You know something. This story has turned out to be my most popular story yet. Oh yeah and I meant to announce this before, but this story was put in two C2's! I was so happy when I saw it because none of my stories have made it to a C2 before.
Anyway, normally I hate OCs because let's face it, they can take over a story sometimes, but in this case it was necessary and he plays a vital role, but doesn't overshadow the main characters. So without further delay, here's the next chapter, one of my favorites. Read, enjoy, and review!
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Chapter Ten
Alderaan
"Luke!" Leia said running to where he was lounging on their ship somewhere in route to a random planet.
Luke looked up from where he was tinkering with Threepio. Leia, curious to find out what he was doing stopped what she was about to say and asked, "What are you doing?"
"I think Threepio has a memory block somewhere, but I can't figure out how to reverse it," Luke replied.
"What makes you say that?" Leia asked sitting near Luke's work bench.
"Because I think it malfunctioned for a minute. He was asking about a Master Ani and Miss Padmé."
"He could have been talking about us. I guess Ani could be short for Anakin," Leia pointed out.
Luke shook his head. "Threepio never calls us that on the ship. I think he was talking about someone else. He even asked me who I was and then he shut down, turned back on and it was like nothing happened for him."
"Do you even know how old Threepio is Luke? Most of the time when droids are sold or passed on, their memories are wipe. It was probably just from the master he had before Senator Organa."
"I still want to know who Ani and Padmé are," Luke insisted.
Leia sighed and took the tool he was using from him with the force. Luke looked at her in annoyance and expectantly waited for her to hand it back. She didn't.
"You'll traumatize the poor droid Luke. You know how Threepio is. Besides, we have more pressing matters to attend to," Leia added.
Luke wipe his hands off with a towel and despite being a little upset that Leia had stopped his tinkering, he said, "What matters?"
"We just got a transmission from someone who has a project we might be interested in and you'll never guess what it's about," Leia said trying to hold back her excitement.
"The Death Star," Luke stated and Leia frowned.
"How…?" Leia scowled. "You cheated. You weren't supposed to read my mind."
Luke laughed. "It was kind of hard not to Leia. You were practically projecting your thoughts through your excitement."
Leia sighed. "Well now that the suspense is ruined, we have to meet this guy. He says it's too dangerous to talk about over a line, even if it's secure. So he suggest we meet on a planet in the outer rim."
Luke raised an eyebrow and put down his towel. "What planet Leia?"
"Nar Shaddaa," Leia responded casually.
Luke stared at the girl in disbelief before standing up, shaking his head, and walking out the room toward the kitchen.
"No," he said.
Leia sighed and rushed after him. "Luke. Come on!"
"No way Leia," Luke said going through the refrigerator. "I can't even believe you're actually suggesting we go there. Have you lost your mind?"
"Oh come on," Leia said reaching in the back and pulling out some of the Corellian whiskey that Han had left behind. "You've dragged me on crazy mission before. Infiltrating that trading post in the black market was your idea."
"Which you ruined by the way," Luke replied. "And that mission on Corellia was your idea. Just as crazy."
"Which you ruined because you thought you were in love," Leia snapped back and then decided that being snappy and mean to Luke wasn't going to get anywhere with convincing him. Sure Luke was a nice laid back kind of guy, but he didn't tolerate people being snappy and losing their tempers with him. He was calm sure, but yelling in his face only strengthened his resolve and made him more stubborn.
"Come on Luke," she tried again calming down. "This is about the Death Star. We've been trying to get more information on it for years and this might be our chance to actually do something about it. If we can find its location and what it does, we can take down the ship before it's even operational."
"Look Leia," Luke said taking the whisky from her and pouring himself some before handing it back. "I'd do just about anything for you and I know finding out more about the Death Star is important to you. It's important to me too. But I'm not going to risk our lives unnecessarily for a piece of information that might lead on a one way trip to nowhere. That planet is too dangerous and my senses are telling me we'll regret it later."
"But Luke-."
"Not on Nar Shaddaa Leia. It's in hutt space and we both know the huts don't forget things too easily. I think they may still be sour about that Hutt we killed on Affavan," Luke pointed out.
Leia groaned. Luke was right. But she couldn't just pass this up.
"What if we meet on a different planet?"
"It has to be a planet that's not populated by a bunch of scum," Luke replied.
"Alright," Leia said. That pretty much meant nowhere in Hutt space.
"And it has to be in a system where there's no price on our head."
"Alderaan," Leia suggested and gave her reasoning before Luke could protest. "I'm sure there's no warrant on us for stealing two droids and I've always wanted to go to Alderaan. Please!"
Luke smiled. "I was actually going to say that's a great idea."
