Chapter 65

The Rebel Fleet had been assembled for several days, with ships arriving sporadically as they made their way to the rendezvous point. Princess Leia's message had been well received by the rebel leaders, who were very relieved to learn that she was alive. Her disclosure that she and Luke had captured an Imperial ship was most welcome, for the rebels had begun to hear rumors that the Empire had begun construction on a second Death Star. Having an Imperial ship in their possession would enable the rebels to infiltrate the strict security surrounding the new space station in the hopes of finding a way to destroy it.

"Any word yet from the Princess?" General Dodonna asked as he entered the conference room on board the command ship.

Mon Mothma looked up from the datapad she was studying. "No, nothing yet," she replied. "She told me that she would be getting underway from Bespin first thing in the morning, and should arrive here mid afternoon."

"Well it's well into the afternoon," Dodonna replied. "They ought to be here soon."

Mothma nodded. "I just hope the shuttle they have in their possession is in good shape."

"You know it's a shuttle then?" Dodonna asked.

"What else could it be?" she replied, picking up her cup of tea and standing to look out the large view window. "Even with the help of Solo and Skywalker, they would not be able to capture anything larger, even if Skywalker believes he's a Jedi."

Dodonna was about to reply when before them a large distortion appeared in space. "Here's another one," Dodonna said, standing beside her to see which of their fleet had finally made it to the rendezvous. Neither of them was prepared for the sight that unfolded before their eyes. The ship that materialized before them was not a Rebel ship; no, it was far too large.

"What the devil…" Dodonna muttered. He and Mon Mothma watched as the gargantuan ship came into view. It was at least 10 kilometers in length, far larger than anything either of them had ever seen before.

Mon Mothma dropped her cup of tea to the floor, hearing it shatter into a hundred pieces. "It's an executor class star destroyer," she said in no more than a whisper. "They have found us, Jan! How could this have happened??" She turned and shouted an order to her aide. "Raise the shields! Alert the rest of the fleet!"
"There is message coming through from the imperial vessel, Commander," her aide replied, rushing into the room. "It's Luke Skywalker!"

Dodonna and Mon Mothma turned and looked at one another in utter confusion. "Skywalker?" Dodonna said. "The same one who destroyed the Death Star?"

Mon Mothma nodded and walked briskly over to the comm.. Activating the screen, she saw Luke Skywalker on board the imperial vessel.

"Skywalker!" Mon Mothma, she exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this??"

Luke smiled. "I think that is pretty obvious, Commander," Luke replied. "Princess Leia told you that we had an imperial ship in our possession. Well, this is it."

"You are trying to tell us that you have captured an imperial star destroyer? A super star destroyer?" Dodonna asked incredulously.

Luke shook his head. "No, not exactly," he replied. "Permission to come on board, Commander. We will explain everything once we get there, I promise."

Dodonna and Mon Mothma exchanged yet another look. "I don't think we have much choice in the matter," he said quietly. "They could blow us from the stars if they wanted to."

"I can assure you that this ship has no malicious intentions towards you," Luke said, hearing him despite his efforts to be secretive. "The fact that our shields are down should be proof enough of that."

Mon Mothma checked the read out on the ship and saw that Luke was telling the truth. "Very well," she said, nodding her head. "We look forward to hearing your explanation, Commander Skywalker."

Luke nodded. "See you soon. Skywalker out."

Luke's image faded from view.

"This is most irregular," Mothma muttered as she walked towards the door with Dodonna. "What could it all mean?"
"We'll find out soon enough, won't we?" Dodonna replied.
The two of them walked into the corridor and proceeded towards the hangar bay. They were met there by General Reikan and Admiral Ackbar, who had also seen the enormous ship materialize and were just as anxious to find out more about it as they were.

"Luke Skywalker is on his way here with an explanation," Dodonna told the other leaders. He turned as a dozen armed troops ran down the corridor to meet them.

"Is this necessary?" Ackbar asked.

"I hope not," Dodonna replied. "But there's no harm in being careful."

"Agreed," Reikan said. "Let's go."

The troops entered the hangar bay followed by the four leaders. Silently they watched as the imperial shuttle entered the large hangar bay and set down on the deck. Tension was high as the ramp descended and the doors opened. The troops readied themselves as the first of the passengers appeared in the doorway. It was Luke Skywalker, followed shortly thereafter by Princess Leia.

