Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to George Lucas and Disney (still not sure what I feel about that).
Chapter Two: Help Enlisted
Senator Bail Organa stared at the bottom of his glass. He had no idea what number he was on now. It didn't matter. The Rebellion didn't matter. Alderaan didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore.
Leia was dead.
He had received the message late that afternoon. It was electronic text, from an address somewhere in between Alderaan and Tatooine. He would take the time to figure out its exact origin later. Right now he couldn't think.
His little girl was gone.
Technically, it had been in the line of duty to the Rebellion, but not really. She had gone down with the ship in a space-faring accident. He wasn't sure if that was worse, because it made her death meaningless, or better, because it meant that she hadn't died due to her involvement in Bail's underground society.
But the fact remained that if Bail hadn't gotten her involved in the Rebellion, she would still be alive today, safe on Alderaan. So maybe there was no good way to look at it.
He wanted to go to Breha, so that they could grieve together, but he knew Breha just wanted to be alone. That was how she dealt with it. That's how she'd always dealt with grief. And in lieu of a wife with which to share his sorrows, Bail turned to the bottle. That was also nothing new.
His console beeped. Force forsake it, he did not need to be bothered right now. Peering down at the console through bloodshot eyes he saw the words "Ben K." flash across the top of the screen. Through his grief he still managed to feel confused. Obi-Wan? What would be the chances that Obi-Wan would contact him so soon after the failed attempt to communicate with him through his…? Force, he couldn't even say her name anymore. Pathetic. Leia, he made himself think. Leia. And he had to conquer a fresh wave of nauseating grief before he answered. A fuzzy blue hologram of the old jedi popped up in front of him.
"Bail, thank goodness," the withered voice filtered through, "you should know that Leia—Force within, Bail, what's wrong?"
"I already received the news," Bail said. Force, he couldn't get the tremor out of his voice. And to think he had the fate of an entire planet in his hands. But he couldn't even bring himself to repeat the news of which he spoke, then he wouldn't be able to stop the tears.
"Well, yes, Bail, but it's not the end of the world—"
"Not the end of the world?! She was my daughter! What, did you think I was just holding her for the last nineteen years for the purposes of—of our organization? She may have just been a tool to you, to use against your old apprentice, but she was my daughter! I raised her! Force forsake it, Ben, I should never have gotten her involved." And with that Bail's voice lowered again and he looked away.
"Careful, Bail. This could be monitored. But there's no reason to lose h—wait. What have you been told? Is Leia—"
"Dead, yes. Why would you call me if you didn't already know?"
Obi-Wan seemed to lean back in his chair, as if everything had suddenly been drained from him. "I knew she'd been captured. I didn't realize…I thought the interrogation would—"
"Captured?" Confusion once more made its way through the haze of grief in Bail's mind. "Her ship was destroyed in an asteroid field."
It was Obi-Wan's turn to look confused. "That's not what her message through R2D2 said."
"She managed to get R2D2 to you?"
"Yes. She said her ship had fallen under attack." And then something seemed to dawn on Obi-Wan, just as it was dawning on Bail.
"They lied to me," Bail said flatly. His grief was beginning to clear. He realized he should now be terrified, not simply for Leia but for the Rebellion as well, but his overwhelming grief left a wake of relief so wide and long that he couldn't bring himself to jump into action mode. "What do we do?"
"I'm going to try to locate her. Luke and I are going on a rescue mission."
"Luke?! Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Look, Bail. Vader's probably already come into contact with Leia. Not much more damage can be done on that front. And Luke needs to get involved at some point, too."
Bail didn't know how to respond. In reality, what happened to Luke was none of his business. Leia was his business. "What should I do?"
"That all depends. Why did you contact me in the first place?"
Bail furrowed his brow. He was still in shock over the whole situation with Leia. It felt like whiplash to suddenly start talking politics.
"It has come to my attention that the imperial navy has finished the construction of a battle station of enormous power. It has been rumored that the station will be able to destroy entire planets." Seeing Obi-Wan's look of shock, Bail continued, "From recent imperial campaigns, I would venture that its primary targets will be planets housing certain bases."
