It is Your Destiny…

Coruscant

The Jedi Temple lay in ruins. Explosions and implosions had left all but a few lone columns and crumbling foundation stones in their wake. Where the Sith had gone or if they had perished in the melee was still unclear. Hundreds of bodies had been recovered and not a single living being had been found yet. Stunned by the attack on their own soil, coupled with the devastating news that Han had brought them from Endor, the Republic reeled. And so did Han.

Cut loose by Madine and sent in a small starcraft to regroup with The Eclipse, pick up the Millennium Falcon and join in on the upcoming raid on Endor, any further punishment for his outburst with General Mawrz had been shelved. Of course, how his return to the scene of his crime would be received, still yet remained to be seen.

Han curled his long fingers around the control yoke of this unfamiliar craft, anxious to be reunited with his own ship and back in the skies with a purpose. He was also anxious about the news he carried with him. It sat there churning around at the pit of his stomach like bad shellfish from Mon Calamari. Anakin Skywalker was a traitor to the Republic. He had seen, participated in and perhaps planned the attack on the Jedi Temple. It was all too much to take in. And if it was hitting him this hard, he worried how hard this news would hit Leia.

Unaware of how long his silence had lingered, Han Solo's co-pilot warfled questioningly from his seat next to him.

"Huh?" Han asked, reluctantly pulling himself away from his thoughts.

Chewie repeated his question patiently.

"I don't know, though I can't imagine it could be any worse than the way they treated us the last time we boarded."

The Wookiee grunted.

"Well, you certainly got me there."

The pair lapsed back into a long silence and Han's thoughts immediately went back to Leia. How would she ever recover from finding this out about her father? Selfishly, he imagined that this new development would only further separate them as his covert assignment and her trip to Naboo had done. Separate them by a distance greater than parsecs and light-years, but with an emotional gulf that may prove too wide to cross.

He shook his head and the Wookiee warfled mournfully.

"This...I don't know what this'll do to Leia. She's put all her energy into finding out about her father and it'll kill her to discover this. It'll..."

Chewie barked an indignant reply.

"Everyone has their limits," Han replied. "I thought no matter how bad things got, that…" he trailed off.

Chewie barked his reassurance, and even Han had trouble following the Wookiee's exact meaning.

"I don't know," he replied, noncommittally.

The Wookiee took his massive paw and banged it against the console in an effort to get Han's full attention. When Han turned to look at him, Chewie barked again his confusing words of support and sympathy.

"I don't understand, pal," Han replied. "Whatdya mean, it's not a question?"

Chewie warfled low and slowly, trying hard to get Han to understand.

The hair on the back of Han's neck prickled up with interest. "Wait a minute, what? What're you talking about?"

Once again, as slowly as possible with barks and hoots that were somewhat foreign to Han, the Wookiee patiently tried to explain.

"I thought," Han replied, slowly digesting the meaning of the Wookiee's outburst. "I thought all that futuristic stuff had all played itself out when I joined the Republic military?" Han curled his fingers ever more tightly around the control yoke, unsure of how he felt about this latest news from his friend.

The Wookiee appeared guilty, grunting and cooing his response.

"Me and Leia?" Han asked incredulously. "That was a helluva important detail to forget."

But Chewbacca hadn't forgotten it, Han thought to himself. He had intentionally withheld it. Had Leia known this, too? Of course she would've known, had to have known.

Every conversation, every moment, every kiss was immediately re-lived under a new light – a harsh light. How could he have been so stupid? He could be lied to and cheated, outsmarted, outwitted and outplayed, even be manipulated by his enemies. And, hell, if they were successful he could respect them for it, for he was not so easily fooled. But coming from people he thought of as friends? From his lover?

Han stared out the viewport to the muddled blankness of hyperspace and began to seethe inside. Their first 'chance' meeting on Corellia, his ever-present feeling that she knew him so well and the long-buried suspicion that she was utilizing the Force on him when he gave into her and bowed to her wishes and needs. Oh, the deception! He felt wholly used and foolish. Did she even love him, really? Or was he some means to an end that he still could not clearly see?

