"Are you sure you're all right back there?" Breha cringed as Mich turned around, taking his eyes off the road ahead to glance through the small window into the cargo area of the truck where they had secreted themselves early that morning as it passed swiftly by the safe house. He was well known around the palace as a danger to himself and others when behind the controls of a landspeeder, and she wondered how he could have possibly been offered a job as a trucker. The vehicle rocked weaved slightly back and forth as he maneuvered through the plains outside of Aldera.
"We're just fine, Mich." Bail spoke up, seeing his wife's face turn slightly green. "Go ahead and keep your eyes on the road." He patted Breha's knee reassuringly and leaned over to whisper to her. "He's never gotten in a bad accident." She rolled her eyes.
Scooting back towards the rear of the truck, Breha spoke quietly to one of the medics who was to accompany them off planet. They had brought along three badly injured Alderaanis—two wounded in the recent riot in Aldera, and one who had narrowly escaped execution by firing squad on the main street. Leaning over, she stroked the wounded man's hair.
"Carlist, do you need anything? I'm sorry it's a bit rough back here, but we'll have you somewhere safe soon."
"Please don't worry about me," Rieekan responded, grimacing as the speeder bumped slightly. Breha could see he was missing multiple teeth, and gently took a bottle of water from one of the medics to drip into his mouth. "You don't need to do that."
"I have little else better to do at the moment," she responded lightly, "Other than worry that Mich is going to drive us off a cliff."
The light trickling through the small window into the cab brightened as the day pressed on, and Breha began wishing she had thought to grab some sort of chrono to keep track of the time. They rarely took ground transport on their trips to the mountains, and so she had little context for the length of the trip. Finally, she decided to lean her head back and close her eyes, assuming that opportunities for rest in the near future would be few and far between.
It seemed that she had no more than blinked when she heard her husband whispering in her ear.
"Onwards and upwards, my love. We're walking from here."
Breha stretched and looked over at the three invalids, resting quietly on makeshift pallets crafted from old blankets. "What about them? Is it far?"
"There's a speeder with enough room for them and one of the medics. They'll meet us there." The back of the cargo area rolled open, flooding them with bright sunlight as the small group crawled out.
"Your highness, you should ride," Rieekan croaked at Breha, holding a hand up to shield his eyes from the light. "I can walk."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard today," Breha chided him. "Our creator gave me two feet and I certainly know how to use them." Rieekan chuckled weakly. "What's funny?"
"You sound like the Princess."
"Then I suppose she comes by it honestly."
The landspeeder pulled up, piloted by a young man with shaggy dark hair hanging to his chin.
"Where did you get that, Farn?" Mich asked as he helped unload the boxes of supplies from the back of the truck.
"I've had it," Farn admitted sheepishly. "I was worried Kita would make me drain the fuel and bring it up to the camp."
Mich just shook his head. "Well, I guess it's a good thing we have it now. You know where you're meeting the shuttle?"
"Yup."
"And did you bring the additional passengers down?"
"Well, yes, a few….there are four."
"What?" Bail joined the conversation. "But there's plenty of room."
Farn gave a quick bow to the viceroy. "Yes, sir…I mean, your highness, sir. It's just, no one wanted to leave."
"Even the children?"
"I think they felt like if people started to run away, we're handing the planet over to the Empire. The people who are coming want to join up with the Alliance."
"Oh." The same sense had driven Bail and Breha back to their home after the Death Star's destruction, but he had no expectation that the civilian population of Alderaan follow that same path. Hearing the boy's explanation touched him. "You should know, we're not really fleeing either. We'll be back, soon."
"Well, actually…." Farn started, "I was hoping if there's still room that I could come with you. My brother is in the Alliance, and I want to join up too."
"How old are you, young man?"
Farn grinned. "How old do I need to be?"
"Fair enough." Farn turned to hop into the landspeeder, peeking into the back and grimacing when he saw the faces of the three injured passengers. "Also, we've got the Princess's protocol droid for you to take back too. I left him at the lakeside to keep watch."
"You can keep it if you need," Bail said, but Farn shook his head furiously.
"No, sir. He's driving everyone nuts."
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Vader landed the shuttle in a desolate stretch of the Jundland Wastes, settling it in the shadow of one of the deep canyons that his former self had used as a proving ground for podracers. Alone in the cockpit, he indulged himself for a moment, whipping around the sheer rock faces as he sought an ideal spot for a temporary encampment. He could sense Leia's alarm at the sudden accelerations.
