Author's note: (Peeks in shyly) Hello, anyone still out there? I know it's been forever since I've updated, but I am inspired once more, and granted a smidgen of free-time. The only catch is that ROTS has changed the starting point of this fic. I never intended to change the events of the prequels, and I still don't believe I need to. I just have to do some rethinking and a little editing of previous chapters. I'll be seeing to that shortly. In the meantime, you will likely notice some slight inconsistencies in the backstory. The main story remains as is. Please be patient…
Chapter 23 – A Certain Point of View
The Falcon was fine. Her hull, though battered and surely decorated with a fresh set of scars, was solidly intact. Most primary systems had escaped with little damage, and the few that had overloaded were covered by functioning back-ups. The shields were severely drained, to the point of failure in some places, but they were all recharging nicely now. The Falcon's extra armor and bypass circuitry, so carefully installed, had done their jobs perfectly, absorbing the blows that had gotten past the shields and routing the power surges through less essential equipment. The crucial hyperdrive was unscathed and operating normally.
So he had made it out of the noose again, with his hide and his ship in one piece.
Han continued staring at the engineering displays, amazed at the sheer magnitude of their success. 'Ha! Take that, you space slugs!' he threw at the Empire, at Greedo, and everyone else who had ever tried to catch him. With the Falcon & Chewie at his side, there was nothing he couldn't do, no death trap he couldn't escape.
A frustrated howl from Chewbacca reached the engineering station, reminding Han of the struggle taking place in the corridor without, and of the passengers that had gotten him into this in the first place. Well, at least Kenobi had pulled his weight in the end. And Jedi or not, it was not luck that had brought down those stormtroopers so precisely, but a type of perfected skill Han had never seen before. It was almost enough for Han to forgive the ruse Obi-Wan had pulled, the simpleton act that had landed them all unexpectedly in the very jaws of the Empire. Almost, but not quite.
Springing back from the console with a new sense of invincibility, Han headed out into the corridor toward the cockpit, and quickly encountered the mess that had obstructed his path earlier: goldenrod, tangled in a panel of blown-out wires, and the astromech trying valiantly to free him. Only now that Chewbacca was joined in the effort, they'd actually gotten Threepio up, and his new umbilical to the Falcon severed. Chewie was working with the cut circuitry sticking out from the panel, pulling selected wires out of the mess to sort through them, while Artoo tugged at the stragglers still draped around Threepio. There was a narrow path around them, and Han headed directly for it.
Threepio spotted him first, interrupting his tirade at the little droid to call out with indignation, "Captain Solo, thank goodness. It's about time…" But this whining was quickly put down by an even louder complaint from Chewbacca.
Han held them all at bay with a reproachful frown as he stepped around the droids, and then set his sights directly upon Chewie. "Clean this up, will ya?" he shot point-blank, stunning the big Wookie long enough for him to squeeze past. The disgruntled growl that followed fell far short of its mark and only added to Han's cocky stride.
"Not a bad run, eh old man?"
Solo's voice broke the silence of the cockpit with all the grace of a drunken rancor, and might well have shattered Obi-Wan's concentration, had he not sensed the pilot's smug approach from halfway down the corridor. The interruption was not unwelcome, however, and Obi-Wan found himself smiling wistfully at the pilot's cocky attitude. Something in Solo's brash celebration was simply contagious. Something more interesting was the sudden sense of camaraderie that dwelled just below the surface, a genuine emotion Solo was sure to deny.
The navigation display still shone dully from the pilot's console, tugging at the concerns in Obi-Wan's mind, but he was finished with it for now. He cleared his thoughts of it and relaxed back into pilot's chair, finally turning to greet Solo as he made his way forward. If Solo was at all put out by Obi-Wan occupying his seat, he showed no sign of it, but instead settled into the copilot's chair with a satisfied smirk playing across his face.
"I told you I could handle any of your 'Imperial entanglements,'" he continued bragging.
