Leia was waiting in the docking bay when the Falcon landed, standing with her arms folded and a scowl on her face to hide the fact that she was torn between being relieved to see them back safe, or furious that they had been captured and then apparently chosen to stay on Darth Vader's flagship. She looked them over as they disembarked, seeing that Luke had a rather lost look on his face when he caught sight of her, but they all appeared to be unharmed.
"Everyone is waiting in the briefing room," she said in a clipped tone, turning for the door.
"What, no armed escort?" Han asked snidely.
"General Dodonna wanted to, but MonMothma put her foot down. Don't make her regret it."
Yoda, Chewie and Luke glared at Han to prevent him saying anything else that might make things worse, and they followed Leia silently to the briefing room.
None of the Alliance leaders looked like they had gotten any more sleep since the brief communication they had had while still aboard the Vengeance, and even Han knew better than to snark at over tired commanders.
"Sit down," MonMothma said tiredly as soon as the door closed behind them.
They obeyed as Leia moved around to take her own seat beside the older woman.
"What were you thinking, staying under Vader's power?" Rieekan demanded as soon as they were seated.
"Well, aside from anything else, I wasn't at all sure that they would actually allow us to leave, and Luke wanted to hear what the…actually, not so old…man had to say," Han said bluntly.
"What reason did he give for his defection to the Empire?" Dodonna asked.
"I don't think he sees it as a defection," Luke offered quietly.
"Are you saying he was always loyal to the Empire?" Leia asked, horrified at the thought that her father's friend could have been a traitor.
"No, I don't know, all he told us was that it was time for the paths to diverge, and he had to make a clean break," Luke shrugged.
"Worked with the Jedi, worked with the Alliance, these things he did not to fight the Empire, but to stop the Sith Master that killed his father. Darth Sideous, Emperor Palpatine he was, gone he now is, time to move forward it is," Yoda told them.
"Did he say what happened to Palpatine?" Rieekan asked.
"Dead he is, killed he was by Kenobi and Skywalker."
All eyes jumped to Luke for a moment before realizing there was no possible way he could be the Skywalker in question.
"No, Skywalker is dead, he's been dead for years," Dodonna breathed.
"No, Vader has been dead for years. My father has been in his place, passing information to Alliance spies all this time. Obi-Wan says he was the one who got the battle station specs out, and did his best to prevent Tarkin getting them back," Luke said dully.
"You believe that? And what about all the atrocities Vader has perpetrated over the years?" Jan demanded.
"I don't know, I didn't see him, I only know what Ben said. If you want more information, you will just have to ask them," Luke said, stress tightening his voice.
"Which leaves us back at the question; do we speak with them, do we try to end this war once and for all?" MonMothma sighed.
"We can't trust them, they lied for years," Leia snarled.
"Leia, something is going to have to change, we have a chance to stop the death and destruction here. I'm not suggesting we decide we trust them blindly and meet face to face, but we can communicate with them, hear what they have to say," MonMothma pointed out tiredly, she wasn't much happier about the situation herself, but if there was any chance at all that they could stop all of the needless killing, didn't they owe it to the innocents on both sides to at least try.
"So, we agree to at least hear them?" Akbar asked.
The Alliance leadership looked at each other for a long moment, conferring with silent glances, then Leia threw herself back in her chair with a huff, folding her arms.
"You're making a mistake," she said coldly.
"Perhaps, but we owe it to our people to try. I suggest we get some sleep, and open communication with Kenobi," MonMothma said firmly, rising to her feet to indicate that the meeting was over.
"Leia, can we talk?" Luke caught up to her as she strode angrily from the room.
"What about?"
"Something that Ben…Obi-Wan…told me."
"I'm not interested in hearing any more of his lies, Luke," she said icily, turning her back.
"This isn't a lie, Master Yoda confirmed it himself," Luke said quietly.
"Fine, what?"
"Not here, please," he asked, looking around at the people not so surreptitiously eavesdropping in the busy corridor.
"You can walk me to my quarters," she said, and he nodded and followed after her as the others walked in the opposite direction.
Leia looked at Luke as they entered her somewhat cramped quarters, and he dropped his eyes, unsure how to start.
"Luke, I'm tired," Leia said impatiently.
"How much do you know about your birth family?" he asked quietly.
