Chapter 22: Earthbound

A pale blue dot had never looked so precious before.

Reunited siblings once again, Sokka and Katara saw how the Earth looked from the edge of the solar system. The Millennium Falcon had emerged from hyperspace near a blue gas giant planet, noteworthy only for spinning on its side relative to its orbit. Automatic filters in the cockpit windows removed the glare of the sun, allowing a clear view of the system during the approach. From this far away Earth was no bigger than the tiniest dot, its pale blue color barely visible against the black of space. Yet everyone they cared about was on that pale blue dot, and they were finally heading home.

Having just gotten back from his personal business, Han Solo hadn't been eager for a mission. "Appreciate the view while you can. When we get there you won't have time to sightsee."

Just as it did over half a year ago, the Millennium Falcon coasted into the system. The gas giants had moved since then, but were still roughly aligned enough to cover parts of their course from sensors in Earth orbit. That course allowed Sokka and Katara to see the planets up close, marveling at the wonders in their own backyard. Between the grand rings of one world and the massive behemoth that was another, this trip was worth it just for those alone. Katara wished they could have come under different circumstances, for she could have spent a lifetime exploring the myriad of moons orbiting the planets.

After passing by the largest planet, Luke walked in and stood in the cockpit's entryway. "Are the Star Destroyers in sensor range yet?"

"Not without telling them we're here," Han said. He had the sensors in passive mode, which weren't as detailed as active scans but also wouldn't give them away. "We should see them after the next planet."

In the months since the last visit, the fourth planet had moved to a more convenient part of its orbit. Now the small red world was in between the gas giants and Earth, allowing one last chance to approach in stealth. The Millennium Falcon was just small enough for that to work, anything bigger would have been exposed behind the small planet. Soon they entered orbit around the red planet and shut down all unnecessary power, reducing the odds of imperial scanners detecting them there. The Falcon coasted around its leading hemisphere, allowing a glimpse at Earth slightly further ahead in its orbit.

From here Earth was a tiny blue marble, so close and yet still very far to Sokka's eyes. "Almost there."

"And we have them on sensors," Han reported, ignoring Sokka's homesick remark. "One Super Star Destroyer, three regular Star Destroyers, and still where they are supposed to be."

"Did we get here too early?" Katara asked.

"We're on schedule," Han said. "Now we wait and see if her highness stirred up a big enough ruckus."

Half a galaxy away, the rebels began several simultaneous raids in several different systems, coordinated to create as much chaos as possible within the Empire. With any luck it would require mobilization of the entire imperial fleet to deal with them, regardless of whatever assignments they currently had. It would take time for new orders to pass through the chain of command, especially so regarding ships deployed along the edges of imperial space. Still, these ships were Death Squadron, and would certainly be better utilized fighting rebels instead of occupying one particular world.

When the orders finally reached this remote sector of space, Han knew it on sight. "See, there they go."

Two ships broke away from the others, turning away from Earth and facing imperial space. The Super Star Destroyer flew in front of its smaller companion, putting some distance between them and the planet before making the jump to hyperspace. The remaining two Star Destroyers moved to higher orbits, better allocating the reduced number of sensors available to monitor the planet surface. Their commanding officers resented being left behind when there were battles being fought, but complied with orders to remain here.

"Well that's a relief," Luke said, noting which ships had left. "The big one would have been a problem."

"It is now for which squadron gets to deal with it," Han said. He turned his seat around to look at the guides to this planet. "Alright you two, where do you want to land?"

"Did… did it just leave?"

Aang had trouble believing his eyes, especially when what they saw seemed too good to be true. The largest of the imperial ships in orbit could be seen from the ground, and Aang just saw it shrink and fade away in the light blue morning sky. But for all he knew it had been replaced by several of the regular variety, which were too small to be seen down here. Still, having that monstrosity of a ship gone was a relief, just so he wouldn't have to look at it on cloudless days. Aang realized something had to be going on for that ship to leave, though he had no idea what it was.