Leaving her locked in her cabin, he emerged for the first time in more than twenty years into the blinding twin sunlight of Tatooine. His suit blocked the heat, but he could still remember the smell of dust and baked rock, and the prickling sand against his skin. He had memories of the past frequently, but here, on his childhood home, the recollections felt more real instead of seeming like a holodoc of someone else's life. He wondered if the stones that marked his mother's final resting place had survived years of assault by the desert winds. She would have loved Leia: they shared the same warm smile. The last vision he'd had of his mother forced its way past the good memories, and he saw her beaten and broken body leaking life out onto the floor of a dirty tent. He tried to shake the memory away, and the picture in his mind's eye of Shmi was replaced by Leia, similarly battered as she lay unconscious on the floor of her cell. He clenched his fists, trying to refocus his thoughts.
"Dammit, Skywalker!" he muttered, failing to notice that for the first time since he'd battled Kenobi over the hellish landscape of Mustafar, he'd thought of himself using the name of his birth.
Leia was sitting in the same spot on her cot where he always found her when he burst into her cabin.
"Out," he ordered.
"Where are we?" She stretched, and fanned herself lightly as she noticed that the cabin was growing noticeably warmer.
"Somewhere you can continue your training," he told her, gesturing for her to follow him outside. Leia put her hands over her face as they walked out, withering under the hot suns.
"I'm supposed to train in some uninhabitable badlands?" she said derisively, "Not that I'm planning on doing any training, of course. You realize we humans can't live in an oven, right?"
"Plenty of humans live here," he responded, gritting the remains of his teeth to keep from responding to her rude tone. "You'll have to toughen up."
"Like hell I will," she muttered, practically running to keep up with his long strides as he walked along the canyon.
"Luke Skywalker managed."
Leia stopped. "What do you want with Luke?"
Vader turned to address her. "He grew up here."
"So?" She was nervous. She'd only known Luke for a short while, but they had an immediate connection. If Vader knew Luke had anything to do with the destruction of the Death Star…
"He's a very talented young man. I should like to meet him."
"Is that why you brought me here? As bait for Luke? It's not going to work…"
"No, Leia. I've brought you here to train you in the power of the Dark Side. To realize your full potential as my…."
"DO NOT CALL ME YOUR DAUGHTER!" she screamed, turning back to head for the ship. Reaching a hand out towards her, Vader used the Force to stop her in her tracks, yanking her back towards him.
"The truth is not always to our liking, daughter, but that does not make it any less the truth," he hissed quietly at her. "Now, you will join me, and together we will rid the galaxy of the Emperor and take his place as rightful rulers." Gripping her shoulder, he gave her a mild shake. "Am I understood?"
She tried to yank herself away, but he held his grip. "Am I understood?" Finally, he felt her sag.
"Yes."
"Good. Now we will proceed with your training." He began walking quickly back towards the ship, with Leia lagged several meters in his footsteps. As he reached the gangplank, Leia's eyes grew wide as she broke into a run to catch up. Too far behind, she gasped as he activated the controls, closing the door.
"Your task is to survive," he said as the door slammed in her face.
As the ringing echo of the slamming door faded away down the canyon, Leia looked up at the crumbling rocks around her, radiating heat as the suns rose higher in the sky. Finding a small alcove between some boulders, she squatted down, wondering how long he meant to leave her out here to fend for herself. A tentacled centipede crawled by, waving dark brown antennae in her direction before disappearing into a crack in the ground. Other than that, there were no signs of life.
She'd learned on Endor that focusing on her own sorry state did little to help her make it through the day, so instead she pondered why Vader would have mentioned Luke. She knew from the whispered stories of palace staff on Alderaan that Vader had been responsible for murdering hundreds of the Jedi knights that used to safeguard the galaxy. Presumably Luke had somehow escaped the earlier genocide and now Vader wanted to finish the job. She had to stop him, but how? Luke didn't stand a chance against the Dark Lord in combat.
An ear-shattering howl filled the canyon, startling Leia to her feet. She pressed herself against the boulder and looked around, but the canyon had too many curves to afford much of a sightline. The ground began rumbling, nearly imperceptibly, as though something large was making its way through the ravine. Ducking back behind the boulders, Leia held her breath. Nothing that survived in this harsh atmosphere could be very pleasant to deal with.
