Chapter 23

Luke sat cross-legged in the middle of his surprisingly comfortable cell. When he had arrived at the prison complex a few hours ago Luke had been panicking, feeling certain that his naiveté was going to result in his execution. Taking a few minutes to compose himself, however, Luke calmed down considerably. Meditating on the cool floor, Luke had come to realize two facts which gave him solace. For one`, he was on Naboo, a planet renowned for its democracy and justice – while Soruna was obviously no Amidala, even she had to abide by the law. Second, Luke knew that Leia would stop at nothing to rescue him.

This last point was as troubling as it was reassuring, however. While she had given him her word that she wouldn't try to break him out by herself, Luke was firmly aware of how stubborn she could be. While she was undoubtedly progressing rapidly with her Jedi training, he knew she would have no chance in rescuing him from this complex. Soruna had been especially careful with Luke, perhaps because she knew how powerful Jedi could be. Because of this, she had sent two dozen guards to escort Luke to the prison, and six heavily armed guards were currently guarding his cell door.

While he wanted to convey to Leia how well guarded his cell was, he too had been weakened by their long-range communication. While he had not passed out like Leia had, he knew that it was probably a bad idea to try to communicate with her until he regained his strength.

Luke took a deep breath and tried to ignore his growling stomach and parched mouth. He had tried about an hour ago to ask the guards for something to eat, but evidently they had strict orders to ignore him. Much to his amusement, they had even been provided with earmuffs which they put on whenever Luke tried to talk to them so that he wouldn't be able to use any Jedi mind tricks.

The hours ticked by as Luke sat motionlessly on the floor, meditating. While he was expertly disciplined, he knew he couldn't ignore his hunger and thirst forever, however. Finally, he decided to give up and try to ask the guards for something to eat. When he opened his eyes, however, he recoiled in shock.

"I'm impressed. I'd reckon you were meditating for five hours straight without noticing me at all."

"Father, what are you doing here!" Luke asked. Anakin smiled good-naturedly and raised his eyebrows in faux-indignation.

"What, you're not pleased to see me?" he said sarcastically. Luke rolled his eyes, well-acquainted with his father's sense of humor by now. "I'm here to help," he said, his tone serious now. "Although I am quite disappointed that both of my children ended up in jail."

"I blame it on bad genes," Luke retorted playfully.

Anakin gave Luke a stern look. "Now look here," he said, pointing his ghostly finger at Luke. "I married your mother in order to offset those genes. You have no excuse."

Luke laughed, but stopped abruptly when one of the guards turned and gave him a weird look. "What are you laughing about?" he asked gruffly.

"Nothing," Luke said quickly. "Actually, could I have something to eat?" he asked, recognizing an opportunity. Unfortunately, the guard had turned away again and had placed his earmuffs on firmly to drain out Luke's voice. His stomach grumbling loudly, Luke sighed and looked back towards his father.

"I'm sorry I can't help you," Anakin said. "I can't interact with the physical world."

"I know," Luke said, whispering so that the guards wouldn't hear him talking.

"But I can help in other ways," Anakin said.

Luke gave him a curious look. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I can serve as your messenger to Leia," he said earnestly, clearly excited at the prospect of being useful.

"Oh!" Luke exclaimed, wondering why he hadn't thought of this before. His brief enthusiasm faded quickly, however, when he recalled what happened the last time Leia and Anakin had interacted. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Luke asked.

Anakin waved a hand dismissively. "This is more important. She will put our differences aside for your benefit." Anakin hesitated for a second and frowned. "Or at least I hope so," he added.

Luke nodded. "I hope you're right. If not, I'll have to try to communicate with her telepathically again."

Anakin's raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Again?" he asked. "You've done this before?"

"Yes, it is actually pretty easy for us when we're close but it can be quite draining over long distances. I take it this isn't common?"

Anakin shook his head pensively. "No, not at all," he said. "We'll talk about this later," he resolved after a few moments. "Right now, I need your message to Leia."

"Right," Luke said, still intrigued about why his father had been so surprised to learn about his telepathic powers with Leia. "Tell her that under no circumstances should she try to rescue me by herself. I know she's capable, but she stands no chance against this level of security."

Anakin shrugged. "I'll tell her, but I'm not sure you're right about that. She beat you pretty good last time I saw her."

Giving his father a sour look, Luke continued. "Soruna doesn't know that she's my sister, so she can use that to her advantage."

"OK, anything else?" Anakin asked.

Luke shook his head. "That's all I can think of. She'll figure out what to do, I'm sure of it."

Anakin gave his son a faint smile, wishing not for the first time that he could reach out to him physically and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Instead, he stood up. "See you soon," he said. "Hang in there, OK?" With that, Anakin's force ghost faded away leaving Luke alone in his cell. Luke closed his eyes once again, trying to ignore a particularly sharp pang of hunger.

Leia woke up abruptly, suddenly conscious that she wasn't alone. Pretending to still be asleep, she subtly reached down to her waist but stopped halfway when she remembered that Han still had her lightsaber. Remembering where she was, Leia forced herself to remain calm. You're on the Falcon she told herself. Nobody's going to hurt you.

Logically, she knew she was safe. Despite this, she was feeling a disturbing sense of déjà vu. Sleeping in the small, dark passenger hold made her feel as if she was back on the Death Star, awaiting torture. A familiar presence enhanced her sense of unease as well…

"Would you wake up? I know you're not sleeping," a voice said.

Opening her eyes, she saw Vader's force ghost looming above her bead, an amused expression on his face. Screaming, she jolted upright and retreated as far away as she could from him. "Get away from me!" she yelled, clutching her knees fearfully.

Vader rolled his eyes. "Now you've done it," he said irritably.

"Leia!" she heard Han call out from somewhere in the hallway. Rushing into the small room, Han turned the light on. "What's wrong?" he asked, short of breath.

Squinting in the bright light, Leia looked between Han and Vader.

"Would you calm down, for once?" Vader asked.

"Why were you watching me sleep?" she asked.

Vader shrugged. "I didn't want to wake you," he said somewhat honestly. If he was being honest with himself, however, the real reason was because he had enjoyed watching her sleep. She had been so peaceful being oblivious to his presence.

As it dawned on him what was happening, Han sighed, knowing that there was little he could do to help in this situation. "What does he want?" he asked Leia.

"What do you want?" she asked Vader accusatively.

"You do realize I can hear him too, right?" he said in a misguided effort to lighten the mood. Leia's stormy expression, however, made it clear that this effort was not received well. "I have a message from Luke," he said, getting right to the point.

"Oh," Leia said, her expression lightening considerably. "He has a message from Luke," she relayed to Han.

After he told her Luke's message, Leia frowned and looked towards Han.

"What?" Han asked. "What did he say?"

"Nothing new, really," Leia said dejectedly. "He doesn't think I can rescue him."

"That's not what he said," Vader corrected. "He wants you to find another way, and so do I."

Leia gave an exasperated sigh. "What else can I do?" she asked.

Vader crossed his arms. "There's always another way, Leia."

"Do you think the Rebellion could help?" Han asked, unknowingly overlapping with Vader. Leia looked at him thoughtfully.

"Perhaps," she said slowly. "You said Soruna doesn't know I'm Luke's sister?" she asked Vader.

Vader nodded. "Luke said you could use that to your advantage."

Leia pursed her lips and looked away, a plan formulating in her mind. "I have an idea that might just work," she said. "Tell Luke to stop worrying, by the way," she added.

"Will do," Vader said with a wink. Flashing her a smile, Vader's ghost disappeared. Shaking her head at Vader's antics, she turned back to Han.

"Come on," she said. "We have a lot of work to do."