Leia jumped up and hugged Luke. "And who knows," she added. "We might happen to see Winter."
Luke turned red and Leia smirked.
"We're not going to Alderaan for a vacation Leia. This is strictly business. We go, get the info, and leave. I'm agreeing with you, but I have a bad feeling about this," he said seriously.
Leia wouldn't admit to Luke that she had the same feeling, but if she did, she could go ahead and forget about meeting this guy for info on the Death Star. Not that Luke was at all scared of anything. In fact, he was the more rash and impulsive one out of the two. The only thing that held him back was Leia. Leia sighed wondering if she should tell Luke her feelings on the matter before deciding against it. She knew Luke was only trying to keep her safe but they had run head on into dangerous situations before and this was no different. If there was danger, they would get out of it.
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Alderaan.
Vader had no idea why the force had sent him here in his meditation, but here he was orbiting the planet on the Star Destroyer.
"Have you made contact with Senator Organa?" Vader asked the captain.
"Yes milord. He's awaiting your arrival," the captain replied.
"Good," Vader said and made his way to the waiting shutting.
Senator Organa was waiting to meet him when he landed.
"Lord Vader," Bail said bowing his head. "It is an honor."
"I'm sure," Vader said, his voice laced with sarcasm. Bail Organa wasn't afraid of him, but the man had always been a little nervous around him for some reason and his nervousness was heightened more than usual that day. It was no secret to Vader that Organa was a rebel sympathizer and Vader also had reason to believe he was in contact with a jedi. However, Vader couldn't prove it, and he didn't have the time to try. He was on a mission.
"I have no time for pleasantries," Vader said cutting off the senator as he began to open his mouth. "I need the full cooperation of the royal house and your planet for this mission."
"Perhaps it would help if we knew what this mission was?" Bail suggested. Vader's unexpected arrival had put a damper on Obi-Wan's plans to find Luke and Leia now. Thankfully, Obi-Wan had gotten to Alderan before Vader did, but the trouble was hiding him and getting him off planet before Vader noticed. Actually, Obi-Wan could have left days ago, but he seemed to be dragging his feet about it, mentioning that the force was telling him to stay. Bail didn't argue. He knew better than to try an interfere with a jedi and their connection to the force or any force sensitive for that matter. Leia had shown examples of determination to do something because of a feeling, as the little girl used to call it, and that was before she was even five, before she was taken away from him…
"That's confidential Senator. I will need to start my investigation immediately, starting with a complete interrogation of everyone in this palace along with a thorough search of the palace," Vader replied.
The force had led him to Alderaan and so the first thing Vader needed to make sure of was that Bail Organa wasn't hiding a jedi or the two force sensitive children in his home. Then he would send his forces elsewhere in the planet.
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Obi-Wan snapped out his meditation when a familiar presence brushed his senses.
"Vader," he muttered and made sure his presence was even more concealed in the force. Along with the fact that he was in a secret room in the palace that was almost impossible to find, even with the force, he was confident Vader would not find him.
But that brought about the question, why was Vader on Alderaan to begin with. There was no way he could have found out Obi-wan was there. Only Bail and his most trusted guard knew he was there to begin with. It couldn't have been leaked… It slowly came to Obi-wan that it may have been a possibility that Vader had come seeking Luke and Leia. The two were practically infamous in the galaxy and it was no secret that the empire was searching for the two troublesome teenagers. But the empire had long since given up on trying to find them, or so Obi-Wan had heard. Whereas Obi-wan used to be able to pick up Luke's vibrant force presence in the force once before, just enough to know that he was alive and assume that Leia was as well, in the last two years or so, his signature had disappeared as well, except for a few brief stints where both Luke and Leia's presence pulsed in the force. When he felt that, it was usually guaranteed that something about the two would be on the holonews and it usually was though the empire always referred to them as a terrorist group and not two teenagers. That would go over with the public well…
Obi-Wan could only assume that somehow, Leia was unconsciously shielding her brother's presence in the force in determination to not be found.
Logically speaking, Obi-Wan should have left Alderaan days ago, but the force was rarely if ever logical or it never seemed that way on the surface. Then he felt something, a small warning in the force telling him to get outside the palace walls and go into the city. Obi-Wan would have to do so without anyone noticing and that meant waiting until Vader left the palace.
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"Wow," Leia said looking out the window as Luke paid the man the fee for docking his ship. "Alderaan is so beautiful."
Luke came to stand next to her, along with Threepio and Artoo.
"Oh it's so great to be on this planet again. No air pollution, no dangerous infiltrations, no blasters. Perfectly safe for a droid. Don't you agree Artoo?"
