around them. Han spoke into his comlink.

"Take off without us. I'll get them out of here in the Falcon," Han called.

Padmé screamed suddenly as a huge piece of the ceiling broke off and was about to come crashing down on her and Bella. She covered Bella with her body and stopped the piece of plaster with the Force and tossed aside. She sighed in relief after seeing her husband appear.

"Ani!" Padmé exclaimed as she welcomed his tight embrace.

"Come on, we need to get to the Falcon. Vader is here," Anakin told them.

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The Snow Troopers blasted through the fallen plaster and Vader followed them through the fallen debris. The guards followed Vader, who was sensing that Skywalker was nearby.

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They reached the hanger where the Millennium Falcon sat waiting.

"There they are! Stop them!" Vader shouted fiercely. Anakin whipped around igniting his lightsaber and blocking several blaster bolts.

"Get them on the ship!" he called.

Han pushed Padmé and Leia ahead of him and dragged Threepio up the ramp with him while Anakin continued to block the blasts.

Vader drew his red lightsaber as he approached the man that he had been cloned from. Sapphire and crimson clashed together as the sabers hissed and crackled, meeting in a deadlock.

"Finally, after three years of searching, I've found you," Vader hissed.

"Sorry, but I can't hang around," Anakin replied as he kicked Vader in the chest and threw him back with a hard Force push.

He scrambled up the ramp just as it closed and headed for the cockpit. Together, he and Han blasted out of the Hanger, leaving Hoth.

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Luke smiled as he saw the last transport leave, which carried Obi-Wan, Satine, Annie, his Uncle Rex, Uncle Darred, Aunt Sola, Ahsoka, Lux and Rukto. And much to his added relief, he then saw the Falcon leave, carrying his parents and siblings. He quickly made his way to his X-Wing.

It was customized to carry three people without losing speed or maneuverability.

"There you are. Come on!" Mara called.

"Artoo, get ready for take off," Luke ordered.

They took off, leaving Hoth behind as well, but set a new course. Artoo beeped at him.

"There's nothing wrong. We're just setting a new course," Luke replied. Artoo beeped and clicked back.

"We're not meeting up with the others just yet. We're going to the Degobah system," Aisha replied as Luke took the ship into hyperspace, headed toward the planet where their trials would begin.

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Meanwhile, the Millennium Falcon was being pursued heavily by three Star Destroyers and dozens of TIE fighters. The Falcon rocked heavily as it was hit yet again with a blast. Anakin and Han both struggled to keep the ship steady.

"Prepare for the jump to hyperspace," Han told Chewie.

"Master Anakin, might I-" Threepio tried to say.

"Not now Threepio," Anakin cut him off as the ship lurched again, tossing them all around the cockpit. As Han tried to make the jump, a clear malfunction was heard.

"I think we're in trouble," Han said.

"I tried to tell you sir. The hyper drive motivator has been damaged," Threepio told them.

"That's big trouble, I'll go see what I can do," Anakin said as he grabbed the tools. While he was digging around the innards of the Falcon, he felt something hit them that wasn't a blast.

"Anakin, get back up here!" he heard Padmé call. He pulled himself up and ran back to the cockpit.

"An asteroid field. Can you take us in Solo?" Anakin asked, wondering if he should take over.

"We ain't got much choice," Han replied as he started in.

"We're going into an asteroid field?" Leia began to panic.

"Don't worry sweetheart, we'll be fine. And they'd be crazy to follow us," Anakin replied.

"Master Anakin, the odds of us surviving an asteroid field are 3,720 to 1," Threepio informed them.

"Never tell me the odds," Han grumbled. He flew them toward one of the larger asteroids and into one of the large craters to hide.

"What are you doing Solo?" Anakin asked.

"I'm hiding us. Got a better idea?" Han asked. Anakin knew that they had to hide, but he was getting a strange feeling from their new hiding place.

"Just keep your eyes open. Something doesn't feel right," Anakin replied.

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Luke dropped out of hyperspace, over Degobah.

"That's it Artoo, Degobah," Luke said.

"I'm picking up no cities or technology. But massive life readings. There's something alive down there," Mara said as they descended into the atmosphere.

They encountered massive fog and lots of turbulence.

"Hang on, I'm starting the landing cycle," Luke said as he flipped some switches.

Unfortunately, he landed the X-Wing right in the swamp.

"Great, stuck in the mud! Nice landing, Skywalker!" Aisha chastised.

"Hey, I didn't see you offering to help us land!" Luke argued.

"Both of you shut up!" Mara stopped their argument.

Luke sighed in exasperation and hopped out. Artoo started to lift himself out and the ship started to sink down, causing the astro-droid to fall into the swamp.

"Artoo!" Luke called, not wanting to lose the little droid that his family was so fond of. He called a couple more times, before they saw Artoo's visor rise out of the water. Mara sighed in relief, while Luke and Aisha rolled their eyes.

"You be more careful," Luke chided.

