"It won't help them, my son." Luke looked up at his father with a mix of confusion and dismay, and then realized he was referring to the warning cry he'd sent through the Force. "None of them have the power you hold. They are blind to the Force."
Luke didn't respond as they walked towards Vader's shuttle, having nothing to say to him. He had done what he could for the Alliance soldiers. Now he needed to focus on his father.
"Father," he began, his speech rehearsed as the transport creaked closer to their destination. Vader interrupted him.
"So you have decided to accept the truth?"
"I have accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father," Luke recited, not trusting himself to ad lib. Vader didn't react visibly to Luke's comment, but the young man felt a ripple in the Force as he used his father's birth name. "And…" he faltered slightly, forgetting exactly what he planned to say, "I believe there is still good in you, Father."
"I am not here to debate definitions with you, my son," Vader responded finally. "What you call goodness is merely weakness. The Emperor will teach you the true meaning of power."
"I have no interest in power that feeds on the fear of others, Father."
"It is not my concern if the beings in this galaxy fear me because of my power."
"What about your fear then?" Luke asked, keeping his voice modulated as they stepped into the shuttle. He leaned in close, speaking just loudly enough to be heard over Vader's deep breathing. "You wanted me to help you overthrow the Emperor. His power only exists because you fear him, Father. Stand up to him and he will be nothing!"
Vader held up his hand to silence Luke. The boy was getting ahead of himself. Palpatine would only be vulnerable if he truly believed that he had Luke's loyalty, and success depended on him first embracing the Dark Side. To be honest, Vader would have preferred if he'd been able to complete Luke's instruction on his own, but the boy's resistance at Bespin had been too much. As much as he resented it, he needed Palpatine's help to turn his son before the two of them could kill the Emperor and take their rightful places as rulers of the galaxy.
"Don't underestimate the power of the Dark Side," Vader warned his son. "You will obey the Emperor, or you will die."
"It is not all powerful," Luke said sullenly. "If it was, you would have killed me already. There is still good in you, Father. I can feel it."
Vader looked at his son, cursing the boy's perception. True, the discovery that his child had lived unlocked something in Vader's soul that he thought had died along with his beloved wife. True, the thought of the boy bowing before Palpatine sickened him to the core. But the Jedi had still betrayed him, and his mindless dedication to the Light Side of the Force had earned him nothing. He forced himself to swallow the tendrils of compassion and love he felt for the boy. Those feelings would only get them both killed.
"It is too late for me, my son," he growled softly, unsure whether the words were a warning or a cry for help. Briefly, he thought about the boy's friends, imprisoned on the Chimaera in the far reaches of the solar system. He wondered if he should order them brought to the Death Star to be offered as sacrifices to Palpatine in order to delay any harm that might be inflicted on his son. For the moment, he opted to leave them languishing in the star destroyer's detention facility. They could be useful if things went awry during his son's initial audience with the Emperor.
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"Can you climb one of these trees?" Derlin whispered to Chewbacca. "I want to get another look at our surroundings before we launch the attack." Chewbacca nodded, grabbing a proffered pair of macrobinoculars and heading over to one of the giant conifers. He swiftly latched onto the surprisingly spongy bark, shimmying up to the first set of branches and disappearing into the canopy.
"Do another scan," he told Artoo, who wheedled in response and began a slow rotation on his base, sensors extended. Threepio stood quietly by, waiting to give a report. He'd been admonished multiple times by the major to stop talking idly, and had finally gotten the point when Derlin threatened to shut him down and cannibalize his parts for weaponry.
Derlin's comlink vibrated, and the gathered commandos could hear Chewbacca's frantic reporting. Gesturing Threepio over, Derlin told Chewbacca to repeat what he had said.
"Oh dear!" Threepio exclaimed. "Chewbacca says there is a mass of Imperial forces less than a kilometer away. At least three squads of troopers and a complement of AT-STs and….slow down, Chewbacca…they're headed this way!" Artoo, finishing his scan, squealed in agreement.
