Chapter 45

Planet Dagobah

Luke's day began early, as it always did, with a brisk jog through the swamp. It was an invigorating way to start the day, and Luke found he was actually enjoying the vigorous physical training. Yoda was proving to be a demanding master, pushing Luke to the limits of his physical endurance as well as challenging his mind with the nuances of the Jedi philosophy.

Yoda had been skeptical about training Luke initially. The boy was almost twenty years old, far too old in Yoda's estimation to begin the training. But Luke was the son of the Chosen One; training him as a Jedi was the only way to ensure that he did not fall into the same Darkness that had claimed his father.

Yoda had tested Luke many times, playing the devil's advocate to ascertain where the boy's loyalties were. It was clear that Luke had tremendous admiration for his father, and saw his fall to the Dark Side as tragic and something beyond Anakin's control. This concerned Yoda; for as much as Anakin had been manipulated by Palpatine, there had been a point at which Anakin clearly had chosen the Dark Side, and Luke was unable or perhaps unwilling to see this. So long as Luke remained convinced that free will had nothing to do with Anakin's fall, he would not truly understand that nature of the Darkness that had destroyed him.

As for Luke, it astonished him that the old master was still clinging to the archaic notions that the Jedi Order had held fast to for so many centuries. Didn't Yoda see that it was because of the rigidity of these rules that Anakin had succumbed to the Dark Side? That were it not for the strictness of the Code that Anakin would have been able to seek the help he needed without seeking out the Sith?

Luke found his master standing outside of the small hut he called home. The old Jedi was deep in thought.

"Master Yoda?" Luke said. "Is something wrong?"

Yoda turned and looked up at Luke. "Not wrong," he said. "Unexpected…but not wrong. Stretch out with your feelings, Luke. You will know what I sense."

Luke nodded and closed his eyes, calming himself, opening his mind to the Force. Someone is here…he realized at once. Someone who is looking for me. He opened his eyes and looked at Yoda. "Who is it?" he asked.

"Let us go and see," he said as he started off. Luke followed his master through the swamp to the only place where a ship could be landed amid the quagmire. A small Nubian vessel had just landed, and the sight of it filled Luke with a strange sense of familiarity. He knew the person in the ship; he could feel the connection with them even before they emerged from the ship. He watched as the hatch opened, as though in slow motion, and a slender figure emerged, their face obscured by the flight helmet. The person turned and, upon seeing Luke, stopped.

My son, Padmé thought as she stared at the young man looking up at her. The resemblance he bore to Anakin was staggering, and it rendered her speechless for a moment. Realizing he probably had no idea who she was, she took off her helmet, revealing her face to him at last.

Luke smiled, seeing his sister in her face. This was the face he had seen in his dreams, the face that had comforted him as a child when he'd had nightmares. My mother, he thought as a constriction formed in his throat, preventing him from speaking.

"Senator Amidala," Yoda said at last, smiling at her. "Seeing you again after so many years warms my heart."

Padmé tore her eyes away from her son to look at Yoda. "It is good to see you again as well, Yoda," she said, speaking for the first time. She carefully made her way down the nose of her ship and jumped into the water. Luke watched as she gracefully swam to the shore, and ran over to meet her on her other side.

"Mother!" he said simply, throwing his arms around her, not caring if he was becoming as wet as she was in the process.

"Luke," Padmé replied, holding him tightly. "At last!"

Yoda watched the emotional reunion of mother and son. Padmé's arrival here was most unexpected, and it would no doubt distract Luke from his training. But he felt that it was the least he owed them, having separated them all those years ago.

"I hope you don't mind me showing up here unannounced," Padmé said at last. "I simply had to see you, Luke."

Luke shook his head. "Mind?" he asked. "Of course I don't mind! I've been dying to meet you!"

Padmé smiled. "My son, my beautiful son," she said touching his face lightly. "You look so much like your father," she added, the thought of him bringing a touch of sadness to her eyes.

"Where is he? Where is my father?" Luke asked. "He isn't with you?"

Padmé shook her head. "No," she replied. "I'm afraid not."

Luke frowned. "You know, don't you?" he asked, realizing that she had learned the truth about Mustafar. "You know what happened on the day Leia and I were born."

"Yes, I know everything now," Padmé replied quietly.

"Let us go to my home," Yoda said at last. "A warm fire is what you need, Senator. Tired you must be."

"Not tired, Yoda," Padmé replied. "Just anxious to see my children," she added, looking back at Luke and taking his hand.

Luke smiled. "Come with me," he said. "We have so much to talk about."

Naboo-Lake Retreat

Anakin had never liked the rain much; but at this particular moment, he detested it. A steady downpour had prevented him from leaving the lake retreat, and he was beginning to climb the walls.

Not that he really had any place to go; he was a man in limbo at the moment. He was sorely tempted to go to Theed, where he suspected Padmé had gone. He had not seen her in nearly forty-eight hours, and missed her terribly.