"That you did, Captain Solo," Obi-Wan answered, granting him a small nod of acknowledgement. "Your courage and combat skills are to be commended. Such qualities could be put to good use, should you ever choose to change careers."
Solo just stared for a moment, stunned, it seemed, by tactics he had failed to anticipate, his expression melting away uncertainly before Obi-Wan's upraised eyebrows. That Solo fully deserved what he received only made the episode all the more amusing, though this time there was some well-intentioned truth behind the jab. Obi-Wan kept his own gaze steady out of respect for that truth, pushing the point until suspicion flashed into Solo's eyes. The expected dismissal was less than a heartbeat behind.
"Yeah, whatever, old man," he scoffed, brushing it all off with a single shake of his head. "Look, I'm not interested in joining any of your crazy crusades, so spare me the recruitment speech. And just so you know, you owe me extra for all this trouble, and the damage to my ship."
"Naturally, Captain," Obi-Wan readily agreed. "You will be paid whatever sum you require… once we've reached our destination."
Again the prodding had the expected reaction, eliciting the sour snort and confident posturing that seemed an essential part of Solo's negotiating. "Now how did I know you were going to say that?" he answered dryly.
Obi-Wan shrugged innocently. "I assure you, Captain, I desire nothing more than to find a safe port. Take us that far, and your role in this will be over."
"Uh-huh."
Sarcasm dripped from the word, fueled more than enough by the adventures Obi-Wan had already dragged him through. But all the hardline bargaining in the galaxy wouldn't make the situation any better, and Solo knew it. He cast one final withering look that guaranteed the subject of pay would be revisited, then grudgingly accepted the deal with a nod toward the navigation display. "So where're we going, anyway?"
"Nowhere, at the moment," Obi-Wan admitted openly. "This is just an emergency jump. It will time out in less than an hour, and leave us in open space. About here." Obi-Wan turned to point at the screen, and made room for Solo as he, too, leaned in close for a look. "Near the Altos system."
"Is there a reason I can't just lose you there?"
Obi-Wan smiled. "The system is uninhabited, and rather hostile to human life forms." With a few manipulations of the display, he brought up the catalog of planets and moons that made up the system, only two of which had any kind of atmosphere, both of thick acid clouds. "I'm afraid you'll have to keep us around a little while longer."
Solo studied a screen for a moment, and huffed as he reached the same conclusion. "Convenient, huh?" he said, shooting Obi-Wan a sardonic look. "What's next, then?"
Solo turned expectantly back to the navigation screen, but Obi-Wan sank back against his chair again. He'd been through those displays several times already, and still he had no answer. Sighing, he said, "That depends a great deal on what Princess Leia has to tell us."
"That girl you risked our skins over?"
Obi-Wan shifted his gaze sharply to Solo's, and saw not the anticipated irritation, but surprise and mild interest. Stunned there was no tirade to head off this time, he overlooked Solo's misinterpretation of events, and simply nodded.
"She wasn't half-bad on the canon," Solo said appreciatively, as he also settled back into his chair. He crossed his arms nonchalantly. "Who is she, anyway?"
"She's the owner of those droids, and the one who entrusted me to see them to Alderaan," Obi-Wan explained, watching Solo curiously. "This is her mission, and her people who will be paying you."
For the first time, Solo seemed to put it all together: just who he was transporting, how valuable those treasured droids of an old man might be, what role he had just played in liberating a person of apparent great importance. His mouth hung slightly agape with unformed questions as he took it all in, and Obi-Wan could almost hear the calculations spinning up in his head. But there could be no continuation of this particular conversation; the sound of light footsteps coming up the corridor brought it to an end even Solo could understand, and surprisingly respect. His eyes fell away as if to glance at the screens on his console, but his brow remained furrowed in uncharacteristic thought.
Obi-Wan waited a moment, then asked in a voice loud enough to carry, "I take it your ship will not be needing any immediate repairs?"
