0 BBY

Pain surged up Kal's spine as she was thrown off the bunk bed onto the hard, metal floor of the Millennium Falcon, effectively waking her up from her slumber. Dressed only in a skimpy tank top and shorts, she pulled herself off the floor and trudged angrily towards the cockpit as she felt the ship take off quickly. "Han!" she howled, hair whipping behind her as she entered through the already open hatch.

"Go back to sleep, Kal," Han dismissed. "I'm kinda busy."

Kal looked out the window to see the onset of stars. "Where are we going?" She gripped the back of Han's chair.

Han didn't get the chance to reply to her as Chewie spoke. Han looked at the scanners. "Looks like an Imperial cruiser. Our passengers must be hotter than I thought."

"Passengers?"

Again, Kal's question went unanswered as Han stood from his seat. "Try and hold them off. Angle the deflector shield while I make the calculations for the jump to light speed." Kal moved out of Han's way so he could make the calculations, going behind Chewie instead, hoping she'd finally get an answer. Han then sat back in the pilot seat. "Stay sharp. There's two more coming in; they're going to try to cut us off."

As he spoke, the passengers entered the cockpit. Kal froze in place behind Chewie as she recognized the older passenger.

"Why don't you outrun them? I thought you said this thing was fast," the younger male complained. His shaggy blond hair and desert clothes immediately pegged him as a moisture farmer, but why he was with Obi-Wan Kenobi was the real question that plagued Kal's thoughts. Her father recognized her as well but didn't say anything due to Kal turning away, not making eye contact.

Han was already exasperated with the boy, unaware of the inner turmoil his female friend was experiencing. "Watch your mouth, kid, or you're going to find yourself floating home. We'll be safe once we make the jump to hyperspace. Besides, I know a few maneuvers. We'll lose 'em." The two Imperial cruisers began firing on the Falcon. "Here's where the fun begins."

Kal didn't share his enthusiasm and neither did her father. "How long before you can make the jump to light speed?" Obi-Wan asked, not sure how much he trusted the bucket of bolts that Han called a ship.

"It'll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navi-computer."

The ship rocked violently as laser bolts touched down. "Are you kidding? At the rate they're gaining-" The boy didn't get the chance to continue his trail of thought.

"Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy!" Han's frustration was evident in his voice. "Without precise calculations, we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?"

His question was rhetorical, but Kal wished the newcomer's follow-up question was rhetorical as well instead of naive. "What's that flashing?" The boy pointed at the flashing red light on the dashboard.

Han slapped his hand away. "We're losing our deflector shield. Go strap yourselves in. I'm gonna make the jump to light speed." His suggestion wasn't to Kal, but she listened to him anyway, taking the seat right behind her and tightening the belt right before the stars began to blur, meld, and streak as they entered hyperspace. As the ship went along smoothly, Han turned to his copilot and bounty hunter friend, grinning. "I'm good, huh?"

Kal rolled her eyes. "Please tell me you're joking. The ship did all the work." Chewie howled with laughter as Han lost his grin. "Now, tell me what is going on."

"Those two ran into some Imperial trouble and wanted to get off-world. We're taking them and two droids to Alderaan."

"Why?"

Han incredulously shrugged his shoulders. "Hell if I know. All I know is I'm getting paid seventeen thousand credits to do it, and I really need to pay off Jabba."

Kal snorted, thinking about his royal fuck up that she thankfully hadn't been present for otherwise she may have been blamed as well. "Well, it looks like you chose the wrong charter." Kal then got up and left the cockpit, making her way to the central hold where the passengers undoubtedly were. She needed to see what was so special about this boy if he was able to get her dad off Tatooine when she was unable to achieve such a feat.

As she approached the sitting area, she heard them talking. "The Jedi were able to do wondrous things while using the Force. Your father alone saved millions of lives during the war," her dad said quietly. His father? Who could the boy's father possibly be that was so important? It sure as hell wasn't Master Windu.

Kal made her appearance fully known, walking completely into the central hold. Her dad and the mysterious boy were seated at the dejarik table, along with a golden protocol droid and a blue and white astromech. All four of them seemed to become statues as they looked up at her with varying emotions.

The protocol droid simply seemed confused and bounced back to the land of the living the fastest. "Why, hello there. I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations," he introduced in a chirpy, robotic, male voice. "You must be a companion of Captain Solo's. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." With her mouth slightly agape, Kal was unsure of how to proceed. She couldn't remember a time in which she was spoken to in such a polite tone, despite it being from a droid.

