To all my fans and viewers of this website, I present this latest chapter of Star Wars: Twin Suns Early Rise as a gift. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! And a new year : )

Star Wars

Twin Suns Early Rise

Chapter 2: Family Conflict Part 1

"Le… Le… Leia!" Bail Organa stammered. The Alderaniaan senator had gone off searching for his daughter after noticing her disappearance when the delegates from Serenno abruptly and rudely left before the dinner party had ended, without even allowing the royal members of the House of Organa to escort them to their ship.

After giving his farewells to his colleagues who decided to head back to their home systems early, Bail had gone off searching the palace for his daughter. He figured that she had left after things had gotten chaotic with the Serennians, wanting some space from the chaos, which he couldn't blame her for. So he went about the palace, going through room after room starting from his daughter's bedroom, making his way to the gardens, then to the library, but with no sign of his daughter. Eventually, he began asking some of the staff if they'd seen her. Most hadn't seen her for a while, though one claimed to have seen her near his office during the time of the dinner event not too long ago.

Bail couldn't help but worry when he heard this. Right before the delegates from Serenno had arrived he'd been recording some sensitive information. When Leia entered his office to inform him of their guests' arrival, he'd tried to hide what he was doing, but he could tell his daughter suspected something. Perhaps she'd gone back to investigate further. The young princess did have a habit of sticking her nose into places her parents didn't want her in.

When he reached his office Bail realized his fears had come true. From where he was standing, he could hear the sound of his voice coming from inside his office, confessing to the truth he'd kept hidden from Leia since the day she was born. He called out to her but got no response so he walked inside to see her sitting in his chair, eyes completely focused on the hologram of himself originating from the music box he'd placed the recording into hours ago.

Even after the recording ended, Leia continued to not acknowledge her father who walked through the office till he was standing at the edge of the table in front of her. Bail knowing what she'd just learned was not something to be taken easy, waited a few minutes until she, at last, looked up at him with anger-filled eyes. Bail had always feared this would happen Leia learned the truth. He'd just hoped she'd be older when the truth was revealed, and that he would be telling her in person and not have to rely on the recording he'd created as a backup.

"Why?" Leia finally spoke in a whisper that contained bits of anger in her voice. "Why'd you keep this from me?"

Bail took a moment before answering. "I already told you in the holorecording you just watched. To protect you fr-"

"HOW WAS KEEPING THE TRUTH FROM ME THAT I HAVE A TWIN BROTHER PROTECTING ME?!"

"We did it for your own good," Bail tried to defend. "To keep you from letting your feelings cloud your judgment."

"In other words, you never trusted me," Leia replied scornfully.

"No that's… that's not… Why'd you even come in here in the first place?" Bail asked, changing the subject. "You know you aren't supposed to be in my office without my permission, much less snooping around other people's private space."

"I had this strange feeling inside of me since I came in here before the Serennians delegate's arrived. It was like a whisper without words. Despite my best efforts, it wouldn't go away until I listened to it and it led to the music box where I found the truth you've been hiding from me my whole life. The truth that I not only have a brother who also probably doesn't know I exist but also that my father is alive and is Darth Vader, the Emperor's chief enforcer! Why didn't you tell me this? Did you think I'd run off and join my evil daddy in oppressing the galaxy? That I'd just betray all my principals in an instant? Maybe that's why you never told me about your rebel activities, in case I joined the dark side and used those secrets against the rebellion."

Rubbing his eyelids, Bail couldn't take this right now after a long, stressful, disastrous day. "I've had enough of this. It's late. Go to your room right now. We'll finish this discussion in the morning."

Of course, Leia wasn't gonna let this go so easily. "Knowing you, something will come up and you'll just put this talk off till I'm twenty or maybe even thirty, or-"

"Room! NOW!" Bail screamed in a voice louder than his daughter had ever heard from him before. Terrified she got out of the chair she was sitting in and made her way to the office door, all the while tears poured from her eyes. When she reached the door, her face turned from scared to angry and she slammed the door hard on her way out.

Bail, left alone in his dark office, the only light coming from the night sky outside his windows, walked over to his chair, the one Leia had sat in moments ago. Flopping down in his chair he placed both his index and middle fingers on his temples and started rubbing them in circles.

"Why?" he asked himself. "Why did this have to happen now?"

The temple burned. A massive temple with five tall spires, one on each corner of the temple and one in the center burned away, smoke pouring out from many areas all over the gigantic building. Inside this temple, a young boy, one in his late teenage years, with dirty blond hair and equally dirty white clothes stood in one of the temple's many massive hallways. The inside was no better than the outside of this temple as pillars far larger than the teen himself lay crushed on the ground all over. Dead bodies of various species and genders, most wearing brown robes and some covered in white armour with blue markings littered the place before the young teen.