Next to him Kenobi appeared, looking up at the now empty sky. "You seem surprised."

"I got to admit, I wasn't sure if this would actually happen," Aang said. He turned and looked Kenobi in the eye. "I only had your word to go on for this."

"That's fair," Kenobi conceded. His eyes followed something too small to see, heading down toward the southern horizon. "Your guests will be arriving shortly."

"You're certain?" Aang asked.

Kenobi nodded. "Luke is aboard their ship."

Aang followed Kenobi's line of sight, and then turned back to a campsite set up nearby. "Alright everyone, we need to move out."

After the imperial airstrike on their underground hideout, the resistance fighters had gradually coalesced around Aang and Kori in the forests around Yu Dao. In anticipation of relocating to another area, they had already moved their camp to the edge of the forest. Some of them were already packing up camp, getting ready to move out yet again. Aang's order got them to pack up faster, and in ten minutes they were ready to leave. Aang picked the direction, Kori gave the marching orders, and the resistance fighters left the forest behind.

As they traveled Kori walked beside Aang, both of them at the front leading the way. "I'm having a good feeling about this. Are you having a good feeling about this?"

Aang thought about it, smiled, and nodded. "Yes, yes I am."

The Millennium Falcon descended toward the southern hemisphere, avoiding the remaining Star Destroyers in orbit over the northern half of the planet. Sokka pointed to a spot near the southern shore of the main continent, though it took him time to recognize it from space. He had hoped it would be like looking at a map, but the reality was very different from his expectations. For one he couldn't see any of the roads or borders a map would have, only the cities large enough to stick out amongst the natural terrain.

Fortunately he could see a mountain range north of the coastline, which served until they got close enough to see smaller landmarks. The Millennium Falcon descended to the altitude of the lowest peaks, weaving in between the taller mountains while Sokka looked for the right place. After passing the fifth mountain Sokka spotted a familiar valley, and he pointed in the direction they needed to go. A few more mountains went by, and Sokka pointed to one that wasn't very different from the others. Of course, it was supposed to look like any other mountain.

Unable to land on steep terrain, the Millennium Falcon had to land in a valley beside the mountain. Fortunately that landing site would hide the ship from every side except from above, and there weren't any imperial ships in the sky above this part of the continent. The Falcon's entry ramp opened up, allowing the passengers to disembark. Chewbacca remained inside the ship, both to guard the ship and because his presence would be counterproductive. Everyone else exited the ship, setting foot on solid ground and breathing in the fresh air.

Outside Katara stretched her limbs and took in a deep breath, taking a moment to soak in the sunlight. "It's good to be home."

Right next to his sister, Sokka nodded. "To be honest, I wasn't sure we'd ever make it back."

"Enough with the feelings," Han said. To him this world was just another rock in the backwaters of the galaxy. "We still have a job to do."

"Right," Sokka said. He turned and pointed to a nearby dirt trail. "It won't take us long to get there from here. That will take us right to it."

"Well then, lead the way," Han said.

Last one out of the Falcon, Luke kept out of the conversation. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, not a bad feeling but not a good feeling either. While Sokka took point and walked onto the dirt trail, Luke glanced to the southern horizon, currently obscured by another mountain. Luke shrugged, turned away, and followed the others down the dirt trail. At the back of the line Luke occasionally glanced south a few more times, unable to shake off the nagging feeling. He didn't say anything of course, not when there was a mission at hand.

The dirt trail led up the side of a mountain, mostly bare rock with shrubs growing out of the cracks. Fortunately they didn't have to go up all the way, only half a mile down the trail to get a quarter of the way up the mountain. Sokka stopped and looked at a wall of rock beside the trail, though there was nothing obvious different about it. He crouched and rubbed his hand against the spot where the wall touched the ground, removing loose dirt to uncover something buried. He grabbed it and stood up, showing what he found to the others.

