Chapter 11

'This plan is crazy,' said Deek. Hells he had only been back with the Alliance two days and they were wanting him to try and negotiate with Luke to bring down the Empire.

'I agree with the kid this is crazy,' said Han.

'The Empire is at a vulnerable moment, we must seize this opportunity,' said Leia, 'I have the full support of Mon Mothma, but we must move quickly.'

'Ok, well what do we do if it doesn't work? What if Luke refuses? What if he agrees but then betrays us when he gets back? I've known him a long time, and while I know he'd have my back in a fight as he would any Black Squad pilot, I still don't trust him, that temper of his makes him difficult to deal with,' replied Deek.

'If he refuses, he stands trial and he will die, if he agrees and betrays us when he gets back, we are no worse of then we are now, we run and regroup. But if he agrees and we succeed, this is the end of the Empire,' said Leia.

'Okay,' said Deek sighing, 'Well the key to this is Luke's fear of the Emperor, he's driven by it. It fuels his anger, hate and aggression. The guy can be your best friend one minute and slicing you with that sword of his the next. If we can get Luke to use that fear and aggression his has against the Emperor, we might have a chance, but even then, its risky, he still might not go through with it.'

'If he got as far as confronting him what could the Emperor do? He's ancient,' asked Han.

'Yeah, he's old,' said Deek, 'but I've seen the guy in action against Luke. He has been beaten, stabbed, abused, tortured, he even talked about being electrocuted or something once. I do not pretend to fully understand the force, but Luke always says that he is extremely strong with the dark side. The Emperor is also very persuasive, manipulative, excelling at getting you to come round to his point of view. He has used Luke's own father against him, it is often Vader who attacks. The Emperor has broken Luke, in every possible way. You want him to help you, we have to fix that, we'll have to get him to trust us.'

'After speaking with Mon Mothma, the Alliance is prepared to offer him full immunity if he agrees to help us and only then if he succeeds,' said Leia.

'You said Vader attacks Luke, so we'll be sending the kid up against the Emperor and his Father. I'm not a guy for worrying about the odds but that doesn't seem great,' asked Han.

'I've seen the care Vader has given Luke after he's hurt him. Always has the best medics, always watches over his recovery, Luke does not see it as he is always out of it, but I have. Its possible that if the Emperor did really try to kill Luke, Vader might, MIGHT, stop it,' answered Deek.

'All right, time is against us, let's get going' said Leia, 'Han go get a security team together and we'll bring him to the smaller conference room. Nea has said he seems fit enough. I'll try talking to him first and if that doesn't work, we'll call for you.'

.

'Deek?, What? I?' oh to hells with it thought Luke, 'My father said you had defected, I didn't want to believe it, but here you are, wait how did you know where the fleet was?'

'I'm just here to talk Luke, I think you can really help us out here, and it will benefit you to?'

'And how did you come to that conclusion, hells Deek after everything we've been through you go and do this,' shouted Luke moving towards Deek. Han raised his blaster to Luke's head, 'don't move another step.'

'Stop, everybody stop! This is the second time I've had to ask you all to calm down,' said Leia standing up.

'Look here Princess, Deek? You want to talk fine, because I am really keen to find out what in the galaxy is going on, but just you two and Nea. Get rid of all these guards. You don't like that then Captain Solo shoot away,' said Luke, his rage brewing now. Luke and Leia stared each other down for a few moments, you did not need to be able to use the force to feel the tension.

'Fine, but the droids stay to, everyone else out. Han and Chewie you stand guard outside the door, you hear the slightest commotion, and you call for back up. You sit,' Leia said pointing at Luke. Luke raised his hands and sat back down.

'Well, you're Princeliness I saved your hide, I'm staying, I ain't leaving the Princess in here with you without a good blaster,' said Han. Chewie growled his agreement as he left with the others.

'Fine Han, but don't worry,' said Leia, moving closer to Han she whispered, 'I have a feeling Luke won't try anything with Nea present.'

