Isard sipped her water, barely touching the plate of fresh Devaronian land crab risotto that had been placed in front of her. Pestage was arguing with Paltr Carvin about how to deploy the remaining fleet, and she kept her expression neutral as she pondered which of these idiotic men was more likely to drive the Empire into the ground before the end of the year. Carvin wanted to send the fleet to the shipyards at Kuat, both to secure the remaining capital ships that were under repair after the battle at Endor and to keep the Rebels from capturing the construction facilities there. Pestage, ever concerned about saving his own hide, wanted to recall the scattered fleet to Imperial Center to regroup and protect the capital from the Rebel attack he saw as inevitable.
This was the point at which Isard was supposed to let them know that the Rebels weren't going to launch a major campaign to take Imperial Center. Their plans were far more insidious, if poorly executed. But she held her tongue.
It was Leia Organa she had seen in the hall on the way to dinner, she was certain of it. But why would the Rebels send one of their highest ranking leaders on a suicide mission without even the most basic disguise? And how did she manage to infiltrate the palace? Security had gone to hell since Palpatine's death, so Isard allowed that the answer to her second question may simply be that the princess bribed someone to let her in, or found a Rebel sympathizer with access to the council's portion of the monument. But the plan still smacked of a weird desperation for a group that had just scored its biggest victory ever.
If she could free herself from this pointless meeting, she was going to find out more. In the meantime, she would say nothing. The worst that could happen, she mused, was that Organa might successfully assassinate the council. And that would hardly be cause to mourn.
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Leia leaned her head on Han's shoulder, the gentle rise and fall of his body as he breathed lulling her into a comfortable calm. He'd fallen asleep nearly the moment his head hit the pillow, having spent the day climbing in the central power station of the palace with heavy pipes propped on his back to weld into spots weakened by age and neglect. The room was pitch dark and quiet relative to the ships they'd become accustomed to sleeping on, but that hadn't deterred Han. Leia wondered if there was anywhere he wasn't capable of passing out.
She, on the other hand, had grown used to insomnia in the past few years. Being with Han usually relaxed her, but now the solitude was giving her the chance to reflect on their situation, and that was anything but relaxing. She'd had a moment of pure terror earlier when she saw Ysanne Isard pass by, sure the woman would recognize her, but so far she seemed oblivious. Still, the palace had a stain of malevolence about it that she couldn't ignore, as though evil were seeping out of the walls themselves. She told herself that it was just her imagination, spurred on by her memories of being here as a senator in a room with Palpatine and Vader, but it seemed so real. She curled up closer to Han, who mumbled in his sleep and rolled over.
"Leia." With a stifled gasp, she flipped around, reaching under her pillow for the blaster she'd managed to smuggle in. But no stormtrooper stood above her in the darkness. Instead, the same apparition she'd seen in her dream, the kindly looking man with long Jedi robes—the one who claimed to be her biological father—flickered into view.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, once again unsure whether she was awake or asleep. She tried pinching her arm. It hurt, but she still wasn't convinced.
"I came to apologize. I shouldn't have left like that before. It was cowardly of me."
"How so?" She pushed herself up on her elbows as Han snored on.
"You asked me why you and your brother needed protection as children, why you were hidden. I should have told you. You were hidden from me."
"From you? Why?" Leia reached out towards the apparition, wondering if she would be able to touch him. "Because you were a Jedi?"
"No, Leia." The man bowed his head, and it almost appeared as if there were tears in his ghostly eyes. "I was no longer a Jedi when you were born. I….I had apprenticed myself to Palpatine. I'm…I'm sorry."
She stared at him, hearing but not comprehending the words. What kind of dream was this? Finally, she just laughed.
"This is crazy. First I dream that you're my long lost birth father, and now you're saying what…you're the ghost of Darth Vader?"
He said nothing, but simply stood looking at her in the darkness. Finally, he spoke again, the word coming out slowly, painfully. "Yes."
"Yes to which?"
"Yes to both, Leia. I abandoned my family to serve the Emperor and took the name Darth Vader. Your brother saved me, brought me back to my true self."
She backed away as he spoke, pressing up against Han's sleeping form. "There is no way that any of that is possibly true."