"Princess!" Reikan exclaimed, "Skywalker! It's good to see you both alive and well."

"Thank you General," Leia replied, and then turned to the doorway where an imperial officer emerged, looking rather uneasy.

"He is an ally, I promise you," Luke said, sensing the tension level rising at the sight of an imperial officer.

"He's a defector?" Reikan asked, not understanding.

"Well, in a manner of speaking, yes," Leia replied, as another pair emerged from the shuttle. Mon Mothma watched in silent astonishment as Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker appeared. Padmé looked at Mon Mothma and smiled, seeing how shocked she was to see her.

"I'm sure you all must be rather shocked by this," Leia said to the leaders who simply stood simply staring at them all. "Perhaps we can go somewhere and talk."

Mon Mothma nodded, not taking her eyes from Padmé and Anakin. "Yes, I think that's a very good idea," she said at last. "I for one have many questions."

"I'm sure you do," Padmé said. "It's good to see you again, Mothma."

"Padmé," Mon Mothma said, walking towards her. "I…I thought you were dead! We all did!"

Padmé smiled. "It's a very long story," she said, taking Mothma's hand. "One I will gladly share with you at some point," she told her. "But now we have more important issues to discuss."

Mothma nodded. "Yes, of course," she said, looking at Anakin. "And you're alive too, General Skywalker?"

Anakin nodded. "Yes," he replied. "Another long and involved story," he added, looking at his wife. "We will explain it all to you, I promise."

"Very well," Dodonna said. "Shall we go somewhere more conducive to discussion?"

"Yes, please," Leia said. "Lead the way."

The small party proceeded to a conference room nearby, leaving the armed troops behind. As they sat down, Leia introduced Lieutenant Keller to the rebel leaders.

"Lieutenant Keller is here as a representative of the crew of the Executor," Leia explained.

"I'm afraid I don't understand this," Dodonna admitted. "When you said that you had captured an imperial ship, we expected a shuttle; and yet you show up with a star destroyer!"
"Obviously the two of you did not capture this ship," Reikan said, addressing Luke and Leia.

"No," Luke replied. "We did not. Actually, it was our father who is responsible for this," he said, turning to Anakin. "Not us."

"Your father?" Mon Mothma replied. She looked at Anakin. "You're Luke's father?"

Anakin nodded. "And Leia's as well," he replied. "They are twins." He turned to Padmé. "Padmé is my wife, their mother."

"But you are a Jedi," Reikan said, not understanding. "I didn't think Jedi were allowed to marry."

"They weren't," Anakin replied with a smile. "But sometimes rules are meant to be broken," he added, looking at his wife.

"I'm afraid I'm confused," Mon Mothma said. "Princess Leia, you were raised in the Organa family, and yet you are Luke's twin? Why were you raised apart? And where have the two of you been for the past twenty years?" she asked, looking at Padmé and Anakin.

Anakin and Padmé looked at one another, realizing that this was an unavoidable question. Besides, if they were to gain the trust of their new allies, they needed to be totally truthful with them. And that included revealing the shocking truth about Anakin's alter ego, Darth Vader.

"The twins were separated at birth because I nearly died giving birth to them," Padmé replied. "I lost my memory due to the physical trauma, and have been on Naboo all this time, living in a convalescence home. If it weren't for Anakin, I'd still be there, and would never have regained my memory."

"That's incredible," Reikan commented, looking at Anakin. "But why was she in that home all those years?" he asked.

"I thought she was dead, along with the rest of the galaxy," Anakin replied. "I also thought our child or rather our children were dead. The last time I saw her she was still with child," he explained, looking at her. "But when I found our children, I realized that there was a chance she was still alive, and so I pursued it."

"I'm afraid I must be missing something," Mon Mothma spoke up. "You weren't with your wife when she gave birth to your children? Where were you? How is it you were so mislead?"

Anakin sighed, looking down at his hands folded on the table in front of him. There was no way to soften the blow, no way to make what he was about them easy to hear. All he could do was drop the bomb and try to withstand the fallout.