"Huh?" Solo spun back around, and stared blankly at Obi-Wan before catching on. "Ah, no. It takes more than a little firefight to knock the Falcon out. Chewie'll have her back in shape in no time. She'll do what she needs to."
"So we're away, then?"
Leia appeared in the back of the cockpit right on cue, her soft, insistent voice drawing the attention of both of them as she walked up to stand behind them. Whatever hellish nightmare had possessed her before, she had it fully under control now. Not a trace of it slipped through to crease her smooth brow or dull those sharp eyes of hers. She was absolutely beautiful, dressed in that opulent gown, standing there with all the grace and authority she'd earned in Alderaan's court. Solo saw it, too, but kept his thoughts well hidden behind that Sabaac stare of his, just watching as Leia's gaze slid casually over him to settle expectantly on Obi-Wan.
"Yes, for the moment," Obi-Wan answered her with a warm flash of a smile. "Captain Solo and I were just discussing what course to set. We'll need to jump again as soon as possible."
"You think we're being tracked?" So sharp, Leia didn't miss a step. But her conclusion held more surprise than alarm, and Obi-Wan could feel her reluctance to believe it.
"Nobody tracks this ship, Princess," Solo chimed in with a wry chuckle, but his cocky manner only made Leia glare at him in annoyance. If he had meant to impress her, he'd failed miserably.
"Speed has nothing to do with it, Captain," Obi-Wan admonished lightly. "There are many ways to track a ship, and the Empire had control of this one long enough to employ any number of them. Minimal guards in the bay, only four sentries to intercept us…" He focused on Leia meaningfully. "They let us go, it's the only explanation for the ease of our escape."
"Easy! You call that easy?" Solo burst in again.
It was enough to put a wrinkle on Leia's brow, and to give her a false window of hope. Obi-Wan could afford none of it. "Darth Vader knew I was there," he said to her, more earnestly than before. "He had to know the droids were with me. Would he let them slip through his fingers so easily?" Shades of doubt crept into Leia's eyes, but still something made her resist. "Leia, what data is Artoo carrying?" he pressed, and finally he could see her accept the obvious.
With a sigh of resignation, she sank into the navigation chair and answered dolefully, "The technical readouts of that battle station."
Obi-Wan nodded his understanding as Solo's eyes widened in surprise. Yes, of course it would be something of great value, something that would dictate where they had to go and make Vader think it worth the risk. Obi-Wan could already see the strain of their only choice settling in Leia's eyes. "Your Highness, the Alliance needs that data as quickly as possible," he said to reinforce her, "before the Empire uses that weapon again. It would bring no good to go anywhere but directly to them."
"Wait a minute. You're not planning on actually going up against that thing?" Han asked, looking back and forth between them incredulously. Their silence gave him his answer. "You're crazier than I thought."
Leia rounded on him in an instant. "And what would you have us do, Captain?" she demanded bitterly. "Cower away and hide while they carry out their atrocities against more innocent worlds? Someone has to stand up against them, or are you suddenly losing your courage?"
"Don't get all righteous on me, Your Worshipfulness," Solo shot back defensively. "You want get yourself killed, I've got no problem with that, but I want no part of it." He turned back to Obi-Wan. "And I have no interest in knowing where any hidden base is, either. So you just pick a nice quiet place for us to drop you, far away from this Rebellion of yours."
"You will take us to the base if you care to get paid," Obi-Wan answered matter-of-factly. "We have no other place to go and only the Alliance will give you money for delivering those droids. Anyone else will reward you with imprisonment and torture, or sell you out when questioned themselves. The Empire won't believe you were a hapless fool in this until you are dead."
Solo tensed at the provocation, but it was Leia who snapped first. "Why, you're nothing more than a mercenary!" she exclaimed with a mixture of shock and revulsion.
