Penpals 22: Luke Skywalker

"Darth Vader?!" Leia's mouth dropped open and she almost dropped her cup of caf. "You can't be serious! I met him and he's a cruel, cold-blooded monster! He was there on the bridge of the Death Star when they blew up Alderaan!"

"But he's not like that in the letters!" Luke promised, sincerity in his voice. He knelt down in front of the Princess and gripped her hand again. Oddly, he felt perfectly serene now as if through some magic he had found his Jedi calm. Perhaps just letting the secret out had helped enormously. "Please, Leia. Help me decide what to do in this situation, but don't make a decision based on prejudice. I want your wisdom and not your anger. I know you have issues with Vader and I don't blame you. I have some issues with him myself. I watched him kill Ben remember? But Anakin has become a friend to me, just like you and Han."

Leia glanced from Luke to Han and back to Luke again. "This is just such a shock. I mean, I never dreamed that Vader would write to anyone. Are you sure it's Darth Vader?"

"All the facts seem to point towards him." Han admitted as he sipped his caf and leaned against a nearby wall. "We're currently waiting for a more modern photo. The one he sent was like twenty years old, but he was with the old man in it. He was just a kid himself in that picture, no more than twenty-years-old."

"He seems so sincere in his letters, Leia." Luke continued, compassion in his blue eyes.

"Luke, Vader is Palpatine's right hand man! The Emperor has him on a leash, a very short, tight leash! Exactly what sort of stuff has he been saying to you?" Leia asked, concern in her voice. She squeezed Luke's hand, worry on her face. Now the shock had started to fade and she found herself facing a serious problem. "Luke, if you've really been writing to Darth Vader, why, he could be lying to you! Everything he told you could be made up to work on your sympathies! He's a master of deceit! Why do you think he's a Sith? He didn't get that way by helping old ladies across the street! He was mean and vicious and a foul creature!"

"No, Leia. That's not how he became a Sith." Luke replied sadly as he gazed into her soft brown eyes. "He watched his mother die, my grandmother, after she had been kidnapped and tortured by the Tuscan Raiders. He loved Grandmother dearly but the Jedi Order wouldn't let him go to her when he dreamed she was in danger. All contact with family is forbidden. Marriage is forbidden. Even having friends and caring for them is forbidden. He arrived too late and she died in his arms. Then he lost control and killed all the Sandpeople. Could you imagine that, Leia, if you had arrived too late to save your mother?"

Leia was silent.

"And there's more. He fell in love with my mother and they married in secret. But when the Jedi Order found out they were angry. He just wanted to have a career and a family, Leia. Then he and Obi-Wan got into a fight and he fell into some lava. That's how he got seriously injured. They had kidnapped his wife and hid her somewhere…"

"Well…" Leia started, unsure of exactly what to say to Luke's revelations. "I don't know what to tell you. I just always thought Vader was power hungry like Palpatine. But if what you're saying is true he may be very different from the Emperor. That is, if this story he told you is true."

"I don't see why he would lie to me." Luke said.

"Luke," Leia smiled at him. "You're innocent. I could lie to you and as long as I spoke nicely and smiled at you, you'd believe it! You have to realize that others aren't like you. They're ruthless…"

"But why would he lie?" Luke asked, convinced he had to sway Leia to his side of things. He wasn't very good at debate, but he certainly was going to try. "He hasn't asked me for any Rebel secrets or anything like that! He seems to really care about me and how I'm doing. He even admitted that he cried when he saw the photo I had sent him."

"You sent him a PHOTO? Luke, are you nuts? You can't go sending photos to the Imperials!" Leia leaped out of her seat so suddenly she knocked Luke onto the floor in the process. She started pacing the room nervously, all sorts of things passing through her mind. There were so many things the Imperials could do with photos, not one of them good.

"But Anakin hasn't done anything with the photo! He hasn't even told anyone we've been writing each other!" Luke explained, his voice calm compared to Leia's outburst. He climbed to his bare feet; unfazed by being knocked down. This was the fiery Leia he knew, the wildcat. "I feel I can trust him!"

"So you feel you can trust Darth Vader? You just admitted he killed Ben Kenobi! Luke, are you hearing what you're saying?" Leia asked as she gripped him by the upper arms and clung tightly to him. "Luke, I'm really concerned for you. This relationship you have with Vader is wrecking your life! Can't you see that? How do you know he hasn't been messing with your mind, too? He's a Sith and there's no telling what he can or can't do! Why, I heard he can stop laser blasts with his bare hand!"

Luke sighed. The conversation with Leia was becoming an uphill battle just as he had feared and it was caused by her hatred for Vader. "No, Leia. I don't trust Vader but I do trust Anakin."

"But Han thinks they're the same person." Leia pointed out as she continued to cling to him.

"Yes, I know and I thought about that a lot in Sickbay, trust me on that." Luke pulled out of Leia's grasp and drank more of his hot chocolate. "I want Anakin to be my father but not Vader, yet like Han said I'm beginning to fear they're one and the same. Truthfully, I'm not sure what to think about that. Yet I think I may be really reaching him, Leia. This could be a golden opportunity for the Alliance!"

Confusion crossed Leia's pretty face. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you admit that my special powers are of great value to the Alliance, don't you?" Luke asked.

"Yes, of course." Leia replied matter-of-factly.

"Well, I've had almost no training. In the old days Jedi used to train since they were just babies. Think of what great significance a fully trained Jedi could mean to us, to the Rebellion. Why, he'd be worth a hundred times more than I am. And he's a full Jedi."

Leia laughed, shaking her head. "This is crazy! You're talking about Darth Vader for Force's sake! He's not going to join the Alliance any more than you'll join the Empire!"

