Luke and I headed at full speed toward command. They needed to know about the trap. Although what, precisely, could be done given this situation… I doubted either of us knew. I certainly didn't.

If we didn't destroy the station now, we never could. The Empire would reign supreme forever after all, the rebellion snuffed out, all our work burned away. No wonder Emperor Palpatine had been so overconfident this week.

It was a trap to catch us all.

But if we did go ahead and attempt destroying the station… then…

And then, a voice called after us, "Luke!"

I froze.

Luke froze.

I felt that surge of uncontrollable anger again from when I'd beat Alba. I clenched my fists, tightening my hold on my control. Luke looked placid as ever, though I now understood it—at least in this moment—to be the most farced of masks.

And there was my other parent, jogging up to us, smiling . I couldn't have spoken if I'd tried.

Luke said evenly and without inflection, "Han. You're back."

"Yeah… Sure you know by now I took off after you left. Well, I had kinda a close escape… It made me do some thinkin'. Anyway…" He drew a deep breath. "I wanna help, Luke. Cess. I think it's only right. You can tell Leia that—"

"None of us can tell her anything." I sounded… oddly calm. Almost serene. I felt serene. This whole experience felt out-of-body.

Dad blinked. "What d'you mean? Actually—what are you doin' here, Cessy? I thought it was Empire Eve and all that…"

"Oh, it is. But the Empire didn't feel very gracious about hosting us anymore. You see… thanks to your little flight from here… our cover got blown." Then I lowered the boom on him. " And they have Mother . So, thank you for deciding, finally, to join us, Dad. Only took six years. But… it is far too late."

OOO

I got into an abandoned room. I shut the door. I tried to breathe in deeply, but failed for the pain. My pulmonodes hurt as much as they had in the beginning, now. The doctors had called it "phantom pain", then.

It didn't feel so phantom, then or now.

"Tsk tsk tsk. That was cruel." I looked up to see Kyla striding toward me, shaking her head with an amused twist to her crimson mouth. "Telling Dad like that. Why… Padmé. I'd almost think you're me ."

"Leave me alone."

"No," she said simply, and leaned against the wall. "So—command is out there debating what to do about the trap and whether to shut down and give up… and you're here… cowering. Have you no shame?"

I clenched harder on my arm. This isn't real. This isn't real. I'm just having a breakdown given everything… This isn't real

"And here I thought we really connected last night with planning to get rid of the prince and your problem. Though, of course, you then ignored my advice and had your own plan ready…

"That hurts me, Padmé. It hurts me deeply, you know? I'm just trying to help. We know what we have to do. Just stop resisting it. I mean… you want to have a chance to rescue your mother, don't you?"

"There's no chance. She's gone."

"How very convenient," she mused. "But that's just not true. They have her with them on the Death Star, don't they?"

"... what?"

"Embrace me, Padmé. Embrace your true self. Cast off these shackles and fly free. You know it's what you want. And finally… you'll be what you were always meant to be. A hero ."

Someone no one could stop.

OOO

I barged into Luke's room uninvited for the second time today. In it I found my father, Luke, Biggs, Andor, General Erso, and Holdo. Oh. Some kind of clandestine meeting of those who opposed the Council's call on the matter, it seemed.

No matter. I wanted to be a part of it, in spite of my father's stricken face. This I pretended not to notice.

There'd be time. Or there wouldn't. We would see. It didn't matter any longer.

"So," I said, using my most regal manner, "I assume that the Council decided to give up?"

"The majority did," returned Andor.

"And I assume we're ignoring it and going rogue?"

Silence.

"Great. Because I have an idea."

OOO

In the shadows of the shuttle bay, as other members of the rogue team assembled, my father and I engaged in a furious argument.

"This isn't gonna work," he uttered. "Slippin' away like that…"

"We'll figure it out. We'll use the Force."

"That's not how the Force works, Cess!"

"Dad, I've had six years of combat training, including with quarterstaffs." It had been one of my feeble attempts to learn to defend myself against It, in part. "How hard can it be?"

" Padmé ." He never used my real name, which meant this situation proved extremely serious. Like I didn't know that. "It's a death mission."

"I know." I met his gaze evenly. "So let's go, then."

And he didn't argue after that.