The next one to speak, saving Kal from having to talk to the strange droid, was the boy. He jumped from his seat and held his hand out. "I'm Luke. And you are?" he asked.

Kal glanced between the farmboy's hand and his bright, innocent blue eyes. "Kaleena." Her dark eyes shifted to her father who still sat awkwardly and seemed to have aged quite a bit since she had last seen him. "Can I talk to you in private?" Obi-Wan rose and followed her away from the table and into the hall away from everyone.

Luke slowly lowered his hand as he stared after the girl and the old wizard. "That was weird," he mentioned off-handedly to Threepio and Artoo as he sat back down.

"I completely agree, Master Luke." Luke suppressed a sigh at Threepio's continued use of the term "master" and secretly wished he could hear what Ben and Kaleena were discussing and why she seemed to recognize him.

Kal turned sharply towards her father once she felt they were far enough from prying eyes and ears. "What are you up to?" she demanded harshly, her eyes ablaze. "Who the hell is the boy? Why are you finally leaving Tatooine? I mean, what the hell? I spent years trying to get you to open up to me and to travel the galaxy and I get nothing in return besides being told to be patient and I'm not done with my training and all that bantha fodder. Then I'm barely gone for five minutes and this boy, this random boy gets you off your ass and off Tatooine? Who even is he? Why is he so important, pray tell? And this better be a damn good explanation."

Obi-Wan stared at his now fully grown daughter with sad eyes. He almost regretted letting her leave, but now he could see that she had grown without his help. "Kaleena." He gingerly reached out with his hand, but she pulled away.

"No. Talk."

The old Jedi sighed. "This boy is our last hope."

Kal shook her head vehemently. "What does that even mean? You always speak in riddles. For once, be blunt with me."

"I've told you about my old padawan, yes?"

She almost couldn't believe that he was going to give her a history lesson, but decided to roll with it. "Yes, and how he turned to the dark side."

"Luke is his son."

A light gasp escaped Kal's lips. "He's a Skywalker?" She couldn't believe it. Anakin Skywalker had a son? She knew he was rebellious as her father's padawan, but she never dared think that he'd have gone that far. Anakin truly learned a lot from her dad. "But who-"

"His mother was Padmé Amidala, your mother's friend. She gave birth to twins before she died."

Kal shook off her shock. "But that doesn't quite explain why you never left Tatooine."

Obi-Wan folded his hands in front of him. "I swore to Master Yoda that I'd look over him and train him when the time was right. He must be the one to defeat Darth Vader. And now that the rebellion needs help to defeat the Empire, the Force is telling me that the time is now. We must get these droids to Alderaan. To Bail Organa."

The rebellion needing help was familiar. She was informed through her role as a Fulcrum that they had recently attacked Scarif. Kal almost hadn't believed that intel, but now her father was standing before her. She had to believe it. She had to believe in the cause now more than ever. "What can I do to help?"

Luke Skywalker stood before the daughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi with Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. Kal leaned nonchalantly against the wall of the ship, criticizing Luke's every move. Despite her father's explanation, she was still bitter. Over the last few hours, she mostly acted as a silent onlooker, after becoming fully clothed and suited up and contacting the rebellion with a message saying she had two very important droids on their way to the soul of the galaxy. Meanwhile, Han avoided the group, Chewie played dejarik with the droids, and Obi-Wan trained Luke in lightsaber combat.

"You're holding it wrong," Kal couldn't help but blurt. She didn't miss the look from Chewie or her dad, continuing to focus on the farmboy anyway.

"And how do you know the correct way to hold a lightsaber," Luke sassed. He didn't mean to sass his new acquaintance. He was frustrated and grieving and accidentally took it out on a stranger.

But Kal appreciated the sass. "I know weapons. And I'm sure I can fight better than you, farmboy." His sass would be met with more sass.

"Please, feel free to demonstrate," Obi-Wan offered, gesturing towards Luke while looking at his daughter.

Kal smirked, taking the challenge. "My pleasure." She marched up to the younger boy and held out her hand. The action surprised Luke; nevertheless, he turned off the saber and handed the hilt to Kal. The weight of the unfamiliar lightsaber felt strange and almost uncomfortable to her, but it was still a lightsaber. Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber at that. She could still wield it.

