A Light Foreshadowed

Part Four

Leia pulled herself upright on the bench, her eyes searching the gloom of her cell. Something was terribly wrong. She didn't know how she knew, she didn't understand. But she knew she had to be ready.

The door of her cell sliced open and, despite her resolve, she felt herself shrink back as Darth Vader's bulk filled the space.

"The Emperor requests your company, your Highness," the Dark Lord rumbled, extending a hand to her.

Leia stood and, ignoring the offered hand, she stepped up from her prison. She was surprised to find him alone. Where were the escort guards? She drew herself to her full height and looked up to the dark mask, fighting to hide her feelings; her fear, her anguish. Fighting to keep her voice from wavering as she answered. "Then we shouldn't keep him waiting."

Leia turned on her heel, turned her back the man who sired her, the man who had tortured her, who had ripped her brother from her at Bespin, who had tried to do the same with Han. She walked forward ahead of him, making him follow her.

And Vader was proud at that moment. Proud of his daughter's strength, her choler and her courage. She was indeed her mother's child, as Luke was his. He stepped in behind her, careful to keep some distance lest his strides over took her, fighting his urgency to move her quicker. Luke…

Sohn…

… was returning to the Death Star and he didn't have much time to act. The boy's control had snapped and Luke was hanging precariously on the edge of the abyss, about to plunge headlong into the darkness he had been fighting alone since Bespin. Every second which passed, every life that he took in his blind rush to reach Palpatine, was one less hold Luke had to the light and Vader needed to be with Palpatine before the last one gave.

Silently the princess and the Dark Lord stepped into the waiting elevator.

Wedge grimaced as the TIE fighter that had bobbed in front of his ship blew apart as his laser's brushed its engines. He turned away from the explosion looking for another target.

"Watch it! Red Leader"

Wedge instinctively wrenched his controls to the side, brining his X-Wing into a sharp bank as an Imperial Interceptor darted passed; green lasers spitting arbitrarily.

"Wedge?" Gold Leader's voice broke over the com.

"I see him, General," Wedge watched the TIE's path as it moved away from its own ships, away from the battle field, away towards… "He's heading for the Death Star!"

"Follow him, Wedge," Lando commanded. "If they drop the shield for him we may be able to slip through. "

Wedge grinned at the idea, hope beginning to develop within. "Copy Gold Leader

"It may be our only chance." This was said quietly, sadly, and Wedge knew that Calrissian was thinking of his friend on the Endor moon.

"Red Squad form up on me. Follow that fighter - but don't fire on him we need him alive to get the shield down." Wedge accelerated after the lone Imperial accompanied by the remnants of his squad and the Millennium Falcon.

Clear of the battle field Sohn keyed his com, fighting to keep his voice calm, fighting to control the urgency which pounded within. "Deactivate the security shield." He ordered shortly.

"Negative pilot. You are to return to your squadron immediately."

Frustration further fuelled his anger. "This is Lord Commander Sohn Vader. Deactivate the shield."

"Negative Commander, you have enemy ships at point eight behind you and closing. The shield will not be lowered."

The pressure was becoming too much. He could feel it building, feel it pressing in on all sides, could hearing the buzzing in his head as he fought to keep his thoughts coherent against the rage within. His voice trembled as he spoke. "You will drop the shield and allow me to dock."

"Negative….."

The controller's voice was lost to Sohn's cry of fury. In utter desperation, he opened fire, pulling off round after round of laser fire that was absorbed harmlessly by the Death Star's shielding. He pulled up sharply, feeling his fighter groan and protest at the sudden stresses placed upon it. He circled around, spun the craft and found himself facing an incoming tide of Alliance fighters. He flew straight through them, sending them scattering, then he circled around and brought his TIE back onto approach.

Leia convulsing in pain, screaming his name…..

"Lower the shields!"

"We cannot lower the shields while enemy ships are in the vicinity, commander," Jerjerrod's voice had replaced that of the controller's. "The area has to be clear."

"Not a problem," Sohn told him coolly, smiling grimly at the more positive response, feeling hope cloud among the darkness. "First squad to my position." And he opened fire on the Rebel ships.

And the Emperor crowed in delight as the mental images he sent to the boy propelled Sohn deeper into darkness, further into despair and wretchedness. When this day was through his hold on Sohn Vader would be complete. The Alliance would crumble and no system would dare question his supremacy, his rule, not when he had the Death Star and the Younger Vader with which to quash them.

"Commander!" he rasped into his Com. "Send orders to the fleet to move out to block any escape the Rebels may attempt. Then you may fire at will."

There was an alarm klaxxoning loudly as Leia strode from the elevator with Vader at her back. Stormtroopers and dark garbed gunners were running to their positions. It wasn't until she felt the Dark Lord's hand on her shoulder that she realised she had stopped.

"They're here?" she whispered, suddenly afraid on many levels. The fleet had arrived and they were all still alive. What had happened to Han?

"They are," Vader informed her, picking up her abrupt grief "And we must hurry."

Leia straightened her shoulders, angrily shrugged off his hand and pushed away her concern for Han and for the Alliance. She had to be prepared to face Palpatine. She allowed Vader to guide her and as they approached a set of double blast doors at the end of the corridor she steeled herself for what lay ahead.

The doors opened and Vader and the princess passed through into a large docking bay where a shuttle sat quietly and where, off to the side, a pilot reclined on packing crates avidly watching a display of the battle taking place over the moon. The man jumped to attention as they approached the ship.

With confusion over-riding her fear, Leia stopped and stared at the vessel. "I don't understand…." She started. But she did. She did understand and this confused her more. He was letting her go. He was saving her life.

