Between VI and VII: From Where the Hope Came

Authors note: I don't own Star Wars. Please R&R, else I become discouraged and go to the dark side of the force.

Summary: Luke, Leia, Han and the whole gang head to Naboo to search out their origins. Set between Episode VI and VII. (Not that I know exactly what happens in VII, but I don't feel like making up a whole huge story about it. So this story should be relatively short.)

Chapter 1: Specter

Han looked to his right and saw that Leia slept. She slept like the dead. A few hours ago he thought they'd all be dead. Thanks to impeccable timing, and a few talking fur-balls, they were free. Free from the Empire, from war, and free from Darth Vader's control. Han heard footsteps and looked behind him.

Luke came into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon and smiled.

"Hey, pirate."

"How ya doin' kid?" Hand turned around as he had placed the ship on auto pilot. He could faintly heart Chewy yelling in the back to C-3PO about some malfunction. How did life ever get like this?

He use to be just what Luke called him, a pirate. He'd drop his banned cargo in any dock around the galaxy, and get paid for it. He'd seen battle, not the organized militaristic kind, but the personal vendettas people took out on smugglers. Now he was getting married, hopefully, to a princess who just happened to be the daughter of the most evil man in the galaxy.

"I'm alright. Leia looks beat." He leaned over her chair and looked into her face. Her bandage from the previous battle hadn't been removed, and it made her look vulnerable.

"Yeah. She deserves it. Hey, I've been meaning to ask you…"

Luke smiled and nodded. "I know. And yes, I give my permission."

"How'd you know I would ask that kid?" Han wiped his brow, despite the coolness of the cockpit. Then he stopped at Luke's raised eyebrow. "Never mind."

Luke sat down behind Han and sighed.

"So…where you goin'?" Han asked.

"Naboo," Luke replied. Han turned around and saw that his shoulders drooped and he looked troubled.

"Why Naboo? Isn't that uh…waterfall planet?" Han slouched in his chair.

Leia started to wake up then, hearing the incessant murmurings of her friends. She saw her brother sitting stiffly, hands folded between his legs. She watched as Han slouched further into his chair and folded his arms.

"Going where?" She sat up straight in her chair and tried to stretch.

"To Naboo, Leia," Luke replied. She blinked.

"My father had ties to Naboo. He said he had a good friend there once…" Her eyes focused on his.

"What's so important over there?"
"A feeling I have. And…" He turned around, flicking a button on the console above him to change direction to Naboo, "I un-erased R2's mind wipe. I couldn't do 3PO's. Someone didn't fully wipe out R2's. He told 3PO his original owner was on Naboo. And that the owner married Anakin Skywalker."

Leia gasped. She leaned back in her seat. "But I told you my-our mother died…"

"But I didn't know her Leia!" Luke stood up and pointed at himself. "I need closure. You remember her, I don't. Maybe she has family, or something."

"Luke you can't just-" Luke stormed out before Han could finish. Leia leaned into Han's embrace as she cried.

"It'll be alright."

Luke stormed into another one of the cabins, passing Chewbacca and the druids.

"Master Luke-"

"Not now 3PO!" He went into a cabin and shut the door. His chest heaved as he stared out the window and into deep space. H could see the other Alliance cruisers, following them to Naboo. Naboo had always sent some of their best to help in the Rebellion, but none were trained fighters. They were a peaceful people. He was anxious to learn about the family he lost on that planet.

But wasn't Leia interested? He could understand not wanting to know about their father, but their mother? Why not? His fist hardened and he slammed it against the seat by the window. He sat dejectedly and gazed at passing stars.

"Luke…"

Luke's head snapped up. A voice… one he faintly recognized, one that had changed but seemed the same… He looked around him and then spotted the specter outside the window as a faint blue ghost.

"Luke…do not give into your anger…"

"Father?"