The blue blade seamlessly ignited as she twirled the saber of pure plasma energy around swiftly and skillfully. The blade was a swirling blue light of destruction that Kal knew how to expertly handle. Kal finished showing off with the ending stance for Soresu. As she stood with the lightsaber ready and her knees still bent, she realized she had almost forgotten how it felt to swing the elegant weapon, how it felt to hold raw energy and use it. But it wasn't her saber. And the only person on the ship that knew about her Force-sensitivity was her dad.

Quickly sheathing the blade, Kal handed the hilt back to Luke as if it burned it. Luke didn't seem to notice her change in mood. He stood in awe. "How did you-"

"I was trained well." Her words were quick and sharp, with no room for more questions as she walked away. Leaving the group, she found Han walking on the ship's engine. "Isn't it dangerous to work on the engine while we're going through hyperspace?"

Han yelped and dropped a tool at her words. He hadn't heard her approach. The smuggler stuck his head out from the open floor hatch to see his friend leaning against the padded wall. "I thought you were making friends."

"Oh, you know me, Han. I have a hard time making friends."

Snorting at her statement, Han tried not to burst into a full-blown laugh. "You can say that again. You shot me shortly after we met."

Kal dug her heel into the floor. "You're going to hold that against me forever, aren't you?"

"To the grave." Han then pulled himself out of the hole. "I'm going to check on the navi-computer, make sure I didn't mess anything up."

"You mean as usual?"

Han sarcastically laughed as he wandered down the tunnel towards the cockpit. Kal was once again alone and in silence.

As she made her way to the crew's quarters to check on the charging status of Gray, Kal stumbled and propped herself up against the wall. Her heart and stomach swelled in agony. But not physical agony. Terror filled screams echoed through the Force as Kal felt faint, almost unable to keep herself from collapsing. It was deafening and then completely silent. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. And Kal couldn't help but think it had to do with Han's desperate charter.

Kal stumbled to the central hold slowly, after plucking Gray from his charging port, only to see Luke using the lightsaber against a seeker droid and her father sitting down with a grave expression.

"Don't everyone thank me at once," Han said, having just sat down as Kal entered. "We should be at Alderaan about oh-two-hundred hours." No one seemed to care.

Kal met her dad's gaze and she knew he had felt the disturbance as well. At least she wasn't alone with the sad revelation that a massive amount of people had most likely died. Now they needed to figure out how and where.

The droids and Chewie were still playing dejarik. "Now be careful, Artoo," Threepio warned as Artoo made his next move. One of the holographic monsters defeated one of Chewie's. Chewbacca frowned and howled. "He made a fair move. Screaming about it won't help you."

Han decided to impart wisdom on the group. "Let him have it. It's not wise to upset a Wookiee."

Threepio had a lot to learn about the galaxy if he wanted to avoid being blasted or torn apart. "But sir, nobody worries about upsetting a droid."

"That's 'cause droids don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookiees are known to do that." There was a flaw in Han's logic. Some droids, especially large ones or assassin droids, would gladly rip people's limbs.

"I see your point, sir." Threepio turned to his astromech companion. "I suggest a new strategy, Artoo. Let the Wookiee win." Gray chirped quietly at the exchange.

Han and Kal ignored the golden droid's scared suggestion and watched Luke as he held the lightsaber. Obi-Wan watched him as well but not with the smugness the other two had. "Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him," Obi informed with a slight hand gesture.

Luke didn't pry his eyes away from the seeker droid. "You mean it controls your actions?"

"Partially. But it also obeys your commands."

The spherical droid was suspended in the air and moved, shooting Luke with a red laser. Kal was able to hold in the laugh that Han couldn't. "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." Obi-Wan couldn't believe how Kal hung out with such a non-believer the moment Han opened his mouth. Granted, Obi knew that Han probably wasn't aware of her abilities.

Luke turned off the lightsaber and lowered the hilt, looking at the smuggler. "You don't believe in the Force, do you?" the farmboy asked.

Han leaned over in his chair with a smirk. "Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."

Obi-Wan's small, quiet smile spoke a thousand words to his daughter. He stood, grabbing a large pilot's helmet. "I suggest you try it again, Luke." Obi placed the helmet on Luke head, covering his eyes. "This time, let go of your conscious self and act on instinct."

The farmboy chuckled awkwardly. "With the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?"

"Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them." When he had taught Kal that, she was blindfolded and in the dark to make sure she absolutely couldn't see. She liked watching someone else go through the same torture. The seeker droid shot up into the air, took a few moments, and then shot the laser, hitting Luke's shoulder. Luke groaned and stretched his arm, slightly embarrassed at being shot by a droid over and over again in front of a cute girl. But Obi wouldn't let him dwell on anything, especially not said girl's droid beeping that had caused her to shake her head while grinning. "Stretch out with your feelings."

