Chapter 62
Weeks later…
Luke could never let his father find out, but his mind was conflicted. He sat in his office with the door locked, and he had given a warning to all aboard the Redemption, telling them that he wasn't to be disturbed. He wanted to take a moment for himself in order to ponder over his place in the galaxy as it was. Unfortunately, he rarely had time these days to think over what he was doing. He merely reacted as an extension of his father's will. If he took this short moment, he might finally figure out who he was, living in this place and time. Normally, one would say that he was much too young to be having this sort of existential crisis, but Luke was by no means an ordinary child. Also, he could sense that these moments were about to become even harder to come by, as the galaxy was now going through a tough time.
A couple of weeks ago, a group that had been resisting the Empire for years suddenly emerged in a way that no one could've foreseen. Whereas they had previously been merely a nuisance, one that many in the Empire didn't even bother to consider, they had recently risen to power out of nowhere, and they had quickly become much too strong for the Empire to simply squash out. The Empire had expected that after retaking Carida, the rest of the galaxy would once again bow down for fear of the Empire's wrath falling on them, but for whatever reason, it had instead been the opposite. The galaxy had been… angry. Luke had seen the results of their actions, and although he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he was scared. He'd seen security footage of a small protest against the Empire on the planet Duro, no more than five people. Then, when stormtroopers tried to forcefully disperse the protestors, dozens of other Duros had rushed to defend their fellow citizens. The stormtroopers may have been the only ones with weapons, but they stood no chance. It had gotten even worse when one of the stormtroopers killed a Duros, causing their attackers to become even more rageful. The Empire was trying to keep up appearances, but the truth was that even with their new Defenders, they were starting to lose their grip on the galaxy.
Even Jedi had started to appear more often, and worse, in groups. After Carida, it had been bad, but at least the Jedi had still been spread out. Now, there had been dozens of Jedi sightings within the last couple of weeks, but no deaths. The Jedi had somehow started to gather together for the first time in sixteen years, and Imperial forces stood no chance against multiple Jedi at once. As had been planned, the Defenders had been deployed to deal with the Jedi, but now Supreme Admiral Thrawn was in a bad mood as he lost more and more of his precious "unbeatable" fighters. In fact, Luke felt sure that last he had seen Thrawn, he had been able to sense a trace of fear on tthe Admiral, well-hidden from the eye behind a mask of calm. Luke understood why, of course. Thrawn wasn't used to underestimating his opponents, but he couldn't comprehend the powers of a Force-wielder, and so his arrogance, his confidence in his own abilities, became his weakness. Thrawn saw Jedi as simply powerful targets, regular people blessed with great power, and to an extent that was correct. After all, the Jedi had been decimated during the Clone Wars and even more during Order 66, but Thrawn failed to comprehend that a Force-wielder's power had no limits beyond their own resolve.
As for Luke himself, he was struggling to hold back his own feelings of doubt. He needed to deal with these feelings before his next meeting with the Emperor, lest Vader should sense his confusion. Firstly, he wanted to reassure himself that they were fighting for the right things. He tried to tell himself that every sacrifice that they had made had been for the greater good. His father had brought him up believing that the galaxy needed the Empire… but did they? Was the Empire really a force for good, merely a necessary evil in the war for peace? Luke had recently been researching the Republic that came before the Empire, back when the Jedi Order were the galaxy's peacekeepers. They had not been in control, but they had somehow still preserved peace, up until they abandoned that path to instead pursue the goal of galactic domination over all systems and the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. The Empire was formed to prevent the Jedi from reaching that goal. Supposedly. Now, Luke wondered if maybe Palpatine had just lied to his father, if the Empire actually rose just to give power to the Sith.
Yet, the Jedi had tried to kill the Republic's chancellor, hadn't they? And while Palpatine had by no means been innocent, Vader himself had told Luke that the Jedi attacked him to try to seize power. Even still, the fact that they weren't Jedi didn't mean that they were fighting for the right things. Luke made a mental note to visit ISB headquarters and get an order out to all systems, telling all troopers to refrain from using strict tactics against civilians. Until then, he had a mission to carry out. Luke sighed as he stood up and stretched. He grabbed his cape from the pedestal behind his desk and attached it as he walked out of his office. Troopers of the 52nd saluted Luke as he walked through the halls, but he couldn't quite bring himself to salute them back. Every time he saw a stormtrooper's helmet, he recalled the footage he had just reviewed. Helpless civilians that made the mistake of walking in front of an Imperial officer. Arrested. Farmers that refused to give greedy Imperials their land. Arrested. Luke tried to see his fellow soldiers around him, but all he saw were strong men that preyed upon the weak. Yet he had to dispel these thoughts, lest his father should sense them. Walking onto the bridge, Luke ordered, "Admiral March, set a course and prepare my shuttle." Admiral March immediately rushed to his side. "Of course, Lord Scion. Our heading?" Luke looked out into space and answered, "We're heading to the planet of Bogano. A Jedi is requesting help out there, and we need to get him first."