"Search your feelings, Leia. The Force is with you—it will show you the truth."
Suddenly she grew angry. "That is complete crap. I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but if you had even the slightest idea what Darth Vader has done to me and my friends, you wouldn't dare spew those lies."
The being before her shimmered, beginning to disappear into the darkness. "Be wary, my daughter. Things are not always as they seem."
"Go to hell," she spat out, flopping back down on the bed and pulling a pillow over her head. "Whatever you are, go to hell."
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Luke woke up, flipping to look at the chrono on the table beside his bed. Across the room, Lando still snored quietly in the darkness of the early morning. The rest of the room was still silent, but Luke felt….troubled. Angry. Confused. Though he wasn't sure why. Finally, realizing he wouldn't get back to sleep, he slipped into the 'fresher unit and turned on the light, figuring he'd take the free time to practice the Jedi meditations that Yoda had drilled into him.
Cross legged on the tile floor, he concentrated on allowing the Force to flow through his body and guide his mind. Soon the room disappeared, a sea of warm fog embracing him as he floated. Then he heard a familiar voice. "If you had even the slightest idea what Darth Vader has done to me and my friends, you wouldn't dare spew those lies….." The voice echoed as if coming across a long distance, and then faded away into the mist.
"Leia!" Luke called out, not realizing he was speaking aloud. "Where are you?"
A knock at the 'fresher door brought him abruptly out of his trance. "Luke? You okay in there?"
He stood, opening the door for Lando. "I'm fine. Just trying to catch a little time for meditation. Hasn't been much opportunity for that lately."
"You were yelling for Leia." Lando looked around the room quizzically.
"I had a vision of her…sort of."
Lando leaned against the doorframe, checking the time and yawning when he realized that dawn was still an hour away. "Did she ever tell you about how we found you when we escaped Cloud City?" Luke shook his head, intrigued. Lando rarely spoke of their first meeting, though it was unclear if his reticence was out of shame from his betrayal of his friends or pain at the loss of his home and livelihood to the Imperials. "Out of nowhere, she says 'I know where Luke is,' and made us turn around. Damned if she didn't fly us right to you. It was eerie."
It made perfect sense to Luke now, of course. He'd cried out in the Force to her, and she—his sister, his twin—had heard him. But he simply smiled at Lando. "The Force works in mysterious ways."
"So what's our plan going to be? I think we should try to shake that ship loose today: makes me nervous just sitting around here without an escape route." Lando stroked his mustache, pondering their situation.
"I want to meet up with my new buddy Daze," Luke told him. "I think he's our best shot right now at finding out what happened to Leia and Han."
"Yeah," said Lando, "But don't you think that whole Imperial Intelligence thing was a little, well, bold? What if the actual Imperial Intelligence shows up?"
"I'll deal with that when it happens," Luke said, his tone a touch cocky.
"In the meantime, I think we should find a way to get onto the Chimaera then." Lando didn't relish the idea of voluntarily putting himself on an Imperial Star Destroyer, but if Han and Leia were being held there, they had no other choice.
"No," Luke responded, surprising him. "There's no reason to do that."
"Why? What if that's where Han and Leia are?"
"They aren't. They aren't in this system at all."
"Then where are they?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out," Luke said, growing frustrated. "I am not omniscient. I just know they aren't here!"
A rapping on the shared door between their suite and the one housing the Wookiee and the droids let Luke and Lando know that Chewbacca was awake. Lando went over to let him in, then returned to his discussion with Luke. The older man was growing frustrated as well, though he had more experience at hiding his irritation.
"Luke, I respect you," Lando said, looking up at Chewbacca for moral support. The Wookiee listened with interest, but said nothing. "But I don't know that it is a good idea to base our strategy entirely on your feelings about where our friends may or may not be. Have you stopped to consider that maybe your grasp on the Force isn't quite up to this sort of challenge?"
"Why do you doubt him?" Chewbacca rumbled.
"I don't doubt him," Lando said defensively. "I just think it's worth creating some redundancy in the system."
"Like what?" the Wookiee asked.
"Like being prepared to get onto the Chimaera if that's where they're being held." Lando threw his hands in the air. "I don't get why that's such a bad idea."