'What?' said Han confused.

'Just call it hunch, now let's sit down.'

'Yes, your Highnessness,' mocked Han saluting Leia. With everyone gone and the door closed the remaining four took seats next to Luke.

'I'm all ears Deek,' said Luke sitting back in the chair. He was furious but was doing his best not to lose it and scare Nea again. Everything about her just glowed in the force, it all seemed so right.

'Well, I'll start there Luke, my name isn't Deek, its Biggs, Biggs Darklighter, and like you my family is from Tatoonie.'

'Great,' scoffed Luke, 'well carry on, Biggs.'

'I joined the Imperial Academy because I wanted to be a pilot, I wanted to learn how to fly in combat, figured with the war I'd need it. At the time I did not really care how I learnt to fly or who with, I just wanted to get off that dust ball of a planet. I met you, couldn't really avoid you really, the heir to Empire being in the same training year and we clicked. Everything was great, going well, we were having an awesome time and I was learning so much, you taught me so much. You were already a brilliant pilot,' Biggs hesitated, suddenly aware that they had indeed been great friends before any of his involvement with the Alliance.

'Go on,' said Luke, getting impatient.

'And then one of the other pilots told me about a meeting he was going to, it was all hush hush but he thought it might have something to do with the Rebellion, so I went along, mostly out of curiosity. At first, I didn't believe what the speaker was saying, all this stuff about the Empire killing innocents, death threats if people didn't comply, suicide squadrons, how they where planning to disband the senate and take complete control. It all sounded too absurd to be true, but then as time went on, one by one these things started happening, and worse. I heard more and more about the reality of the Empire. The academy trains us to think we are the elite, above everyone, special, but we aren't. Well, you maybe but not us regular pilots, we are easily replaced, no one cares if we die, we are expendable, there are always more to replace us.'

'You weren't expendable to me, none of my pilots are. How many times have I gone back for pilots? how many times have I took the brunt of the Emperors anger for you? I always gave the squad time to grieve when we lost someone. I did all that and you do this?' retorted Luke.

'Your different Luke, I realised that right away. Yeah, you can be a complete arse when you want to, you fly off the handle, lash out, but you where always there for your squad, that's why I stuck around this long, that's why I know you can help end all this. I know you, these guys don't,' said Biggs pointing to Leia, Han and Nea.

'You haven't said how you actually ended up being a double agent or whatever this is,' said Luke changing the focus back to Biggs.

'I approached the speaker after I'd been to a few of the meetings, told him I wanted to defect to the Alliance. When he found out about our friendship, he passed it onto the Alliance and they thought I would be better use on the inside, getting close to you and passing information to them. I was not sure at first, once I got to know you, I felt bad going behind your back, would have preferred to just be a pilot in the Alliance. But then as the innocent victim count grew, I agreed, but you must believe me, other than my name everything you know about me is true, even how much I value our friendship,' said Biggs leaning forward getting closer to Luke.

Luke took a deep breath, drumming his fingers on the table, 'Can I get some water?' he asked looking at Nea.

'Sure,' she answered, reaching down into the medical kit she had brought with her, 'here you go,' she said handing him the bottle. Luke reached out and grabbed it, their hands briefly touching, 'thanks, looks like your prepared for anything with that bag,' said Luke. 'I always keep the essentials close by when escorting a patient,' smiled Nea. Han noticed the interaction and realised what Leia had meant, the kid seemed to have taken a liking to Nea, and in all likelihood given her reaction, she returned the affection.

Luke drank, using the small break to think. The guy he thought was his friend had turned out to be an Alliance spy, he had missed the deception so either what Biggs was saying was true and that the friendship was genuine, or he had been so distracted he had completely missed it, unlikely he thought.

'Why now Briggs, what made you decide to flee back to the Rebels now?' asked Luke.

