Remnants of the Empire

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars (I wish) and Star Wars characters are not mine

"Hey guys, we're back!" yelled Han excitedly.

"Gahhh!" cried Chewie

"Hey Han!" said Leia.

"Whoa! What did you do to your hair?"

Leia ran her hand through her new padawan haircut and braid.

"Luke has accepted me as his padawan learner."

"NO WAY!"

"Yeah, that's what I said." Leia said, chuckling. "But what about your trip, how was it?"

Han's face clouded

"It wasn't that bad. We delivered the cargo to Coruscant without any problems, but on the way back we were attacked by those renegade Star Destroyers. But I pulled the same trick on them this time than when we escaped from them to Bespin."

"You mean you were attacked, and you attached the landing claw to the bridge until they went into hyperspace!" asked Leia incredulously.

"Yeah, then I came back here to Yavin. I'm fine!

"That's all?"

"Of course that's all. Besides, if I do get into trouble, my beautiful Jedi wife and her master will protect me! Hey Luke! How are you doing?"

"Hello Han! I see Leia has already shown you her padawan braid. You know we were going to keep it a surprise, my young padawan."

"I know master, but I couldn't help it, I was so excited to see Han back."

"Okay padawan, it's alright. So what else did you do Han?"

"What?"

"I sense something, that you did something else."

"Oh you did? Well that's interesting. You failed to mention anything else when you talked to me!" said Leia suspiciously.

"Nothing get by you, does it, Master Jedi?" chuckled Han nervously.

"Not one thing. So what did you do?"

Not much. While Chewie stayed with the ship, I decided to do some spying."

"YOU DECIDED TO DO WHAT!"

Leia grabbed Han around the neck and marched him off to their room.

"YOU AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE A LONG TALK MISTER!"

"Leia, wait!"

"What Lu... I mean master?

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side! You were afraid for Han, now you are angry at him; do not let yourself get any angrier!"

"Yes master."

"Now, I want you to continue building your lightsaber. Did you choose which color you wanted?"

"Yes master."

"Did you find the design for the hilt in the library?"

"Yes I did master."

"How much more do you have to do?"

"I'm almost done. I actually only need to install the crystal, and emitter coil, and I'm done."

"Good work, my young padawan."

"I'll get to work on it right away master."

That afternoon

"So, you said that you did some spying?"

It was later that day, and Luke was trying to find out what had happened

"Yeah. I went aboard one of the Star Destroyers, and found out some stuff."

"Like what?"

"As it turned out, the Destroyer that I landed on was the flagship. You know, Vengeance."

"Vengeance!"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I was fine!"

"You know, on that entirely black hull, you could have been seen easily!"

"I know that! I'm telling you, I was fine, but if you don't want to hear about the information…"

"You know, you can be very annoying at times." Luke sighed.

"What information did you find?"

"Well, I hid just inside the main bridge, and listened in on the conversation there. I found that they are going to attack…"

"It works! It works!" yelled Leia, from the other room.

She ran into the room, nearly dismembering 3PO in her excitement.

Her double-sided, deep royal purple lightsaber hummed quietly in her hands.

"Good work Leia" said Han.

"Yeah, good job, Le… I mean padawan."

"I'm so excited! I can't believe it really works!"

As Luke smiled, he was secretly amazed that Leia had made a double-sided lightsaber on her first try.

"As I was saying, the remnants of the Imperial fleet are going to attack Corellia."

"Oh no! Your home planet, Han!" cried Leia.

"Yeah." sighed Han

"We have to do something!"

"Hold on Leia. You need to calm down, and think about what you are saying. We don't even know where the fleet is right now!"

"Actually, we do."

Both Leia and Luke turned and looked at Han.

"We do?"

"Sure, I heard that when I was spying as well."

"So where are they!"

"They are probably right outside the Hoth system right now, waiting to make the jump into hyperspace."

"So let's go!" exclaimed Leia.

"Leia, you need to wait! Control your feelings. Use the Force. Think!"

"Yes master"

"Do you know how many ships are escorting the Vengeance to Corellia, Han? asked Leia.