The howl ripped through the air again, making Leia's eardrums ring painfully. She ventured a peek over the boulder and saw a stark shadow on the rock wall past the shuttle, moving closer. Whatever was approaching her was enormous, as big as a small space cruiser, with sharp horns and teeth she could see outlined as it let out yet another horrifying yowl.
She pushed herself deeper into the rocks, debating whether she should make a run for the shuttle. Vader would have to let her in: if he so desperately wanted her as his apprentice, he wouldn't leave her to be eaten by some kind of desert monster. But then again, he told her that he was challenging her to survive. She imagined that whatever the thing was, it was part of her test.
The beast grew close enough that she could hear the individual footsteps as it scraped its claws against the ground, snuffling for prey. She was completely unarmed but for the small and likely useless pile of rocks that were scattered around the canyon floor. She covered her ears as it found the shuttle, and cringed at the sound of claws on metal. It gave up after a moment and sniffed the air, sensing easy prey nearby.
Leia crouched further back into the crevice as the beast put its nose to the ground, following her trail. She shrieked in terror as its face appeared around one of the rocks. Devilish horns extended back from the reptilian head, yellow eyes searching the ground hungrily for a mid-afternoon snack. Saliva dripped from its monstrous fangs, steaming as it hit the hot, dry ground. It lunged at her, wedging itself between the boulders, and Leia threw herself backwards, ignoring the jarring pain in her back as she slammed against the cliff wall. She slipped out the other side of her tiny hiding place, gaining a moment of advantage as the beast fought to free its head. With a shake, it was loose again and leapt at her, smacking into the rocks as she dodged again. She lifted her hands, letting the terror burst out of her in a single blast of power that sent the beast tumbling away momentarily. The attack did little to slow it down though, and it charged her again as she looked around desperately for better shelter. Running to the opposite side of the shuttle, she banged on the hull to no avail. Vader was ignoring her.
A surge of anger built up in her as the beast howled again. How dare he bring her to this awful planet and then abandon her to be eaten alive by some animal? She listened as the beast sniffed again, picking up her scent and ambling around the shuttle.
With a howl of her own, Leia closed her eyes and imagined using Vader's own trick against him, choking the life out of him as he begged her for mercy. Seeing the beast peering at her around the edge of the shuttle, she turned her attention to it. It stopped its advance, wheezing as it shook its head wildly to ward off whatever was suddenly suffocating it. Not one to take her safety for granted, Leia continued to concentrate on squeezing its throat until she heard an ear shattering crack and the beast fell to the ground, dead.
"Impressive. Most impressive." Leia whipped around to see Vader watching her. "You are making good progress."
"Were you just going to let that thing eat me?" Leia spat.
"It's called a krayt dragon, and I had little concern about it eating you. They don't care for the taste of human flesh. Typically they'll just bite off a few pieces and then leave the rest behind."
"Bastard."
"I see, Leia," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards the ship, "That your education in proper manners is also severely lacking. We will work on that."
As they walked back inside, Leia saw that the comm display in the ship was lighting up, indicating an incoming contact. Vader shoved her back towards her cabin and then went to answer. A moment later, he stalked back, clearly in a very bad mood.
"The Emperor has ordered me to make contact," he told her, adding sternly, "Stay back here and stay quiet if you value your life."
A few minutes later, she held her breath and peeked out of the cabin door to see Vader kneeling in front of a tiny hologram of Emperor Palpatine.
"What is thy bidding, my master?" Vader asked.
"You left Alderaan rather suddenly, Lord Vader. I want an explanation."
"I had a lead in seeking young Skywalker, my master. I kept my departure quiet because I believe that the Rebels may still have some presence on Alderaan."
"And?"
"He will come to me, my master."
"And you will bring him to me."
Leia pulled her head back, pressing her body up against the cabin wall in horror. So Vader meant to turn Luke over to the Emperor? She couldn't let that happen. Suddenly an idea popped into her head. Steeling herself, she dashed out into the cabin and stood next to Vader.
"Father," she said, her voice loud and sweet, "What are you talking about? I thought you said you and I were going to kill the Emperor." Pretending to just then notice Palpatine, who was looking at her with shocked recognition, she added in a lilting, falsely embarrassed voice, "Oh. Whoops."