Artoo replied with dry beeps and whistles.
"It's not boring. It's safe! Think of the opportunity here. We can learn so much about the galaxy in the museum here. I wonder if they've added new exhibits."
Artoo replied with little interest.
"You can have just as much fun learning new things in a museum and a book as you can flying the galaxy and seeing for yourself," Threepio declared. "And it's much less dangerous.
Artoo replied something that translated to, "That's the fun in it," and ignored Threepio as he turned to look at the view.
"It all seems so familiar to me," Leia said quietly. "It's like I know this place. I'm connected to it somehow."
"Maybe the people that adopted you brought you here for a vacation. Or maybe you even lived here before. We could look into it if you want," Luke suggested softly ignoring the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told him they needed to leave Alderaan.
"To tell you the truth Luke, I'm not at all that interested in my adopted parents," Leia replied. "Besides, we came here on business. We need to get going to that restaurant."
"I hope it's not too fancy," Luke said looking down at his casual clothing.
"I'm wearing about the same thing so who cares," Leia said heading out the docking bay and onto the streets of Aldera. It was similar to Naboo, but where Naboo was warm and humid with serene colors, Alderaan had a much cooler and dryer air about it since it had so many mountains, with colors that reflected the planets many mountains, reds, grays, whites, some greens.
"This reminds me of Naboo," Luke said as they searched for the restaurant.
"Yeah," Leia said with a smile. "Except this time we're not stealing anything or causing trouble during the celebration of an important figure of society."
Luke put an arm around Leia's shoulder and laughed.
"But it was fun. It was starting to get boring on Naboo," Luke said. "A healthy dosage of trouble and mischief go a long way and as long as we're not seriously injured, killed, or captured, I can live with the consequences. My aunt and uncle could do nothing to keep me out of trouble. Even when they grounded me, I got in trouble."
"Imagine the trouble we would have given our parents if they were alive," Leia said throwing her arm around Luke's shoulder.
"That would be hilarious. Think we still would have managed to steal a ship and travel the galaxy? Hell, would we have even met?"
"Yeah, except it would have been our jedi parents following us around the galaxy looking for their tiresome child. Now that I think about it, if our parents were jedi, they probably would have known each other, and we probably would have grown up in the jedi temple together," Leia said imagining how that life would have been.
"The jedi temple?" Luke asked.
"I did some research on it. It used to be on Coruscant," Leia pointed out. "It's where the jedi used to live before the empire wiped them out. We would have had to live under certain rules and learned the force and protected the galaxy within the confines of the jedi order. I heard they even used to regulate that the jedi couldn't have personal lives or desires. There was just the force. It's all ridiculous to me. Sounds a lot like another less brutal form of slavery, even though they were good people."
"What about us then? Would we have even known our parents? Jedi weren't allowed to have families right?" Luke asked.
Leia pondered this question and got her answer from the force. "We would have. I don't know how, but we would have been the exception."
Luke was silent as her thought about that and then said. "But we wouldn't have been able to steal a ship and travel the galaxy?"
"Not with the jedi's approval," Leia said with a smile.
"Yeah. Approval or not, I think if we got bored enough and living in those kind of confines, I think we would have, we probably would have ditched that place," Luke said in a dry tone. It was making him bored just thinking about it.
"And your dark blonde haired, blue eyed, jedi mother and father would have been cursing all the way to come find you," Leia said laughing.
Luke joined her. "And your brunette headed, brown eyed parents would be talking all indignantly and red in the face with anger about how they were going to kill the impulsive young man their daughter had run off with despite the fact that his daughter insists their only friends."
Leia leaned her head back on Luke's shoulder with laughter and then abruptly looked back up as she spotted the restaurant.
"There it is," she said running ahead of Luke to the restaurant. It was a casual setting thankfully and since it was the early evening, it was crowded with people who were looking for dinner.
Luke and Leia scanned the restaurant and then spotted a tired looking man with short graying red hair and a long mustache across his face. He was wearing old and worn brown robes and he looked like he was waiting on someone.
"I think that's our guy," Luke said ignoring the feeling he had that he and Leia needed to run out of here and get off Alderaan as fast as they could. They weren't going to be here long. They were going to get this info on the Death Star and get out.
They went to the table at the back on the room. When they were standing over him, the man looked up and raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Kyle and Kyla?" he asked.
"Tytus, right?" Leia asked cautiously.
Tytus blew out a sigh of relief and gestured for the two to sit down. Threepio took a seat near them and Artoo rolled over to stand next to him.
"I was afraid you might not come," Tytus said.