"Not much, my mother was from Naboo, that's pretty much it, father didn't like talking about it. How did you know I was adopted?" she demanded.
"That's part of what I was told. You were adopted by Bail Organa, and I was given to the Lars to raise. He told me we're twins Leia, you and I."
"But that would mean…no, no I refuse to believe that that…monster is my father," she hissed, horrified.
"So you would deny me as your brother, just because of parents we've never known?" he asked quietly.
"How…why should I believe…?"
"Why would Ben lie, why would Master Yoda lie, about something that is so easy to check?"
"I don't know. If it's true though, why would we have been split up, raised so differently?"
"Safety, to keep us from being found by the Emperor, to train us to be able to make a difference when the time was right. I don't know if any of that was untrue, but Master Yoda didn't contradict anything."
Leia sank down on the edge of her bunk, burying her head in her hands.
"I'm tired Luke, I need to think, and I need to sleep," she sighed.
Luke turned to the door without another word, not sure how he felt about Leia's reaction.
"Luke, wait."
He paused, turning to look back at her.
"I hope that it is true that you're my twin, at least something worthwhile would have come out of this whole mess."
He smiled faintly and nodded, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
/x/
Anakin was on the command deck, watching as the Dominator limped into hyperspace, escorted by two other destroyers as they headed for a shipyard for repairs.
"Alright Captain, start preparations to break orbit, we will get underway as soon as his Majesty gives us our destination," he ordered.
"Yes, my Lord," the Captain acknowledged, turning to start giving orders to the men under his command.
Anakin went into the briefing room off the bridge, where Obi-Wan was going through data pads of messages that had been sent from Coruscant, keeping current on what was going on there, and preparing orders to be sent back, to keep thing running smoothly while he wasn't there.
"Dominator and her escorts are underway to the shipyards, and we are preparing to break orbit at your command," he told the other man.
"Good, I want to get out of here, before the ground commander gets any twitchier and does something unfortunate. No communication from the rebel leaders yet?"
"No, not yet, we haven't intercepted anything between them and the Hoth base either. Everything is quiet at the moment."
Obi-Wan drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, thinking.
"All right, break orbit, short jump to the Holcris system, I don't want us in hyperspace too long, I think the rebels will want to communicate soon. MonMothma is an intelligent woman, if there is any chance of brokering a peace, she will at least want to try."
"If she can get the others to go along with her."
Obi-Wan leaned back in the chair, resting his hands lightly on the arms.
"Dodonna and Rieekan will follow where she leads, the Mon Cal is an unknown, but even if he and the princess balk, they will still be outvoted."
"I've run across Ackbar once or twice, he'll try for peace if he can."
"Good, so that leaves Leia as a sticking point."
"She's angry, not that I can blame her, she's not going to want to listen to anything we have to say."
"She might not want to, but she will, Bail trained her well, and he told me once that she was much like…" he stopped, flicking a glance up at Anakin.
"Much like Padmé," Anakin finished.
"Yes, she will hopefully put aside her personal animosity for the good of all. Get us underway Anakin."
"Yes Master," Anakin bowed slightly and left the room, heading back to the command deck leaving Obi-Wan alone.
Obi-Wan leaned forward and picked up the data pad again, turning his attention back to the orders he needed to send to Coruscant, he had to start laying the groundwork to get a functioning Senate up and running. He barely noticed as the ship leapt into hyperspace.
/x/
Leia was the last to arrive in the briefing room, looking tired and a little frazzled. MonMothma raised an eyebrow as Leia opted to slide into a seat beside Luke, rather than taking her normal place at the table, and the younger woman set a data pad down in front of him. Luke looked at it, then looked up at Leia, who smiled faintly, resting a hand on his arm.
"Sorry if I kept you waiting," she said without explaining her late arrival.
"No matter, we have just heard the report from the base commander on Hoth, he has informed us that Vengeance has pulled out of orbit, scouts report that they have only gone as far as the Holcris system, but he believes they were keeping their word that they would only remain for as long as it took to get the Dominator out of there," Dodonna told her.
"All right, so are we all still in agreement? We speak with Kenobi and see if he is serious about the Empire's desire for peace."
There were nods around the table, except from Leia, who looked as if she had bitten something sour, but made no protest, and Han, who had his own reasons for not trusting the Empire. MonMothma turned to the young man manning the communications board and nodded once.