"Kriff." Derlin waved at his troops to follow him. "It's a trap. Tell Chewbacca to stay up there and keep comlink silence until he gets my signal. Let's move out."
"How long until the ships arrive?" Lieutenant Page asked quietly as they gathered their equipment and retreated away from the shield generator.
"Not long enough," Derlin said with a grimace. "But I think I have an idea."
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"Gods, I'm starving," Han muttered, checking his pockets to see if the Imperials had missed any ration bars when they searched him. Leia did the same, shaking out her poncho to see if there was anything there.
"Sorry," she told him. "They took my belt—it had all my supplies."
"I'll live," he said, patting his stomach. "I've got a little more here than I ought to have anyways. Must be getting old." He smiled at her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm not hungry," Leia responded, wondering how in the hell he could be thinking of his stomach at a time like this.
"You've lost weight again," Han said, looking at her critically. Leia couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous context of the comment.
"Less of me to execute then, I guess," she quipped.
"Maybe they've forgotten about us," he suggested hopefully.
"No." She stood, turning away from him. "This is all standard procedure. First they make you wait, starve you, dehydrate you until you don't know which way is up. Then they beat the crap out of you a few times before the real fun starts." Her voice was flat, her face expressionless.
"Leia." Han stood next to her, reaching out tentatively to touch her arm. Her muscles were tense, and she flinched as he made contact. "Please."
"There are scientists out there," she continued, ignoring him, "whose sole research is on better and more efficient ways to cause excruciating pain. They use droids that can monitor the physiological impact of the drugs they inject, so they can take you to the absolute maxim your body can handle without killing you. And then they do it over, and over, and over….." Her voice faded away as she slumped against the wall. "There's no immunity either. I checked, when I was doing my own research…"
"What research? What are you talking about?" He kept his voice soft.
"After Yavin," she said, so quietly he had to strain to hear her. "The medics didn't have time to…deal with me. They wanted to do blood tests but I just couldn't take anymore needles or droids. One of the doctors got fed up and told me that there could be permanent damage if they weren't able to analyze what was done to me, so I did my own research on Imperial interrogation droids."
"What did you find?"
"Not a hell of a lot," Leia admitted. "More about methodology than actual chemicals. I figured I wasn't going to live long enough for it to matter anyways." She laughed dryly, not bothering to add that for a few brief hours before they were captured on Bespin she had cared, for the first time, whether the day would come that she would drop dead from the lingering poisons. For the first time since her home exploded, she had wondered whether the future might hold something other than pain. Now, she could only selfishly hope that they killed her before they killed Han.
He stepped closer, gathering her into his arms and holding her tightly against his body. She was trembling.
"I know exactly what they're doing," she continued, "how they're trying to soften us up." She looked up at him, and her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. "But I'm still scared, Han. I'm still scared."
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"It'll work best if we can take two, but even one should do the trick if we're able to get close enough to the generator facility," Derlin said, using a stick to draw a diagram of his plan in the dirt on the forest floor. "Chewbacca, you still copy?" The Wookiee grunted quietly into the comlink in response.
Derlin looked into the faces of the commandos surrounding him. "We knew coming into this that it could be a suicide mission, and unfortunately I think that's even more of a certainty now. But the survival of the Rebel Alliance depends on our success. I have full faith that we will succeed." The soldiers nodded their assent, clapping each other on the back and offering goodbyes as they checked their weapons.
"Teams will go on my mark," Derlin said. "Keep to your planned trajectory. If you end up taking out all your pursuers, you can double back, but make sure you're not leading any Imps back towards the target. We need to scatter them as much as possible."
"Yes, sir!" Derlin nodded. "Team alpha, get in position."
Three commandos crept back in the direction of the shield generator, armed to the teeth with blasters and grenades. Approaching the enormous facility from one side, they snuck up behind a squadron of stormtroopers, looking to see if any of the AT-STs was accompanying them.