"We just barely got to the planet in time. We were kind of drifting around trying to find something to do when you contacted us," Leia said and Luke noted she had taken on her diplomatic princess demeanor and voice. Luke was convinced she had royal and political blood in her somewhere. She wasn't even curious about what kind of food Alderaan had which was usually the first thing she asked when they came anywhere near a restaurant on a new planet.
"I figured," Tytus said and then began to lower his voice. "When I heard about you two and your endeavors, I figured you might be curious about this secret little Imp project."
Luke leaned forward to listen as Leia spoke.
"We've known about it for years. But the project it so hush-hush, it's hard to get anything on it except the bits and pieces we come across when we stumble onto a mining facility or the empire trying to clear out the population of a planet or something," Leia said trying to keep the anger out her voice on the last part.
Luke understood her rage. The empire had once tried to wipe out an entire planet's population with a fatal virus in order to get a rare energy source that the planet abounded in. They would have never known about it had Leia not gotten sick from the virus, forcing Luke and Han to sneak into a secret imperial laboratory to find out what was going on. Luke would never forget that day. It was the day Darth Vader helped him release the cure before the virus could make a devastating blow.
"It's a very hush-hush project, but I know someone who works for the empire and is working on the project… gave me the location and schematics of the project."
Luke and Leia's jaw dropped.
"You're serious," Luke asked in disbelief. They hadn't had any leads on the death star in almost a year, since they stopped that massive genocide.
"Yeah," Tytus said. "Their building it over a slave and prison planet called Despayre. No one knows it's there after the attempts of sabotage on the damn thing. If someone doesn't get to it and destroy it, the thing will be complete in a matter of… maybe three or four years."
"Then we've got a lot of time," Leia said in relief.
Tytus laughed. "Not with a monstrosity like that. It will take months of planning and looking over the schematics to find a way to destroy that thing."
"Where are the schematics?" Luke asked.
Tytus pulled out a small data-chip. "It's right here," he said patting a pocket on his robes. "I never leave without it. Just in case."
"Can you make a copy of it?" Luke asked.
"Too dangerous. If the empire gets wiff that the plan for the most secret project in history is floating around, we'll never get to it," Tytus replied.
Luke grinned. "You don't know me and my sister then. It won't take us long to sabotage it beyond repair. Destroying imperial projects is our specialty."
"Siblings?" Tytus asked.
Leia shook her head. "Term of endearment. We're not really related."
"Not with this one young one," Tytus said sitting back casually. "In fact, you should come with me on my ship and we'll go somewhere secret where we can plan this whole thing out. I rented a house here for a couple of days just in case."
Alarms went up in Luke's head. Something about the way Tytus said that didn't fly right with him. It was like he was trying to persuade them more than suggesting it, like he really didn't want them to say no for some reason. Before he could call the man out o it though, Leia responded.
"No thanks. We work alone for the most part. It's easier that way, but we'd appreciate it if you'd let us download the data onto my datapad so we can get a move on and head to Despayre."
Tytus started to say something but Luke saw something out the corner of his eye and turned to look near the door. He turned back around slowly.
"Stang," he muttered and Leia looked at him, startled by his sudden exclamation.
"What?" she asked starting to turn around but Luke stopped her.
"We have an imperial problem," Luke said. "Troopers."
Leia froze. "You think they know we're here?"
"I don't know," Luke said. "Maybe they're on some other mission. Maybe their looking for someone else."
"I doubt they'd care. Come on. We have to go. Let's try the back door," Leia said starting to get up.
"And practically alert them when they see us rushing out the back door. Let's just act natural and maybe they won't notice us," Luke said.
"I'll go with you. Maybe I can help," Tytus said.
Luke doubted it but let him come anyway. He pushed the droids forward first and then they started to walk by as the storm trooper spoke to someone else, but another just outside the restaurant stopped them.
"Stop right there," he said. "I need some ID."
Luke and Leia looked at each other. Neither of them had an updated ID since they left Tatooine. They started to prepare themselves to fight their way off of Alderaan, but Tytus spoke to the trooper.
"We aren't the people you're looking for," he said.
"You aren't the people we're looking for," the trooper repeated.
"We can go about our business."
"You can go about your business," the trooper said and went to another person.
Luke and Leia stared at Tytus in awe and wary.
"How did you do that?" they both asked.
"An old trick I haven't used in a while," the man said laughing.
That's impossible, Leia sent to Luke. The only way he could have done that was with the force maybe and we don't know because we can't do that!
But… Luke trailed off.
"Wait a minute," he said as he remembered where he had seen those robes before. "You're a jedi."
Tytus smiled. "I was wondering when you would figure it out," he said.
Luke almost forgot all his previous worry over the man.