Han cursed and ran his fingers through his hair. Chewbacca sat stoically calm and perhaps regretful of his impromptu confession.

If only Han knew for certain that Leia had known, then he would be able to process this all correctly, for there was a chance that she didn't know, that she had not been a party to this deception. That they had both been deceived. But then, readily and swiftly to his mind came a scene not so long ago when she had been delirious with injuries and he hadn't understood the words she was saying, "I knew you a long time ago" she had whispered. "I knew you" over and over again she had repeated and it was then that he knew, knew it and saw it all for what it was.

She knew.

That lump inside of his stomach twisted and he let it churn and fester there pulsating to the rapid thrum of his heartbeat. Quickly, oh so quickly, like a time traveler himself, he was transported back to the Han Solo that had served in the Imperial Academy on Corellia and who had held a deep-seated mistrust of the Jedi and their manipulating, conniving, all-powerful ways. Over these past few years his mind had been gradually changed and for what? To bear witness to the most degrading and masterful manipulation of them all.

Chewie moaned wearily and Han swallowed back all his feelings of confusion and betrayal.

"Prep for docking with The Eclipse," he said. "Let's get this over with."

Somewhere in Deep Space

It hadn't taken Leia long to confirm the reports. Every world, every quiet group of strange beings she had tracked down and spoken to, were now chopped down like sheaths of gene wheat during harvest time. The worst part of it all, worse than the sights and the smells of the endless massacre, was her doubts. She was losing her mind. Every scene of devastation bore with it some glimpse of a memory that she couldn't quite be sure was or was not her own.

Had she done this? Was she being manipulated or controlled? She was too confused, too saddened by it all to even weep. This was not how her life was supposed to go. She was strong, she was the one that could bear it all. What universe had she found herself in that she was so weak, felt so weak? She wanted Han. She wanted her father and Luke. She wanted to surround herself with the strength of others in a faint hope that in them she would find her own strength, and herself, once again.

Not knowing where else to go, unsure of where her father and Han might be and back once again in her X-wing, she set a course toward someone that she knew would be there. She set a course back to The Eclipse.

The Eclipse

Han and Chewbacca were allowed to board with The Eclipse without any fanfare or questioning. Had he been in his right mind, Han may have questioned the circumstances, but as it was, he was not in his right mind, not at all. When he exited the small transport, his eyes alighted on the one thing that held his confidence and his trust without fail: his ship. He strode purposefully toward it without any thought of SIS or the Republic, of Endor or any new planet-destroying weapon. He didn't know where he wanted to go or for what purpose, only that he wanted to go.

"Han!"

A voice called from behind him. He turned to find Luke barreling toward him through the crowd of beings in the busy hangar with the Jedi Arch close upon his heels. Luke and another Jedi, Han cringed inside, they all held his suspicion and mistrust now.

"Jedi Skywalker," Han returned, not bothering to hide his acerbic tone. "I thought you were in jail."

Luke looked confused, easily reading Han's hostility. "I was," he replied.

"Commander Mawrz has abandoned us," Arch said hastily, fear gripping his features.

"A wise move," Han said. "Maybe I misjudged the man after all." He turned and continued to walk toward the Millennium Falcon volleying between the complete anger he felt toward Luke, because there was no separating him from his twin sister, and the years behind them when he had called him a friend.

"Han, wait," Luke pleaded, catching up to him with quick steps. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know," he replied, finally reaching the Falcon and patting down her outer hatches with a long-practiced habit.

"Whatdya mean?" Luke asked, incredulous. "Aren't you working for the SIS?"

"That's on a need-to-know basis," Han replied. "Chewie," he said. "Go check the status of the engines."

He knew that he should be equally as mad at his co-pilot, but somehow that anger would not come. He lumped Chewie in with him, amongst the non-Force users that were mere pawns in the Jedi games.