"The Emperor requested your presence so he could enjoy your reaction as the Alliance was destroyed before your eyes, "Vader explained. "I mean to deprive him of that pleasure. He also means to use you against your brother and I had to remove that weapon from him also."

For Luke's sake.

She turned, looked up at the black visage, one which once filled her with terror and now filled her with wonder. "Why?"

The helmet tilted upwards as though Vader was searching the far corner of the hanger, then he turned to her. "You are my daughter," he said simply, and with regret.

"What about Luke?"

Vader briefly hesitated, again there was a tilt of the helmet. "He is very near." Indeed Sohn's emotions were battering his Force senses; so much rage amid a cool determination. And he was afraid that this time Luke was already lost. "Leave him to me." He gestured to the pilot to approach. "It is time to leave, your Highness."

"My Lord?" The Pilot stood by them looking in confusion at the Rebel princess and the Dark Lord.

"You are to escort her Highness to the sanctuary moon," Vader rumbled. "She is not to come to harm or you will answer to me."

The pilot nervously flickered to Leia. "My Lord the shield, the battle…."

"The shield will be lowered momentarily; you will slip through and take the shuttle away from the battle zone."

"Yes, my Lord," he bowed.

"Give me your side arm."

The bow was never completed as the man jerked back up. "My Lord Vader, I…"

"Give me your side arm."

The man complied and handed Vader his pistol by the grip. The Dark Lord took it and passed it to Leia. The pilot stiffened in surprise.

"My Lord…" he began stumbling over his words, terribly afraid of the man before him, but also terribly confused by his Lord's actions. But he stilled his questions when Vader turned the mask upon him. "Leave us and ready the shuttle."

As the man left them Leia took the offered gun, her own feelings wild and unsure…..

..Han… what has happened to Han?

"Now go, your Highness." Vader advised as the shuttle's engines came to life.

"Thank you…" she stalled unable to find the word, unable to call him father.

"I understand," he told her. "And if I can, I will return your brother to you."

Leia nodded briefly, then turned and strode up the ramp of the waiting shuttle which immediately lifted behind her. Vader hurried from the hanger, knowing he had to reach the Emperor before Luke.

Leia settled in beside the pilot, keeping the blaster in her grip as the shuttle lifted and glided from the bay. "When we're clear of the fighting, bring us around the moon to the shield generator."

"The Lord Vader never said anything about obeying your orders, Rebel."

Leia considered the pistol and smiled. "I'm quite a good pilot myself," she said quietly, her meaning very clear. "You'll take us around to the shield generator."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Evasive manoeuvres! He's firing on us!" Wedge called frantically. Bringing his fighter out of a tight turn. He banked right as his Artoo unit screeched from behind the cockpit. His eyes swept the scanners. "And he's got reinforcements."

"Copy that, Wedge," Lando replied, frustration biting his words. "Red Squad head back to fleet. They won't drop the shield with a crowd of us here."

"Red leader! One on your tail!"

"I see him, Red Five!"

Wedge spun the X-Wing, zigzagged a broken path through the smaller dog-fight they had created away from the main fighting. The Interceptor remained on his tail, seemed to be able to read his every move. "I could use some help here! He's good!" He frowned at his own words, watched his opponent in his rear scanners.

"He flies like, Luke."

"Shit," he breathed softly as his conversation with Solo and the Princess returned to him. "Don't do this, Luke."

"On my way, Wedge!" Lando responded, bringing the Falcon around, quad guns blazing.

Sohn followed the X-Wing watching as the ship bobbed and weaved in and out of the crosshairs of his targeting device, as it spun and looped around trying to shake him. He felt the danger before his scanners warned him of the ship coming up behind him, and he pushed the controls forward putting his interceptor into a dive as streaks of red laser fire shot past. He brought the ship around impulsively returning fire on his attacker.

"No!" the denial was a howl of desolate realisation as his shots lightly brushed the hull of the Millennium Falcon, piercing its shielding and sending shards spinning off. "Han!"

"Gold Leader!" Wedge called, in alarm.

"Shielding's gone, Wedge," Lando told him, tightly. "Engine's losing power. He's hit the….ah…controls are shorting out…"

"I'm coming in to help….."

"Negative, Wedge… We're dead in space. Get back to the fleet. Han'll get that shield down. You're in Command now, Red leader."

Panicked Sohn drew back, flew his TIE back towards the floundering freighter as the last Rebel X-Wing turned to flee the scene and it was then he saw the markings on the snub-fighter. It had been Wedge. He'd almost shot Wedge down, but instead it had been Han…

…Leia said Han was with her. What did she mean? That he was on the moon? He had to be on the moon. But the Falcon… he never let anyone else fly the Falcon…

He passed over the ship seeing movement in the cockpit, unable to make out precise figures. And relief flooded him, they were still alive. He opened his com to warn his men off but before he could speak the quad guns from the Falcon opened fire on him.

There were streaks of green as one of his own men flew to his defence. "Don't" he cried.

The TIE's shots sheered off the Falcon's cockpit, spilling bodies into space. It touched the damaged hull and the Millennium Falcon disintegrated in a burst of fire and debris.

"No!"

Han stood with the squad and beside him Threepio, uncommonly subdued and quiet, placed a golden hand on the dome of Artoo Detoo. Chewbacca growled under his breath at the surrounding Imperial troops. The Corellian glanced up once more at the blue sky, at the pin point flares of light as once particularly bright explosion burst near the Death Star.

"On your knees, Rebels."

And Han knew their time was short. Knew he had to act. Somehow.

It was too much, too much. There was too much happening. Too much pain to contain within. Moaning he pressed the heel of his hands against the forehead of the mask, wanting to rip it off wanting beat his fists against the controls of his fighter, wanting to open his eyes and see the Falcon whole, wanting to know that Han was still alive and that he had not been responsible for what had happened.