'Because I was finally scared enough to leave, sure I have feared for my life before but this time it was different, you weren't there. Vader interrogated me and I thought he was going to take it all out on me, the failure of the mission the destruction of the Death Star. I'm your wingman, Commander in your absence, I knew what he'd done to you in the past and I thought I'm not as strong as you, if he tries that with me, I'll be killed. I didn't have a bloody clue where you where, no idea if you where alive or dead, but I figured if you where alive the Alliance would have you, so I headed here. So yeah, it was cowardly, I acted out of my own fear, but at least I acted the right way,' answered Biggs.

'And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!' asked Luke.

'It means I was scared but instead of flying off the handle I figured out a way to get off the Executor, escape Vader and return to the alliance to help. Your scared of the Emperor Luke, you hate him, and he's manipulated you to channel that hate into aggression towards his enemies. He's likely done the same with your Father and now you,' said Biggs.

'My Father was betrayed by his Master. Obi Wan Kenobi refused to teach my father how to grow his power so Darth Sidious, as the Emperor was then intervened, offered to train him. Obi Wan didn't like it and tried to kill my Father, he would have succeeded, but the Emperor saved him. You want to me to destroy the man who saved my Father?' said Luke, his voice raised and leaning forward in his chair, 'and I'm not scared of him.'

Han looked at Luke, clearly his Father hadn't told him who he had killed on the Death Star, probably best let Leia deal with that, she had known the old man better, 'Its ok to fear something or someone kid,' said Han, 'I saw you when you crashed, looked into those weird yellow eyes of yours, and you were terrified.'

'Well, I don't remember that, but I reckon having something to do with being in pain and about to die being the reason for it,' replied Luke.

'And how many times as the Emperor made you feel like that Luke? How many times have you been in pain and about to die at his hands, or your Fathers? The people that raised you and are supposed to care about you should not do that. The Emperor saved your Father's life for his own gain. Han had no reason to save your life, neither did the Alliance, other than it being the right thing to do. You were scared and Han took care of you, Leia, the medics, Nea, the Alliance, people who are supposed to fear you, hate you, took care of you,' said Biggs.

'All seems pretty backwards if you look at it like that hey kid,' said Han.

'Yeah, but you saved me because you wanted to use me to help you,' said Luke.

'No, I didn't, hells I was about to leave these guys,' said Han, 'I saved you because I couldn't let you die there in cold blood, I saw a scared kid and I couldn't leave you; I shouted the medics and the rest is history.'

'It was only after we knew you would survive that we, I, decided what to do,' said Leia, 'I had a fight I'll tell you that to get the Alliance heads to agree, but I believe everyone should be given a chance to right wrongs, and you've got several death sentences worth of wrongs to fix. You have my word, and that of the Alliance, if you help us restore peace by destroying the Emperor, you will be given full and unwavering immunity for your crimes.'

Luke studied the Princess for a moment, she had not said all that much really and now she drops this. Up until now she had seemed to be leaving it all to Biggs. It was then he felt it, her presence in the force, the same familiar presence he had felt during the battle. Hells the crash and this new revelation with Deek/Biggs had put him more out of sorts than he had realised. He smiled and leaned towards her, Han flinching and his hand going to his blaster did not go unnoticed by Luke.

'Princess Leia?' he asked, 'Did you know that you're force sensitive?'

…..

'Lord Vader, I think we have them,' said Admiral Piett.

'Finally, where are they?' replied Vader.

'Approaching Malastare my Lord, we could catch up with them at the next jump along, Eriadu.'

Grand Moff Tarkins home world, how poetic thought Vader, the perfect place to exact revenge by destroying the Rebel fleet and retrieving his son, 'Excellent work Admiral, make sure our cloaking devices are fully operational, they can not know we are coming.'

'Yes, my Lord.'

'General Veers, prepare the fleet, I want every ship and fighter prepared for attack, I will direct the battle from here,' ordered Vader.

'Yes, my Lord, would you like your shuttle prepared in the main hangar?' asked Veers.