In his hand was a pai sho tile, specifically the white lotus tile. "Good, someone's using the place."

"You're certain?" Han asked.

Sokka knocked on the wall a few times, waited a couple of seconds, and then knocked at a faster pace. He waited a little bit longer, and saw a tiny slit appear in the rock. "Who knocks at the guarded gate?"

"One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries," Sokka answered.

The tiny slit was closed, and a door sized chunk of wall slid back and then into the ground. An earthbender stood at the entrance to a tunnel, wearing a blue and white uniform instead of typical greens and browns. "Welcome brother. And take care within our sanctuary."

"We will," Sokka promised. He turned back to the others. "Come on, let's see who is home."

"What happened here?"

Aang was baffled by the scene that lay before him. The route Kori wanted to take had brought them well around the city of Yu Dao, yet they seemed to have encountered imperials anyway. Or rather they would have, if the battalion hadn't been wiped out already. However, not only had they been attacked by earthbending, some of the imperials appeared to have been shot by their own blasters. A few had been blown to pieces by the explosives they used, and those that remained in one piece had been stripped of whatever intact pieces of armor they had.

After looking at the aftermath of battle, Aang turned towards Kori. "Did you send anyone ahead of us?"

"No," Kori said. "Someone else did this. And we really should leave before more imperials show up to collect their dead."

"Yeah, and do it quickly," Aang said. "Still, whoever did this must be nearby."

"I'll have some scouts go look for them," Kori said. With some hand signals she did just that. "Believe me. I want more allies as much as you do. But we need to keep moving."

With the matter settled, the resistance fighters resumed their march. They gave the battlefield a wide berth, hoping to avoid leaving a trail that could be traced back to them. After going a few miles out of their way they returned to the road on the other side, back on course for the southern mountains. Those mountains appeared on the southern horizon by noon, and it would take the rest of the day and another to reach it. However, along the road they saw patches of loose dirt, something any skilled earthbender would recognize.

"Ambush!" Kori yelled.

The patches of loose dirt exploded into a shower of soil, creating a dust cloud that covered most of the road. A dozen earthbenders emerged from the ground, and raised another dozen firebenders along with them. They were wearing mismatched pieces of salvaged stormtrooper armor, as if there weren't enough sets to go around. Half of them were wielding pilfered blasters, while the other half stuck with bending. Stone and flames were summoned and conjured, wielded alongside the blasters, and ready to strike.

In response Kori and her earthbenders raised a thick wall of rock, surrounding the group with it while the dust shrouded their assailants. Her firebenders added a ring of fire to the wall, and were ready to strike at the ambushers. The front side of the wall was torn down by the other side's earthbending, and the ring of fire was extinguished by their firebenders. By then the dust had settled on the road, allowing both sides to see each other clearly. In just a moment it would be a bloodbath, only to be interrupted by a loud voice.

"Hold your fire!"

Recognizing that voice, Aang was surprised to hear it here. "Haru?"

Sure enough, Haru stepped forward. He had on an almost complete suit of stormtrooper armor, minus the helmet. "Hey Aang, what brings you to these parts?"

"Wait, what?" Kori blurted out. With a hand signal she ordered the others to stand down, and they were relieved that they didn't need to fight today. "You know him?"

"We met way back," Aang answered. He turned his attention back to Haru. "It's good to see you."

"Likewise," Haru said. He made a hand signal, and everyone holding a blaster put them away. "It's hard to know what everyone else is doing. We didn't even realize you and your new friends were passing through the area until now."

"Well we are in a hurry," Aang said. "Speaking of which, while I'd like to stay and catch up, we really need to get moving again."

"Oh, right, sorry," Haru said. With another signal he ordered his men to clear the road. "It must be important if the Avatar is on the move."

"You're free to come along if you want to see it yourself," Aang offered. "We can always use more help."

"Sure," Haru said. He pointed a thumb over his shoulder and down the road. "We have a camp down that way. I'll get the others and we'll catch up with you."

