Disclaimer: See Prologue.

A/N: No, I'm not dead. Thanks to beauty0102 for inspiring me to get my lazy butt up and update this story!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence; toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction… The chain reaction of evil— hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars— must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the darkness… of annihilation.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

United We Stand

Chapter Four

Luke approached Obi-Wan with a sad, yet determined face. "I'm ready. There's nothing left for me here. I want to become a Jedi like my father."

Obi-Wan just nodded, deciding not to question the boy about his aunt and uncle's fate. They got back into the speeder and headed for Mos Eisley. After managing to get past the storm troopers by a clever Jedi mind trick, they went to a local bar where Obi-Wan believed they might find a pilot willing to take them to Alderaan.

They found one in the form of Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon. Luke found his smug and cocky attitude very off-puttingyet at the same time, oddly appealing. Working out a deal with him, which in Luke's opinion was far too generous, they managed to get off the planet without too much trouble.

Once safely in hyperspace, Han looked his two passengers over. "You are going to be far more trouble than you're worth, aren't you?" he said brazenly. "You're lucky I'm good."

OoooOoooOoooO

Leia looked on in horror as Alderaan came into the view port. When she heard the order to arm the weapon, her heart stopped.

"NO! You can't!" she insisted. "Alderaan is a peaceful planet, we have no military defense!"

"Then tell us where the rebels are!"

She couldn't do that. The Alliance was the only hope this galaxy had. But she couldn't just let all her people die, including her father! And maybe even Obi-Wan or Luke! She had no way of knowing if they had gotten her message and gone to Alderaan already. She had cut herself off from them. She had to say something!

"Dantooine, they're on Dantooine," she said, bowing her head in a defeated way.

"Now, that wasn't so hard. Fire when ready."

"What?" she cried, horrified.

"Dantooine is hardly a planet to demonstrate the might of this weapon on. Alderaan would send a much more powerful statement," the admiral replied coldly.

Leia was forced to watch in horror as Alderaan, her beautiful home, the planet Luke once described to her as a symbol of peace, was destroyed before her very eyes. Her father, her people, maybe even her brother, blown away by a decrepit old man's lust for power and control. A senseless act of hate against the galaxy. Millions dead for nothing. It left Leia feeling deeply depressed, and it fueled her determination to help the Alliance defeat this monster in any way possible.

As Vader was about to shut her up in her cell again, he turned to her suddenly. "I am sorry. There was no reason for your home to be destroyed." With that said, he turned on his heel and closed the door behind him.

For some odd reason, Leia believed him.

OoooOoooOoooO

The sudden loss of the millions of people on Alderaan hit Obi-Wan hard. Luke also was affected, but not by the millions. His link to Bail, which had always looked in his subconscious, was shattered. Not blocked, not cut off, but destroyed. In his heart, Luke knew that only one thing could cause that. However, he did not want to believe it. He had already lost one father-figure. He didn't know how he would take losing another.

Tbc…