"I'm a businessman!" Han shouted indignantly, suddenly shifting around in his chair to confront her fully. "And not one that's about to put up with any lip from you, princess!"
The two locked on each other with a mutually deadly glare, neither willing to capitulate as they battled through their frustrations. Obi-Wan held up a restraining hand to both of them. "This bickering will get us nowhere," he said calmly. "Captain, will you take us to the Alliance, or not?"
A grudging withdrawal squared Han's shoulders as he pointedly directed his response to Obi-Wan. "I've done more than I should've already, and you know it, old man," he said seriously. "You want to up the stakes again? Fine. But I expect to be paid for it. Well-paid. And I mean before you get yourselves blasted to bits like Alderaan."
Obi-Wan winced at the cruel words, though he sensed they were said out of oblivious self-interest rather than any intent to hurt Leia. It made little difference to her. With a startling rustle of silk and velvet, she was suddenly standing again, utterly appalled as she sent one final wrathful glare raining down upon Han. "Yavin IV, Captain," she bit out curtly, "and you shall have your reward." Then with a crisp turn, she marched out of the cockpit in a rush of barely contained pain and anger.
The vacuum that followed drained the last of Obi-Wan's energy, so he had little patience when Han turned a bewildered look at him. "Alderaan was her home, Captain," he explained flatly, "and her stay on that station likely included having to watch its destruction. You might want to consider softening your tongue a little."
Something resembling regret flashed through Han's eyes, but he was spared having to acknowledge it by a tone sounding from the navigation station. The hyperspace jump was timing out. "Yavin IV, then," he muttered somberly, then set about fixing the new coordinates with determined indifference.
Obi-Wan sighed to clear away the lingering emotions, then got up from console to leave the pilot to his task.
The back of the ship was quiet, isolated from the chattering droids and Chewbacca's sulking repairs by both distance and a low, steady hum emanating from the engines. It was here that the crew quarters were located. Just a small, triangular room off the main corridor, with a bunk built into each of the three walls. It offered little in the way of amenities, but was nevertheless the perfect refuge for Leia. She'd needed the time alone to work through her anger and frustration, and settle the underlying stress. It was exhaustion that Obi-Wan sensed from her now, and as he approached, he was not surprised to find her sitting on the edge of the nearest bunk, with her elbows on her knees and her fingers pressed against her forehead, as though pushing back a headache. Obi-Wan hesitated at the entrance, ready to clear his throat to announce his presence, but she already knew he was there.
"Forgive me General Kenobi," she said without looking up, "how did you come to be in such company?"
Obi-Wan smiled at the exasperation in her voice, unable to blame her, but his reasons for hiring these two had proven solid. "Captain Solo has more virtues than it seems," he defended patiently. "He has no love for the Empire, to be sure, nor does Chewbacca; and they won't betray or abandon us, despite Solo's blustering. That is why I hired him," he explained, tilting his head slightly to try to make eye contact, "and you've seen him prove his skills as a pilot and gunner, as well. It's only his idealism that has suffered from witnessing too much reality. Try not to judge him so harshly."
Leia sighed and dropped one hand as she glanced up at him wearily with a look of doubtful acceptance. But Solo was hardly the problem bothering her.
"I thought you might like something to eat," Obi-Wan offered, holding up the three ration bars he'd managed to dig up earlier. Her eyes slid listlessly to the pathetic meal. "It's not much," he apologized, "but trust me, you don't want to see the stew."
This at least elicited a huff of amusement from Leia, and the first sign of a genuine grin. She sat up straight and bade him enter to sit next to her, accepting the cup of water he had also brought, but waving off the food. Obi-Wan set the ration bars on the bunk to the side as he sat down; then waited patiently as Leia sipped thoughtfully at the water. Her hands slowly drifted down to her lap, but she kept the cup grasped firmly between them, clinging to it for support.
"What is all this?" she finally asked, looking to Obi-Wan. "I mean these feelings, like those sensations I had in the gun turret. How could I know where to shoot when I couldn't see the ships?"