'Yes General, get to it, I will inform the Emperor personally of our impending attack,' replied Vader turning to leave. This was it; he would finally have his son back and the Rebellion would be no more, they would be crippled without their fleet.

Entering the throne room, the Emperor was seated with two of his guards next to him. Vader made a deep bow.

'Rise my friend, I sense you bring good news.'

'I do my Master, we have found the exact location of the rebel fleet, they are headed for Eriadu,' answered Vader.

'Good, we will soon see the end of the Rebellion and young Skywalker will back with us. I assume you are prepared for his return; I have been meditating on the disturbance in the force around your son and foreseen events which bring my grave concern Lord Vader.'

'Of what do you speak my Master?' asked Vader, the dark side pulling at his mind as it always did when something was wrong.

'I have foreseen my destruction, by none other than your son.'

'Are you certain my Master, I have not felt it,' asked Vader. He would usually never dare question the Emperor, but this was unprecedented. He could not sense this future the Emperor spoke of, but his Master was more powerful than him. Vader knew his son did not carry the same respect for the Emperor as he did, but this did surely not translate to a wish to kill him.

'I am quite certain Lord Vader, when we engage the Rebel scum at Eriadu you will open fire at once, on all vessels. The Rebels will give up young Skywalker and we will question him on this future I have seen,' said the Emperor. Vader knew what he meant by that, torture his son until he either confessed or said anything just to make it stop. 'If in-deed his purpose is as I think, you will destroy him, I have had quite enough of your sons lack of discipline,' ordered the Emperor.

Vader strengthened the shields in his mind, he did not want the Emperor knowing his thoughts on that order, he bowed his head, 'Yes, My Master.'

There was silence in the room at Luke's comment. 'What do you mean? This got something to do with what happened on the Falcon?' asked Han.

'What happened on the Falcon?' asked Nea alarmed, she thought she had taken good care of Luke and was not aware of anything untoward.

'What's the Falcon?' asked Luke.

'What's the Falcon?!' said Han, 'She's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs, the ship that got the Princess and me out of the Death Star then helped destroy it, the ship that got you here.'

'Oh, that piece of junk,' said Luke smirking. Nea could not help but laugh a little, 'sorry,' she muttered when Han shot a glare at her. The Falcon had clearly seen better days.

'Everyone finished?' asked Leia, 'Good, please don't worry Nea what Han is referring to has nothing to do with your care for his Highness. When you left and I was taking watch I, well I thought the IV had,….

'Come on Princess tell the truth,' said Luke, 'I can see right into your mind.'

Leia sighed, 'I couldn't help but reach out and touch your hand when you were being transferred here, I don't know why, I has just been thinking about how we are the same age and share a birthday. When I touched your hand, I felt very odd, like I was connected to you, I could feel your pain and fear, hear screaming, it was very overwhelming.'

'Like I said, that's because you are force sensitive,' said Luke, 'even though you did not know it, even though you don't really know what being able to feel the force is like, our minds connected through it. You needed the physical connection because you don't know how to control the force.'

'Ok so her Worship can use this force,' said Han, 'What does that mean? What do we do now?'

'Nothing,' said Leia, 'I have no idea how to use the force or even feel it, this does not change anything.'

'Oh yes it does Princess. If I can now sense you through the force, it won't be long before my Father and the Emperor can to,' said Luke, 'and believe me they will not be as gentle as I am rummaging around in there. They shouldn't be long; my Father knows where you are.'

Leia did her best not to startle at the remark, she didn't want to give the Prince the pleasure. She had wondered what he meant when he told Biggs his Father told him about his defection.

'What the hells do you mean they know where we are?!', asked Han. Leia rolled her eyes.

'It doesn't matter Han, the Empire are bound to find us at some point,' she looked over to Luke, 'Well in that case your Highness time is nearly up, either help us and secure immunity, or face trial and die, Threepio open the door and alert the guards. Nea and Biggs will join them to escort you back to your room for you to mull over what we have discussed.' She stood to leave, and the guards entered, Han gestured for Luke to stand and he fastened the binders back on his wrists. He left with four guards in front, Biggs and Nea at his sides and four guards behind.