"Just like your father Luke," he said startling them both.
"How did you-?"
"Well of course most of the jedi knew about the surviving son of one of the most powerful jedi in the order," Tytus said with a smile.
Leia looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Wait a minute. You mean-."
Tytus shook his head. "Not here. Let's go to a more secure location."
Both Luke and Leia figured that it was worth staying on Alderaan for a while if they could find out about Luke's past and maybe if he knew something about Luke's father, he knew something about Leia's family too. They followed by their droids went with the man to the home he had rented. As Luke walked in and sat down in the open and furnished living room, something felt very wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
"So you knew Luke's father," Leia asked ignoring the warning in the back of her mind. This man was a jedi. What could possibly be wrong here?
"The whole galaxy knew him," Tytus said bringing in two sodas for them and some water for himself. "He was the most famous jedi in the galaxy during the clone wars."
"Who?" Luke asked excitedly.
"Anakin Skywalker," Tytus replied.
Artoo began to beep excitedly then he turned his one eye to Luke and Threepio whistling and beeping happily.
"Well you certainly were right Artoo. And to think," Threepio said in shock. "I didn't believe you, but with good reason. So we really did belong to him at one time?"
Artoo beeped something else.
"Master Luke's father is the maker? Well I'll be darned Artoo."
"Anakin Skywalker?" Luke said. "You're kidding."
"There aren't many Skywalker's in this galaxy. He's the one and only," Tytus said nodding.
"I told you. You look just like him," Leia said. "Remember on Naboo?"
"Well how was I supposed know. Besides. He looked so young," Luke pointed out. "How old was he when he died?"
"Twenty-three. Right before you were born," Tytus said.
"So… Did you know my mother? Did you know who she was?"
"Can't tell you that. But you are your father's son. Probably inherited his force sensitivity too. Bet you're a real prodigy," Tytus said. "I've been trying to get into contact with you for a while now. Tripped me up a little with that brown hair though."
"So you knew we weren't related from the beginning," Leia asked.
Tytus nodded.
"But maybe you knew Leia's parents," Luke suggested. "She's the one who really needs to know. She's force sensitive too."
Tytus looked at Leia and then shook his head. "Can't say I knew your parents."
Leia shrugged. "That's okay. At least Luke knows now."
You're lying, Luke sent. It's not okay. You really want to know.
At least I have something from my mother. You have nothing from your dad except his force powers. But at least now you know his name, Leia replied starting to fiddle with her japor snippet. And…
What? Luke asked curiously having a feeling this was something he hadn't heard from her before.
I remember how he felt, my dad's force presence. Just this feeling. I remember the brush of his presence. In fact, he felt a little like you, Leia admitted.
"I'll tell you what. Why don't you stay here for the night and then we can set out tomorrow for the Death Star. On our way I can show you some ways to use the force," Tytus said.
Luke and Leia exchanged a look.
What do you think? Leia asked.
I don't know Leia… I know he knew my father and stuff, but there's still something about him…
It might be our only chance to learn how to use the force formally though. Think of what we can do with a little training, Leia asked.
Luke crossed his arms and stared ahead with a pensive expression before nodding his head.
"Okay," he said. "We'll head out tomorrow. Maybe by then the empire will have left," Luke said.
Tytus gave them both rooms and Luke prepared to settle down for the night. Since he had no clothes to change into, he took off his tops and slid into bed. Ten minutes later, he pulled the covers back and Leia crawled into bed next to him. She never could sleep by herself in a strange place.
"Night Luke," she said.
"Night Leia," he replied closing his eyes.
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Luke… Luke. Wake up. You and Leia need to get away.
Luke slowly opened his eyes, the soft female voice he was hearing rousing him out of his sleep. He saw a bright glowing light in front of him and recognized it as Leia's spirit friend. It was trying to tell him something.
Luke shrugged."I don't know what you're saying. Was that you in my head earlier?"
It bounced up and down. Luke took it as a yes.
"Why?"
The light darted out the room and Luke got out of bed, careful not to rouse Leia. He pulled on one of his shirts as he followed the light down the hall to a door.
Luke twisted the knob and looked at the spirit. "It's locked."
The light floated in front of the door for a moment and then Luke heard a click. He opened the door and started to go in, but stopped abruptly at the sight. Dead people were in the room, not old bodies, but fresh, a couple of adult and a few teenagers. Luke looked closer at the wounds on them. They looked like they were sliced by swords or something… like a light saber.
"Shit…" Luke said, dread filling him. He should have trusted his feeling and left earlier. He began to back out the room, pulling the door close.