"It wouldn't be a bad idea if there was a possibility that they were on the Chimaera," Luke said, trying to return to the calm he'd felt during his meditation. "But they aren't."
"Then there is no need to make a plan to board the Star Destroyer," Chewie said firmly. Sighing in defeat, Lando headed for the 'fresher.
"Fine," he said. "I guess I'm outvoted." He slammed the door behind him.
"You must understand, cub," Chewie continued, speaking slowly so Luke could pick out at least some of the words, "Lando is of a generation that saw the Jedi fall. It is hard for some to trust the Jedi implicitly. Han is the same way, even now."
Luke listened closely, trying his best to understand the Wookiee's words. "I get that I can't always expect people to listen to me just because I'm a Jedi," he admitted. "But this is different. I know Leia isn't here."
"Your bond with her is strong," Chewie mused. Luke furrowed his eyebrows at him, not understanding the Wookiee's words. "You love her," he said, more slowly this time.
"Yes." Luke hoped Chewbacca wouldn't take his confession the wrong way. Friends though they were, the Wookiee's loyalty lay with Han. He might not take kindly to the possibility that Luke would try to interfere with the budding relationship between the pilot and the princess. "Chewie, can I tell you something? You have to keep it a secret."
"Of course, cub. What's bothering you?"
"It's not bothering me, exactly," Luke began. "It's about Leia. When I went off to finish my training, I found out that she and I…"
"Yes?"
"She's my sister," Luke said finally. "My twin sister."
Chewie grinned at him, chortling. "That's convenient for Han, isn't it?"
"What?"
"Good for Han," Chewie repeated. "No competition."
This time Luke understood him. "I don't think I ever really was," he said. "They were meant for each other." Then he grew serious again. "But that's part of why we have to find her. I'm supposed to train her as a Jedi as well. So we can rebuild the Order together."
"You may have a hard time convincing her. As I recall, Jedi were not supposed to have relationships. Though I suppose there's no one around to enforce those rules anymore."
Puzzled, Luke shrugged at him, not comprehending the words. Chewie sighed, weighing the benefits of turning Threepio back on to translate. Finally he just patted Luke on the shoulder and opted to enjoy the quiet a moment longer. There would be enough time for discussing Jedi traditions later.
"You and Lando should go and find out if we can get the ship released," Luke said, changing the subject. "I'm supposed to meet with an Imperial who might know what happened to prisoners from the Chimaera, and we should be ready to go as soon as I talk to him."
"What if he doesn't show?" Lando asked, emerging from the 'fresher with a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Then I guess we stay," Luke said. "But I want to be prepared to head out the moment we find something. I heard Leia when I was meditating. She was talking to someone, and it sounded like it wasn't someone she found friendly."
"Do you think the Imps still have them in custody?" Lando asked.
"I don't know. They might have escaped. But I don't want to bank on that."
"Okay," Lando said, his early annoyance at the young man melted away by time and a hot shower. "Let's get going then."
A few hours later, Luke sat back at the bar, trying to look nonchalant as he nursed a liquor and juice concoction that seemed designed to dissolve his esophagus. There was no sign yet of Daze or his compatriot, but plenty of other Imperial soldiers milled around. The civilian patrons were much more sparse today, presumably, Luke thought, because of the incident with the drunken man the previous evening.
He turned his attention to the holoscreen, which was tuned to news broadcast with the volume off. Around him the soldiers relaxed and chatted, reminding him of nothing more than the Alliance rank-and-file hanging out in a shipboard mess hall.
"You hear that II is poking around?" he overheard one man behind him say to his two companions, gathered around a low table to drink their morning beer ration.
"You gotta be kriffing kidding me," another growled. "What for? They think we staged this whole thing?"
"Naw, apparently they're trying to track down prisoners."
"And defectors," the third chimed in. "I heard one commander already got arrested."
"For what?"
"Dunno. Just heard it."
"Stang. Who was it?"
"Dunno."
Luke considered giving them a scare by revealing that he—at least as far as they knew—was Imperial Intelligence and had overheard their borderline insubordinate conversation, but opted instead to stay seated. If low ranking Imperial soldiers started questioning the dedication of their government to its more vulnerable servants, that only helped the Alliance cause.