"No walker at the moment," one of them murmured into his comlink. "We'll work on the troopers. Team Alpha out."
Lobbing a grenade, the Rebels watched, gratified, as a few of the troopers fell victim to the blast. The rest turned directly into the volley of blaster fire. A few more of them hit the ground before the Rebels abruptly stopped firing to turn tail and run at full speed into the woods, the remaining members of the stormtrooper squadron in full pursuit.
"Team Alpha is away," Chewie said quietly, watching the men run from his vantage point high in the trees. "Looks like they've got about ten stormies chasing them."
Derlin smiled. So far, so good. Now they just needed to get their hands on one of those AT-STs.
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Luke looked genuinely shocked when Vader delivered him to the throne room. The dark lord tamped down his frustration with his son's inherent optimism, not wanting Palpatine to get too clear a sense of his feelings for the boy. Luke was going to have to learn that the galaxy didn't always have happy endings.
"Welcome, welcome," Palpatine croaked as Vader guided Luke towards the old man. Luke looked at his father in horror, recoiling as he drew closer to the Emperor. "Come now, young Skywalker. An audience with your Emperor is a great honor."
"Not for me," Luke said defiantly, trying not to look past Palpatine at the viewport. The Rebel fleet was due soon, and while it seemed that the attack was expected in part, Luke didn't want to inadvertently give away any details on the strike force or the timing.
Palpatine picked up Luke's lightsaber, fingering the controls. "An impressive weapon, young Skywalker. Your power rivals that of your father." He gave Luke a sickening smile. "But it is the weapon of a Jedi." He spat out the word as if it were a curse. "You will need a more appropriate blade when you are in my service."
"I'll never serve you." Luke's voice wavered slightly, but he forced himself to stand firm and not back away as the Emperor tottered towards him. "Soon I'll be dead, and you with me."
Palpatine cackled, the sound grating on Luke's ears. "Ah, yes. The imminent attack of your Rebel fleet. Don't worry, young Skywalker. I am fully prepared to deal with your Rebel friends. Perhaps if you behave yourself I will even let you attend some executions."
Luke paled, trying not to look fazed. He desperately tried to keep his thoughts off Leia.
"You'll never turn me to the Dark Side," he said, hoping to shift the Emperor's attention back to him. "I am a Jedi, like my father before me."
Laughing again, Palpatine looked at Vader. "Leave us!" he barked. For a moment, Vader didn't move. Abandoning Luke to Palpatine was not part of his plan. A few seconds passed, and the Emperor scowled at him. "Lord Vader, I said leave us." Having no other option, Vader bowed low, backing out of the room.
Once outside, he stayed near the door, ready to respond if Palpatine tried to harm his son. He could feel the Emperor's frustration with the boy's stubborn resistance, and felt a cold fear that Luke could be killed if he didn't show signs of turning soon. Summoning an aide, he ordered them to get in contact with the Chimaera.
"Have the prisoners brought here immediately," he said. On Bespin, the boy had edged close to the Dark Side, and Vader was confident that if he'd been able to use the princess as leverage over the boy as he'd planned, they would be ruling the galaxy already. But better late than never.
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"Beta team is away!" The second group of Rebels had attracted the attention of another full squadron of stormtroopers, and was leading them on a merry chase into another section of woods. The AT-STs still remained idle though, and Chewbacca grumbled in frustration as he peered at them through the macrobinoculars. Derlin's plan would only work if they could isolate an AT-ST during its pursuit.
Swinging down to a lower branch, he noticed some motion in the trees to the south. For a moment, he was concerned that the Imperials had zeroed in on his unlikely hiding place, but a closer look revealed that a team of Ewoks had assembled and was watching the proceedings below with interest. The Wookiee decided to ignore them for the moment. Their weapons were primitive and he had no idea whether they would be willing to help the Rebels divert the stormtroopers.
