A/N: Well, hello there! Yes, this is really happening. I don't know what else to say other than, my muse came back to me a few weeks ago and my wonderful friend and rockstar beta-reader, Zyra, agreed to entertain my madness and help me finish this thing. Of course, I apologize for my lengthy absence. But what's 7-8 years amongst friends? I don't know how long my muse will stick around, but I do hope that anyone left out there that had read this story, might enjoy seeing it brought to its conclusion. This story is FINISHED. I promised myself that I wouldn't start publishing until it was complete - so I promise there will be no more long absences.
This chapter is a synopsis of everything that happened in the first 91 chapters, you know, just in case you (like myself) might have forgotten a few things over the years. And, okay, here we go:
It is Your Destiny…
Previously on "It is your Destiny"
Four years following the destruction of the second Death Star, Luke convinces Leia that the future for her family and her future children is so dark and horrible, that they should go back to the past and change it. A reluctant Leia agrees and each twin visits a young Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda to warn them of the pitfalls of the next several years. However, unbeknownst to the other, each twin also leaves a message (Leia with Artoo and Luke with Chewie) of true love between Han and Leia, hoping that no matter how much they change the past, Han and Leia would still have a future.
The rest of the story happens in the altered past. It begins with a 16-year-old Jedi Padawan, Leia Skywalker receiving a mysterious message from her future self. A message about a tragic past, an altered future, and true love with a man named Han Solo. Leia, with her friend Winter who is now the Princess of Alderaan, and the Wookiee Chewbacca, the royal family's body guard, orchestrates Han and Leia's first meeting. Which, true to form for the couple, does not go smoothly.
Leia does not share with anyone what she knows about the time traveling twins. Han, having been an officer in Corellia, defects to the Republic and begins working on Stealth Technology along with the Jedi. Luke is on Han's strike team and Leia soon follows. Rumors of another Sith rising begin to circulate among the Jedi and Anakin Skywalker is unhappy that his children have abandoned their Jedi teaching to become puppets of the Republic. Choosing a Jedi to lead the Stealth Squadron instead of Han, Solo feels duped and considers handing in his stripes.
Chewbacca approaches Han and tells him parts of what he knows about how the past had been altered and Han's destiny to be an important part of the Republic's fight against the Empire, trying to nudge the cocky human in the right direction. However, he leaves out any mention of the romantic future between the pilot and the female Jedi, Leia Skywalker. Han eventually lands a position in the Republic's Secret Service reporting to Airen Cracken who sets him up with an old freighter as cover. Han chooses Chewie as his co-pilot and together they christen The Millennium Falcon.
Obi Wan and Yoda reflect back on all that they have done, calling out many things that would be familiar to readers of the EU: Starting with the abolition of slavery, to the Outbound Flight project and the successful annihilation of the Far Outsiders that Luke and Leia had called the "Vong". To things such as changing the Jedi code, making peace with the Empire of the Hand, destroying the secret weapon installation in the Maw and the burgeoning Emperor's secret cache on Wayland, to dealing with the Emperor himself. And finally, the genetic research and re-engineering of the wild inhabitants of Myrkyr and the land reclamation project that was successful on the planet Honoghr. Leaving only one item that the twins had warned them about: Kesh, a planet full of Dark Side practicing Sith.
As tension rises between the Republic and Imperial Region, Leia accompanies Bail Organa on a diplomatic visit to Byss where they meet Grand Moff Tarkin and Grand Admiral Thrawn who accuse the Republic of breaking the Galactic Code by developing super weapons (the secret Jedi Stealth Squadron which signals to Bail and Leia that there must be a mole high up in the Republic ranks) before the pair are eventually taken prisoner. Obi-Wan Kenobi volunteers to lead a mission to free the prisoners and requests Luke to be on his team. The pair of Jedi meet up with Airen Cracken's assets, Han Solo and Chewbacca on the Falcon. While en route, Obi Wan Kenobi shares his tale of time travel and fixing the past with Luke.
When the strike team arrives on Byss, Anakin Skywalker is already there, raising suspicions as to how he knew about the covert mission. With no time to argue, the group splits up and infiltrates the facility where Leia and Bail are being held. During the rescue, Bail Organa is killed as well as Obi Wan Kenobi, who Luke finds slain by a lightsaber blade, casting doubt and suspicion on his father, Anakin Skywalker.
On board The Millennium Falcon, Luke and Leia are both shaken by the events on Byss. While consoling his sister, Luke confides in her the story that Obi-Wan had shared with him. Much to his surprise, Leia reveals what she had known for many years and Luke is upset with her especially since unlike Obi-Wan's tale, Leia's seemed to be focused solely on her personal life and he accuses her of never taking the Force seriously and being capricious with her powers. He warns her to be cautious with how she uses the information and urges her to stay away from Han and let the future play out without any further manipulation.
