Chapter 6- Captured by Vader and Desert Planet
Vader looked with glowering disapproval around the consular ship, Tantive IV. This ship belonged to the royal family of Alderaan. Vader had seen it often when Senator Organa and his brother Cail would come with their daughters Leia and Lena. More often though the princesses would be the ones using the ship. After ordering his men to search the ship for the Death Star plans, Vader looked up to see Leia Organa flanked by four stormtroopers, her hands firmly restrained by binders.
Vader mentally noticed that Princess Lena wasn't with her; something that was a bit of a surprise as Lena Organa could never be separated from her cousin and was her aide in the Imperial senate. That was something that Vader would ask Leia about. Of the two princesses Vader secretly admired Lena. She wasn't sarcastic and reminded Vader of Padme if he thought about it long enough. Lena would have been an excellent Jedi, if such people still existed and Vader hadn't killed them.
"Darth Vader. Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this. When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic-" Princess Leia started to say haughtily. It was a tone that Vader had never liked. Not even when he was Anakin Skywalker he had hated people talking down to him. So Vader felt no guilt at interrupting her tirade.
"Don't act so surprised, Your Highness. You weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you," Vader growled.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan," Leia said, using a voice that made Vader feel like a five-year-old doing something wrong in Watto's junkshop again before the Jedi came to Tatooine and separated him from his mother. It was a tone that made Vader even angrier.
"You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. Take her away!" Vader snapped and waved his hand dismissively at the stormtroopers, who led Leia away.
"My lord, we found this in Princess Lena's quarters. She was here," one of the stormtroopers said, holding out a cube. Vader felt his ire rise. It was a Jedi holocron. Only Force users could open it and this particular holocron could only be opened by a Jedi. How a princess from Alderaan had gotten this cursed holocron Vader couldn't fathom. Unless... It then hit him. The girl WAS a Jedi, but Vader couldn't imagine how she had been trained without his or the Emperor's knowledge. Unless the person who trained her managed to mask her Force signature.
"Holding her is dangerous. If word of this gets out, and her cousin finds out, it could generate sympathy for the rebellion in the senate," Vader's aide said, bringing Vader's attention back to Leia.
"I've traced the rebel spies to her and her Jedi cousin. Now she is my only link to finding their secret base," Vader said, feeling a twinge of remorse that he would have to destroy the young Jedi, but his master had said that no Jedi was allowed to live. Even ones that looked like Padme weren't exempt.
"She'll die before she'll tell you anything," the aide said.
Don't I know it, Vader thought with grim amusement. "Leave that to me. Send a distress signal and then inform the senate that all onboard were killed," Vader said and his aide walked away.
"Lord Vader, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship and no transmissions were made. Two escape pods were jettisoned during the fighting, but no lifeforms were onboard," a soldier said.
"She must have hidden the plans in one escape pod and her cousin, with her knowledge of the Force is in the other pod. She masked her Force signature. Send a detachment down to retrieve them and bring me the girl- see to it personally, Commander. And the girl is not to be harmed. There will be no one to stop us this time," Vader said, walking away.
"Yes, Sir," the commander said crisply.
Vader found himself walking to Lena's sleeping quarters. The princess's cot was rumpled as if she had been rudely awakened. Vader's eyes went to a picture beside the cot and he lifted it. Bail, Cail, Lena, and Leia were standing in front of the Imperial Senate building. Lena had her arms firmly around Cail and a smile on her face. Vader found himself turn the picture. To the daughter of my heart, Lena Skywalker, on her birthday, love your father, Talon Orran. Vader felt his breath catch. Lena Skywalker? Talon Orran?
Lena felt the hot heat of the planet even before she used the Force to open the pod door. Lena had the suspicion that she was gonna swelter in this heat. For even a Jedi, black and brown was a horrible color scheme for a planet with two suns. If there was a way for Jedi Knights not to smother, Lena had yet to think of it. This planet made Naboo from two months ago seem like paradise. The lake country was beautiful and the temperature moderate. Lena could only hope she found Obi-Wan soon.