The three humans carefully waded through the swamp and pulled themselves onto the bank. Unfortunately, a swamp monster tried to eat Artoo, pulling him under.

Luke called for him, afraid that he would never resurface. But once the monster discovered that Artoo didn't taste very good, it spat the droid out. Artoo's shrill scream filled the air as he went sailing through the air and onto the bank.

Luke and Mara helped him sit upright and grimaced, as Artoo was now covered in dirt and grime.

"You alright? Anything broken?" Aisha asked him.

Luke began brushing off some of the grime and Artoo spat out a bunch of grimy water, almost hitting them. Luke gave the little droid a weary look, before looking around.

"Why in the world did Dad and Ben send us here? They had to be mistaken," Luke said. Mara sighed as the three of them and Artoo began moving through the mushy swamp.

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Darth Vader sat in his chamber as his helmet was lowered back over his head. Admiral Piett acted as though he was not interested in what was happening and tore his eyes away from the sight as Vader turned to him.

"Yes Admiral?" Vader asked.

"We have traced the Millennium Falcon sir, but they have entered an asteroid field and are unreachable," Piett explained.

"I don't care about asteroids or excuses admiral. I want that ship!" Vader ordered, furious that Skywalker had escaped him yet again.

"Yes my Lord," Piett answered.

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"We need to shut everything down if we're going to repair the hyper drive," Anakin said.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but does that include me, sir?" Threepio asked. Anakin smiled and patted Threepio's metal shoulder.

"No Threepio," he replied as he and Han started shutting panels down. Suddenly, the ship rocked slowly. Padmé and Leia exchanged a worried glance.

"I don't believe this asteroid is entirely stable," Threepio informed them.

"Not entirely stable? Thanks, I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. Chewie, take the professor in the back and plug him in," Han said. "What in the world were you thinking when you built him?"

"I was just a little boy, Captain. I originally built him to help my mother around the house," Anakin replied. Han rolled his eyes as Anakin left to fix a few things on the other side of the ship and Padmé followed.

The ship rocked again and Leia fell into Han's arms. He held her as the ship continued to rock.

"Let go," she protested nervously.

"Don't get excited," he tried to calm her down.

"Captain, being held by you isn't nearly enough to get me excited," Leia protested.

"Sorry sweetheart, don't have time for anything else," Han replied with a smirk, before he went about his repairs.

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Luke and Mara went about moving things from their stranded ship to set up camp for the night. Aisha turned on the power source and plugged Artoo in to charge him, making the droid happy.

"Well, there's not much else we can do tonight. We need to find this Yoda. This sure is a strange place to find a Jedi Master to live. But if this is where Dad and Ben said he is, then he must be," Luke said as he took a bite of his ration stick. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

After over three years of eating his Mother's wonderful homemade cooking, the rations sticks left much to be desired.

Aisha felt the same, "Ugh, what crappy cook made this?"

"Yeah, your Mother is the best cook ever," Mara added.

"I hear ya," Luke smiled. Aisha looked around.

"You know, the Force feels stronger here than on Hoth," she said.

"Mom has told me that the Force always feels stronger on planets with more natural life," Mara confirmed.

"Yeah, it feels like..." Luke trailed off.

"Feels like what?" a strange voice asked. Luke spun around with his blaster while Mara and Aisha drew their sabers. The little creature covered his head.

"Like we're being watched," Luke replied.

"Put your weapons away. Mean you no harm, I do," the little creature spoke as he hobbled down. "Why are you here?"

"We're looking for someone," Luke answered.

"Looking? Found someone you have, I would say. Hmm?" the creature replied, laughing. "Help you, I can."

"I don't think so, we're looking for a great warrior," Mara replied.

"Oh, great warrior..." the little creature laughed. "Wars not make one great." He grabbed Luke's ration stick and began munching on it.

"Hey, that's my dinner!" Luke cried. The creature tossed the stick away in disgust.

"How you get so big, when eat food like that?" he asked as he started digging through their things.

"Hey, get out of there!" Aisha cried, as the creature started tossing stuff about. Luke groaned.

"Don't do that. You're making a mess," he said in exasperation. The creature found a light source and held onto it tightly. Artoo extended one of his arms and tried to pull the item away from the creature.

"No...mine this is!" the creature yelled, beating Artoo with a stick.

"Artoo, let him have it," Luke replied in exasperation

"Could you move along, little fella? We're looking for a Jedi Master and we need to get back to work," Mara insisted.

"Oh...Jedi Master? Yoda, you seek Yoda!" the little creature ranted.

"You know him?" Luke asked.

"Hm, take you to him, I will. But first, eat we will. Come, come, good food," the little creature hobbled along. Luke sighed, but they really had no choice but to follow him.

"Artoo, stay with the camp," Aisha told the droid before they followed after the little creature.

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Padmé smiled as her husband hung upside down inside one of the Falcon's ceiling hatches. He dug around the wires and was fusing and fixing things here and there.