"Shit, shit, shit, fuck," Luke said and then a whole bunch of other obscenities in a few different languages. He rushed back to his and Leia's room, the spirit right behind him. "Oh force…."
He looked around the room and stretched out with his senses to make sure the man wasn't in the room and then closed the door.
"Leia," he said shaking her. "Wake up right now."
"Luke, stop it. Go back to sleep. It's still dark," Leia replied.
Luke shook her harder. "This is kriffing serious Leia. Get up now. We have to get out of here. Something's not right about Tytus. I think he killed the people that used to live here."
Leia sat up leaning on her elbow. "What?"
"I found kriffing dead bodies Leia. We have to leave now!"
"But he's a jedi," Leia said though she got out of bed and reached for her shoes as Luke pulled on his tunic.
"That may be so, but something's not right about him. We have to get out of here," Luke said pulling his belt on. He went over to the corner where Threepio and Artoo were, turning them both on.
"Master Luke," Threepio started. "What-?"
"No questions you two. We have to go right now."
Leia still didn't understand Luke's hurry, but she guessed it might have something to do with the feeling she had all night being in this place. The fact that her spirit was there meant something was wrong. The light was guiding them out the house. Luke and Leia started through the living room and then stopped cold when they heard the a snap hiss sound followed by a steady hum.
They turned around to find Tytus standing in front of the sofa with his blue light saber lit.
I've got a bad feeling about this, Luke and Leia thought to each other simultaneously.
"Where are you going?"
"We're leaving," Luke said. "Something's not right about you.
"You aren't going anywhere. Not until I have my revenge," Tytus said.
"What are you talking about?" Leia asked. "We haven't done anything to you."
"Not you darling. Him… Luke Skywalker. You really don't know who your father is do you?" Tytus asked.
"He's Anakin Skywalker right?" Luke asked carefully keeping Leia behind him.
"He's much more than that. He's a mass murderer. A monster," Tytus yelled.
"You just said he was a jedi. He was a hero in the clone wars," Luke said confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Things change. Nothing is set in stone Skywalker. I'll have my revenge," Tytus said starting slowly towards them.
"Revenge? For what?" Luke yelled sincerely hoping this wasn't a story of envy like the holovision shows Leia sometimes watched.
"For the destruction of the jedi. It was all your father's fault," Tytus yelled.
Luke backed up. Leia. Get out of here.
I'm not leaving you, Leia declared.
Leia! Luke didn't have time to scold her. Tytus came after them.
Leia screamed. Threepio made a loud shrill noise and Artoo whistled loudly in alarm. All of them ducked out the way. Tytus striking the walk they had just been in front of. He didn't even look at Leia and the droids though. He went straight after Luke who was huddled in the corner.
"Luke!" Leia yelled and the boy scrambled out the way of the blade.
"Leia. Get out of here," Luke shouted as he ducked behind the counter.
"I'm not leaving you here," Leia said pulling out her blaster. She shot at Tytus and the man turned around blocking her bolts.
Tytus round on her and Leia barely missed having her head lopped off.
"Leia!" Luke shouted and then ran at Tytus. He knocked the man down making him drop his light saber. Luke got up and helped Leia up off the ground.
"Artoo, Threepio, let's go!"
"You don't have to tell me twice Master Luke," Threepio said hurrying towards them.
They stepped over the broken table and toward the door but then Tytus flipped over them and was in front of them.
"Where are you going?"
The man raised his light saber and started to strike at them. But suddenly, he changed course and turned around to meet a green light saber.
"Luke, Leia. Get out of here," a voice said.
Luke recognized the voice and said in disbelief. "Ben? Old Ben Kenobi?"
"Leave now," he shouted again as he forced pushed Tytus out the way.
"You heard him Luke," Leia said. "Come on."
"Wait a minute," Luke said stopping to look at Ben. "You were a jedi all along?"
"There will be time for questions later. Take this and run," Ben said handing Luke a cylinder shaped object.
"What?" Luke asked as Leia started to pull him out the door.
"It was your father's. He'd want you to have it. Go!"
Luke started to run away from the house, holding Leia's hand to make sure she stayed with him the entire time. Leia stopped.
"Look. There's a speeder. Let's go," Leia said pulling Luke toward the speeder that was parked in front of the house. They jumped in it and after Luke hoisted Artoo in, he rigged the speeder, silently asking the force to forgive him and bless the people the speeder belonged to with another.
They sped off into the night.
"Damn it," Luke said when they stopped in front of fuel station. "I knew it. We should have left as soon as I got that feeling. If only I hadn't been so stupid."
Leia sighed as she got out the speeder. "It's not a crime to want to know your father. If anything, I shouldn't have pushed you to come here to learn more about the death star. Who knows if he was telling the truth anyway? It was probably just a ploy to get us here."
