take the spade from my hands (and fill in the holes you've made)
Chapter Five
Leia hid in the shadows as the sound of blasters rang closer. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She didn't know how she'd get out of this one.
After witnessing the battle of Scarif, her flagship, Tantive IV, had been en route to Tatooine to pick up Obi-Wan and Luke. Luke had wanted to join the rebellion ever since she had told him about it, but due to his lack of training and his uncles obvious wishes, he had stayed on Tatooine, helping his uncle on the farm and training with Ben ever other chance he got. After what Luke said was 'a lot of persuading' he had convinced Obi-Wan that he was ready. As of the last time she talked to him, Luke wasn't sure how he'd tell his aunt and uncle he was leaving.
She was really looking forward to this reconciliation. She hadn't seen her brother in almost a year. She was only able to talk to him via holo every so often partly because he had to go all the way to Mos Eisley to get use a transmitter and partly because it would look suspicious on her part.
And now it looked as if it would never happen.
Vader had been so close to getting the plans before her ship had even taken off. She stood on the Tantive IV bridge frozen, double and triple checking the walls of her mind as she felt him cut down rebel after rebel. She knew it would only be a matter of time before he chased them down. She knew what she had to do.
She heard small beeps coming closer. She peeked her head from behind the wall to see the small astromech droid rolling towards her. She crouched down as he wheeled to her side. She took out a disk and slid it into him.
"This is very important. I need you to get to Tatooine. Take an escape pod. You absolutely need to find either Ob- Ben Kenobi or Luke Skywalker. Only them. Can you relay a message to them?"
The little droid beeped an affirmative and she stood up. Its recording device blinked on and putting on a brave face, she started to speak.
"Hello Luke, hello Ben. I was looking forward to seeing you both but I'm sorry to say we've hit a bit of trouble. My ship is under attack, so I'm afraid you might have to find alternative methods in joining the rebellion. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. You need to bring it to them, please" she paused slightly, taking a steadying breath, she smiled. "I'm sure I'll see you soon. I love you, Luke." The blaster shots became louder. "Be careful" she said and crouched down to end the recording.
"Artoo! Artoo-Detoo, where are you?"
The little astromech's dome swivels to face a prissy protocol droid.
"Be swift," she said softly. The little droid beeped something and wheeled himself away.
"At last! Where have you been?" asked the droid as the two disappeared around the corner.
Leia sighed again, fading back into the shadows. She took her blaster from her holster, a steely determination in her eyes. They were coming for her, and when they found her she'd be ready for them.
Leia was being led down a winding hallway when she spotted Lord Vader and his horde of his henchman. Clenching her jaw, she summoned strength she wasn't sure she possessed to keep her anger in check.
"Lord Vader, I should have known. Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit for this! When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic-"
"Don't play games with me, Your Highness" he boomed, towering over her. "You weren't on any mercy mission this time. You passed directly through a restricted system. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you."
And she felt it. She felt his dark presence brush across the surface of her mind. She tightened her mental walls, fighting a smirk, taking a small thrill of lying right to Vader's face. Logically, he'd know she was lying, but he wouldn't get a glimpse of it from her mind. Not today, not me, you bastard. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan-"
"You're a part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor," he hissed. "Take her away!"
Shooting him one last poisonous look, Leia was roughly led away to her awaiting cell.
Vader watched her going, feeling a slight…shift, barely noticeable, in the force. There was something about that Organa brat. His first commander turned to him when the princess was out of earshot.
"Holding her is dangerous. If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the Rebellion in the senate."
Vader rolled his eyes underneath his helmet. He knew the risks, but the benefits outweighed anything the senate could ever do. "I have traced the Rebel spies to her. Now she is my only link to find their secret base."
"She'll die before she tells you anything," said the commander.
Vader smirked, growing excited at breaking the impertinent princess. "Leave that to me. Send a distress signal and then inform the senates that all aboard were killed!"
Another Imperial Officer approached Vader and his Commander. They turned to look at him.
"Lord Vader, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship! And no transmissions were made. An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting, but no life forms were aboard."
