Author's Notes: Thank you, kayladie and Jade the Sith. I'm so happy you enjoyed the last chapter, mush and all. I loved writing it, but then I love mush and angst. Here's the next chapter.

The Lost Ones Part 15

Bespin/Naboo

Anakin began the ignition sequence as Luke came into the cockpit. They were leaving Bespin and returning to Naboo. An extensive search of the slave records on Bespin had not turned up any clues of Betta and Keren Colzin's whereabouts, and in fact, their one lead-the mother/daughter slave pair that they had traced from Tatooine- had turned out to be a dead end.

The day after father and son had reconciled in the carbon-freezing chamber, they had been going through the records on one of Bespin's many moons when Luke had noticed a reference about the slaves of Allyn Yewly. All of that dealer's slaves had been freed and had taken a transport to Corellia. None of them had been heard from since.

Anakin and Luke had decided that they would go to Corellia and continue the search, but first they had to return to the lake retreat for Leia and Han's wedding. Anakin was beginning to wonder if their mission was a lost cause. Discouraging as that thought was, he still felt his heart grow lighter when Luke entered and gave him a smile. Coming to Bespin had been painful for both of them, but they had resolved the estrangement of the past weeks and grown even closer.

Luke headed for the co-pilot's chair, but Anakin stopped him. "Why don't you fly her this time?"

His son looked surprised. "Me?"

"Why not?" Anakin grinned at him. "The last I heard you were a pretty good pilot. Besides, the Angel is your ship, too. I bought her for both of us."

"Well," Luke grinned back. "If you insist."

Anakin stood up and, as he moved over to let Luke have the pilot's chair, he couldn't resist reaching out to hug his son again. They'd done enough hugging and talking over the past couple of days to make up for the twenty years they'd missed, but Anakin was just so thankful that Luke still loved him that he couldn't help it. Luke returned the embrace and seemed to cling to him for just a moment before stepping back and smiling at his father again. Anakin noticed with relief that Luke looked healthier and happier than he had for some time. He'd definitely been sleeping and eating better since their reconciliation.

Anakin felt tears come to his eyes, but he didn't want to get too maudlin so he blinked them away and said cheerfully, "All right, Commander Skywalker. Take us home."

"I'm not a commander anymore, but I'll take us home," Luke remarked as they strapped in. "Next stop, Naboo."

They had a quiet trip, and they were both in good spirits as the Angel approached Naboo a few days later. They had been talking about their upcoming trip to Corellia and Luke had suggested that perhaps they ought to go back to Coruscant and study the Imperial records again if they had no luck on Han's home world, when Anakin suddenly froze.

"What is it, Father?" Luke looked at him curiously and laid a hand on Anakin's arm.

The older Jedi shook his head slowly. "It's probably nothing, but I just remembered that Palpatine had a house on Naboo, and he kept some of his records there."

"But that house has been destroyed, Father. I remember King Tripday telling us at one of those dinners that there was a big debate on Naboo about whether they ought to rebuild something on the site or just leave it bare."

"There were some tunnels and rooms underground where he kept private information," Anakin answered. "Things he really didn't want anyone else to know about. You know what a rat's maze he had built under the Imperial Palace on Coruscant. He was fanatical about having secret passageways and escape tunnels. I bet those underground rooms here haven't been discovered yet. I think I'm the only one still alive who even knew of them."

"What happened to the people who built them?" Luke asked.

Anakin wore a grim expression. "Palpatine killed them as soon as the work was finished."
"Oh." Luke was quiet for a moment. "Where was the house?"

"On the outskirts of Theed. I'm not sure exactly where. I never went there. I just heard him speak of it once or twice."

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to find. I guess it wouldn't hurt to check there before we leave Naboo. We might find some clue about what he did with the Colzins."

Anakin nodded. "Why don't we go check it out now? We could land in Theed, find the house and see if there's anything there before we head on to the lake retreat."

Luke agreed, so they landed at a spaceport in Naboo's capital and asked for directions to Palpatine's former residence from a local security guard. He gave them a funny look, but apparently decided that since they were Jedi it must be all right, and pointed them in the right direction.

A short time later they were standing on a quiet street looking at a burned area filled with rubble. At one time this place had been part of a nice neighborhood, but then Palpatine had bought all the surrounding land and leveled the houses there, creating his own little estate. After his death, the citizens of Theed had burned his residence, but apparently had not finished clearing off debris.

Luke looked at his father. "So how do we get to these underground tunnels?"

"Let's check by the chimneys," Anakin suggested. "There were usually hidden doors or panels there."

Several chimneys were still standing, though they were charred and blackened from the fire. Luke and Anakin studied each one carefully. At the last one, Anakin tapped against a brick on the side, and with a groaning noise, the chimney swung to one side, revealing a trapdoor underneath with a narrow staircase spiraling down.

Father and son looked at one another. "Be careful. There may be guard droids or traps," Anakin warned. Luke nodded solemnly. They drew their lightsabers and cautiously started down the staircase, Anakin in the lead.
At the bottom a tunnel branched off to the right and left. They were trying to decide which way to explore first when a humanoid droid similar to 3PO stepped out of the shadows. The two Jedi spun to face him, lightsabers ready.

"Halt. Are you authorized visitors? If so, you must open the control panel on my chest and enter the proper access code. Unless you know the access code, I am programmed to blow up this complex in the next 45 seconds," the droid told them.

Luke and Anakin exchanged glances. Anakin murmured, "I know several secret access codes, but which one would he have used here?"

He started towards the droid, but Luke stopped him. "Father, it's too dangerous. Let's just leave."

Anakin shook his head. "No. Clever as he was, Palpatine was not particularly creative. I'm fairly certain he would have used the same code as in the Imperial Palace tunnels."

He opened the panel on the droid's chest and began pushing buttons as Luke said softly to no one in particular, "He's fairly certain? Oh, I have a bad feeling about this."

The feeling was unfounded, though. After a tense pause, the droid spoke in a much more subservient tone. "Welcome, Masters. How may I assist you?"

Anakin and Luke exchanged relieved grins.

"Who are you, and why are you down here?" Luke asked.

"I am M4U, a specially designed and modified protocol droid, sir," it replied. "My job is to purchase necessary supplies for our guests."

"Guests?" Anakin demanded, but Luke was already starting down the right tunnel. He had experienced a niggling sensation when they had been coming down the stairs, but it had been so faint that he had not really been aware of it until now. At the droid's words, though, he suddenly realized that he was sensing life forms somewhere close by.

"This way, Father," he called over his shoulder. Anakin hurried after him and together they hurried down the tunnel until they came to a locked door at the end.

Luke cut through the locking mechanism with his lightsaber and as the door slid open, Anakin stepped inside cautiously. The room was rather large and though it was sparsely furnished with only a couple of cots and chairs, it was clean. Two women, one very young and one middle-aged, jumped up from their chairs and stared at him.

"Who are you?" the older one demanded suspiciously.

Anakin stared at them. Both had long, blonde hair. One had blue eyes and the other brown. Even without asking their names, he knew who they were. Tears came to his eyes.

"Luke," he whispered. "We've found them."

TBC