Obi-Wan nodded slowly. "Contact the leader. Some of the locations may need to be retired. Certainly the ones on heavily populated planets."
"They wouldn't possibly—"
Obi-Wan silenced him with raised eyebrows. "They wouldn't?"
Bail chewed his bottom lip, realized he was doing it, and stopped. "I'll tell Breha. She can take care of domestic…issues." Hopefully the cell on Alderaan had not yet caught imperial attention. He wished he could stay on Alderaan, but he owed a duty to the other cells as well. Besides, Alderaan would be an unlikely target. It would tarnish the imperial reputation if they targeted such an outwardly loyal and peace-loving planet as theirs first. Yavin IV, though, that could be a problem.
Bail sighed. What he really wanted to do was tag along with Obi-Wan. As a father, he should be out finding his daughter. As the prince regent of Alderaan, though, and moreover, a leader of the Rebellion, he should be making a few calls to Chandrila VII and possibly make his way to Coruscant at this point.
"Good," Obi-Wan butt into his thoughts. "I'll contact you when I am in a secure location again." Without another word, he logged off.
Turning to the enormous bay window behind his desk, Bail stared out at the stars in the night sky. Force, wherever Leia is, let her make it through this.
They had found the Jawa tank demolished.
Obi-Wan had been none too happy, to be sure—one more dead-end. But Luke had immediately begun to sulk.
"It looks like the Sand People did this, alright," Luke said, traipsing around the ruins. "Look, there's gaffi sticks, bantha tracks, it's just I've never seen anything this big before." He threw down a piece of debris.
Obi-Wan bit back a sigh. The boy was really trying to find any excuse to stay on Tatooine. This was at least one flaw that Obi-Wan hadn't had to deal with when training the boy's father. "They didn't," he said, patiently, "but we are meant to think they did. These tracks are side by side, Sand People always ride single-file to hide their numbers."
Luke's brow furrowed. "These are the same Jawas that sold us R2 and 3PO."
Obi-Wan clapped the boy on the shoulder and turned him around to face the tank. "And these…blast points, too accurate for Sand People. Only imperial storm troopers are so precise."
Luke gave him an odd look, and broadcast one thought so loudly through the Force that Obi-Wan almost responded to him. Where have you been for the last twenty years, old man? Obi-Wan frowned. Well, Palpatine probably had neglected the intensive training of the storm troopers over the years, to save on money. Still, the blaster marks were definitely not those of a Sand Person.
Luke turned back to the tank. "But why would imperial storm troopers slaughter Jawas?" As if suddenly realizing something, he turned his gaze on the two droids. Then he spoke again, rising horror in his voice. "If they traced the robots here they would have learned who they sold them to and that would have led them back…home…" Luke petered off, as he was already running towards his speeder.
"No, wait, Luke!" Obi-Wan cried. "It's too dangerous!" But the boy was already off.
Obi-Wan had a sickening sense of déjà vu.
A few hours later, Obi-Wan was back at his hut, once again angry with himself. He should have found a way to follow the boy.
Yes, but you were left without a speeder.
How pathetic. Twenty years ago he had been risking his life every other day, and now he couldn't follow Luke because he had no transportation? Had exile made him go soft?
The sense of déjà vu he had begun to feel earlier had blossomed to the point of invoking nausea. He remembered twenty years ago, when Anakin had gone racing off to the same hut on a mission to rescue his parental figure, only to find her brutally murdered. And then he had slaughtered an entire village. And Obi-Wan had told him not to go, and then hadn't followed him. He hadn't been there when Anakin had needed him the most. He hadn't been there, and now Anakin was no more. And Obi-Wan was repeating the same mistake with Anakin's son.
Obi-Wan sighed and put his head in his hands. Maybe Owen and Beru weren't dead. Maybe the droids hadn't been traced back to them. Maybe the storm troopers had had mercy on them.