Vader turned to the Commander.
"She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod. Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally, Commander. There'll be no one to stop us this time."
"Yes, sir."
"And now, Your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden Rebel base"
Leia looked up in defiance, but felt her stomach drop as she saw the giant robot following him. The steady beeping of the machine shook her to her core, its silver hypodermic needle glinting in the light. Fear filling her whole body as the doors slid shut, she tried remembered what Ben had told her on keeping a sound and privet mind. Trying to expel her fear, she grit her teeth.
Vader roughly grabbed her by the arm and pushed up her sleeve. The needle broke skin, injecting a clear green serum into her arm, and she began to scream.
Time passed. She did not know how long they had been at it. Minutes? Hours? Days?
Her whole body was on fire. She couldn't move, yet on some level she knew her limbs were shaking. She felt her muscles tensing; spazzing uncontrollably.
"Where is the rebel base?" Tell me where the rebels are. You can tell me.
"N-no." She felt him pushing her barriers, felt his surprise and frustration.
"Who is in the rebellion?" Do you like this pain? Can you handle more? We can do this for the rest of your life.
"I…I don't know" she whimpered. She screamed again. It hurt so much…
But you do know said his voice in her head. She felt him, like a dark fog trying to get through her wall, trying to push apart the smallest crack. Tell me where the rebels are and the pain will stop.
She turned her head to him. "G-go to h-hell" she rasped, trying to bring her knees to her chest, but failing. The pain…
Tell me! He thundered, pushing harder than ever. She felt a small piece of her resolve crack. …Luke…
She let out a wild howl. With a gargantuan effort she pushed the Dark Lord out of her mind…
…Falling right into his.
The mind of the Lord Vader was a black and slippery place. There was no way to gain any type of control. Like a giant sea monster writhing at the depths of the ocean, his mind was cold, sleek, and dark.
A very pregnant woman in a blue nightdress stood opposite of her. "What's bothering you?" the woman asked.
"Nothing" she answered. But it wasn't her voice. It was a mans voice. A hand (was it hers? No it was far too big) reached out and touched the woman's pendent…Leia's pendent.
"I remember when I gave this to you."
"Anakin, how lo-" but the woman was cut off. Leia felt as if she was falling. Hurtling backwards at tremendous speed…
And she was back in the interrogation room. Darth Vader was standing over her. She looked at him, eyes wide, mouth agape in shock.
He struck her across the face.
"How did you know how to do that?" he seethed. She backed into the corner of the metal slab she sat on, entire body, aching.
"I-I don't know" she said mind reeling. She put her hand up to her stinging cheek, tasting blood in her mouth. "Who…who are you?" she said quietly, more to herself than to the Dark Lord. He stared her down then abruptly turned out of the marched out of the detention cell…
…leaving her thoughts whirling with a reality she was unsure of and did not want to face.
Leia felt like vomiting.
Her home. Her beautiful, beautiful Alderaan. Gone.
She couldn't fathom it. Not only was she forced to watch the monstrous act, she literally felt the planet being blown apart. Like an ocean wave, she felt the life forms of Alderaan rise in horror, than dissipate into nothing.
Nothing. She had no home. Nearly every person she had ever known was dead. She suddenly became extremely thankful that Luke and her were raised separately, knowing that at this moment he feasibly could not have been on Alderaan.
Oh, Alderaan.
She tried to push the devastating loss aside. Her mind was screaming in pain and anguish in the silence that once was Alderaan. As heart wrenching as it was, she needed to know about that memory. With the monster himself leading her back to her cell and death, she had no better or other opportunity.
Leia knew what she must do. As the door to her cell slid open, he half dragged half led her back into it. He let go of her arm and turned to leave. Summoning courage she didn't feel, she called out to him.
"Who was that woman?" she asked boldly. The Dark Lord stopped and slowly turned around. "Was that woman…Padmé Amidala?"
The room's temperature dropped nearly ten degrees and as she held her breathe. Vader stepped closer to her, blind rage radiating off of him.