"Kappa, go!" Derlin's voice came through a few minutes later, and Chewbacca saw yet more explosions as the penultimate group of Rebels raided the rapidly diminishing personnel outside the shield generator. As they had anticipated, the blast doors on the shield generator had been sealed tightly after the first attack, which had the unexpected benefit of limiting the number of troops outside. Finally there were few enough that the Imperials were forced to bring in one of their walkers. Chewie growled the news over his comm.
"Team Kappa, head west southwest! You've got a target!" Derlin hissed. The commandos responded immediately, giving the walker enough time to get a bead on them before heading directly underneath Chewbacca.
He swung through the trees after them, hanging from his powerful arms as he leapt from branch to branch. Years of experience hunting on Kashyyyk gave him the skills he needed to move quickly and silently, his eyes never leaving the AT-ST as it tromped through the forest. At the planned time, the Rebel team split up again, and Chewbacca saw the transport hesitate before barging a path after one of the men.
More movement in the trees up ahead caught his attention, and he grimaced when he saw another group of Ewoks sitting on a branch watching the pursuit with interest. They were discussing something amongst themselves, and he nervously kept one eye on them as he followed after the walker.
The rebel soldier doubled back, sheltering behind a tree as the AT-ST fired. Raising his bowcaster, Chewbacca aimed at the walker, but held his fire. The bolts likely wouldn't pierce the thick armor, and would just give away his position. He had hoped the driver might open the top voluntarily, but he'd have to do this the hard way. Swinging down, he prepared to leap on top of the walker and lie in wait for the first poor soul to investigate.
A high pitched battle cry rang out as the Wookiee drew closer, and Chewbacca and the soldier on the ground both looked up in surprise as one of the trees began raining Ewoks down on the walker.
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"You expect your father to save you, young Skywalker?" Palpatine watched the tranquil space outside the Death Star as he spoke. "Surely you must know that he is fully under my control now."
Luke bit his lip, not sure whether it was worth getting into a debate with the Emperor. It wasn't like he was going to be able to argue him into giving up the Dark Side. At the same time, he desperately wished Vader would come back. Being alone with Palpatine wasn't high on his bucket list.
"He would kill you if I ordered it," Palpatine continued. "Though perhaps I will wait until we have a chance to greet your Rebel friends properly."
"I don't believe he will harm me," Luke stated, his eyes following the Emperor's gaze into empty space. The Rebel fleet would be arriving soon…
"What you believe has no bearing on what is true, boy," the Emperor cackled. He turned to watch Luke, who stood as impassively as possible. The old man fingered Luke's weapon, which he clutched as he hobbled back towards his throne. "You want this, don't you?"
Luke shook his head.
"Take your Jedi weapon," Palpatine taunted. "Strike me down with it. We both know you crave my blood."
Luke didn't move.
With a smile, Palpatine sat back down, depressing a comm button on the side of the throne. "Have Lord Vader return with a Rebel prisoner."
At that command, Luke gulped. He had no idea whether any additional Rebels had been captured since he took leave of the strike team, but the possibility that Leia was about to be dragged in by Vader and presented to the Emperor shook him to the core. The thought of them harming her to get to him was bad enough, but if one or both men discovered their relationship, the Emperor might abandon his recruitment of Luke to focus on corrupting his untrained sister.
A moment later, Vader came back through the door. "The Rebel prisoners are on their way," he reported. Luke could sense that he wasn't happy about some turn of events. He looked directly at Luke. "I suggest," he said, "that you obey your master, lest your friends be made to suffer."
Luke turned slightly green. It was like Bespin all over, but with the added complication of Palpatine's presence and his own knowledge of the existence of his sibling. Briefly, he mused that his ignorance of his relationship to Leia probably protected her during his previous duel with his father.
"This is your last chance, young Skywalker," Palpatine told him, his voice growing less solicitous. "Kneel."