Luke let out a small sigh and readied the saber again. The seeker droid fired a series of laser bolts, all of which Luke deflected. Luke excitedly took off the helmet and looked at his mentor. "You see, you can do it," Obi-Wan praised. Kal clenched her jaw, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach.

"I call it luck," Han called out.

Obi shook his head lightly. "In my experience, there's no such thing as luck."

"Look, good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living? That's something else." A small light flashed from the control panel, interrupting the conversation. "Looks like we're coming up on Alderaan." Both Han and Chewie stood to make their way to the cockpit.

Luke looked at Obi-Wan in awe. "You know, I did almost feel something."

Obi clapped Luke on the shoulder. "That's good. You've taken your first step into a larger world." Luke then hurried to the cockpit as well, leaving Obi-Wan and Kal to walk there together. He could feel his daughter's disgruntled mood through the Force. "I've upset you. For that, I am sorry."

Kal didn't reply as they entered the cockpit right after the ship exited hyperspace. The ship shuddered as it was hit by asteroids. "What the-aw, we've come out of hyperspace into a meteor shower. Some kind of asteroid collision. It's not on any of the charts." Han's complaining was warranted as the ship rocked violently.

"What's going on?" Luke asked.

"Our position's correct except no Alderaan." No one fully believed what Han had said.

Luke voiced what everyone was wondering. "What do you mean? Where is it?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you, kid. It ain't there. It's been blown away."

"What? How?"

Obi-Wan answered him. "Destroyed, by the Empire."

The ship moved out of the suspicious asteroid field. "The entire starfleet couldn't destroy a whole planet. It'd take a thousand ships with more firepower than I've. . ." Han trailed off as a light on the dash started flashing. "There's another ship coming in."

"Maybe they know what happened," Luke wondered.

"It's an Imperial fighter." Obi-Wan's blunt remark was unnecessary as everyone spotted the obvious when the ship came into view after shooting at the Falcon.

"It followed us."

Luke's severe naivety was beginning to grow on Kal's nerves. "No, that's impossible. The fighters aren't built with hyperdrives and they can't track through hyperspace anyway," Kal explained.

"There aren't any bases around here. Where did it come from?" Han asked no one in particular while following the Imperial TIE fighter.

Luke didn't care about where it came from, only what it could do. "It sure is leaving in a big hurry. If they identify us, we're in big trouble."

"Seriously, what did you get yourselves into?" Kal questioned, glaring at her dad.

"Chewie, jam it's transmissions," Han ordered. "Kal, part of the deal was no questions asked."

Kal didn't care about the deal. She wasn't a part of it. "Part of the deal was also getting them to Alderaan. There is no Alderaan."

Obi-Wan interrupted, bringing the conversation back to the TIE. "A fighter that size couldn't get this deep into space on its own."

"It must have gotten lost, been part of a convoy or something," Luke suggested.

Kal resisted the urge to groan. "Again, not how they work." She should know, she was literally a spy for the rebellion.

"Well, he ain't gonna be around long enough to tell anybody about us," Han reassured.

Luke spotted something before the others did. "Look at him. He's heading for that small moon."

"I think I can get him before he gets there. He's almost in range."

The small moon grew larger as they drew closer. "That's no moon. It's a space station." Kal stared closely at it, trying to see what her father pointed out. Lines became apparent on the large gray sphere in space.

Han, of course, didn't believe him. He took everything the old man said with a grain of salt. "It's too big to be a space station."

"I have a very bad feeling about this," Luke muttered, staring wide-eyed at the now-obvious battle station.

"Han, turn the ship around, now," Kal demanded, her voice as stern as possible.

"Yeah, I think you're right." Han pulled a lever. "Full reverse. Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power." The Falcon was still moving forward. "Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power." Chewie flipped a switch, which didn't seem to achieve anything.

Luke decided to voice his concerns. "Why are we still moving towards it?" Kal was close to knocking him out.

"We're caught in a tractor beam. It's pulling us in."

"There's gotta be something you can do."

"There's nothin' I can do about it, kid. I'm full power. I'm going to have to shut down." Han turned and pressed a button on the control power next to Obi-Wan. "They're not going to get me without a fight."

The group stared at the looming space station as they continued to be pulled in. "You can't win, but there are alternatives to fighting." Obi-Wan's ever-present wisdom sparked an idea in Han.