"Sounds good," Aang said. "See you there."

Sokka led the way into the mountain, taking the others into the secret White Lotus base. Built during the Hundred Year War, this was one of many places the secret society maintained for its members to use in an emergency. After the war the society had shared the existence of this base with the Avatar and his close companions, part of the society's efforts to help prepare for the next encounter with aliens. There had also been the matter of inducting Sokka into the society, an invitation given near the end of the war, which seemed rather quaint now.

Inside the base resembled an underground mine, with several levels carved out of solid rock. There had been some expansion since Sokka had last been here, extra levels above and below to make the illusion of a mine more complete. He figured that was to fool the way imperials saw things underground, that if they did look here all they would see was a mine and not the base inside. Sokka led the way a few levels down, passing by earthbenders that guarded the upper levels, and brought everyone to a large meeting room to find their hosts.

The meeting room was well lit, and Sokka saw someone familiar standing at the far side of a large table. "It's good to finally see you again, Dragon of the West."

Back in the role of a military general, yet still one of the society's Grand Lotuses, Iroh greeted Sokka and the others brought with him. "Welcome back. You must have quite the story to tell."

"You have no idea," Sokka said. He gestured to those behind and in front of him. "Han, Luke, this is General Iroh. Iroh, these are Han Solo and Luke Skywalker."

Between the strange names, strange attire, and reports of the ship that landed in the valley, Iroh knew enough to guess what those two represented. "I presume you two are allies from the stars?"

"You can put it that way," Han said. "Right now we're scoping things out. Getting a measure of what the Empire has been doing here. Make sure they have problems militarizing those abilities you have."

"Among other things," Luke said. "We've already lured away half of the ships in orbit. We better make the most of the time we have before they come back."

Iroh nodded. "Of course. If you like, my men and I can share what we know about the Empire's activities. It's been quite an undertaking to make sense of all the fragmented efforts against them."

"It's a start," Sokka said, glad to have even that. "So let's get to it."

At the end of the day they reached the northern edge of the mountains, and Aang and Kori pressed onward even while running out of daylight. A few hours ago Haru and his little group had taken a different route and left Aang's group, heading back to their current base of operations to get the rest of his people and their pilfered gear. As they approached their destination more of Kori's resistance fighters converged on the main path, each small group having taken different routes to get here and avoid drawing attention.

Just when they were about to leave the forests, Aang saw lights shining from behind. "Uh oh…"

Everyone present hurried back into the forest, taking cover behind the trees while the lights approached. Soon the lights came into focus, and everyone saw them as the headlights of several hovering speeder bikes. They came to a stop at the edge of the forest, descended to rest on the ground, and the headlights were turned off and the engines were shut down. The people getting off the speeder bikes were wearing stormtrooper armor, but it took more than one glance to realize that it was the same incomplete sets they had seen before.

Aang walked away from the trees and towards the speeder bikes, and gave the all clear signal to everyone else. "Haru, it would be nice to have a little warning next time."

Taking off his helmet, Haru walked to Aang and smiled. "Sorry."

"It's alright," Aang said. He looked at the speeder bikes for a bit, noticing a few with wooden carts attached to them. "I take it you brought some toys."

"And plenty of friends," Haru said. "But we don't have enough bikes for everyone. I suppose we could take turns carrying people to wherever it is we're going."

"That'll work," Aang said. "Take the exhausted people first. The rest of us can keep on walking."

Half of the people Haru had brought switched places with some of Aang's people, getting them off tired feet to ride as passengers on the speeder bikes. Among the people left behind were two that Aang remembered, and he was more than a little surprised to see them here. Although he didn't know them very well, Aang couldn't forget the ever grim Mai and the ever cheerful Ty Lee. Both of them still possessed their pilfered alien artifacts, though the armor was a little worse for wear after extensive use, and Mai's remaining blaster had more than a few cracks in it.