He had to control these feelings, had to reel in the emotions that were overwhelming him, that threatened to engulf him. He had to gather them in and nurture them just for a short while, just until he could command them and use them to his own advantage.

"Lord Commander," Jerjerrod's voice cut through the static in his head. "The shield will be deactivated on your next approach. You are to dock within your assigned hanger and be escorted to…"

Vader's bulk stepping down into a cell, his hands clasping the princess drawing her to her feet. Vader standing behind Palpatine as the old man laughed at her anguish and despair. Vader doing nothing as the Emperor gently took her face in his hands, spoke soothingly too her before the familiar flickers of blue spread from his finger tips to her skin. Vader watching as she fell screaming to the floor crying out her brother's name.

Vader. Their father.

He spun his fighter around and headed back to the Death Star.

Leia gripped the blaster tightly as the shuttle slipped out of the docking bay, her stomach twisting with tension, her head pounding with….

….pain and rage…

She gave an involuntary gasp. Tried to reach out with her raw Force abilities and found a still darkness, a quiet shadowthat scared her.

Stay and be safe. Stay and find strength.

And she prayed that Vader was correct about the shield being lowered, prayed that the action she was about to take would help end this conflict; would help her brother to somehow find the peace he so badly needed.

The ship slowed for a moment, paused in its journey as the pilot brought it near to the shielding and Leia glanced out of the cockpit. It was quiet this side of the space station. Here there were no other ships, no lights of battle, just the quiet peace of cold space and the Endor moon shining below. It was a calm and tranquil view one which helped ease her anxiety. She knew what she had to do.

For Han. For Luke. For us all.

She reached forward changing the com frequency, tapping in Alliance code to break into the secure channels looking for the Rebel battle chatter and the cockpit was suddenly filled with desperate shouts and frantic orders.

The Shuttle moved forward, building speed. "Take us down." Leia said quietly.

Sohn wrenched off the breathing apparatus and, leaving the Interceptor's engines idling, he popped the hatch and jumped unaided to the hanger floor. A squad of troopers were approaching him, marching in close formation. He strode toward them barely containing the emotions which surged within, the power and passion which begged release.

"Lord Commander Vader," the lead trooper acknowledged him. "You are under arrest for…"

Wordlessly Sohn gathered the Force around him, he lifted his hand as he approached and waved them out of his way. The troopers were sent crashing across the hanger. Sohn did not glance at them, nor did he break his stride.

Darth Vader stepped out of the elevator and swept passed the guards stationed there without a look or a thought. He was focusing entirely on this moment, setting his resolve to face his Emperor. But it was difficult to maintain his composure, difficult to concentrate his attention forward when his senses were being battered by his son's squalling emotions. The Force was a storm around them and he and Palptine were the eye. He dipped to his knees as Palpatine rose from the throne, yellow eyes narrowed with anger.

"What is this?"

"The Princess Leia is no longer on board the Death Star," Vader rumbled, helmet lowered in his bow.

…Raging frustration…. unrelenting pain….blind aggression… Blue of a lightsabre blade flashing against the red of the Royal Guards who stood between him and the elevator.

Sohn was so very close.

Palpatine smirked at the bludgeoning feelings from the boy, at the images caught by them both. Then he turned back to his servant. "And who is responsible for this treachery?"

"I am, my Master."

The thin lips pursed in anger, there was a pause of surprise which pleased the dark Lord. The Palpatine stepped towards him. "I focused on the son, when it should have been the father I kept watch upon."

Vader lowered his postion as the Emperor lightly caressed his feelings, then plunged deeper into his mind, shredding through his beliefs, dreams and wishes. He wilted under the attack, allowed Palpatine access to his most private thoughts lest the pain of fighting weaken him to the struggle ahead. He knew he would require every ounce of his strength and conviction to face his furious son.

"And why would the Dark Lord of the Sith risk all for that girl…….. Ah," and he smiled with realisation and spoke gleefully, enjoying the pain he sensed from Vader. "… to save the son." He paused, glanced up toward the still silent elevator and the guards standing there. "Can't you feel him, my Lord? His wrath, his passion, his strength and power within the Darkness. He welcomes these feelings now, he revels in the Dark Side side as he fights his way to us, as he fights to save…"

The girl… something about the girl…

"Sister?" Palpatine spat in surprise and disgust. "A second child? The Organa brat?" As Vader remained silent, Palpatine's surprise melted to bemusment and then to rile as he suddenly understood the Dark Lord's actions. He grimaced at the man who still bowed to him. "You are not here to pay homage to me, my Lord," he drawled with repugnance. "Your loyalties lie elsewhere - Skywalker."

Smiling, with satisfaction Sohn took the head of the remaining guard with a final vicious stroke of his sword. As the body crumpled to the floor among the others the Younger Dark Lord stepped forward into the elevator. The Force was thrilling through him, filling him with a heady power and he glanced upward as the lift began to ascend to the Emperor's chamber. No-one would stand between him and his sister and live.

Palpatine's head jerked up as though he had heard something and he looked toward the elevator. He grinned in satisfaction and announced. "You have failed. Your son is mine!"

Vader rose and turned as Palpatine moved back toward his throne. The elevator doors parted and the guards turned to stop its occupant from entering the chamber. There was the spit and hum of a lightsabre and the men were felled by three easy slices of the blue blade. Sohn callously stepped over their bodies onto the bridge which crossed the shaft and Vader understood that Palpatine was right; this small, dark figure which stalked towards them was not Luke Skywalker. This man was lost in rage and anguish, this man nurtured hatred and revenge, this man's awful power trembled under a tenuous control and he was so eager now to unleash it.