"There're about five Star Destroyers, two Imperial Cruisers, and a lot of smaller ships."

"So attacking it directly wouldn't gain much, and the new Republic Fleet wouldn't be able to do anything anyway."

"Now you're using your head, padawan."

"Thank you master"

"So it's settled. We can leave tomorrow on the Falcon."

"Not so fast dear! You and I are still going to have that talk about doing STUPID stuff, without even telling me where you are, or anything!

Han looked at Luke pleadingly.

"Please Luke, don't let her do this to me."

"Sorry Han, but she is right you know. It was really stupid to do that."

"NOO! Luke, please help me!"

"I may be Luke's padawan, but I am still your wife, and I need to know where you are at all times!"

"Well right now I'm trapped between a tyrant and a heartless Jedi who won't help me."

"Very funny!"

Leia led a chuckling Han into the bedroom that they shared.

"Believe me, this talk is going to a very long one!" said Leia.

The next day, Luke and Leia's training ground

"I must say, I'm very impressed that you were able to make a double sided lightsaber on your first try. The color is great too. I think that I'm really going to have trouble beating you in our sparring lessons now! They both grinned at each other, neither moving an inch. Then suddenly, Leia swung one blade at Luke's head. Without stopping, she spun the other way, and stabbed at him with the other side of her lightsaber. Luke ducked the first blow, and blocked the stab with his own blade. Leia swung around and used the Force to throw a branch from a nearby tree at Luke, to distract him. Luke sprang at Leia, and began attacking her viciously, swinging his blade at every part of her body. She wielded her lightsaber expertly, blocking his every move.

"She never used a two-sided lightsaber before! How in the world is she doing so well? She must have practiced alone all night!" thought Luke.

Even though she was doing excellently, Leia was beginning to show signs of fatigue. Luke decided to press his advantage, swinging his lightsaber even faster at her. To his surprise, she also began to block his attacks as fast as he swung his own blade.

"She was just faking!" he thought.

Leia was just as tired as she had looked, but she was determined not to let that show again. When Luke attacked her even faster, she forced herself to move just as fast, to counter his blows. As she reached deeply into the Force, she mounted her own offensive. She spun quickly at him, and swung one blade, then the other, both at his face. He blocked both attacks, and Leia tried to kick him in the gut.

He spun out of the way and she overbalanced and fell. She tried to jump to her feet, but Luke was already there. He held his lightsaber directly over her heart. Slowly, he lowered it, and turned it off.

"You must remember to stay on your feet. It is very important that you do not fall while fighting." He said while helping her up.

"Yes master."

"Now, I think I have a few more things that I need to get ready before we leave. Do you have anything that you need to do?"

"Yeah, I need to say goodbye to R2 and 3PO, and make sure they don't fight again. They really do go at it sometimes. I hope the house is still standing when we get back."

"Okay." Luke chuckled. "We're leaving tonight while the Rogue Squadron can cover us until we get close to the Vengeance."

"Okay."

That night

"You know we can't go R2!" said 3PO. "I have had enough adventure to keep my circuits overheated for a long time!"

Artoo whistled a reply as he started out the door.

"Don't you call me a petrified slab of metal you little glob of grease! "Where are you going? You know that's the cargo hold of the Falcon, don't you? Come back!"

"Well, that's about it." said Luke.

"I just need to put the last of the supplies in, and we can go. The Rogue Squadron is just above us, in the atmosphere." said Han.

"So let's go! Come on Chewie!" said Leia.

"Alright, let's go." Han said as he sat into the pilot seat of the Falcon.

"I just hope we can get to them before they get to Corellia."

"Don't worry! We'll get there in time!"

"Gahhh!" cried Chewie.

"You're right Chewie; we do need to get going." Han said as he flipped a switch.

"Good, we can finally go!" shouted Leia excitedly.

"Patience, Leia, we'll get there in time."

"I sure hope so."

The Falcon blasted off low over the canopy of trees, shaking the leaves. Our heroes are anxious to get to get to Corellia, but so are the two stowaways that are hiding in the cargo hold.