CHAPTER TWO
Anakin landed his fighter in the hangar of the Mon Calamari cruiser and straight into the arms of his wife. It had been so long since they had seen each other, it reminded them both of those terribly long separations during the Clone Wars.
Things between them had undoubtedly gotten easier now that they were no longer in hiding, but that didn't stop Anakin from having to choose duty over his family every now and then.
"Anakin -" Padmé tried to say, but Anakin caught her lips and cut her off.
Even after breaking apart, they remained in the tight embrace for a while. Anakin truly didn't think there was a place he felt safer than right here, with Padmé in his arms.
Finally, Padmé leaned back. "Have Luke and Leia contacted you?"
Anakin frowned a little bit. "No. They haven't sent a transmission through to the Alliance?"
Padmé shook her head. "Do you - do you think that maybe -"
"No." Anakin shook his head forcefully. "They're strong, and skilled. They'll be along shortly, I'm sure of it."
Padmé's lips thinned. "If you say so." She then rested her head against Anakin's chest, letting go of all her anxious thoughts. The twins had both been in worse battles - something Padmé hated doing to them, but it was impossible for the two of them to shy away from a fight.
They have their father's spirit, she mused, a ghost of a smile floating over their face.
The couple was interrupted by a very awkward-looking, but not very surprised, C-3PO. Anakin and Padmé both collectively sighed. "Yes, 3PO?" Padmé asked gently.
"I'm terribly sorry, milady, but your presence is requested in the command center. I do believe we are nearing the rendezvous point."
Padmé nodded. She pulled back from Anakin's embrace, clasping his hands. "I'll find you later."
Anakin grinned. "I look forward to it - milady."
C-3PO went to the fighter to find R2. Padmé resisted the urge to giggle at just how thrilled Anakin looked about him following. She turned around, mood boosted by seeing Anakin, and headed to the command center.
Padmé entered the command center to a group of the Alliance's highest ranked members clustered around a large hologram of a star system.
"What did I miss?" she asked, studying the planets on display.
"We've dropped out of lightspeed. The rendezvous point is up ahead." Admiral Ackbar gestured out the main window. A small moon could just be seen in the distance, draped by familiar star-studded space.
Padmé walked to the windows. "So that's it," she whispered. "Yavin 4."
"Senator Amidala, are you certain the Empire won't find us here, possibly leading to yet another ambush? We seem to be caught everywhere we go." her old friend from the Senate, Bail Organa, asked.
Padme didn't stop looking at the moon. "Nowhere we go will be safe from the Empire. They have pursued us across the galaxy, from Coruscant to the Rishi Maze to the spice mines of Kessel. Nothing we have done has seemed to be enough to get the Empire off our tail."
Padmé turned to face her companions. "But they've pursued us for eighteen years. And in those eighteen years, not once have they struck a deep enough blow to squander the Rebellion. We may not be able to hide forever, but we won't need to.
"Because we'll have democracy again, soon. We'll end this terrible regime, soon. The galaxy will no longer have to deal with corrupt politicians and government-funded slavery and a mired economy. We just have to keep fighting."
—-
Leia tugged at some of the wires that were clustered in the front of the small panel. She pushed them as far to the side as they went and peered in deeper. Tiny dust particles floated up from the disturbed wires and clogged her nose. She sneezed.
Brushing at her nose impatiently, Leia reached into the panel deeper. Studying the contents, she could see noticeable damage in the central compartment. Sighing, she closed up the panel once more and went back to the cockpit. Luke was lounging on the pilot's chair, adjusting the parts on his lightsaber.
He looked up when she walked in. "What is it?"
"What we suspected. The hyperdrive's damaged. It's a miracle we were able to get into lightspeed at all." Leia collapsed into the copilot's chair. As soon as the twins had pulled into hyperspace, the freighter had started shaking and sputtering. Even with Luke, only the second-best pilot in the Alliance to his father, had been unable to pilot the ship smoothly.
"Should I take a look? Do you think it can be fixed mid-flight?" he asked.