This man reminded Vader of his younger self.

"Where is she?" Sohn screamed. He gripped his sabre tightly, the blue glow reflecting on his mask.

Stay and be safe.

"Luke…" Vader began stepping toward him, his hand instinctively touching the hilt of his own sabre.

"Don't call me that!" Fury scored the word as it tore through Sohn's scarred vocal cords; a lasting gift from his father. "Where's Leia?"

"Dead," Palpatine sneered from behind Vader's back as Sohn reached the steps and began to climb.

Leia wilting under the attack. Reaching to Vader in her desperation.

"Father!"

And her plea went unanswered.

With a bestial howl Sohn attacked; sword swinging high toward his father's head. Vader's sword flew into his hands and he barely blocked the blow, deflecting his son's move. The younger man pushed forward blade flashing relentlessly as he pressed his father back. Vader met each lunge, each frenzied stroke with a defensive parry. He had never felt such strength from the boy before, such a focused purpose. Luke was quick, his moves thoughtless; guided solely by the Dark Side of the Force and Vader was afraid he would lose this fight and into doing so he would lose everything.

Sohn brought his saber in low, cutting in toward Vader's side. His father blocked the blow but was unbalanced by the move and Sohn brought his foot up, viciously kicking his father and sending the elder Vader crashing down the stairway. He immediately jumped after him, landing at Vader's sprawled legs. He raised the sabre above his head ready to serve the killing blow, but Vader brought his hand up and sent Luke reeling back with a push as he gathered himself to his feet.

With lithe ability Sohn righted himself and faced his father, saber held in a traditional attack position. Vader raised his own sword in defence and they circled each other; both looking for a weakness in the other, both driven by similar desires and wants; but both too absorbed in events to recognise it; Sohn utterly oblivious to the manipulations of the Dark Side of the Force.

Above them Palpatine cackled with glee as their sabres locked together once more.

"Break right! Break right!" Wedge called desperately to his wingman. "I'm coming in…"

An immense burst of light erupted from the Death Star and touched one of the Rebel crusiers. It exploded into dust taking with it the fighters which had surged around it.

There was a moment of stunned silence over the com and then all began shouting as one.

"The Death Star's operational!"

"Retreat. Retreat."

"We saw it," Ackbar's broke over all others. "All craft prepare to retreat."

"No, Admiral!" A female voice broke in. "Maintain the attack. The shield will be brought down - I only need a few moments."

"Princess?" Wedge questioned feeling a little optimism swell from the depths of the hopelessness he had been feeling.

Another ship disintegrated, taken out by the Death Star.

"I'm not sure we have a few moments, Your Highness," Ackbar responded tightly. "Not against the Death Star, and the Imperial fleet is closing in quickly to block an escape. We have to leave now to preserve the Rebellion."

"We won't get another opportunity like this Admiral," Leia argued, fighting to keep the choler and anxiety from her voice. If they left, if they fled now the Emperor would still live, the Death Star would be completed to wreak havoc throughout the Galaxy. "It has to end here!"

Wedge understood her reasoning, knew what she was saying made sense, but how could they buy the time they needed. He brought his fighter around, accelerated passed the medical frigate firing on the TIE that he had centred in his crosshairs. It blew as Wedge spun away and he saw the stars of clear space before him slowly being closed off by the Imperial Star Destroyers.

That was it!

"Admiral, if we moved the fleet towards those destroyers, took them on at close range that would…"

"We won't last long against those Star Destroyers," Ackbar responded.

"No, but they might think twice about using the Death Star cannon if they value their own ships! And it might buy the Princess some time!" He was shouting now desperately trying to convince his superior.

There was a pause filled by static then, "I'll give order," Ackbar conceded quietly.

Leia sighed in relief smiling slightly as she watched as the Endor moon grew to fill the view port of the shuttle. "Thank you, Admiral."

Beside her the Imperial pilot chuckled. "It's too late, Rebel" he sneered. "The Emperor has your fleet cornered."

Leia glanced briefly in his direction as the shuttle moved into the upper layers on the moon's atmosphere a tight retort balanced on her lips…

…blue against red, black on black… fury and fright scurrying… squawking laughter and foul glee… a darkness and malevolence so strong it…

…she blanched in sudden pain, gasped at the rawness of the emotions which battered against her like a rough tide and she slumped low in the chair trying to unravel herself from the Force. The pilot beside her rose, reached across to snatch to gun from her hand but found himself looking at its barrel once more.

"Just fly the shuttle, and remember Vader said I wasn't to come to harm," Leia told him, shakily as she forcefully fought her way out of the images and the feelings which had almost overwhelmed her. Time was short for the Fleet, and she was possibly too late for Han and his team below her in the Forest. And this thought struck her deeply, caused tight grief to rise and choke at the back of her throat. She swallowed it back; she still had Luke, still had her brother and she sorely wished she could reach out to him, could help him with his struggle against the darkness which was so eagerly devouring him, could aid Vader…

…their father…

…in his task of returning her brother to her. She briefly closed her eyes and allowed one thought only to break the quiet of her mind.

I'm here, Luke.

Then she opened her eyes, cleared her brother from her thoughts and glanced over the shuttles scanners. "Head for the shield generator," she ordered her prisoner, "and charge up the guns."

Sohn feinted a thrust at Vader, drew back, jumped and somersaulted over the Dark Lord's head. He landed with feline precision, sabre slicing through the air at his father's back. Vader turned and met the blow.

"Luke!" He attempted as his automated breathing quickened with each movement he made the equipment struggling to keep up with the demands for oxygen from his body.