"The Kid has a point, though…" Han admitted as he stepped forward and tossed an arm casually around Luke's shoulders. "This Kid might win us the War yet and by accident to boot!"

"What do you mean?" Leia asked.

"Well, Vader apparently values Luke here." Han said, a crooked smile on his face. "I read his letters to the Kid and well, I got to admit there seems to be a lot of truth in what Luke says. That is, presuming what Anakin has been writing is on the level. But if it is, why, Luke could have Vader on a leash. The guy seems to care an awful lot about his family and he thinks Luke here is his son. We could use that to our advantage."

"Wait a minute!" Luke yanked himself free of the smuggler's grasp. "I'm not going to use Father to get Imperial information! I want to help him!"

"And what better way to get him to help than getting him to work for the Rebellion?" Han asked as ideas circulated around his head. "I'm sure he could do lots of damage to the Empire from where he is."

"And get him killed? No! I want to save him, not ask him to be a double agent or something!" Luke cried, horrified at the way things had started to go. This isn't what he had expected at all. He had mainly just wanted Leia's approval to keep writing to his penpal, that's all. He watched as Leia moved over to Han.

"Is Luke really affecting Vader so much?" Leia asked the smuggler.

"Yeah, I think he is." Han answered, his dark eyes on Luke. "It's making the Kid a nervous wreck but he's getting through to his penpal. That is, if what he's writing Luke is true…"

Leia stood frozen, one hand on her chin as she considered the possibilities. It was risky, but then just being in the Rebellion was risky. Her mind decided, she turned to the young Jedi. "Can I read his letters?"

"If you want to…" Luke slid into a seat at the gaming table and turned his computer on. "Maybe it's better if you did read them, Leia. You'll see how lonely and troubled he is! And then you'll want to help him, too!"

Leia squeezed into the seat next to Luke and patiently waited as his computer booted and for the letters to appear on his screen. Unlike Han, the Princess had no qualms about reading someone else's mail. This was clearly part of her duty as a leader of the Alliance. Once the program was ready and the letters waiting, Luke pushed the computer in front of her and she started to read. She started with the first letter and worked her way through all of them. Her brown eyes were glued to the screen and she seemed fascinated. Emotions flickered over her face, all of them too fast for Luke to recognize. When she was finished, she leaned back in her seat with her hands folded on her lap.

"Well? What did you think?" Luke asked her eagerly.

"He certainly is emotional." Leia admitted. "If that's Vader, then I don't know him at all."

"But do you think I'm getting through to him?" Luke asked as he reached for the computer, and then hesitated. "You're done with this, right, because I want to go check the galaticweb for a new letter. The old ones I stored here in my computer…"

Leia abruptly sat up straight and gripped Luke by his arm. "How often have you been sending him a letter?"

"Huh? Oh, about every day. Why?" Luke asked as he pulled the computer in front of himself.

"And when was the last time you sent him a letter?" Leia asked, worry in her voice and eyes.

"Oh, before I was attacked by that snow creature. That's why I'm so anxious to check my mail! It was all of I could think about in Sickbay!"

"That's what's worrying me!" Leia gripped Luke's arm tighter. "You two are so much alike! What if he's reacting the same way as you are? Why, if he really IS Darth Vader he could be on his way here right now! Han found an Imperial Probe Droid out there while you were stuck in the bacta tank. If he's worried and concerned about you, he has the power to move the entire Imperial Fleet here!"

Luke's eyes widened in shock as Leia's words sunk in. "You think I should send him a letter?"

"YES! Send him one right now so he knows you're OK!!" Leia ordered, her voice rising in panic. Normally she was calm in intense situations, but this one was anything but normal.

Luke stared at the Princess for a moment, surprised that she was actually ordering him to write Anakin a letter. Even if Han had found an Imperial Probe Droid, Luke didn't see how Anakin could know they were on Hoth. There were lots of cold, frozen world out there and for him to pick THIS one… "Leia, I'm sure you're over-reacting. There's no way he could know we're here!"

"He knew his mother was dying, didn't he? Now write that letter or I'll have you thrown in the brig!"

"All right!" Luke signed onto the galaticweb as fast as he could and went immediately to his mailbox. As he had suspected, a letter he hadn't yet read waited for him. Since speed was of the essence, he didn't open it but clicked for a new letter form and put Anakin's address in the appropriate box. Then he started to type.

Dear Father,

Sorry this is late. I didn't read your letter yet but I will do so in a moment. I want to send this now to reassure you I'm OK. I almost died the other day. I was out in the snowy wilderness riding on my mount when a creature attacked me. It was covered in white fur so I didn't see it until it was upon me. It was some wild, meat-eating snow monster. When I woke up, I was hanging upside-down in the thing's cave and discovered it had eaten my mount. I had my lightsaber with me and I just managed to free myself in time. Then it was coming at me and I loped its arm off. There was a lot of blood, more blood than I had ever seen. I ran out into the storm.

That night I almost froze to death. You cannot imagine how cold it was. The wind was blowing snow and ice. For long periods of time I was delirious and even saw people talking to me. I heard their voices as well. It was very, very strange. The strangest thing is while it was happening I thought it was real. Ben was one of my visitors. The other was Darth Vader, although I don't know why I would see him. Do you?

I really thought I was going to die. But then my friend showed up and he rescued me! After that, I had to spend a long time in a bacta tank and then in a hospital bed. I'm still supposed to be in Sickbay but I snuck out to send you this letter. Please be assured I WILL read the letter you sent as soon as I send this one on its way. I know you must be worried about me.

Your Son,

Luke

Clicking on the send button, Luke sent his letter on its way.

To be continued…

(I'll try to get the next chapter up tomorrow.)