Now that's bantha shit and you know it.
What would Luke do? It's not as if he had a village he could slaughter in revenge.
Stop, Obi-Wan. He's got just as much of his mother's genes as he does his father's. It's not like he's a freaking clone. He's his own person.
Obi-Wan felt sick.
There was a faint knock on the door frame to his hut.
Obi-Wan froze. Had the storm troopers traced the droids all the way to him?
Yes, because an imperial storm trooper would knock politely.
"Luke?" Obi-Wan called softly.
Luke entered the hut slowly, looking down at the ground.
Obi-Wan stared at him for a moment, then said, "Luke…Luke are they-?"
Luke didn't answer the unfinished question for a while, then emitted a strangled sob.
"Oh, Luke," Obi-Wan breathed, rising as swiftly as his arthritic knees allowed. And before he understood what he was doing, he had the boy in a hug. "I'm so, so sorry, Luke." Force, and it was because of him. If the droid hadn't come looking for him…
Luke stiffened against him and Obi-Wan suddenly realized that he was hugging what was, for all intents and purposes, a neighbor kid he didn't really know, not the son of his dearest friend. He moved to let go, but Luke suddenly returned the hug, and whispered, "Thank you, Ben. I…I don't know what to do. They're dead. I can't believe they're dead. I…I'm so angry…"
Obi-Wan squeezed his eyes shut against tears. Doubtless Anakin had felt the same way after his mother was so brutally murdered. But he hadn't been there for Anakin then. There had been no consoling embrace for his apprentice. If only this was twenty years ago, and the boy in his arms was Anakin, not Luke…
But the past was gone. And he might not have been there for his apprentice, but he could be there for Luke now. "Luke…"
Luke pulled away from him. "I would have been there. I should have been there."
Force, why did he have to sound so much like Anakin, but for the deep tone of his late apprentice's voice? "Luke, don't go having survivor's guilt. You couldn't have known. Nothing about this situation is your fault. There is only one criminal involved in this heinous crime—the Empire."
Luke's head snapped up, tears running in tracks down his face. His brow furrowed. "The Empire," he choked out.
Obi-Wan paused. If this situation would pit Luke against the Empire, then perhaps some good could come out of the tragedy.
And then Obi-Wan was disgusted for even thinking along those lines. Besides, it would be out of revenge, and that would only start him down the path of his father.
With a powerful, and frightening, look of resolve in his face, Luke said, "Ben. I have nowhere, no…no home to go back to. Perhaps…perhaps now would be the time to start looking for a ship."
Oh, to hell with it. "I understand, Luke. Let's get the droids in the speeder."
As an attendant threw the last of Bail's belongings in the shuttle, Bail and Breha hugged their goodbyes.
"Don't worry, flower, Obi-Wan is on his way to rescue her as we speak," Bail whispered into Breha's ear. Breha nodded wordlessly into his shoulder.
Their embrace lasted a long time, and Bail didn't want to let go. Finally, Breha stepped back, and looked him in the eye. "Be safe," she said. "My daughter's life is on the line, I don't want my husband's to be, too. Force, I wish I could just keep you here on Alderaan, safe and sound."
Bail didn't know what to say. For some reason, he had a sense of foreboding, like perhaps she was right. He felt like this might be the last time they saw each other. So maybe he would be in serious danger.
He pushed the thoughts away, and simply said, "I'll be back by your side as soon as possible. And so will Leia. I love you, Breha."
"I love you, too," Breha said softly.
Swallowing, Bail turned to climb into the shuttle. He would see her in a few days.
But as the shuttle pulled off the landing dock, he couldn't shake the feeling that he should be savoring every last image of her through the polished transparesteel of the shuttle window.
Notes: Thanks to all who reviewed! I am still in the stage of original scenes, which I should break soon. I intend to keep Bail alive, to explore the dynamic between him and Vader when Leia's heritage is revealed. Don't worry, Vader will come in soon! I just have to set up some exposition stuff first! Please keep reading and reviewing!