"Please try and raise the Vengeance."
There were a few minutes of silence while their comm. tech tried to raise the Imperial ship, and then the holograph flared to life with the head and shoulders view of a man in Imperial uniform.
"I am Captain Veers, of the Vengeance. State your business."
"This is MonMothma, representing the Alliance leadership, I believe General Kenobi is expecting to hear from us."
"Hold the channel, I will see if Lord Kenobi or Lord Skywalker is available."
Veers remained in view of the pickup, gesturing to someone off screen, and a moment later he turned his attention back to them, inclining his head in a sharp nod.
"Transferring your signal now," he informed them, as the image fuzzed for a moment, leaving them connected with a view of Obi-Wan, again relaxed and at ease in a commanding chair, with an imposing dark clad figure standing at his shoulder, only the standing man was unhooded this time, leaving them face to face with an unmistakably older Anakin Skywalker.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the Alliance, may I take this to mean that you are at least willing to hear what we have to say?" Obi-Wan asked.
"We're willing to listen, for now," MonMothma conceded.
"Good, then where would you like to start?"
"Perhaps from the beginning?"
"There are any number of beginnings MonMothma, please be specific."
"Fine, when did you turn your back on the Jedi, and side with the murderers of all of your compatriots?" Dodonna asked harshly, earning glares from everyone around the table except Leia.
"I never turned my back on the Jedi, I was never a Jedi to begin with. Even then, I did not turn my back, my apprentice and I fought as hard as any Jedi did in the efforts to stop Palpatine, the Sith Master Darth Sideous, from taking hold of the galaxy. We fought until it became clear that it was already too late to stop him, and shifted our efforts to ensuring that there would be a chance to move against him once more in the future. We safeguarded Anakin and Padmé's children the best we could, to ensure there would be a new generation of the Jedi you accuse us of betraying, to ensure that there would be people we could work with to pull this galaxy back from the abyss that monster had thrust it into. He fed on war, chaos, hate and destruction, it only made him stronger, he had no real interest in stopping it, and we do."
"Why?" Leia asked despite herself.
"We see no purpose in needless death, no purpose in the destruction of worlds. If we do not move to stop it now, all will be lost. We have one small chance here to reunite this fractured galaxy of ours, or we will be devoured by what is coming."
"What is coming?" Rieekan put in.
"I do not know, but I see a darkness, an enemy that will make the years of war we have already suffered seem like a petty children's squabble. We cannot stand divided when it comes."
"And what certainty do we have that the new Emperor will honour any agreements you might make with us in pursuit of a ceasefire, in pursuit of peace?" MonMothma asked, wresting back control of the conversation.
"I think you can safely take my word on that," Obi-Wan murmured quietly, fighting down a smirk that would be misinterpreted.
"Why should we, you haven't exactly been honest up until now," Dodonna snarked.
"You're going to have to trust us at some point, if this is to have any hope of working. Think about it, call us when you are ready to talk more, we won't be going into hyperspace just yet," Obi-Wan said, cutting the connection with a wave of his hand in the direction of the controls.
"Listen to him you should, speak for the Emperor with surety he can," Yoda murmured to them.
"How can you be so sure?" Leia demanded.
"The Emperor he is."
"Why hasn't it been announced then, why is everyone still in the dark?" MonMothma asked.
"Told by Qui-Gon I was that already there has an assassination attempt been made, focus he must on fighting for peace if correct he is about the danger. Fight for his life also, he does not need."
"Which brings us back to trusting him, or not trusting him," Dodonna pointed out.
"Well, he said it himself, if this is going to happen, we are going to have to trust him sooner or later. He didn't have to risk himself on Hoth, to help with the ground attack, he didn't have to keep his word to let us leave the Vengeance, he didn't have to keep his word and pull out of Hoth orbit as soon as the Dominator was escorted out of the system, he didn't have to bypass every chance he had to blow the Alliance leadership to atoms, which would have been a hell of a blow to the Alliance. Maybe the question shouldn't be can we trust him, but what proof have we given that he can trust us. We tried to abduct him when he was injured helping us," Luke said, his face flushing as they all turned to stare at him.
"Well, well said Skywalker. Are we ready to move forward and try to end this kriffing war?" MonMothma asked.
Tbc