"No," Luke said. "There was some truth in-."
Leia turned to look at Luke. "What's wrong?"
"Sh," Luke said looking very pale all of a sudden.
"What?" Leia asked and then stopped when she heard the sound. "What's that?"
"We meet again child," said a deep mechanical voice. "And this time your sister is with you."
Leia slowly turned around and came face to face with Darth Vader. She tilted her head back to look at his mask. He was certainly tall.
"Aw come on," Luke said out loud, really speaking to the force.
"What does he mean again?" Leia asked looking at Luke.
Luke cleared his throat. "We might have met before…"
"You didn't tell me this," Leia said raising her voice.
"No time Leia. Get in the speeder," Luke said pulling the girl in the speeder. Leia barely got her legs in and her door closed before Luke sped off.
"When did you meet Darth Vader?" Leia demanded as he drove.
"Not now Leia. He's behind us isn't he?"
Leia turned around and sure enough Darth Vader was in pursuit of the flanked by three imperial speeder.
"Uh-oh," Leia said reaching for her blaster. She shot at one of the ones flanking Vader and missed. "You're going too fast. I can't get them."
"Then we'll lose them," Luke shouted speeding up.
"Is this going to be Naboo all over again?" Leia shouted strapping herself in.
"Probably, except this time we're leading him to the palace," Luke said.
"Why?"
"Because if we do that, he'll think someone in the palace hid us and we'll gain some time," Luke explained.
"How do you know that?"
"I don't. Besides, he'll have to be alive first. No way he can keep up with me," Luke yelled as he sped up, getting into the busy night section of the city.
Leia instinctively clutched her japor snippet as Luke made and impossible sharp turn in a busy intersection. Leia turned around to look. One of the speeders crashed into another while trying to make the turn. The other couldn't slow down in time and kept going straight but Vader…
"He's still behind us," Leia informed.
"Lucky shot," Luke muttered. "Not for long."
Luke turned into a one way street and Leia screamed.
"Master Luke!" Threepio said startling Leia. She had forgotten the droids were there. "This is a one way street and according to my databases…"
"Shut up Threepio," Luke and Leia snapped, also becoming aware of Artoo's whistles of excitement.
When they pulled out the street Leia turned around and muttered an obscenity.
"He's still behind us," she said.
Luke chanced a glance back. "No way!"
"Luke watched where you're going," Leia yelled.
"Do you want to drive?" Luke snapped.
"There's the palace," Leia said.
Luke slowed down significantly and pulled up in the middle of the palace gardens with an abrupt stop.
"Oh my master Luke. May I request that next time-."
"Be quiet," Luke, Leia, and Artoo snapped as they ran behind a large bush.
Where's Vader? Leia asked.
I don't hear him, Luke replied.
They stayed there for a moment before deciding it was worth risking it to get back in the speeder and get back to their ship. The two teenagers and the two droids got back into the speeder and this time observing the rules of the road thanks to Leia driving, they headed to the parking dock.
"Stang," Luke said pounding his fist on the door. "A jedi and a sith after us…"
"Make that two jedi," Leia said.
"No. That other jedi was an old man I knew on Tatooine. Ben Kenobi. He let us get away."
"So he could come finish us off himself?" Leia shot.
Luke rolled his eyes. Leia had a bad habit of generalizing people. When one person in a particular group was bad, they were all bad unless she knew otherwise.
"Well I think-."
Artoo started to speak and Luke turned around to hear him.
"Slow down Artoo. I can't understand you," Luke said and then finally gave up. "Threepio. What's he saying?"
Threepio started to respond but Leia stopped in from of the docking bay. Luke turned around and shook his head.
"Let's get out of here Leia. I have a bad feeling about all of this," he said.
"And go where?" Leia asked getting out the speeder. "We have to get off Alderaan right now."
"I know… but I just have this feeling," Luke insisted solemnly.
Leia sighed. "I do too, but what else can we do. We have to get out of here and getting back to the Amidala might be our only chance."
Luke nodded and helped Artoo out the speeder. Leia was already at the door using the comm. to try to get into contact with the owner.
"That's odd," she muttered. "He's not answering."
Leia moved her hand over the lock and pushed into the building. Luke followed behind her with Threepio and Artoo.
"Miss Leia, perhaps we should just wait outside…"
"We can't Threepio. We have to get off this planet," Luke said before Leia could snap a reply.
They took the elevator up to the level their ship was parked. As soon as they were in the place, they regretted it. The sound of mechanical breathing met their ears.