The three eventually got up and left, grumbling about the end of their shore leave, and Luke turned his attention to the holo in front of him. The streaming headlines at the bottom were highly filtered by Imperial censors, so Luke refused to be troubled when reports of a number of previously Alliance-aligned planets declaring allegiance to the Empire scrolled slowly across. He'd just as soon believe that Leia had joined the Imperial Ruling Council as that Mon Calamari decided the Empire was its government of choice.
He sensed someone watching him. His military training kicking in, he didn't react, but rather turned away to check the reflection in the low glass wall separating the bar from the larger lobby. A big man, propped up on crutches, was looking at him and mumbling to a companion. A moment later he shifted and Luke saw that it was Daze.
Eventually Daze and his burly friend walked up, settling in the chairs opposite Luke.
"You're II?" the friend—Gabe, Luke remembered, asked unceremoniously.
"At ease, soldier," Luke responded, sending waves of calm through the Force to counteract the mistrust he could feel pouring off the man. "I'm not here to bust you for anything. Quite the opposite."
"Good," Gabe said, impressively bold for a man facing down an intelligence agent. "Kriffing Rebs blew my leg off. I don't deserve to get any crap from my own side."
"He's still on a lot of painkillers," Daze stammered nervously. "Gabe, no need to be rude."
"Don't kriffing talk to me like that," Gabe snapped at Daze, "Either this guy's gonna arrest me, at which point I intend to give him a piece of my mind, or else he's on our side…" He leaned over to Luke, revealing a gap toothed, yellowing smile. "And he doesn't mind letting an enlisted man blow off a little steam."
From Gabe's breath, Luke could smell that painkillers weren't the only intoxicants in the man's system at the moment. He smiled back. "You go ahead and blow off steam, soldier. Doesn't bother me a bit."
"Good." Gabe snapped his fingers above his head, summoning a service droid. "Gemme another beer. You want anything?" Luke held up his drink, shaking his head.
"Thank you for coming by," Luke began again. "I know you've been through a lot. I was hoping you could tell me about prisoners that were on your ship. We've had a few garbled reports and we're trying to set things straight."
"Yeah," Gabe said, "That's what Daze told me. We were assigned to an outer sector, so we didn't get many. There were just two on my detention level."
"Who were they?" Luke tried to hide his excitement.
"Never did get their names. Man and a woman, both human. Command just told us to keep 'em in the cell and leave 'em alone. Apparently the orders came direct from Darth Vader." He leaned in again and winked at Luke. "Too bad, though. Would have liked a few minutes with the woman. She was a cute one."
Fighting every urge he had to punch the man in the face, Luke continued through half gritted teeth, "Were they on the ship still when you retreated to Kuat?"
"Nah." Gabe turned around as the server droid brought him his drink and took a long draught. "They got taken to a shuttle right before the Rebs showed up. Last I heard was that they were being transferred to the Death Star. So I guess they got what was coming to them, huh?" He cackled, taking another drink.
"What was the shuttle designation?"
"Why do you need to know?" Gabe grew belligerent again. "You don't believe me?"
"I believe you," Luke said honestly, sending calming waves through the Force. "Like I said, we're tracking down defectors. We have some reason to believe that those prisoners may have escaped because of a defector on the shuttle."
"I don't know the exact designation," Gabe said, satisfied with Luke's hasty explanation, "But all the shuttles on Chimaera had the prefix Bandor or Ressen."
Two sets of prefixes, Luke thought despondently. How many damn shuttles did that thing carry?
"But it was a Lambda-class," Gabe added suddenly, "So it must have been either Shuttle Bandorisse or Bandorium."
"Better," Luke said, nodding. "Any idea where they might have ended up?"
"Probably blown to bits over Endor." Gabe suddenly frowned, checking a comlink at his side. "Excuse me for a sec." A moment later, Daze did the same.
"Gotta go," Daze said suddenly as the bulk of the bar patrons began standing and heading off towards turbolifts.
"What's going on?" Luke asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
"Rebel vessel just entered the system," Daze reported. "They're calling for all hands to report in."