"It's the Force, Leia. You're learning to use it."
"But how can that be? I'm not a Jedi," she protested. "I don't have that power."
Obi-Wan smiled kindly, trying to soften the coming blows. "No, Leia, you're wrong. You do have that power. You were born with it, and Bail Organa went to great lengths to protect you from those who would destroy you for it."
The pain in Leia's eyes was evident as she struggled to understand what he was telling her. Confusion, rejection, denial…
"You know you were adopted, Leia," Obi-Wan continued gently. "What do you know of your life before that?"
Leia blinked at the question, and then breathed in deeply, her gaze dropping away as she stepped through the door he had opened. "I know my mother died when I was very young," she began slowly. "I used to have a holograph of her. She was very beautiful. Looking at it, I could almost remember her. She was gentle and kind, but… sad." Her voice drifted off, lost for a moment, until other, happier memories came to her. "But I have always thought of the Organas as my family," she said determinedly. "My father was so kind and loving to me. He never treated me as anything but his daughter."
"As I knew he would," Obi-Wan affirmed. "Bail was a magnificent man, Leia, and the galaxy suffers greatly for his loss."
Leia smiled weakly at his kind words, and Obi-Wan gave her a moment to cherish her adopted father's memory. She'd had little time to grieve, he knew, and no time to come to terms with the tragedy that had befallen her people. Such cruel times…
"The Jedi purges were a horrible, desperate time, Leia," Obi-Wan began again, hoping she'd find comfort in the history that had defined Bail's character. "The remnants of the Order was scattered across the galaxy and left defenseless against annihilation. Not even the Jedi children were spared. I brought you to Bail when your mother could no longer care for you, when the Jedi could no longer provide shelter. He took you in without hesitation, knowing full well that you were a Jedi child, and understanding the risks. You were claimed as an orphan of the Clone Wars, and proudly adopted into Alderaan's royal house as a call for all the galaxy to open their doors and hearts to those ravaged by war.
"That was true enough, you see," he explained carefully, "and not even Palpatine would dare to challenge Bail openly. The strength and influence of Alderaan's house afforded you more protection than I ever could."
Leia frowned thoughtfully as he concluded, not quite ready to fully accept everything she had been told. As well she might hesitate at such a disclosure. There would be more questions to be answered and more disturbing histories to be revealed. More tragedies for Obi-Wan to explain...
Which one is safe?
The question came back to his mind as clear and compelling as the day it had been asked. A field of stars before them. A hopeless plea from a little boy aged far beyond his years. How badly it had stung to not have an answer.
Desperate times indeed.
But for the all anguish that failure had given him, Obi-Wan had always taken comfort in Leia's safety. She'd had a life, sheltered from the evil that had touched her family, and free to fight for the liberties her mother had so cherished. But now…
"But now the Empire has destroyed even that last safehaven," Obi-Wan said distantly, the sorrow in his voice drawing Leia close again. He looked intently into her eyes. "And it seems your heritage is finally catching up with you."
"You want me to become a Jedi."
She didn't ask, she knew, and already she was bracing for the answer. Such calm courage in the face of all this turmoil; Obi-Wan could hardly ask for more. He nodded solemnly. "I think you must."
And there it was done. A lifetime of burdens laid before the most innocent, the most trusting, and all she met it with was another tired sigh. Then she looked away, unable to hold his gaze, and her hands tightened again on the cup in her lap. Obi-Wan thought to reach for her, to give her what fortification he could, but in the next breath she was up, abandoning the cup on the bunk behind her and pacing across to the other side of the quarters. She stood there with her back towards him, slowly wringing her hands together in tight knots as silence stretched between them.
"How long have you been getting these feelings?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Ever since Arkus," she responded, half-turning back toward him. "I started feeling strange soon after I met him. Then on the Death Star, he did something. He… opened something in my mind. It was as if I could feel the whole galaxy."