I don't believe this. He actually outsmarted us, Luke sent to Leia who was equally shocked. No one could outsmart them unless they were equally as mischievous and cunning or more…
"It's no use trying to escape now children," Vader said smugly. He had invented the diversion tactic. Lead someone to the place you didn't want them to go and when they were there go to your actual destination. He had pulled it many times in his youth in the jedi temple.
"Leave them alone Vader," another voice said.
"Ben," Luke yelled and the old jedi smiled at him.
Darth Vader groaned in his mask. He would no doubt lose the children again now. A fully trained jedi took precedence over two very force strong children.
"So we meet again Obi-Wan," he said turning to him. "And so you know the children know you."
"Actually," Leia said despite Luke warning her not to. "I've never met either of you, although everyone knows who Darth Vader is. My brother on the other hand seems to be very familiar with the two of you," Leia said glaring at Luke.
Luke decided explaining all this to Leia could wait as he practically dragged her to their ship. Vader was distracted with Ben so this was their chance. As he pulled down the ramp, he heard the clashing of what sounded like swords. He pushed Leia up the ramp and then let Threepio and Artoo up the ramp. Leia ran to go start the ship but stopped when she heard the voice of Tytus at the bottom of the ramp.
"Where do you think you're going child?" he asked Luke.
"Luke!" Leia yelled and turned to Artoo and Threepio. "Hurry up. Start the ship."
"I have you now," Tytus yelled turning on his light saber getting ready to strike Luke.
"No!" Leia yelled.
But Luke's hand suddenly went to his belt to grab not the blaster, but the light saber Ben had given him, the one he had forgotten was there. He turned it on and raised it with both hands to meet Tytus' blade. Tytus looked shock.
"Luke," Leia muttered in awe and then she saw the vision of an older Luke in black clothing with a light saber in his hand, but this time it was green. Luke was meant to be holding a light saber…
Her awe was short lived though as she felt Luke's pain as he struggled to hold off the strike. Then Tytus pushed Luke back and swiped at his right wrist.
Leia felt Luke's pain as though it had been her own and screamed along with him. Luke fell to his knees and Tytus prepared to make the killing blow.
"No," Leia screamed summoning all her anger and fear into a burning inferno as she summoned Luke's fallen blade to her hand. Then with a speed and grace she didn't know she possessed, she blocked the strike and used the force to toss Tytus flying through the opposite wall.
The backlash in the force was so strong that Obi-Wan and Vader stopped their fight as they struggled to gain the wind that had literally been knocked out of them.
Leia dragged Luke, who was clutching his wrist, up the ramp as it closed, shouting to Artoo and Threepio, "Take off. Get away from Alderaan, far away. I don't care where you go! Just get away from here."
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As Vader stared after the ship in shock at the strength the girl had displayed in the dark side on the force that he didn't notice Obi-Wan slip away until it was too late to do anything about it. Vader gripped his light saber tightly in anger and decided he would deal with the consequences of Obi-Wan's escape later. Instead, he went over to the pile of rubble where the jedi he had seen earlier had crashed and moved the rocks around with the force. The jedi wasn't there. He could only assume since the jedi was so intent on finding the children, he had followed them. So Vader would also follow the children and kill two birds with one stone.
The girl was probably so distressed over her brother, she had definitely called him Luke, that she wouldn't even assume that they were being tracked.
Meanwhile, Obi-Wan made his way back to the palace, hoping he could get off of Alderaan before Vader got there. No doubt Vader was going after the children and knew where they were. But Obi-Wan didn't and so that meant he could only go to one place; Dagobah. No doubt Yoda would fuss at him for losing the children in the first place and telling the old master so late. Obi-Wan sighed. It was going to be a long few weeks.
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In the next chapter, Luke and Leia are on Dathomir, but with Luke out of commission because of his missing hand, Leia has to call whether to stay there and wait for him to get better or leave asap. But when Leia meets a tribe dominated by female force users, she takes the opportunity to get their help and heal Luke. However, she starts to regret ever taking him there when she finds out men are used as slaves and seen less than woman. Leia can't wait to leave and have nothing more to do with the tribe afterwards, but when Tytus finds them, they're force to stay and defend the tribe despite the fact that Leia rather them get their just desserts for condoning slavery. However, Luke and Leia are no match for a fully trained dark jedi and help comes from the most unexpected person Leia could have ever thought: Darth Vader himself…
AN: So what did you think? Luke losing his hands is like a rite of passage or something to me in the movies, so I have about a hundred different ways Luke can lose his hand in a fanfic. Anyway, I probably needed to get started looking at the next chapter now because that mammoth of a chapter is ten thousand words! Hope you enjoyed. Review please!