After taking some time to catch up, Mai had one remark to make. "You haven't been taking their tools to use against them?"

"Been more focused on destroying their stockpiles," Aang said. There had been a few incidents after Yu Dao, each more difficult than the one before it. "We usually don't have the time to grab things before getting out of the area."

"Whatever works," Haru said, walking beside them. He looked at the mountains up ahead, unfamiliar with the terrain on their slopes. "So where are we heading anyway?"

"A White Lotus base," Aang answered. "We're going to meet up with some people there. We'll finally have what we need to really strike back at the Empire."

"Sounds like fun," Mai said.

Meanwhile behind the group of three, Ty Lee was walking beside Kori. Eyeing the strange armor, Kori wished she could have a set for herself. "How does that suit work against blasters?"

"Pretty good," Ty Lee answered. "Course, it only protects the parts it covers. So I have to keep my head down when I'm fighting."

"Have you figured out any tricks to taking down stormtroopers easily?" Kori asked. "We've been using ambush tactics, but that only gets us so far."

"The quicksand trick usually does it when we're outside," Ty Lee said, having watched Haru and other earthbenders do it plenty of times. "But it doesn't work indoors. They've been putting in metal floors everywhere."

"We've noticed," Kori said. "Aang's told me that you know how to chi block. Does that do anything?"

"Not through the armor," Ty Lee said.

"Oh," Kori said, disappointed a little. "I was hoping you might teach it to some of my fighters."

"Sorry, wouldn't do much good," Ty Lee admitted.

The group kept on walking well into the night, reaching the base of the mountains a few hours after sundown. A few dozen earthbenders made the creation of a concealed campsite quick work, carving out a hole in the mountain slope big enough for all of them. An overhang concealed the campsite from aerial view, and from most other angles it appeared to be a natural part of the mountain. Once camp was set most of the fighters turned in for early sleep, tired from the long trek and expecting a need to be well rested in the morning.

Aang wasn't ready to sleep just yet, despite having an ache in his legs from walking all day. It had him missing Appa dearly, remembering the days when they could travel through the sky whenever they wanted to. But at least he knew Appa was safe and sound, living with a herd of wild sky bison Aang had found in the most remote countryside. At the edge of the campsite Aang looked at the northern skies, imagining sky bison roaming the heavens like they did before the war. In reality he saw two distinct pinpricks of light moving against the stars, the threat that made riding a sky bison too dangerous.

He had wanted to be alone here, but Aang saw Kenobi appear beside him. "It something going on?"

"Not yet," Kenobi answered. He turned and looked at the campsite, seeing the mixture of two groups united in one place. "I see you have acquired some new friends in my absence."

"They were led by old friends," Aang said. "I'm just glad we weren't the only ones fighting back."

"Resistance cells spring up everywhere," Kenobi said. "Of course, it can be difficult to coordinate them all. Each is different in their own way, and some may not want to be part of a bigger alliance."

"Thanks for the tip," Aang said. "You can go now."

Kenobi looked back at Aang. "Is something the matter?"

"Just wanted some alone time," Aang said.

"Ah, I see," Kenobi said. He looked in another direction, his eyes narrowing as if to see something far away. "You might not get that tonight."

There was a rumble in the ground, one that woke up the earthbenders already asleep. They all recognized the sound of other earthbenders tunneling at a fast pace, and they only had a few seconds to prepare for an underground ambush. Around the edges of the campsite the ground exploded, earthbenders clad in blue and white rising up to the surface. These earthbenders did not start an attack, and in turn the resistance fighters did not attack either. The biggest display of earthbending was near Aang, and from the underground rose an elderly man that Aang knew from childhood.

Aang saw the old man's muscles bulging through the blue and white robes, his hair eternally messy and his mouth still missing a few teeth. "Bumi!"

The King of Omashu cackled, glad to see Aang here. "What took you so long?"

By nightfall everyone agreed on a short term strategy.