This young teen was both confused and horrified at the same time. He didn't know where he was or what was going on. All he knew was what he saw before him, a temple that might've once been beautiful now lay in ruins and the former inhabitants were dead; killed by invaders who the young teen suspected were the bodies in armour.

"AAAAHHHH!" "Please. Don't!" "Master!" he heard screaming from multiple different voices followed by a slashing sound all coming from the other end of the hallway. Using immense speed that he never knew he had, the teen made a mad dash across the hallway, leaping over fallen pillars that were, (even when laying on their sides), twice his size without any difficulty whatsoever. Reaching the end of the hallway, the teen came across a figure in dark black-brown robes, with a hood hiding his face. Though the teen could see a glimmer of the mysterious figure's face from the bright light of the blue energy sword, (he assumed it was a sword), that said figure held in a gloved right hand. The face itself seemed cold, with a frown that figuratively screamed hate.

Between the dark figure and the teen stood a younger-looking child, a bald alien with big brown eyes, pale pink shin and white markings on his head, along with the same brown robes worn by many of those whose bodies were littered about the temple. The child stood trembling in fear, a few other bodies, ones that appeared around his age, but of different species, lay dead between him and the dark figure.

The child attempted to speak, "Master-"

But the dark figure sliced through the child's torso before he could finish his sentence. The teen gasped in horror. Rushing over he caught the alien in his arms, cradling him in a vain attempt to comfort the dying child.

Though even after the child died, the teen continued to remain where he was, holding the dead child tightly in his arms. That is until he felt a dark chill surround him. Looking up and saw the dark figure standing mere inches from him. From this view, the teen got a better look at the dark figure's face. Nothing he recognized, just a human male in his twenties with long hair sticking out of his hood, a scar that lay along the upper right side of his face beside his right, an eye that along with the one on the left had an unnatural fiery yellow glow in them.

The teen was frozen in fear at the sight of those yellow eyes. It was as if they were somehow drawing him like a black hole swallowing in all forms of matter within reach. The teen was only drawn away from those eyes by the sound of a cold voice, calling out to him. "Luke." The teens' attention returned to the dark figure who held out his left arm towards him, speaking in a cold voice, one that sounded more like a machine than a man.

"Luke, join me and together we can rule the galaxy."

All of a sudden Luke Skywalker awoke panting and sweating like never before. It had been weird, the face of the dark figure seemed familiar to him, but at the same time, Luke had no memory of that man. And the temple, he thought he'd seen images of it before somewhere, yet he couldn't recall where he'd seen them. Even weirder was the fact that throughout the entire day Luke had had this strange feeling in his gut. Then, right before he'd gone to bed, the feeling in Luke's gut kept tightening around his body. He thought he was gonna be sick but instead, he just collapsed on his bed and the next thing he knew he was in the ruined temple.

And it wasn't the first time he'd had a dream involving the dark figure with the blue blade. A few nights ago, he'd seen the dark figure on a volcano world strangling a beautiful and familiar-looking woman, somehow without touching her. His arm was stretched out but the woman floated in thin air a few meters away from his hand, yet still clutching her throat, gasping for air as if someone were choking her.

And then last night the dark figure was on Tatooine slaughtering a tribe of Sand People. Not just the warriors, but the woman, the children, the elderly, even the sick. All of them. Luke wasn't fond of the Sand People personally, but even he knew the limits when it came to fighting Tuskens Raiders.

But that wasn't the main issue. The real problem was these bad dreams Luke was having and the fact that the young farm boy did not know why in the sands he was having them. It was obvious that the dark figure was the connection between these dreams, yet Luke had no idea how he was connected to a guy whose name he didn't even know. Worse he didn't know who to speak to about this. His friends would laugh at him he if told them, perhaps even say "old wormie's going crazy." His uncle Owen would claim that he was spending too much time flying his T-16 Skyhopper and should be more focused on running the moisture farm. The only two Luke could think of that wouldn't laugh or put his nightmares off as nothing were his aunt Beru and best friend Biggs. Though something in Luke doubted they could figure out what was going on with him, or who this dark figure was, he saw in his dreams.

Perhaps the local hermit, Ben Kenobi could help. Luke didn't know why, but for some reason, he felt this connection to the hermit; one that somehow encouraged him to talk to the old man about his "issue". If only his uncle would allow it. After Ben had saved him and his friend Windy a few years ago, Owen had forbidden Luke from going anywhere near the "crazy old wizard." Threatening to give his nephew the biggest punishment in the system should he disobey him.

Thinking of his uncle and punishments, Luke realized that if he spent all night wondering what his problem was, he'd have a bigger one that involved his uncle scolding him for being too tired to do his chores properly. For now, Luke put the thoughts of his dreams aside, laid back down in his bed, and attempted to get some much-needed sleep before Tatooine's twin suns rose and a new day began; unaware of the dramatic changes about to unfold in his life soon.

"What is happening to me?"