"Do not speak of what you do not what you do not understand," he boomed, striking her once more. He turned again, determined to leave this insolent brat.
"Anakin Skywalker!" she called desperately, needing to know. As soon as she said those words, she instantly regretted them. In a flash, he turned and she couldn't breathe.
Leia clutched her throat and fell onto her knees, desperate to loosen the invisible grip. Darth Vader was completely prepared to kill the girl on sight. She was already sanctioned to be executed, why not sate his blood lust for the troublesome, idealistic fool? She knew far too much. How did she know so much? Perhaps Organa had told his daughter of Vader's former life before the fool had died. Yes, it would be much easier to just kill her and be done with it. He would have, too, if not for her eyes. Her eyes were not the only thing that reminded him of the woman she inquired about.
The woman he loved.
Images of a fiery hell flashed before his eyes. An angel falling…
No! Anakin, I swear…I…
He released her and the girl took in shuddering gasps. She looked at him with a shocked expression, tears streaming down her face. Without a word, the Dark Lord turned and stormed out of the cell. Yes, the girl should be shocked. She would be dead if it wasn't for a lingering memory of his angel. An angel he destroyed.
But he did not understand.
Leia fell back against the wall of the cell, raising a shaking hand to her face. For within the rage Vader had released, he'd also let slip a silent conformation.
He, the man, young Vader, (for that's who it had to be; It was his mind, his memory) said he gave it the woman the pendent. The pendent Leia owned now, her mother's pendent. The pendent her father gave to her mother when they first met. And the women in his memory, Padmé, her mother, had called him Anakin. Vader responded, violently, to Anakin Skywalker. If her thoughts followed to conclusions that would mean…
No she thought there is no way. No, it can't be true. No, No, NO!
She somehow made it back to the metal cot. She retrieved the pendent from under the fabric of her dress, holding it between her forefinger and thumb. Looking at the carvings, she knew her mind wasn't playing tricks on her.
"No," she choked out, clutching the wooden pendent to her chest, "he can't be…" She did not know what was real or fake anymore. She suffered the destruction of Alderaan and image of Anakin Skywalker in less than an hour. Luke would be crushed. Oh, Luke. No, it couldn't be real. It had to be a lie. Obi-Wan would have told them, wouldn't he? No, she must be crazy.
Dark thoughts swirled in her mind as she lay on the metal slab. Her cell door slid open, revealing a stormtrooper. Was this the trooper that was to bring her to her death? Or perhaps he was here to tell her the Emperor was her uncle or something.
"Aren't you a little short to be a stormtrooper?" she commented with a bravado she did not feel, pushing herself onto her elbows.
"Oh, hardy har har," said a familiar voice as he pulled of the helmet.
"Luke" she choked out, stumbling forward and throwing her arms around her brother. He was real. Her brother was real.
"Hey sis."
"How-?"
"We got your message," he said hurriedly, looking around the room, eyes falling on the security camera. "Ben's with me," he said as he raised his blaster and shot it dead center "trying to disengage the tractor beam. We took passage with a smuggler on Tatooine." He winced as the sound of blaster bolts became more pronounced. "He's probably regretting it now. Come on, let's get outta here."
"Right behind you."
The twins ran down the hallway as a man in a stormtroopers uniform and a Wookie ran towards them, shooting at the imperials. The Wookie tossed Luke a blaster as his counterpart began to speak.
"Can't get out that wa- Leia? Leia Skywalker?"
Leia gaped back at the man. "H-Han Solo?"
"You two know each other?" asked Luke confused. He pushed Leia away as a blaster bolt nearly hit her head.
"Looks like you managed to cut off our only escape route" she said, shocked beyond belief. She doesn't think she could take any more shocks today. What was the universe playing at?
"Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, Your Highness," said Solo, sarcasm marred by the evident shock coloring his voice. Luke began to holler on his comlink to Threepio, but with no avail. Stretching out his senses (even thought Obi-Wan had warned him not too) he couldn't find any alternative route.
"I thought you said we were rescuing a princess?" asked Han.
"She is," answered Luke, distracted. "And there isn't any other way out," he announced gravely.
