"No! Vanee!" Padme screamed, her face white as a ghost. The sudden outburst scared everyone in the living room.
"I think it's time to go home," Dr. Quaserblast said to the other instructors. They left the house. Padme retreated to the couch, the tears streaking down her face.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong? What about Vanee?" Leia asked, sitting down next to her daughter. She took Padme's hand into hers.
"He's dead, Mom. He was murdered!"
"Padme, are you sure?" Han asked.
"I'm positive. I felt it in the Force." Padme had an angry look in her eyes.
Leia squeezed her hand. She knew Padme was right. Whenever Luke was, he had felt the death as well. Chewbacca grunted his condolences.
"Please take me there," Padme begged her parents. "Take me back to Mustafar, so that I can pay my final respects."
Han started to shake his head in disagreement. He was worried about his daughter. She had just lost her grandfather, and now his servant was dead. What if the guy that killed Vanee was still there?
"He is no longer there. He has left the planet. I'm going to pay my final respects," Padme insisted, knowing her father's thought.
"Then we are going with you," Leia replied, embracing her daughter.
"Come, Chewy. Let's go get the ship," Han said to the Wookiee, raising his hands in surrender. "It's no use arguing with a woman who's made up her mind."
The family boarded the Millennium Falcon and headed to Mustafar. They arrived on the planet, and saw what damage was done to Vader's ship. But they were all shocked at the damage to the castle. Not one piece of furniture was left untouched. The chamber Vader had been in was smashed into a million pieces.
"You think the person who did this has anger issues?" Han snarly commented to Chewbacca, after they had finished burying Vanee.
"Ssh!" Leia scolded him, not wanting Padme to overhead. But she did.
"Han, this is more than an anger issue," his daughter explained to him. "The person who did this turned to the Dark side. No one causes this much destruction without being in tremendous agony and pain."
Padme suddenly smiled. Her family wondered why she was smiling. She told them,
"Luke is about to land. Come, let's go greet him." They followed Padme outside, and were surprised to see Luke step out of a X wing.
She rushed right to her uncle, and embraced him tightly. Luke had felt Vanee's passing, but he needed to see the evidence for himself. What he saw broke his heart. Ben was responsible for this. Luke had failed him, and now Ben was lost to the Dark side.
After he surveyed the damage his former apprentice had committed, Luke turned to his family and said,
"It was the same person who murdered the Jedi at the temple." Leia squeezed his hand in support.
"We are sorry," Han told him. "What can we do to help?"
"You and the family can stay as far away from me as possible," Luke sighed. "As long as he is out there, all of you are in danger."
"That is not happening," Leia argued. "This family is finally together. We are not going to abandon you!"
"She's right, Luke. You need someone by your side. You are in mourning right now."
"No," Luke strongly insisted. "This is my path to walk alone..."
"Stop being stubborn!" Padme interjected, frustrated by Luke's reluctance to ask for help.
"Padme Shmi!" her mother scolded her. Padme ignored Leia and focused her attention on her uncle.
"Luke, you have always been the one to go out of your way, to help your family. Now it's time for us to do the same for you."
Padme placed her hands in his. She looked up and saw the tears in Luke's eyes. He took a deep breath. His niece was right. He needed help. He slowly nodded his head, and she embraced him.
"How did you get so smart?" Luke asked her, as Han, Leia and Chewbacca came around them.
"I learned from my uncle," she whispered sweetly. After a moment, they all boarded the Millennium Falcon.
"I need to go to Hosnian Prime, to warn the Senate about the First Order," Leia explained. The First Order was a splinter group that formed after the Empire was disbanded following Vader's death.
"Will the Senate be in agreement on declaring war against them?" Luke asked.
"I will do my best to convince them. But since they have not attacked yet, it will be an uphill battle. My sources told me that are preparing for war in the Outer Rim."
"If they attack, then I will have the rest of the Jedi join the fight. This remnant of the Empire must be crushed before it takes over the entire galaxy."
"I guess we are not going back home," Padme uttered. Part of her was glad, since she did not like growing up on Tatooine.
"No, not until there is no more First Order," Leia replied. Why could there not be peace in the galaxy, for her daughter's generation?
"But now, we will be fighting two wars," Han grunted. "We have the First Order and Luke's murderous ex-student to deal with."
"This is why I did not want all of you involved. He will not stop until our family is destroyed," Luke said in frustration.
"We are not going to leave you alone, to fight this dangerous person yourself!" Leia argued back.
"He won't be alone, Mom. We will go to Hosnian Prime, and speak to the Senate. They will declare war on the First Order, and we will go and fight them," Padme told them. All of them turned their attention to her.
"You are not going to fight anyone, sweetheart. You are too young!" Han told her.
"I am sixteen, older enough to fight, Han."
"Absolutely not! We just got you back. No, you are not going. We will bring you to a planet that will be safe from what is to come."
"No," Padme snapped, shaking her head in disagreement.
"Padme, this is not up for discussion!"
"You're right. It's not. I am going to fight." She stormed away in frustration.
"Can anyone back me up here with this?" Han exclaimed to his family. Chewbacca said something to him that he did not like.
"Never mind what I was doing when I was her age!" he angrily snapped at the Wookiee. "Leia, do you want this for our daughter?"
"Of course not," she replied back. "But Padme is right. We cannot stop her from joining this fight. And Han, even if we try... she will run off and do so anyway. Then she will not speak to us. That is something I do not want to happen."
"Maybe we should sit down and talk to her," Luke suggested. Everyone looked at Han, who threw up his hands in surrender.
"I guess I will lead the way," he said, as they made their way back to where Padme was.