Princess Leia Organa felt a deep level of pain in her heart like never before. Even when her crush, Kier Domadi, had died the previous year she at least had her parents to comfort her. But this time, they were the ones causing this pain. Lying about her birth father being not only alive but also one of the vilest creatures in the galaxy. Not to mention how she also had a twin brother who she'd didn't even know existed until a few minutes ago. Heck for the seventeen years she'd lived, they never once mentioned the fact that she might've had a sibling. They could've lied and said he was dead, which still would've hurt Leia, but at least she would have known about his existence.

Instead, she had to learn all about it from a recording that her adoptive father had created as a backup. Worse the recording didn't even say anything about her brother. No location for where he was, or any mention of who he was living with. All she was a name, Luke Skywalker.

But what good was a name when you didn't know what he looked like, what he was like as a person, or even where he lived? The galaxy was enormous. Comprised of millions of systems, and many more planets, some still unknown to the common galaxy, Leia knew it would be near impossible to find her brother without further information. Which would have to come from her parents, and right now, the young princess of Alderaan doubted she could trust them to give her any useful information, much less any information at all for that matter. They'd been keeping secrets from her throughout her whole life, involving the rebellion, and apparently now the existence of her brother; not trusting her to keep these secrets hidden from the Empire.

It hurt her deeply to realize that despite everything she'd done to be a loyal daughter and worthy heir to the throne of Alderaan, they still didn't trust her. It also made her doubt that she'd ever truly know the people who raised her.

It certainly didn't her doubt when after learning the truth about her family her adoptive father refused to talk about it further. Worse when the young princess shouted at her father, the Vicroey scolded sent to her room without a proper goodnight. So here she was, lying in her bed, face covered by one of her pillows, still wearing the dress she'd worn for the dinner event with the Serennian delegates instead of proper nighttime wear.

She only got up from her bed when she heard the creaking sound of her bedroom door opening, followed by the rhythmic sounds of beeps, chirps and whistles. Leia instantly recognized who her visitor was, a blue and white astromech droid. This one, in particular, belonged to her father, usually working under Captain Raymus Antilles, alongside a gold-plated protocol droid. The little droid had been a big help to her at Chasmeene, gathering evidence on the Empire's crimes against the planet. And according to various rebel reports Leia had read, this droid had served the rebellion a handful of times. Though Leia wasn't in the mood for company, even from trusted rebel droids.

"I'm not in the mood droid. So get out of my room now," Leia ordered rudely before flopping back down onto her bed in the same position she was just in before the droids' arrival.

The droid did not comply. Instead, it kept whistling and beeping as all astromechs did to communicate with organics.

"Unless you know anything about Luke Skywalker, get out," Leia said, expecting the droid to leave her alone. This was not the case, however, as the droid continued to make noise, but not through its beeps, whistles, or clicks.

"My wife and I will take the girl. We've always talked about adopting a baby girl. She will be loved with us."

Leia rose again when she heard a voice that she recognized as her fathers'. Looking over at the Astro droid, she saw the little guy projecting a hologram of her father, sitting at a table beside two other beings. A small, green, pointy-eared creature, and another human male with a small brown beard.

"And what of the boy?" asked the other man.

"To Tatooine, to his family send him," the green alien responded.

"I will take the child and watch over him," the other man said. The recording ended and the astromech rolled closer to Leia until he was standing right beside her bed.

"Is that where Luke Skywalker is? On Tatooine?" Leia asked.

The droid gave out a series of beeps and whistles that told Leia "yes."

Leia was shocked. She had so many questions on her mind about this droid. Such as why was he telling her this, or what else did he know. But what she wanted to know most, the question that put all others aside was the one she chose to ask next.

"Do… do you know the exact location of where Luke Skywalker is on Tatooine?

The droid responded in another serious of whistles and beeps that, from what Leia could translate meant "affirmative."

"Can you take me to him?"

The droid repeated itself, putting a smile on Leia's face.

"Alright, droid-"

The droid corrected the princess with a series of clicks, beeps, and whistles.

"Alright R2-D2, let me grab a couple of things. Meanwhile, you get out of my bedroom and keep an eye out for anyone who comes near my room. Single me if someone tries to come in."

R2 gave another set of affirmative beeps and rolled out of the princess' bedroom, while Leia went around her room grabbing a bag and stuffing it with some things such as a stun blaster, a small stash of credits, some clothes, and a few other items for her trip to Tatooine. Ever since she was young Leia had always felt it was good to have stuff like this on hand in case she needed to make a quick getaway, even from her own palace.

"I'm coming for you brother," she said to herself while she packed. "I'm coming."

FYI the youngling that Anakin gutted in front of Luke in the latter's dream was a youngling from the 2008 Clone Wars tv series named Farn Klin who made brief cameo appearances a few times throughout the show.

Oh and once again, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all : D And may the force be with us all in the new year coming.