Snarling, Sohn viciously pushed forward forcing Vader onto the bridge across the chasm. He was quick, nimble, his movements almost ephemeral and his father was hard pressed to keep his own sword moving to block each blow, each swinging strike which rained in toward him. The boy was driven by pain, by hatred and anger, the emotions propelling him deeper and deeper into the abyss of darkness which closed around him, offered him release and fuelled his frenzy.

The Dark Lord staggered backward and his foot caught on the prone body of a fallen guard and he stumbled, dropped to his knees. Sohn grabbed the advantage, sabre catching Vader's own and ripping it from his grasp. It dropped into the void below as Vader instinctively threw up his arm against a killing stroke. Sohn's sabre severed the arm at the wrist exposing the mechanisms of the prosthetic limb. His cry was distorted, twisted, as it tore from the mask's voice processor. He fell back among the dead guards as the blue sabre came up and around, cutting through his chest plate.

His lungs immediately felt compressed, crushed, and he had to fight to draw in a sustaining breath. He heaved and gasped as the tip of the lightsabre lingered at his neck. And he knew he was beaten.

"Where is she?" Sohn whispered malevolently.

The Force moved in tides around Vader, thick and fluid and he had difficulty grasping onto it, had difficulty gaining the strength he needed to speak. He was light-headed through depleted oxygen levels, weakened, dying. "S….safe," he wheezed. "Sh… she… she is safe."

…. Safe….. Safe… Safe…

Sohn faltered for a moment at the unexpected answer. How could that be? How could Leia be safe when Palpatine had said she was dead? His blood was rushing with his exertion, hammering through his brain with every quick beat of his heart. It was a whirlwind, a torrent in his mind and the noise of the storm was still building, goaded by his twisted emotions.

"You're lying!" he spat, lightsabre poised for the final thrust.

"Sh… shu…ttle…" the Dark Lord managed. He was struggling against his rapidly declining body, struggling against death for the sake of his son. "Se….search….f….feelings, Luke."

"No! I…"

…I'm here, Luke…

"Leia!" He called in bewilderment. He took a stumbling step back from Vader, trying to hold onto his anger, wanting to keep the heat of it close to him. But the cool anguish of understanding, and guilt, began to seep through the flames to confuse him and the exhilarating power he had felt - he had enjoyed - began to trickle away. "Leia?"

Palpatine's smile of contentment faded as he watched the younger man move back from his fallen father, as the youth's delicious rage began to fade to dawning horror. He slowly descended the steps as Sohn cried out the girl's name for a second time and he could feel the boy searching the Force for his sister's presence. Palpatine blocked him, threw a black wall around him, preventing him from exploring further. His smile returned as Sohn turned angrily toward him and he regarded the boy with hooded eyes.

"Your father is trying to manipulate you, child, to salvage himself. The girl is dead…"

"Then why block me?" Sohn demanded, failing to address his Emperor appropriately in his desperation to know his sister's fate.

"To save you from yourself," Palpatine told him kindly, ignoring Sohn's insolence, focusing only on the boy's anger, and loathing for his sire "You have become powerful. The Dark Side of the Force beats in your heart filling you with a potency which surpasses even your father's. This is the destiny you were born for," he hissed with eager conviction. "Now fulfil it. Come bow to me and you may be my Darth Vader!"

Darth Vader?

….A burst of light in a darkened cave, a wisp of smoke clearing to reveal the face beneath the Vader mask…

His own face.

His own face beneath the Vader façade.

Darth Vader.

Sohn touched his own mask with a trembling hand.

Vader.

He glanced back at his father who lay gasping and dying behind him.

Vader.

"You are my son."

His father. He was like his father. He was becoming his father.

He looked to the lightsabre he was still clutching tightly.

"I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."

His lightsabre. His father's lightsabre. Skywalker's lightsabre. That was why he had kept it and refused to make his own. It was his past, it was who he was.

Skywalker.

He extinguished the sword, hooked it onto his belt, and then he reached up and lifted off his mask and helmet. He regarded them briefly, feeling cool air brush against his face, lifting heat from his sweat damp hair, and he smiled, for he would need them no longer.

"Never again, "he calmly informed Palpatine, and he tossed the mask and helmet to the floor where they settled at the Emperor's feet. "I'll not kneel to you. I am my own master, now."

Helplessly Han closed his eyes as the executions started at the far end of the Rebel line up. They were all on their knees, hands still behind bowed heads. The abrupt retorts of a hand gun echoed around clearing, breaking the silence as the assembled Imperials watched their Commander terminate the Rebels one by one.

"Leia," he whispered with regret as the quiet was broken by another shot and the pulsing of a passing shuttle's engines.

"There," Leia pointed to the forest clearing where the Imperial's were assembled, to her horror she watched a single black clad officer point to gun to back of an Alliance trooper's head and pull the trigger. As the shuttle took her over the top of them, she caught sight of Han waiting at the very end of the killing line. The ship passed over the huge shield generating dish. "Circle around, take us back over head. Quickly!"

Leia fingers rapidly worked the controls before her and she brought the targeting screen online. She shot a quick look at the pilot reassuring herself he wasn't about to try and obstruct her actions. "Take us lower."

And she opened fire on the dish, on the landing platform, on the building housing the generator. The huge dish broke up, collapsed in and flames arose in a great plume of fire. The shuttle moved on, guns still blazing cutting through the Imperials gathered in the clearing.

Han fell forward at the first shots, as the shield generator exploded, as All Terrain transports toppled, around them. Glancing up he watched storm troopers flee for cover. He grinned as the shuttle came around again; whoever it was flying that ship was clearly on the side of the Alliance. It was decimating the Imperial ranks.