Reacting to the news of an Imperial Super Weapon, Han Solo is pulled off his covert assignment and promoted to a General leading the Jedi StealthX Squadron from his flagship, The Eclipse. We are given an insight into Tarkin, onboard his Death Star as he works in tandem with Grand Admiral Thrawn utilizing the former "Emperor's Hands" that were left leaderless with the death of the Emperor. Meanwhile, Anakin Skywalker has totally withdrawn from the Jedi and society and he visits foreign worlds and studies the Force in an entirely different way.
Back together on the Eclipse, Han and Leia begin to warm up to one another. Although Leia is torn between heeding her brother's advice and wondering if she can trust her heart, or if everything she is feeling is fabricated due to the message she received all those years ago, she finds she cannot help herself. Han works the Jedi hard and pushes them to learn new ways to utilize their Jedi Meld. Some of the Jedi question his ability. Han proves them wrong by performing the maneuvers himself, without the aid of the Force.
As Han and the Jedi Squadron wait to make their attack run on the Empire's Death Star, Leia gives Han a quick kiss after a debrief, but Han reminds her that he is her superior officer and nothing can come of it. Anakin is shown out in the Far Reaches of space, meditating and talking of leaving his body. At the same moment, Leia experiences a Force vision of her father onboard the Eclipse and collapses but later thinks that she must've dreamt it. Despite Han's words from earlier, his and Leia's relationship escalates and they begin sleeping together. Many times, Leia considers and tries to tell Han about what she knows, but the right words or timing never seems to come and she remains silent.
Meanwhile, the Death Star moves to orbit Luke and Leia's homeworld of Naboo where their mother is located. Following a hunch, Han takes a gamble stating that Naboo is a feint and the real target is Coruscant and he sends one of the Jedi, Arch, on a reconnaissance mission to investigate. Luke and Leia both sense that their father is on Naboo with their mother and that he is sending reassurance through the Force that he will protect her. Arch returns late, having found nothing and being over-exhausted from remaining in a Jedi healing trance. But in the end, everyone trusts Han's hunch (even Leia) and they move their forces to Coruscant.
Tarkin is surprised that the Republic hasn't taken his bait and when his junior officer informs him that there is a small chance that the attack may prove catastrophic, Tarkin refuses to abandon ship. In the end, the Jedi Squadron, although severely outnumbered, outwits the Empire with the moves that Han had so painstakingly taught them and destroys the Death Star. And although Naboo had been a feint, news soon arrived that Padme, Luke and Leia's mother, had been killed and that although their father had sent them "feelings" that he was there protecting her, he had not been on the planet at all. At the funeral, Luke warns Han away from Leia and once again chastises his sister for tampering with the past just to secure her love life.
Leia tries to understand her father but he only pushes her further away. Meanwhile, someone turns Han in for sleeping with a subordinate and he is relieved of his post onboard the Eclipse and sent back to work for Airen Cracken. During any time he gets to spend with Leia, he increasingly pleads with her to run away with him and although tempted, Leia always refuses. Luke and Leia clash over their feelings and suspicions regarding their father and tension rises between them due to their differing opinions on what their time traveling selves had really set out to accomplish.
Han and Chewie perform a few covert operations on Nar Shadaa and both enjoy the anonymity of flying around in a small starship with very little oversight. Meanwhile, having been grounded on Coruscant, Leia escapes and returns to Naboo to dig into the details of her mother's murder. She finds that Padme had been specifically targeted and that her father had never been on-planet protecting her as she and Luke had thought. She returns to her childhood home, dejected and confused. There, she is attacked by three Sith. Outnumbered, she fools the Sith by projecting herself inside one of them and making the other kill his own partner. She isn't entirely sure how and what she had just done and she leaves the experience somehow changed. Beaten and near death, she takes her StealthX out to space and sends a coded message to Han.
Han and Chewie rescue a near-to-death Leia and patch her up. Several times, while sedated, Leia tells Han: "I knew you a long time ago." But he doesn't know what to make of it. He is also very concerned by the wounds that he sees and how she reacts to his touch. He asks her if she had been raped. Leia remembers invading the Sith and the feeling she had of being invaded (mentally) herself. She assures Han that she was not hurt in that way but doesn't tell him anything else.
Once she is able to move, Leia dresses and tells Han she needs to leave, feeling more and more compelled to get to the bottom of whatever it is her father is doing. News of something brewing above the forest moon of Endor has reached the Republic and Han and Chewie are supposed to go and investigate. She urges Han to do his duty and let her do hers. They agree to part and send each other a message in a week's time.
A/N: More chapters to follow shortly. One more BIG THANK YOU to Zyra. You've been there through it all and I can't thank you enough for helping me see this thing through.