Frowning, Luke tossed a credit chip onto the table and made his way into the lobby. The civilians and staff were still going about their business, unconcerned by the sudden movement of troops. It seemed like an odd reaction to an impending Rebel attack.
One of the desk staff noticed Luke's perplexed look and walked over to talk to him. "No need to worry, sir. I heard it over the comm. It's just a light freighter. One they've been looking for."
"All this for a light freighter?" Luke frowned. There was obviously more to it than anyone was letting on. He needed to find Chewbacca and Lando.
"Yeah," grinned the staffer, clearly relishing the break in routine. "Heard 'em say that they think it could be the Millennium Falcon."
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"You okay?" Han rolled over to hover above Leia as they enjoyed the last few moments before the alarm rang to get them out of bed.
Not knowing how much surveillance was tracking their moves and conversations meant that Leia could hardly divulge the details of the troubling dream, or vision, or whatever it was. Instead she just cuddled close and whispered. "Had a bad dream and didn't sleep much."
Han frowned. "You could have woken me up."
"You needed your rest."
"I'm up now."
"It's all right." She stared at him, hoping he would take her meaning. We can't talk about it here, she added silently.
"Well…." He looked at the chrono. "We've got twenty minutes before we need to get up. Maybe we could find something to do to take your mind off your bad dreams."
Leia blushed mightily. "Here?"
"Why not?"
"I can think of a lot of good reasons," she said sternly, her cheeks still red. "But you have given me an idea."
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Leia and Alba stood shoulder to shoulder, chopping root vegetables for the evening's meal. The sous chef prattled on about her family back on Anaxes, her favorite holofilm actor, and bits and pieces of petty gossip about the other palace staff. The princess was content to stand and listen, her mind still distracted by her bizarre conversation with the supposed Jedi ghost.
"So do you?"
"Hm?" Leia hadn't been paying attention. "Sorry, what's that?"
"You need to get some more rest, babe," Alba said with a laugh. "I said tonight is our monthly night off, and the girls usually all get together and go out. You in?"
"I don't know…" Leia hesitated. Leaving the palace just made it more likely that someone out on the street would recognize her.
"Aw, c'mon. It's fun. Just because you're married doesn't mean you can't have fun, right?"
"Of course not!" Leia said resolutely. "In fact, that reminds me…" She leaned in to whisper to the woman. "My husband and I haven't been…well, intimate, since we got here." Alba gasped dramatically, then giggled as Leia went on, "It's because he's worried that they've got cameras or microphones or something watching the staff."
"That's ridiculous," Alba said, continuing to laugh. "Trust me, those rooms are private." She dropped her voice even lower. "People have gotten away with some impressive stuff in there. There is no way they're bugged." She winked. "So you two are good to go."
"All right then." Leia looked away, her face burning. She'd gotten the information she needed, but there was no way she was going to share the details of her method with Han. He'd never let it go.
"So you'll come with us?" Alba asked cheerily, starting in on another vegetable.
"Um…sure." Leia smiled. It had been so long since she'd hung out for any length of time with a group of women. Maybe this would even be fun. "I'd love to."
"You done yet in there?" bellowed the chef from the other room, interrupting their conversation. A moment later he strode in, brandishing a heavy wooden spoon. Leia looked down at her task, noticing how Alba flinched as he drew closer.
Bastard, Leia thought harshly, remembering how Alba had come in the other day after her confrontation with him rubbing a sore spot on her back. She longed to turn around and give him a piece of her mind, but ruining their mission over one abusive manager was out of the question. Instead, she gritted her teeth as Alba reassured him they were nearly finished.
"Lovely man," Leia murmured quietly after he had left.
"Yeah." Alba's usually bright demeanor faded into a bitter frown. "And they wonder why we can't keep kitchen staff."
Reaching over to give her new friend a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, Leia forgot momentarily about her disturbing vision the night before. Instead, she wondered how she might include Chef Skiren on the growing list of people she intended to kill before leaving Coruscant.
a/n Hey everybody-thanks so much for reading! There is a lot of story left to go, but my updates are going to slow down quite a bit because I'm starting a new full time job. I'll keep up as best I can but don't be alarmed if some time passes before I can turn the next chapters around. - radioboca