"Arkus?" Obi-Wan asked earnestly. "The man who brought you to me?"
"Yes, Darth Arkus." She nodded. "He's another Sith. One we didn't know about until-"
Obi-Wan didn't hear the rest of her answer. His attention drifted too quickly away with the implications of her story, and by the time he realized she'd stopped, it was much too late to mask his contemplation. He looked up to find her staring hard at him, her eyes piercing and perceptive.
"You know him, don't you?" she asked.
"I knew him, yes," Obi-Wan admitted slowly. "But as Luke, and when he was just a boy. He was a Jedi child, like yourself. The son of Anakin Skywalker, my old apprentice."
The name sparked only faint recognition in Leia, and none of the alarm that would have come with full comprehension. Instead there was sorrow, a growing sense of loss, though now it was shifted more toward Obi-Wan and away from her own dangerous connection. It softened her expression and tempered her need for more information with a mixture of respectful patience as she silently encouraged him to continue. Obi-Wan smiled grimly at the gesture of sympathy, then reluctantly opened another door to the past.
"I took Luke in when his father was lost at the end of the Clone Wars. I'd hoped to find a home for him, and train him was the time was right, but the Empire proved too resourceful in their hunt. They caught up with us on Ennolay." Obi-Wan paused at the twinge of regret that still came with the memory, and allowed it to wash over him, searching for a new understanding.
Ben, help!
But there was only terror. Then silence.
"I don't know what happened," he admitted to Leia, to himself. "I thought Luke had been killed until I saw him on that station." He sighed sadly as he pushed the memory away again - Ben! - letting it go. "It would have been better for all he had been."
"He's not evil." Leia asserted suddenly, too forcefully for Obi-Wan's comfort. It snapped him back with a jolt.
"I saw nothing but darkness there, Leia," he warned. "I searched, and found nothing but hate."
"No, there is more," she insisted. "I've felt it. He's not the same as Vader. He saved me!"
"He let you go, yes," Obi-Wan allowed carefully, "but the Sith have their own dark purposes for everything they do. Tell me, Leia, how do you feel now? Would you go to him if he called?"
She paused at the question. "I… I don't know," she stammered, her brow knitting up in troubling thought. "I feel drawn to him somehow... And he to me, I'm sure of it."
"It is the potential within you he's drawn to, Leia. You had to have felt the power in him, how cold and dark it was. You sought to use it yourself in the gun turret. It is the power of the dark side. He showed it to you, and poisoned you with it. He would corrupt you completely if you gave him a chance, and then you would be just like him. There is no allowance of good in the dark side, Leia. Trust me. I've seen that myself."
"But he fought Darth Vader so we could escape. He sacrificed himself…"
Obi-Wan sighed worriedly at the plea in her voice. This attachment she had, it went beyond reason. It made no sense. No more than the fleeting feelings she had accurately attributed to her mother. But it was just as real. And infinitely more dangerous.
"I do not understand what purpose he served, Leia," Obi-Wan argued, trying a new tactic, using all his powers of persuasion. "There are three Sith now, and with three there are competing ambitions, infighting and ruin. Such is the nature of the dark side. That Palpatine allows two apprentices to exist troubles me deeply. It makes no strategic sense unless he intends for Arkus to take Vader's place. What role we played in that, I cannot see. But there is growing chaos in their ranks, that I am sure of. We can either use it to our advantage, or be sucked into it and destroyed."
The larger reality hit her hard, silencing her protests. She looked so worn suddenly, with the weight of what had to be done settling slowly on her shoulders.
"It can't be won without you, Leia. You must become a Jedi."
"I know, I know," she accepted with a weary nod. "I just wish… I wish I understood."
Obi-Wan nodded back with compassion. "Perhaps in time, you will. But you mustn't hesitate, Leia. Doubt is a weapon of the dark side."