He reached forward and grabbed a fallen blaster, glanced at Chewie and shouted above the tumult of shouts and screams and laser fire. "Come on, Fur Face!" And he opened fire on the troopers around him as his remaining squad members responded like wise.

"The shield is down!" Ackbar's voice broke in over com.

Wedge grinned in relief; the Princess had been true to her word. "We're on it, Admiral. Red Group, Gold Group," he called to the remnants of his own squad, and Calrissian's. "All fighters form up on me. We're goin' in."

With sullen anger Palpatine lifted his eyes from the discarded mask and helmet to consider the younger man. "Arrogant fool!"

Luke coolly returned the stare, feeling relaxed, feeling ready. "No, Sire. You are the fool. You watched me so closely, but you failed to see anything past your own ambitions."

"Luke…. No…."

Luke ignored his father's pleas from behind him and waited for Palpatine's next move. He could feel the Force within as it surged through him, wave after wave of bludgeoning power hammering at his senses. It felt good and, unlike a few moments before, he was in control of it. He was commanding it and for once his destiny truly was in his own hands.

And Palpatine laughed gleefully at this, hands clasped before him, white and clawed against the dark of his robes. His laughter was a cackle, a squawk from a carrion bird as it chased a child from the light and bid it hide in the shadows. "You think to challenge me? " He questioned, with a hint of incredulity to his voice. He stepped forward and was rewarded as Luke moved back. The boy was still afraid of him - as he should be. "You think to usurp me, child? You do not yet have the strength."

"You fear me," Luke stated as darkness swirled about him. "You always have. Even as you tortured me I could feel it. Even when I bent my knees to you in supplication it was there." He took a bold step towards the Emperor as he spoke. "And it is there now. I can feel it."

The Emperor stood his ground; his face grave with his growing irritation. The boy was growing too brash, too presumptuous, to sure of himself and of his abilities, and Palpatine was loathe to destroy such a gifted apprentice, such a dark jewel, but Sohn had overstepped a boundary and Palpatine was unsure if it was one which could be successfully reinstated. There had been too much interference from the father, too much from influence from the sister and…

The sister.

There was a way to salvage this after all. "You will bow to me, young one," he spat in fury and glee. "You will call me master," and his voice softened to a whisper. "Or your sister will."

Luke felt his control loosen, felt his tenuous grip slide as the Force raged with his anger at the threat, at the thought of Leia bowing to this rancid creature. "No!"

Vader felt the movement within the Force. Luke was still in darkness, still stumbling in the shadows with the light just beyond his grasp. "Luke….." he gasped, reaching for his son who stood so close, but seem so far away.

And Palpatine smiled at the reaction savouring the heat and the hatred. "It is either her fate, or it is yours," he warned. "Now yield to me."

Luke took another determined step toward the Emperor. Back straight, head held high, eyes burning with the power of his decision and his disgust. "No."

Palpatine nodded with regret at the finality of Luke's decision. "So be it, Skywalker," and he lifted his hands in an all too familiar gesture. "I trust your sister will be wiser." He summoned his power, savoured it building, felt it crackling around his fingers and then released it toward the waiting boy.

Luke threw both his hand out blocking the Force lightening. It bounced and sparked wildly as he caught it, as he cupped his hands shaping the dark-light into a ball. He drew it to himself feeling the Force humming through him, filling him with exhilaration, with an unsurpassed strength. He looked at Palpatine, saw the horror and fear which crossed the Emperor's face and he laughed with delight as the old man stumbled away.

He opened his hands and sent the ball crashing back in the direction it had come; it caught Palpatine in the midsection and sent him flying to land awkwardly on the stairs to the throne. Luke slowly walked forward, calling upon the Force, feeling the flicker and flash of his own energy as it spread outward, as it licked over the fallen Emperor's robes and tore wild cries of defeat from the writhing man.

Unseen and forgotten Vader painfully crawled over the floor; fear for his son strengthening him, giving him the impetus he needed to move his failing body. He forced himself to his feet and threw himself on Luke, tackling him, bringing him down. They tumbled to the floor together.

Enraged Luke rolled away, kicked at his father's grasping hand. "I could have had him!" He screamed at Vader.

"And…." Vader gasped and heaved for a breath. "He… wo… would….have had….you, son."

The words sliced through the rage, cooling his anger, making him pause. He was still in the thrall of the Dark Side, still its vassal and doing its bidding. If he killed Palpatine in this manner, if he killed him in anger and revenge…

… and pleasure…

…then he was no better. Shrugging off Sohn Vader and reclaiming the Skywalker name did not cleanse him of iniquity, did not resurrect the man he once was when all of this began. He was allowing his feelings to claim him, allowing the Dark Side to reside insidiously within; he was allowing these emotions to control him rather than the other way around. That they gave him strength was undeniable, but it was a strength which could be utilised in more productive ways.

Luke looked to his father. His father who had risked all to save the son who had ultimately killed him. Who had used his fear for that son to give him the strength to save him. Fear, because he loved him.

But had he not acted to save Leia? Had he not used love too as the foundations of his actions?

He wilted, confused, caught between the light and the dark, struggling to know the right from the wrong among so many shades of grey.

"Father?" he questioned. "What do I do now?" And he sounded very much like the lost child who had reached out in anguish and pain so many months before. Then his father had stepped back, had turned away and left him alone in the cold and the darkness. But now the black gloved hand reached for his and held tightly.

"You… live…"

There was a snort of laughter from the side, to where Palpatine had drawn himself back to his feet. "But you will not!"