He was using the Force to hold himself like that and had opted to fix this rather precarious section, which she knew Han would have had Chewie do if Anakin hadn't offered. His head popped into view.

"Angel, can you hand me that long, silver tool?" he asked.

Padmé smiled and handed him the one he asked for. She knew he could easily float the tool up to him with the Force, but he was trying to make her feel useful. She always hated feeling useless in any situation and ones like these, she usually couldn't be of much help, for repairing machinery was not her forte.

It was certainly thoughtful of her wonderful husband to try and make her think she was being helpful, she thought. She smiled at that thought, but then her expression turned to worry as she thought about Luke.

She knew that she shouldn't worry. Luke was a Jedi in training after all and he would be with Master Yoda, plus Mara and Aisha were with him. But she still couldn't help but worry about both her children. Anakin's head popped down again and he immediately noticed her worried countenance.

"Padmé, what's wrong?" he asked. She shrugged and smiled softly.

"Nothing Ani, I'm just worried about Luke. And...about how I endangered our little ones by bringing them with us," she replied.

Thankfully, both Aiden and Bella were currently napping in Han's quarters. He gazed at her beautiful face fondly and gave her a smile.

"He'll be fine angel. And as for the babies, it was my decision to bring them too. Besides, I feel much more at ease with them close by. Suppose they managed to track us to our new home? They would have found them there with your Mother and that would have been much worse," he assured her as he reached down with his left hand and caressed her cheek.

She hadn't thought about that and realized that they were all better off with Anakin, no matter where that happened to be or what the circumstances. She leaned closer to him and kissed his lips. Anakin broke the kiss and floated down, turning himself upright before replacing the ceiling panel.

"Those power couplings should be good now," he said. He wrapped his arms around her tightly as the ship rocked again.

Padmé clung to him as he held onto the wall. Anakin gazed down at her for a long moment, before gently capturing her lips in a long, passionate kiss. A few moments later, their lips parted and they smiled softly at each other.

"Come on, let's go see how Han is doing with the hyper drive. It's probably best if we get off this rock as quickly as possible," Anakin told her. She nodded and they walked toward the cockpit.

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Leia turned the knob as hard as she could, but it was stuck.

"Here," Han said as he tried to help her, but she pulled away. He grabbed onto her arms to steady her, as they rocked again.

"Calm down, your worship. I'm only trying to help," Han snapped.

"I wish you'd stop calling me that," Leia shot back.

"Okay Leia," he emphasized with a smug smirk. "You think I'm all right sometimes, admit it."

"Occasionally yes, when you're not acting like a scoundrel," Leia replied.

"You like that I'm a scoundrel. There are no scoundrels in your life," Han stated.

"Stop that," Leia said, trying to pull her hands away.

"You're afraid," Han said.

"Afraid?" she questioned.

"You're trembling," Han replied.

"I'm not trembling. And I don't like scoundrels. I happen to like nice men," she protested

"I am a nice man," Han replied as his lips descended upon hers passionately.

"Sir, Master Anakin has fixed the power couplings," Threepio began babbling about something else after that, but Han wasn't listening. He looked at the golden droid with annoyance.

"Thank you...thank you very much," Han separated from Leia, and she sprinted away in embarrassment.

Anakin and Padmé walked in and immediately, Anakin picked up on the tension between his daughter and Han through the Force. He glanced between them and then suspiciously at Han for a few moments. Han quickly busied himself, ignoring Anakin's piercing gaze. Quickly, he went back to work on the hyper drive.

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"Lord Vader, we have sustained great damage in the asteroid field. It is likely that they have been destroyed as well," one officer reported.

"No captain, they are still alive. I want that ship!" Vader commanded.

"Yes my Lord," the captain responded. Admiral Piett approached Vader.

"Lord Vader, the Emperor commands that you make contact with him," Piett said.

"Move the ship out of the asteroid field to ensure a clear transmission," Vader ordered.

"Yes my Lord," Piett said as Vader retreated into a conference room. A large holo image of the Emperor appeared before him.

"What is thy bidding, my Master?" Vader asked as he bowed to him.

"I sense a great disturbance in the Force. It seems that Skywalker has gone about training his son in the ways of the Force," Sidious said.

"Yes, but he is just a boy. Skywalker is the true threat," Vader replied.

"Yes, and aided by his father, the younger Skywalker could be unstoppable. And then there is still Kenobi and the rest of the Jedi. They all must be eliminated," Sidious said.

"It shall be done, my Master," Vader replied as he turned and left the chambers.

He needed a plan to lure and capture them. If he could take out Skywalker first, then the others would be nothing. He knew that taking them all on at once would not be possible if he were to win.

No, he would have to single them out and lucky for him; they had already gone about separating themselves for him. And then of course, there was Skywalker's woman and the little brats. They would be useful in bringing about Anakin's demise. Vader smirked under his helmet, as a plan began to formulate in his mind...

Having Mara and Aisha join Luke on Degobah made things easier.

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