CHAPTER VIII

Leia's office was very well-decorated, as you would expect that of the President of the Senate to be. As she led Rey and the others inside, they all stood around the technician droids, which had finished their scan of Veep. Standing there was Polen Orlock, one of Leia's advisors.

They projected a holograms of Leia's face, and also the masked face that was iconic to every figure in the galaxy: Darth Vader.

"The data on this VP-unit is very impressive," Polen said, "Like all good propaganda, it very cleverly combines truth with fiction. It contains samples of Anakin Skywalker's DNA and your DNA, Madame President, indisputably revealing that Darth Vader was Leia's biological father."

"What?" everyone exclaimed.

"That must be a lie," Finn said, but Leia looked down.

"No, it's true," Leia said, "Darth Vader was my biological father. But no one outside the family has ever known that. I had to keep it secret, and Luke and Han did the best they could to ensure it. If the news ever got out, it would singlehandedly end my presidency; everyone in the galaxy would demand my recognition."

"It's worse than that," Polen went on, explaining the data, "The plans also say this made you an illegitimate princess of Alderaan, that you are a Sith, and that you used your Force powers to influence the Senate. It also accuses your brother Luke of being a terrorist who has disappeared to learn his father's powers. In short, this is a pamphlet stating every reason why the Skywalker family should be feared."

"But it's so detailed," Leia said, incredulous, "It knows everything about my family, right down the exact date Luke disappeared, the things he would do, our Force abilities, things we both got from our real father. There's no way Sen. Zyr could have come up with this on his own."

She realized the truth.

"Our son must have helped him."

"It makes sense," Finn said, "This is why Kylo Ren was always communicating with the senator, and why they sent my squadron to take out the ship with this droid."

"You think our son would go to all this trouble just to discredit his mother?" Han asked.

"No," Leia said sadly, "It probably runs deeper. He probably wants Sen. Zyr to win the election, so that he can be his puppet ruler."

"There's more," Polen went on, "Apparently there's a rumor that Luke Skywalker has finally been spotted somewhere in the Hosnian System."

"The Hosnian System?" Finn said, "I know where that is!"

"This data falsely implicates the Hosnian System in war-crimes," Leia said as she looked it over, "Zyr will use this propaganda to not only go after me Leia in the election, but to then justify a war and subjugate the Hosnian System, hopefully killing Luke in the process."

Rey stood there. She had grown uncomfortable hearing all this, knowing she was an outsider to this family.

"Look," she said hesitantly, "I know that I just met you-I'm not part of your family-and I don't know a single thing about politics-but it seems to me this situation is pretty easy to fix. I mean, we have Veep right here. All you have to do is erase this data and all traces of it. You'll end the lies before the senator even gets a chance to spread them. Problem solved."

Polen raised an eyebrow at this idea. But Leia only responded in devastation.

"This isn't about politics or about winning or losing an election. If I had to step down for the good of the galaxy, I would do it in a heartbeat. What scares me is that my son would and could do this."

"Don't you see what's happening?" Han said, "Our son and Zyr are using each other, but both think they are the one pulling the strings: Zyr just lusts for power and is using the Sith Imperialists as his muscle as means to an end, while our son is using Zyr's lust for power to achieve his own agenda."

"But what about Luke?" Rey pleaded, "He's being accused here too. Shouldn't we find him? Shouldn't we give him a chance to defend himself?"

"Luke's gone," Leia said flatly.

"What's the story between Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren?" Finn asked, "I'd like to hear it once and for all."

"After the Empire fell, Luke trained the first generation of new Jedi. Our son was his best student, until he turned to the darkside, took a few followers, and killed the rest of the school. Luke was devastated. He said something about going to find the old Jedi texts, and that was when he disappeared."

While this conversation was going on, no one had noticed Polen slowly start to deactivate Veep, then grab the droid and pull out his blaster. Han turned just in time and immediately shot first.

BLAST! BOOM!

Finn and Rey ducked as the shots were being fired, almost destroying the office. Polen was fast and agile, and easily avoided every blast.

"Polen, what are you doing?" Leia asked.

"I'm sorry, Madam President. It's been an honor serving you, but now that I know that you are Darth Vader's biological daughter...in fact, I even have indisputable proof of it...that's worth a fortune! And as for all the warmongering parts, who cares if it's true or not? People will believe anything that scares them!"

He shot another blast at Leia, knocking her over.

"Leia!" Han screamed and run to her while Chewie roared.

After a few seconds, they saw Leia had only been stunned and would be alright, but it was enough of a distraction: Polen had already fled the room. Within seconds, a small pod could be seen flying out of the Senate Building.

Over the next few hours, Leia came to, but was very tired and was taken to her quarters. Han and Chewie stood beside her the whole time. It didn't take much to see that Han still cared deeply about her.

Rey and Finn stood out in the hall, waiting nervously.

"What do we do now?" Rey asked.

"I'm not sure," he said.

"Look, I said I would help you get the droid to the president, and I did my part. Maybe my role in this story is over."

"Would you really go back to Naragna?"

"No," Rey said, "But what can I do?"

"We can go out and try to recover Veep, but he's probably already out on the black market by now, maybe in the hands of some smuggler making their way off Coruscant right now."

"I don't think any of this is really about an election," Rey said, "Leia doesn't really care if she wins or loses. She has a broken heart. What we need to do is find Luke Skywalker."

"Gee, you make it sound like it's the easiest thing in the world," Finn said with a smile, "If Luke could be found, Ren would have found him a long time ago."

"Look, those rumors about the Hosnian System-it's worth a shot! You can pilot one of those tiny starships, can't you?"

"Sure. But-do you really believe you can do this, Rey?"

"Yes. We're setting out tonight. Don't tell Han and Chewie. Their place is here with Leia. Let's do this ourselves. The two of us."

Suddenly the heard a familiar roar, and turned to see Udo.

"Okay, the three of us," Rey said with a smile, "We going to find Luke Skywalker!"