'Come on Princess,' said Han, 'We need to get to the bridge and alert the Captain.'

Luke and his party of minders walked the long trip back to his room in silence. On reaching the room Nea unlocked it and stepped inside with Luke, Biggs removed the binders.

'I'm going to check on the droids then I'm coming back for your answer Luke, I know these guys, they mean it when they say you'll die if you stand trial, and I don't want that for you,' said Biggs. Luke just nodded and watched him leave. He sat on the edge of the bed while Nea checked his observations again, 'I think I'm ok now' he said giving a small smile, he had done his best to hide it, but Biggs' words had hit home. He did know him well, he did know he lived in fear of the Emperor, what in the galaxy was he to do now?

'You know, for what its worth, I don't want you to die either,' said Nea interrupting his thought process. She stood next to the bedside table alternating between looking at the floor and at Luke, 'I think deep down you're a good person, and Biggs thinks so to. That and I spent a lot of time making sure you did not die from your injuries for you to throw that all away,' said Nea trying to supress a smile and failing. Luke looked at her and laughed, hells she was beautiful, 'well that would be a shame, come here,' he asked reaching out his hands for hers. It seemed like an age, like time stood still, but eventually she extended her arms and put her hands in his. He pulled her towards him standing as he did so, he gently wrapped one arm around the back of her waist and the other he gently held the back of neck. He bent his neck slightly and caught her lips with his own. Nea immediately responded, her arms going around Luke.

'Right Luke its now or nev…. Well I can't say I'm not surprised,' said Biggs as he came through the door and saw Luke and Nea doing much more than talking, 'the way you two where being with each other.'

Nea went to leave but Luke kept hold of her hands, 'no I want you to stay,' he said.

'Look Luke do you honestly think the Emperor is going to let you have a relationship with someone, especially someone of your choice? Your life has never been your own Luke, its certainly not going to change anytime soon unless you do something about it. I know you fear the Emperor, and even your Father, its time you took out that anger and hate on the right people,' said Biggs, getting very exasperated with Luke dragging his heals now. Luke sighed, squeezing Neas hands, he looked at her then across to Biggs, 'you now how conflicted I am, you think this is easy?'

'No, I don't think its easy Luke, nothing about our lives is. But here you have the chance to change that, I have done my best here to protect you, speak up for you, now it up to you. You're not a bad person Luke, you've done some pretty awful things, but it's always been at the Emperors command. Hells how many times have you been punished for not following his orders?'

'Look Biggs I….'

CRASH! An explosion rocked the ship and it lurched to one side, throwing the three of them across the room and hitting the wall. Sirens screeched and the lights flickered as the power struggled to cope, smoke started to fill the room. Dazed Luke pushed himself up from the floor, blood trickled from a cut at his right temple, he wiped at it looked around. Biggs was in the corner righting himself, where was Nea? he spotted her and crawled over, the ship rocking and shaking underneath him with the continued laser fire. She was unconscious and had a deep gash to her forehead extending to her scalp, he tried to move her 'Nea! Nea! gods wake up!' he shouted panicking.

'Don't move her, she could have more injuries,' said Biggs as he shuffled over, the ship shuddering again. Luke swore running his hands through his hair, he placed a hand on her chest and reached out. The door had sprung open with the power malfunction and a guard rushed in, seeing Luke with his hand on Nea he raised his blaster.

'Stop!' ordered Biggs, 'she was hurt in the blast.' He looked Luke in the eye, 'you want her Luke, fight for her, stop this. Even if you don't give a whomp rats ass about the Alliance, you can't let her die for you.'

That did it.

'Kriff!' shouted Luke standing, 'Biggs take care of Nea, you take me to the Bridge,' he said pointing at the guard.

'Do it!' said Biggs.