Luke knew he had to act. Stretching out his hand, he yanked his lightsaber away from the Emperor. Igniting it, he swung it at the old man's head.
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The sound of boots outside their cell brought both Han and Leia to their feet. Han pushed Leia behind him as the door slid open, revealing four heavily armed stormtroopers and an officer holding two pairs of binders. The stormtroopers pushed their way in, not speaking as they wrenched the couple apart and tightly bound their hands.
"Where are we going now?" Han asked the officer. He didn't respond. Two troopers flanked each of the prisoners, keeping an iron grip on their arms as the officer led them towards a turbolift at the end of the long corridor. Han twisted his head back to look at Leia, who was being dragged along behind them faster than she could keep up. He gave her a comforting wink, and she smiled wanly back at him. Her face was stark white, but her eyes were bright and clear. Han knew she thought they were about to be executed, but he was nervous that their fate was not so simple.
They were marched out of the lift and into a wide hangar, confirming Han's earlier suspicion that they were on a star destroyer rather than the Death Star itself. A shuttle sat warming up, its boarding ramp extended, and the troops prodded them in, securing their cuffs to the seats. Two of the troopers and the officer settled into the passenger compartment as well, keeping guns trained on their captives.
"Nice digs," Han said pleasantly, trying to get any sort of reaction out of the stone faced Imperial. "How fast can these things go? I remember when they used to make the Lambda-class without a hyperdrive. That was a real waste, I thought. Of course, I suppose with the way you all travel it wouldn't be much fun being cooped up in the back of one of these for a real long trip. Personally, I like a little space to stretch out. "
He thought the Imps would at least punch him to shut him up, and was surprised when they remained stock still, ignoring his rambling. Leia was staring gape mouthed at him, clearly trying to decide whether to scold or laugh. He gave her a confident grin, and she finally broke down in a hysterical laugh.
"Crazy rebel scum," the officer muttered, heading for the cockpit door.
"I knew you could talk!" Han called after him.
The Imperial captain closed the cockpit door behind him, standing stiffly behind the pilot.
"What's our ETA?"
"It'll be about three quarters of an hour," the pilot reported back. "We're under orders to stick to sublights and stay out of sectors 3 and 4."
"Have you requested permission to circumvent those orders?" the captain asked. "We're delivering the prisoners directly to his Highness, and he won't want to be kept waiting."
"Will do, sir." The pilot activated the comm system, hailing the Death Star. "Requesting permission to…what the?" The transmission abruptly dropped as the pilot instinctively pulled back on the throttle, knocking the captain off his feet as he narrowly avoided smashing into a massive Mon Calamari cruiser that blinked into realspace directly in front of them. As the shuttle arced over the top of the bulbous ship, the pilot could see that an enormous fleet had appeared and was heading directly for the Death Star. A moment later, a volley of laser fire erupted from the rebel cruiser, buffeting the shuttle as it slammed against their shields.
"Evasive action," the captain ordered tightly.
"What about the prisoners?" the pilot asked, whipping away from their attacker.
"I have orders to get them to the Emperor unharmed," the captain responded. "Let's hang back and try to get in touch with command before we're blown to bits."
"Yes, sir." Swinging them around, the pilot headed back for the shelter of one of the outer moons as star destroyers began emerging from concealment and the battle began in earnest.
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Leia shrieked as they were rocked by the blast from the Mon Cal ship.
"I think we just got hit by something," Han said. She turned to glare at him.
"Thanks for that report, flyboy." They both watched the stormtroopers carefully as they felt the shuttle whip upwards and then turn around.
"Want to go check?" one of them said finally to his companion. The other trooper reached forward to double check that their captives' binders hadn't come loose, and then slipped up into the cockpit. A moment later, he returned.
"Just a detour," he reported. "We're still on track to deliver them to the Emperor."
Leia blanched, twisting slightly in her bindings. Han looked over at her, not able to summon the will for a comforting smile this time. He knew they weren't so lucky as to just get shot.