Leia shook her head. "No. We'll have to drop out of lightspeed and land."
Luke raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure? Without any backup, no one to know where we are?"
Ever since the first day the twins had started serving in the Rebellion, their parents had drilled into them one thing more than all others: do not allow yourself to be seen by anyone in the Empire. They must not get caught, and take every protective measure possible when on a mission. They looked too similar to their parents. Everyone who knew anyone would know Luke and Leia Skywalker, despite their parent's best efforts to keep them sheltered.
The Emperor wanted them. No one said it, but both of them knew.
"We don't have a choice if we want to survive much longer. We'll see if we can pick up a long-range transmission to the Alliance once we're on-planet." Leia instructed.
Luke turned to face the controls and began procedures for dropping out of lightspeed. Leia braced herself for the exit.
Luke slowly pulled the lever. The streaks of blue slowed, and rearranged themselves as stars. The ship creaked under the pressure. Both twins winced. A large tan-colored planet was directly in their view. Leia pulled out her datapad.
"That's Tatooine, according to our coordinates - who even knows if those are correct at this point - and is sparsely inhabited. Seems to be ruled by some gangsters known as the Hutts." She squinted at the planet. "Looks like a lot of nothing."
"The Hutts…" Luke muttered. "Isn't that the crime family from Dad's stories? The Clone Wars ones?"
Leia looked up at her brother, mouth wide. "You're right! He really hated them, didn't he?"
"Enough that I'm nervous to meet them."
"You should be. You look like Dad. They'll apprehend you, and I'll be able to just go about my business, as always…"
"Leia, shut up." Luke said.
Leia kept talking.
"Leia, I mean it! Do you hear that?" Luke stood up. "That sound?"
Leia quieted down and listened. Sure enough, a ringing sound was clamoring across the ship, getting louder and louder. A tremor spread under their feet. Luke and Leia stared at each other, their faces identically pale.
"We have to land, now, now!" Leia shrieked, jamming controls.
"I know, I know!" Luke started frantically beginning landing procedures.
"There's not enough time! We're going to crash!" Leia started to extend their drag-fins, desperately trying to slow them down.
"We're going to come in hot!" Luke yelled as they barrelled through the atmosphere. The giant, empty desert grew closer and closer. Luke waited until they were nearly on it before pulling up and avoiding the brunt of the crash. They slid on the planet floor until coming to a screeching halt before a sand dune.
"Well," Leia said, brushing a stray piece of hair behind one of her buns. "You certainly know how to make a daring exit."
"Come on, we gotta get out!" Luke scrambled out of his seat, grabbed his sister's wrist - who swatted him away, annoyed - and ran out of the freighter. They dashed up the steep sand dune. Sand got in their boots, in between their toes, all over the hems of their pants. Luke gritted his teeth and ran a little faster, pushed himself a little farther.
Both of them could feel the blast coming. They Force-jumped the rest of the way up the dune, landing face-first in the sand as the ship blew up.
Luke looked at the remnants hollowly. "It was a good ship. I mean, not our best - but it got us away from the Empire, and that's good enough for me."
"Luke," Leia hissed. He snapped his head over to face her.
"What?"
She pointed in front of her. "Look."
Luke did. Just beyond the dune, less than a kilometer away, was a small, sandy town filled with dome-capped buildings. The streets were bustling with every kind of species imaginable.
"It's a spaceport," Leia said. "Look at all those hangars."
"That's perfect. We can see about a ship there." Luke was already plotting his way around the clusters of stormtroopers at every entrance to the city. "If we lay low enough, we might be able to get by without raising suspicion."
Leia looked at him doubtfully. "Are you sure that will work? The literal fate of the Alliance is on our backs, Luke. We can't run around a foreign city without a plan."
"I know that, but -"
Luke was cut off suddenly.
"Do you sense that?" Leia asked.
The twins shot up. Standing behind them on the dune, clothed in old Jedi robes like their father wore and a worn brown cloak, was a wizened old man with a white beard and clear blue eyes.
"Hello there." he said.