Despite her anger, Anakin knew that she loved him. He only hoped that love would be enough to enable her to forgive him. But in order for her to do that, Anakin realized that he needed to give her time. He had never been a patient man, but knew that right now that was what he needed to be. Padmé would not appreciate him showing up at her mother's home, not right now. No, she needed time and room to assimilate all that she had learned. It was a lot to deal with at once; her reaction had been completely natural. Anakin could only hope that given time to put everything into perspective she would realize that he was no longer the monster who had attacked her all those years ago, that all he wanted now was to make amends for his crimes and to cherish the family he had been estranged from for so long.

I just hope that you know, Anakin, that no matter what you tell me, it won't change the way I feel about you. I hope you realize that, and know how much I love you…Padmé had said mere days ago. Did you mean it, Angel? He thought to himself. Or is this just too much to forgive?

Theed was out; Hoth was another possibility, however. Anakin wanted desperately to see his daughter. Yet, he felt that his presence there would raise too many questions, and he did not want to put Leia through that again. That left only one place: Dagobah. Master Yoda would be thrilled to see me, I'm sure, he thought wryly. No doubt the Jedi Master would be shocked to learn of his transformation, his redemption. Will he accept that I've changed? Or will he refuse to believe that I could after what I did? Anakin decided that Yoda's opinion of him was irrelevant: he needed to see his son, and that is just what he would do. Luke needs his father and I need my son…if Yoda doesn't like it, that's just too bloody bad, he decided at last.

Having made his mind up, he returned to the window, doing his best to remain patient until the rain stopped.

Sixth Planet of the Hoth System

I'll have to remember to thank the genius who thought this ice cube would make a good location for a base, Han Solo thought irritably as he sat atop his tauntaun surveying the bleak landscape around him.

Han had begun to get restless here, the rigidity of the quasi-military lifestyle chafed against his sense of adventure and independence. If it weren't for Princess Leia, he'd have taken off weeks earlier. He just couldn't bring himself to leave, despite the fact that he knew Jabba the Hutt had undoubtedly set an enormous bounty on his head.

Soon, he kept telling himself, soon. But when Luke had departed for Dagobah, the princess had become so miserable without her twin that Han didn't have the heart to leave her. As much as he hated to admit it, he was falling in love with the feisty princess. She drove him crazy most of the time, but under her tough, assertive exterior, he could tell she had a kind heart, a gentle soul and a sensitive nature. And so he stayed here, in this barren wasteland of ice and cold, and did what he could to help the Rebel cause.

At the moment, that meant searching the vicinity for any sign of Imperial infiltration. They had been on the icy world for weeks now, and there had been no sign that the Empire had come close to finding them. Han, however, knew that it was only a matter of time before they did. Even without Darth Vader, they had tremendous resources, and would stop at nothing until they found the Rebels and crushed them.

"Echo two to Echo seven, do you read me Han?"

"Loud and clear, sweetheart," he replied, brushing snow from his comlink as he spoke into it. "What's up?"

"I think I saw something," Leia replied. "It could me a meteorite, but I think I should check it out."

An uneasy feeling started growing within Han at her statement. "Where are you, Leia?"

"Uh…twenty-seven meters north of you," she said after a moment. "Why?"

"I'm coming to check too," he said, kicking his tauntaun into motion. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Don't be silly," Leia chided. "I can handle this myself."

"I didn't say you couldn't," argued Han. "But humor me, okay princess?"

Leia sighed, smiling at the back-handed chivalry that she had come to expect from Han Solo. "If you insist," she said. "Hurry up, I'm freezing out here."

"No, really?" Han quipped. "I'll be right there."

Han didn't take long to reach the location where Leia was. He took out his binoculars and aimed them in the direction Leia indicated.

"Shit," he said softly when he recognized the droid that was floating slowly amidst the snow drifts. "Looks like an Imperial probe droid, Leia."

She nodded. "Yes, that's what I thought too," she said, an uneasy feeling growing within her. "Do you think it's had a chance to transmit anything yet?"

"I don't know," he said. "If it has, we're in big trouble."

"Echo two to Echo Base," Leia said, activating her comlink.

"Echo Base here, go ahead."

"We've found something," she said. "Scan the northeast quadrant, zone twenty three. Han and I think it could be an Imperial probe droid."

There was silence on the other end, as the men in the base reacted to her words. "Echo two, could you repeat?"

"An Imperial probe droid," Leia repeated tersely. "Scan it!"

"Right away!"

"We have to destroy it," Han told her. "Before it gets a good look around."

Leia nodded. "It may already have done that," she said.

"Maybe," he conceded, drawing his blaster. "But maybe not."

He aimed in the direction of the moving droid, waited a few more seconds to give the Base a chance to scan it, and then fired. The droid exploded in a shower of metal parts.

"Let's take a closer look," Leia said, as she urged her beast forward.

Han followed suit as the two of them approached the place where the droid had exploded. What they saw did not give them much information, for it was just a pile of rubble at this point.

"Echo two this is Echo Base. What happened? We were scanning and then…"

"Han destroyed it," Leia explained. "Did you get a read out?"

"We did," the Base replied. "It was transmitting a code, not one any of us, even 3P0 recognized."

Leia looked at Han. "Looks like the Empire knows we're here," she said.

Han nodded. "Let's go," he said. "Looks like we're going to get some visitors mighty soon."