All they needed was time, for both sides to acquire what was needed. The White Lotus was tasked with gathering and uniting the disparate groups resisting the Empire, requiring much greater manpower to be effective. Solo and Skywalker were tasked with contacting the rebel fleet, requiring the assistance of more ships to counter the imperial advantage in orbit. Both would need to wait until the morning, when the Star Destroyers were expected to move to the other side of the planet. Until then all they could do was wait, each passing the time in their own way.

Luke stood outside the base, back to the rock and looking out at other mountains and the valleys between them. In the moonlight he could see the forests and meadows in the valleys and clinging to the mountainsides, so very different from the harsh desert he used to call home. Yet he had been told that this world had a large desert too, along with extensive tundra, volcanic islands, and vast oceans teeming with life. Compared to most worlds he had visited since leaving Tatooine, a planet with every environment imaginable seemed like a fantasy.

He heard footsteps, and Luke turned to see Sokka coming outside. "Your planet is beautiful."

Sokka stopped in his tracks, thought about the compliment, and smiled as he came outside. "I just wish we didn't have to fight over it all the time."

"Katara mentioned a war your people ended recently," Luke said.

"It seems really petty now," Sokka said. "And to think, it almost ended with the entire continent going up in smoke."

Picturing the land scorched and barren, Luke looked away. "That would have been a real shame."

"Yeah," Sokka muttered. He put his back against the mountain, taking the time to enjoy the view.

Sharing the moment, Luke's gaze was drawn to the south again. "Sokka, is there anything important at the bottom of this world?"

Blinking twice, surprised by the question, Sokka thought about what to answer with. "Well the Southern Water Tribe used to cover most of the ice cap, but that changed when the Fire Nation attacked. We were down to a few scattered villages, and were still only starting to rebuild when the Empire invaded."

"Anything else?" Luke asked. "Anything you can't explain?"

There was only one thing Sokka could think of. "Dad used to tell me stories about the Everstorm. It's supposed to hover over the center of the ice cap, and apparently it's been raging since long before the Hundred Year War began. I've never actually seen it myself, so I have no idea if it's a real thing."

"Might be worth looking into," Luke said.

"Why?" Sokka wondered. "At best it's something spirit related, and I doubt they are going to help."

"He's right about that."

Hearing that voice in the waking world, and hearing that voice alone, Luke turned his head and saw Kenobi appear, transparent and in shades of blue. "It's good to see you."

A little confused, Sokka noticed Luke talking to someone that wasn't there. "Who are you talking to?"

"A friend," Luke answered, and then turned his attention back to Kenobi. "I didn't realize you could speak this way. I thought I had to be dreaming."

"It is… easier… to manifest here," Kenobi answered. "The Force is strong on this world. It shares a boundary with a world of spirits, sharing energy between the physical and the incorporeal. I wish it had been found long ago, I knew many Jedi that could have spent centuries studying this relationship."

"We'll have to study it later," Luke said.

"Of course," Kenobi said. "I thought you should know that you will be having company. Tell him that Aang will be glad to his friends back safe and sound."

Luke turned towards Sokka. "Heads up, your friend Aang is coming in soon."

Staring at Luke now, Sokka had so many questions. "How do you know that?"

Escorted by Bumi and the White Lotus earthbenders, Aang and his growing group of resistance fighters entered the secret base. They entered what appeared to be the lowest level of a mine, and in a wide shaft earthbenders raised a platform to bring them up to the middle levels. There they entered the main part of the base, where White Lotus members were busy with early night tasks. Aang and his friends were brought to the meeting room, where the Grand Lotus was waiting, along with someone Aang hadn't seen since Ba Sing Se.

"Katara!"

On sight Aang ran to her, Katara ran to him, and they wrapped their arms around each other. They held on tighter than ever before, both wishing that they could never let go.

That was when Luke and Sokka returned, the latter smirking at them. "Well… I see you two aren't wasting time."