Luke knew as soon as he arrived that this was the place. The place where the rebels were hiding. It was a huge valley, and he stood right in the middle. The only problem was, there was nothing there.
Yet.
"Rebels!" He shouted. "I am Luke Skywalker, Sith, and now enemy of the Galactic Empire! Show yourselves, I know you're here!"
There was no reply.
"I wish to help you destroy the Emperor." Luke tried again. "And I won't hurt any of you, but if I have to force myself into your base, know that I will."
There was still no reply.
Luke sighed. Why did they always want to do it the hard way? He closed his eyes, and raised his arms to the heavens. All at once, the dust and dirt began to shake, and rise in the air. A loud roaring noise filled the air, but Luke shut it out of his head. A steel door began to appear on a hill. "Alright, alright!" A mechanical voice called over the din. "You may enter, but realize that you are being heavily watched and guarded."
Luke grinned. "Just get me an audience with Mon Mothma. She is your leader, as I hear."
He allowed the rock and dirt to fall gently to the ground as the steel door opened slowly. And Luke Skywalker, son of Darth Vader, entered the rebel base. "Don't move, or you're dead." A voice hissed as he walked through the doors, and was immediately surrounded by twenty rebel guards.
Luke laughed. "Wedge Antilles. The hero of the rebellion. I should have expected you to be here to welcome me."
Wedge never cracked a smile. "I'm not here to make jokes, Sith. I don't know what you're purpose for coming here is, but we don't play games. Hand over your lightsaber."
"What?"
"You heard me."
Slowly, never taking his eyes off of Wedge, Luke turned his lightsaber over. No matter. He could get it back anytime he wanted. "So now what?" he asked.
"Take him to the holding chamber." Wedge instructed the guards. "And we will meet with him later."
Luke allowed himself to be led away, but the grin never left his face. He knew, as well as Wedge, that metal walls could not contain a Sith. But he would wait, if he had to, to meet with those who could destroy the Emperor.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"I can sense my son." Vader informed Leia and Han. "He is close."
"How close?" Leia asked tersely. After walking for nearly half of a day, her nerves were spent. She jumped at every imagined noise and movement, and she wanted to trust her father, but she couldn't help but be nervous around him. And now, she too could sense that they were getting close to Luke, and it was wearing her nerves even thinner.
"Less than a mile to the north."
"Look, I don't want to be the killjoy in this little group, but what exactly are we planning?" Han interrupted. "If I missed anything, please tell me, because if this is a plan so far, I'm not crazy about it."
Vader turned to his daughter. "Is he always like this?"
Leia forced a small laugh. "It takes some getting used to."
"There he is." Vader said suddenly. They stopped on a cliff.
Leia found herself looking down into a large valley. "But there is nothing there."
"Use your senses, daughter. Feel below the surface."
Leia struggled with herself. Then…"The rebels! He found the rebels!"
"Great, now so did we. But how do we get to them?" Han asked.
"Leia can do it." Vader looked to his daughter. "Go down into the valley, and call out to them to enter."
Leia didn't argue, but walked slowly down into the valley, tripping once. Han made a move as though he wanted to follow after her, but Vader held him back.
"Rebels!" Leia called out, feeling stupid to be shouting at nothing. "This is Leia Skywalker. You know me to be a peaceful person. I come to try and end this war. There are three others with me. You must let me in!"
"You are not the first Skywalker to cross our paths today." Snapped a mechanical voice that seemed to come out of nowhere. Leia looked around her, confused. "I know I'm not, but you also know that I'm not like the others of my family. Please, grant me entrance."
"This is Mon Mothma." A new voice said. "Do you swear that you are the true Leia Skywalker?"
"I am."
"Then it seems that we have no choice."
A great noise came from one of the walls of the valley, and Leia started as she saw the rock and dust crumble. Trembling, she motioned for Vader, Han, and Chewbacca to follow her into the dark confines of the rebel base.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Luke sat opposite of Generals Madine, Rieekan, and Dodonna, along with Wedge Antilles. The only person missing was Mon Mothma, who had excused herself only moments before. "I don't understand what you're asking of us." Dodonna said.
Luke rolled his eyes. "I'm asking to join the rebellion. I can't make it any plainer than that."
"I don't believe him." Wedge said. "Who could ever trust a Sith, and an Imperial agent as well?"
"It's 'former' Imperial agent." Luke told him smoothly.
"You aren't giving us any reason to trust you." Rieekan said. "All that we have is your word, and honestly, to me that has about as much worth as a Tusken's."
"What if I told you." Luke began. "That the Emperor is heading towards Belkadan right now. His Death Star is incomplete. You could rendezvous with him there, and with the plans to the Death Star that I could provide, you could destroy it, and defeat the Empire?"
There was silence following Luke's offer. The generals all looked at each other. Only Wedge Antilles seemed unmoved. "And how can we believe this?"
"Because it's true." Mon Mothma said, entering the room. She was a beautiful woman, approaching middle age, with short reddish brown hair and kind, intelligent eyes. "Skywalker is telling the truth."
"Mon Mothma." Rieekan acknowledged her. "I beg your pardon, but how do you know this?"
The regal woman didn't answer, but she merely moved out of the doorway to reveal Vader, Leia, Han, and Chewbacca. "It's Vader!"
Like Han had, Wedge drew his blaster, and immediately fired at the Sith. "No!" Mon Mothma screamed, but Vader calmly held up a hand and the bolts merely dissolved into his palm. "I'm here to discuss a peace to get rid of the Emperor. Do not force me to get rid of anyone else." He rumbled.
"Please, don't get him angry." Leia mumbled. "You don't want him angry."
Wedge glared at Vader, before slowly sitting back down. "Two Sith. Two! Discussing peace!" He muttered to nobody. "Skywalker, do you know these people?"
"We've…met before." Luke stared at his family and the two strangers. Mostly, he glared at the man who he knew was attracted to Leia. I will destroy you.
Leia heard her brother whisper this in his head, and thought back to him, Luke, stop it. You're being an immature nerfherder.
Everyone else seemed oblivious to the exchange between the two. An uncomfortable silence stretched between the rebels, and the Skywalkers. Finally, Dodonna cleared his throat. "This is…unprecedented. Please, the generals will discuss what to do in private, and we will let you know."
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Two hours later.
Wedge seethed in anger. The generals had allowed them all to stay! All of them! They were nothing but Sith spies! As soon as they could, they'd send word to the Emperor, and it'd be the death of all of them! He didn't trust any of them. Especially Luke. Luke was arrogant and sneaky. Only with the beautiful Leia did he sense any goodness. But she's too occupied with that smuggler. Wedge had recognized Han from some of the wanted posters he'd seen. What was the rebellion sinking to, trusting people like this?
No. I have worked too hard to see this rebellion fall. I will see them all dead…or off of this planet.