"I too nearly died on the day the twins were born," he began. "I was involved in a near fatal duel on the planet Mustafar, where I sustained serious, life threatening injuries. I was only able to survive by artificial means for the past twenty years, and only recently have received the reconstructive surgery I should have received twenty years ago."

"So you're saying that you too were in a convalescence facility?" Ackbar asked. "Is that why you haven't been seen in twenty years?"

Anakin shook his head. "No, that's not it at all Admiral. For the past twenty years I have been Darth Vader, enemy of the Alliance, right hand of the emperor."

The silence that pervaded the room at this astonishing revelation was tension filled and oppressive. Anakin looked at each of the Rebel leaders, seeing in their eyes and their minds their utter shock.

"You are Darth Vader?" Dodonna asked. "You?? How…how can that be?? You were the greatest Jedi in the galaxy! A hero! A defender of justice and champion of the Republic!"

"I was Darth Vader," Anakin replied. "Was. Twenty years ago, Palpatine managed to convince me that the Dark Side was the only way I could save my wife from what I believed was certain death. I had visions of her dying in childbirth, and he took full advantage of my fears and fed on them, making me believe that embracing the Dark Side was the only way I could save her. I was so desperate to do so that I believed him, and did whatever he asked, becoming his henchman and his slave in the process."

"I can't believe it," Reikan said, shaking his head. "You have murdered countless thousands of beings across the galaxy," he said. "You helped annihilate the Jedi! And now you expect us to trust you??"

General Dodonna sat quietly during Reikan's outburst, his mind harkening back to the Battle of Yavin. Darth Vader had been largely responsible for the Alliance's victory that day; not only that, he had saved the Princess Leia and had prevented the destruction of Alderaan. Now it makes sense, he thought, looking at Leia. She is his daughter.

"Yes, that is true," Anakin said, looking down again. "I cannot deny any of that." He looked up at Reikan again. "But I promise you, General; the Darkness that defined my existence for two decades is gone. Finding my family has destroyed Darth Vader. I am Anakin Skywalker again, in every way. There is nothing I can do to bring back the lives I took, or undo the damage I caused. But there is a way for me to at least atone for it in a small way."
"And what is that?" Mon Mothma asked.

"By leading the crew of this mighty vessel out there under the banner of the Alliance," Anakin replied. "There are one hundred thousand men out in that ship who hate the Empire and are tired of being a part of its tyrannical stranglehold on the galaxy."

"You mean to say that they have mutinied?" Ackbar asked incredulously.

Keller spoke up at this point. "Yes we have," he said, glad to have something to contribute to the conversation at last. "We want to end the fighting; we are no longer willing to wage a war that we consider morally wrong. The Empire is evil," he stated, looking at each of the leaders in turn. "We want to put an end to it. We want to help you put an end to it."

Mon Mothma looked at her comrades, too shocked by all that she had just learned to reply. We have an Imperial Star Destroyer on our side…not just a star destroyer, a Super Star destroyer, the flagship of the fleet. Not only that, we have the only Jedi in the galaxy…how can we say no to that??

"I think I speak for my comrades when I say that we will need to consider all that we have been told," Admiral Ackbar finally spoke up. "This is so highly unexpected, so …unprecedented. We must have some time to digest it all."
"Of course," Padmé said, ever the diplomat. "We will return to the Executor, and leave you to discuss what we have proposed."

"Thank you," Mon Mothma replied as everyone stood up. "We appreciate it."

"Contact us when you are ready to talk to us," Anakin said. "We're not going anywhere."

"We understand," Reikan said.

Anakin turned to his wife and took her hand as they made their way out the door with their children.

"They'll accept us, I just know it," Leia said as they walked through the corridors.

Anakin was not so sure. "We shall see," he said at last. "All we can do is wait now and hope that they can see the enormity of the opportunity before them."

Padmé squeezed his hand. "They will," she said. "Mon Mothma has always been open minded. I'm sure she can see the big picture here and will be happy to accept us if it means peace."

Anakin merely nodded as they entered the hangar bay, not allowing himself to get hopeful. If I hadn't been Darth Vader for the past twenty years, then perhaps they would…but how can I expect them to trust someone who was their arch enemy mere months ago?

"We shall see," he said again as they boarded the shuttle, hoping that it wouldn't be long before the decision was made, knowing that the wait would be a difficult one.