Blue-white streaks erupted from spread fingers tips and ripped through the weakened Dark Lord and his son. The grip between them broke as Luke, caught in the chest by the blast, was thrown violently backwards. He cried out in agony, in horror, as he rolled over the floor trying to free himself from the scorching darkness. He clawed at the lightening as it travelled his body, pushing it away with all the power he could muster and, grimacing from the pain, he looked up as the lightening continued to strobe the throne room. It moved away from him to solely target his father.

Palpatine, with renewed vigour, stalked forward pouring all of his hatred and vengeance into Vader's final moments. Once the father was dead, once his influence was destroyed the boy would surely see he only ever had one choice, one place, one destiny and that alone he would falter. Sohn need guidance, needed nurturing; a thing so capable of darkness could not be allowed to wither so soon.

"Father!" Luke called, horrified. He clambered unsteadily to his feet, pulling the lightsabre from his belt and activating it. The blue blade grew tall, strong, and it purred through air as he wielded it, using just one stroke to fell the laughing despot.

Palpatine choked in surprise at the sudden agony that tore his body. He gasped, feeling his powers drain, realising he should never have made the mistake of turning his back on the boy. As he fell to the floor Sohn Vader stepped into his line of vision and Palpatine saw, at last, what had been so cleverly concealed from him; the boy was silhouetted by a brilliant light; by a pure and natural radiance that no darkness could ever fully destroy.

This is light. This is life.

This child was the balance he had strived to destroy, this child was the core of the Force and from him the Jedi Order would grow strong once more.

He could foresee it.

Luke shut off the lightsabre as Palpatine's body silently crumbled and he dropped to his knees by his father's side, taking the elder man's hand once more.

"Father?"

There was no reply and, anxious for contact with his father, Luke's fingers hooked over the helmet and lifted it from Vader's head. Frantically, but still with consummate care, he unfastened the mask's face plate and lifted it away. Anakin Skywalker's face was still, peaceful, his eyes closed. Luke leaned closer listening for a shallow breath.

"Father," he repeated, regret and grief heavy in the word. He lowered his head as unfamiliar tears marked his cheeks. He had killed his own father, he had…

"Saved… me…"

The words were barely a whisper but they caught Luke's heart and he looked up as his father weakly smiled at him. "I'm sorry…" he wept.

"No… Luke. You… saved…me," Anakin reassured him. It should be he who was sorry. It should be he who should plead forgiveness from his son. His light son, his beautiful child who shimmered with the power of the Force. His son who had saved him from plunging into Darkness for eternity and who had nothing to be sorry for. It had been his actions alone which had lead them here, it had been his choices, made before Luke was born, which had lead to this moment. "You… live. Leave me."

"No," Luke glanced toward the viewing ports and the fight beyond. "The battle is turning, I can feel it. It is best this way."

He was suffocating, each breath he managed was less than the first and his body screamed its agony at him, pleaded with him to let go and die. But still he lingered and fought for the stubborn child by his side who believed that death was also his destiny. "Not… best. Easier."

"The Dark Side is still so near," Luke told him, thickly. He had to die. He deserved to die. He wanted to die for what he had done this day; the deaths he had caused while enraged. He did not trust himself when he could still feel the darkness within.

"Leia…" Vader wheezed, gripping Luke by the arm as pain rippled through him. ".. needs you. Who will.. be…there for her…when…Darkness… calls….? You have…beaten it… Be the.. Jedi.. You wanted to be."

"I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."

He caught his father's gaze, saw forgiveness in his father's eyes, saw the pain and regret he felt mirrored there. They both had so much to atone for.

"Go… home, Luke." The last word, his name, was merely the last breath leaving the body as Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, succumbed to his wounds.

"Father!" Luke called desperately, echoing words he had used before to plead with the man who had delivered him into darkness. "Please… don't leave me."

There was no answer. Luke bowed his head and bitterly wept.

Wedge winced as the tower guns opened fire on them. They sped across the surface of the Death Star pursued by several TIE fighters. They crossed the equator, skimmed the shell of the battle station and traversed unfinished superstructure.

"There it is!" Wedge announced. "All fighters follow me!" And he looped around brought his fighter down and he plunged into the reactor shaft. Immediately his instruments screamed multiple warnings about obstructions ahead. He gritted his teeth and flew as he never had before; evading jutting superstructure, unfinished gantries and walk-ways; his fighter swooping through the bowels of the Death Star followed by Red and Gold squads.

"Lock onto the strongest power source," he advised his men. "It should be the reactor."

"Copy, Red Leader. Locking on."

Green streaks of blaster fire strafed the wall beside his fighter sending up sparks and reminding him of their pursuers. "Spilt up," he ordered, sharply. "See if we can't lose some of these Imps."

"Copy that, Red Leader," Gold Two acknowledge as he and three others peeled away down a separate shaft. "We're heading back to the surface."

Wedge followed the signal on his targeting device, weaving around piles of debris and ducking under a half built walls. Then the way was clear and the Rebel fighters roared into the reactor chamber. "There she is! I'll go for the regulator on the north tower. Red Two you take out the main reactor."

"With pleasure, Boss!"

Wedge released his torpedoes a split second before his wingman. They turned in a wide arc behind the reactor sphere as the missiles hit. The huge structure collapsed and blew, spewing out a raging fire which streamed after the fighters through the battle station's super structure.

The Death Star rocked, the shock waves rippling outward to warp and bend metal decking plates, to shatter walls, and to loosen docked TIE fighters from their anchors on hanger ceilings; they crashed to the docking bay floors, fuel cells bursting and exploding. Men ran, fell and died.

Luke stumbled into the cockpit of the Emperor's personal shuttle and threw himself into the pilot's chair, hands already working the controls, bringing the engines on line and maximising the shielding. As it moved forward, lifting from the deck, a piece of gantry fell from the ceiling and an explosion blew outward from the bay to lick at the stern of the shuttle as it passed from beyond its grasp.