"This is some rescue. When you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?"
Han gestured to her brother. "He's the brains, sweetheart."
Leia turned to Luke, but he spoke before she could scold him. "Hey! I hear my only sister is to be executed-"
"Sister?"
"- and you expect me, what, to sit tight and-"
Leia cut him off by grabbing his blaster and shoot at the garbage shoot.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" exclaimed Han, blast coming to close to his body for his liking.
"Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, wise guy" she said, tossing the blaster back to her brother. Men she thought as she leaped into the garbage shoot, bracing herself against what was promised to be an unpleasant landing.
A short while later, Luke and Leia rounded a corner that led them right back to the hanger in which the Millennium Falcon was held captive. Han and Chewbacca looked over their shoulders.
"What took you so long?" asked the captain.
"We ran into some old friends," said Leia, out of breath, looking around to the heavily guarded ship.
"Is the ship all right?" asked Luke, taking in the same scene as she was. There was no way that they could make it to the ship with all those troopers guarding it.
"Seems okay, if we can get to it. Just hope the old man got the tractor beam out of commission."
Luke handed Leia his blaster, and unclipped the lightsaber that was hanging off his belt. She looked at him questioningly.
"Is that-?"
"Yeah. Ben said he would have wanted me to have I,t" he explained, lowly, but prideful. Leia's stomach turned. "Look!" he said, pointing to the stormtroopers running towards the far side of the docking bay.
The four looked at each other.
"Here's our chance," whispered Han. "Go!"
Han and Chewie led the way, Luke and Leia hot on their heels, running towards the ship. Suddenly, Leia crashed abruptly into Luke's back, grasping his elbow to steady herself.
"Luke, wha-" but she stopped, looking at what her brother was staring at in horror. Ben was fighting Vader. Ben looked over his shoulder to see the twins. He looked back at Vader and raised his saber, not in a defense pose, almost as if…
Vader swung his saber and Ben disappeared. Leia gasped.
"NO!" screamed Luke, igniting his lightsaber. The ice blue blade Ben had shown them some many months ago on Tatooine glowed brightly, deflecting the blaster bolts shot by the stormtroopers. Vader turned his head and his troops began firing.
"Luke, No!" cried Leia as her brother walked determinedly towards the hallway, deflecting shots as he went. Dodging blaster bolts and firing back, she could feel his anger. He was stronger, much stronger than he was when she last saw him.
"Kid! Come on! It's too late!" yelled Han, hanging off the ramp, firing at storm troopers. Luke ignored him. "Blast the door Leia!" he shouted at her.
She took aim and shot three shots, causing the door to the hanger to close just as Vader approached it.
Luke, Leia, run! rang Ben's disembodied voice. Leia looked around, startled, but Luke grabbed her arm and half dragged her to the Falcon's ramp. The ship was taking off before the ramp fully closed.
Luke let go of her when they entered the ships hold area. Leia fell onto the bench as she watched Luke pace quickly back and forth, running his hands through his hair.
"That…that was…shavit," he cursed, sinking down next to her.
"Luke…I-"
"I know."
The twins looked resigned next to one another.
"You okay?" he asked, spotting her raw cheek.
She nodded. "Alderaan…" she started, not knowing what to say. He pulled her into a hug. She relaxed, exhausted.
"I know. I'm so sorry. We felt it in the Force and..." he stopped, reflected on his words. "We…I can't believe he's gone. First Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru-"
"What?" she said sharply, pulling away from him and looking into his face. "What happened to Owen and Beru? They're not…" but she stopped, seeing his expression. "Oh Luke…"
He pulled her back in for another hug. "Leia, Alderaan, I–"
"Luke, we can't do this right now," she said sternly. "I cannot think about – there's a war going on. We need to get the plans to the rebellion."
Luke opened his mouth to protest when Han rushed into the room. "Sorry to interrupt this family reunion, but we're not out of this yet, kid."
Luke nodded. The twins stood up, Leia squeezed Luke's arm before he crossed to the gun port cockpit ladder and she into the cockpit.