On the bridge the Captain, Leia, Han, and Chewie where frantically trying to get back on their feet and restore some kind of order. The uninjured bridge crew were fighting to stabilise the ship. Through the main view screen, the Executor and the Death fleet could be seen, blasting everything they had into the Rebel fleet having arrived right next to them from hyperspace. Luke had not been wrong; Vader had known exactly where they were. Fighters where already being scrambled from both sides; the Redemption was taking a lot of fire.

'Divert all power not in use for patients to deflector shields, get personnel to the guns and missile launchers, and get everyone who doesn't need to be there off the connecting bridge!' ordered Captain Inara. While more than capable of holding its own in battle, the Redemptions weakness was that connecting bridge, if it went it was game over.

'Leia, Chewie and I are going to the Falcon, she still has a few tricks up her sleeve, and it looks like we need all the firepower we can muster,' said Han, 'Chewie, give the kids lightsabre to Leia, she'll take care of it.' Chewie handed it over and Leia clipped it to her belt. 'Good luck Han,' said Leia. Han leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, 'Same to you, we're all going to need it.' He and Chewie rushed off to the Falcon where it had been docked near the connecting bridge.

There was still a degree of chaos on the bridge when Luke reached them, he ran to the command console where Leia and the Captain were stood giving out orders.

'Hey, you shouldn't be here!' shouted one of the crew members, drawing attention to Luke.

'What the hells do you want?!' asked Inara.

'Open a com to the Executors bridge,' asked Luke.

'What?!' asked Inara, stunned.

'Done,' said Leia, 'here just flick that and its open.'

Luke pushed past the Captain and flicked the switch, static then a clear transmission, 'Father it's me Luke, stop firing, I'm on the medical frigate.' Luke waited in silence for a moment, and then the blasts from the Star Destroyers and TIE's abruptly stopped. More static, 'Luke, my son, I did not expect to hear your voice from the bridge,' came the raspy monotonous tone of Vader. Luke closed his eyes and focused, throwing up all his mental shields and concentrated on keeping them solid, 'I escaped my room in the fight and infiltrated the bridge, the command crew are all dead, but reinforcements will arrive soon. I can get to a fighter and get off this ship, can you hold fire until I've arrived with you?' Another moment of silence, he knew his Father would suspect him of lying, he hoped his shields would hold.

'Of course, my son, it will be a relief to both the Emperor and I to have you back again. I will clear a hangar for your arrival,' a click and the transmission cut out.

Luke felt every eye in the room on him, Leia could not help but stare open mouthed. She had honestly thought he was going to anything but help them, and here he was, having just lied to Darth Vader, his Father.

'I don't understand,' was all she could come up with to say.

'Honestly, neither do I, so let's do this before I change my mind' breathed Luke, 'and Nea is hurt, she's unconscious with a head wound back in my room. Biggs is with her; can you send someone?'

'Yes of course, right away,' answered Captain Inara going to another console to summon a medic to his room.

Leia was still getting to grips with what was happening as Luke turned to her, 'I'm going to need that,' he said pointing to her hip where his lightsabre hung from her belt, 'and a ship.'

'We still have the TIE fighter in the hanger that Biggs came in, you can take that. All other usable ships are already engaged in the fight,' said answered handing him the weapon.

'Thanks, once I'm gone they'll start attacking again so use this small break to plan something. When you do retaliate make sure you fire on the Executor,' said Luke, 'you can't look like you're avoiding it. Buy me time, I'll take a com and keep it open, have a plan to blow the thing to bits if it's going wrong or I say so.'

Leia and the Captain nodded, 'take his Highness..'

'Luke,'

Inara gave a small smile, 'take Luke to the hangar, make sure the TIE has fuel and the weapons are armed,' she ordered the guard that had arrived with Luke. He turned to Leia before leaving, 'if I make it back, we need to explore this connection you felt, I think there is more to it than you just being force sensitive.'

'You will, may the force be with you,' said Leia, 'and Luke,' as he turned to go, 'thank you.'