Luke smiled grimly as the shuttle was buffeted and then straightened. He steered away from the Death Star.

It was getting hot, Wedge was sure of it. The flames chasing them seemed to be creeping faster, seemed ready to reach out and hold them and crush them within its heat. Alarms were ringing in his ears and he was unaware he was shouting aloud.

Then clear space was before him, the fleet having moved off to a safe distance. And he cried with joy, with amazement, as the Death Star burst in an instance of brilliant aurora behind him.

The battle was ending. The Rebel soldiers, having regrouped behind the shell of a fallen Walker, had picked off the remaining troopers and were emerging to mop up any further resistance. Han glanced up as a whoop of joy rose from his men and he smiled as the Death Star exploded far above and burned like a second sun.

Like Tatooine.

Luke.

Kid.

He lowered his head in pain, surprised by the grief which threatened to overwhelm him.

Leia!

Was Leia on that thing?

A heavy, hairy hand rested on his shoulder and Chewbacca softly grunted as See Threepio and Artoo Detoo re-emerged from behind the Walker wreckage.

"I know, Chewie," he said softly as the shuttle containing their benefactor hovered overhead and lowered to the ground. The Corellian straightened his shoulders. "Let's go see who we thank, huh?"

The ramp lowered as he walked forward and he spotted the dark pants of an Imperial uniform at the top and a very disgruntled looking man was escorted out at gun point by….

"Leia!"

He ran forward, pushed the pilot out of his way, and scooped the princess from her feet. He spun her around, buried his face in her hair and breathed in the very essence of her. "Leia!" he repeated, hold her close. Then he seemed to feel her amusement and put her down, drawing away ever so slightly and saw her smile. "I thought I had lost you."

She reached up, rested a palm on his face, and they kissed lightly. "Never," she told him.

"What happened?" He questioned, glancing back up at the burning remains of the battle station. "Were you up there?"

"Yes," she told him, a small frown darkening her features, her eyes taking on hues of sorrow. "Vader let me go. He…" and the words caught in her throat as she glanced at the sky.

Han gathered her back into his arms, understanding the source of her anguish. "I'm sure Luke wasn't on that thing when it blew." He didn't know why he said it, he didn't even believe it, but he knew he had to say something to ease Leia's pain.

To his surprise she smiled. "He wasn't. I can feel it."

Uneasy with this answer, he shifted his feet on the grass. "Is he…?"

"He's Luke." She simply answered staring at the sky, sensing her brother's searching feelings.

Han nodded silently, stilling his questions and drew Leia back into his arms. Her words were suffice for him. Later there would be greater explanations, later there would be more truths revealed; but for now there was Leia and he was content.

Luke smiled as he felt Leia's presence on the moon below. He knew she was safe, felt her happiness as she was reunited with…

Han!

He closed his eyes with a flood relief. Han was all right. Han hadn't been on the Falcon and he didn't have to live with the guilt of killing his friend. He reached out tentatively and touched his sister's feelings, savouring her light, her goodness and wishing he could hold her, wishing he could wrap his arms around her, grasp her tightly and tell her how he felt now.

I know, Luke…

Reluctantly, he withdrew from her, taking comfort in her soothing thought. She knew what he had to do now. He turned the shuttle away from the moon, away from the dying field of battle. He still had much to consider, still had ghosts of pain to lay to rest and he needed time to contemplate the future and his part in it.

"Go home, Luke." His father had said. But where was home? Not with Alliance, not yet anyway. Not on Coruscant with the remnants of the Empire where his presence, as Vader's son, would be a focal point for those who would wish to rebuild.

Where was home for him now?

And then he knew. He understood. The Force gathered around him guiding his fingers as he plotted his course.

"Uh, Wedge?"

The hesitant warning tones in Red Two's voice broke through the storm within Antilles' mind; they had done it! They had soundly beaten the Empire. The Emperor was believed dead, Darth Vader was believed dead, and his son….

Luke…

… was also thought to have died either during the battle or on the Death Star with his father. And what should have been a fulfilling moment for him, was tinged with bitter grief. His friend was dead.

"What is it, Red Two," he ignored the other pilot's mistake of calling him by his first name; such things are forgiven during momentous occasions like this.

"I've pick up a small ship moving through sector three-nine. Looks like a Lambda Class Shuttle."

Wedge felt the prickle of fear blow on the back of his neck. "Move to intercept," he ordered tightly. "Command? Admiral? We might have a problem here."

"We see him, Commander," Ackbar acknowledged. "Take him out."

"Yes, sir." He laid in a pursuit course, hoping they could intercept the pilot before he made the jump to light speed.

"Shit! That's the Imperial crest!" Red Two blurted in agitation as they neared the shuttle. "That could be Palpatine!"

Wedge charged up his guns, drew the shuttle into his crosshairs and was about to shoot when the shuttle wangled its wings. He pulled his hands away from the trigger in surprise.

"What the hell?" Red Two exclaimed. "What's he doing?"

Wedge drew nearer, brought his fighter along side the shuttle which peeled away and looped around him in a manoeuvre, and with a grace, it was never built for. He laughed with delight as the shuttle shook it wings once more.

"Let him go," he announced, grinning. There was no doubt about it. That pilot was Luke Skywalker and Wedge now had the chance to repay his friend for saving his life above Hasthaal.

"Wedge? What?"

"That's not Palpatine," he told the others. "That's one of us."

The Imperial Shuttle suddenly shot forward in a burst of speed and was lost to hyperspace. Wedge saluted the empty cosmos before him while silently hoping his friend would, someday, find his way home. Then he turned his X-Wing and headed back to the waiting fleet.