"You're leaving?" Luke asked incredulously, his voice cracking.

"Did you have to use the Force to figure that one out?" Han replied, walking over to the Falcon's mandibles and checking on the forward guns.

"But Han," Luke argued. "We need you."

"You need?" Han replied, his mouth curling up in amusement. "You need?" he said again, his eyes looking about the hangar. "You've got a troupe of Jedi freedom fighters here that you should be able to conquer the galaxy with. You don't need me." It was comical now and all the hurt and hatred that he had been nurturing was slowly turning into wry amusement. Damn the Jedi. When had they ever needed him except to exploit and to use him?

"Han?" Luke said, pleading. "C'mon, why don't you take a look around? You know what's about to happen, what we're up against. We could use a good leader like you and you're turning your back on us?"

Han turned to look at him. It was hard to keep his ire up while looking into those wide, blue, innocent eyes. "I don't think so, Luke," he said civilly. "I don't think I have it in me."

"Han, I don't know what happened but you can't turn your back on the Republic-"

"The hell I can't!" Han bellowed and everyone within earshot looked his way.

Arch, who had been casually following and listening in to the conversation, slowly began to back away and feign disinterest.

Now, looking down into Luke Skywalker's eyes Han had a sudden urge to let it all out, to spill every ounce of this betrayal on the hangar floor at this Jedi's feet. But he swallowed down that urge, his anger was reserved for one person and one person only and she would be the sole recipient of it. "I'm telling you, I ain't got it in me, kid. Now leave me be."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that. The fate of the galaxy-"

"Damn you and damn the fate of the galaxy," Han said and he didn't yell it and he didn't raise his voice, he just stated his words as fact. "I'm just one man. How many times can one man be expected to save the fate of the galaxy? Why don't we give someone else a try, huh? Why me?"

Confusion and hurt still painted Luke's features as he pressed forward. "Someone has to take control of this operation. You've done it before, you could step right in again. There are reports coming in from Coruscant," Luke whispered, his eyes darting about the hangar bay. "I don't think any of the Jedi are up to the task of leadership right now. Not even me."

"You've seen the reports from Coruscant?" Han asked and Chewbacca moaned a warning growl.

"The Jedi Temple," Luke said, lowering his head in devastation.

"And your father?" Han asked as Chewie threw up his paws and paced behind him.

"What of my father?" Luke answered cautiously.

A trickle of warning crawled up Han's spine. Hurt and angry as he was, he didn't have it in him to take pleasure in what he was about to say. Han sighed and said, "Your father was there during the attack. I saw him tiptoe out just before the explosions. I saw him with my own eyes."

The words hit Luke hard and he seemed to shrink right before Han's eyes. Han sighed again and ran his hand over his face. Betrayal and hatred still sat well within him, but duty, obligation and friendship began to overshadow them.

"Look, Luke," he began.

"What happened to you?" Luke asked, true concern alight in his eyes.

"It doesn't matter. Look, I'll help you. I'll take over my post for this assault."

"Alright," Luke replied, trancelike. "Good."

"Arch," Han called over to the lingering Jedi.

"Yes, Commander Solo," he replied, showing that he had heard every word of what had been said.

"I want all team leaders in the main war room asap. And I'll need," he looked back first at Chewie and then at his ship. "I'll need someone to fly copilot with Chewbacca on the Falcon. Find me your best pilot, understood?"

"Yes, sir," Arch answered happily, grateful that someone was once again in charge.

"Han?" Luke said.

"Yeah?"

"Until we know a little more. Until we understand fully what this all means. Maybe we shouldn't tell Leia about...about what you just told me. It would devastate her."

"I wasn't the only person to see him, kid. It's all over the reports, probably all over the holonet by now."

"Still."

Han swallowed, trying to imagine all the things he wanted to say to Leia when he finally saw her again. "I can't make any promises."