Propped up against a tree as they awaited the arrival of the shuttle and their on-foot companions, Carlist Rieekan took a deep breath to soak in the fresh smell of the lake. As many Alderaanis did, he'd vacationed here growing up, pitching tents in the clearings and building campfires to grill freshly caught fish on long summer evenings. Such a distance from populated areas, it was easy to imagine that Alderaan was still the peaceful, joyous place he'd known as a young man.
A noise caught his attention, and he strained to turn his head and look into the woods. The medic that had helped him when he was dragged into a safe house in the middle of the inexplicable chaos in Aldera said he probably had cracked vertebrae. Movement of any sort was agony, but he could manage. The fact that he was still alive to fight another day was motivation enough to ignore the pain.
"Is our ride here yet?" Breha's voice called pleasantly through the trees. Her cheeks were flushed from the vigorous hike, but she still managed a queenly smile when she saw that they had reached the camp. Out of an abundance of caution, the refugees from the mountains hadn't been informed of the identities of their traveling companions, and Rieekan managed a mild chuckle when he saw the four young men huddle together, quietly conferencing over how they should properly behave around their monarchs. The formal etiquette training that was taught in public schools when he was a child was clearly dropped from the curriculum as educators adjusted to the new realities of the Empire. Even Princess Leia, he mused, was never going to be as formal as her parents.
As if on cue, a slight buzzing sounded from above the trees and a shuttle dropped neatly down onto the beach in front of them. Captain Solo waved from the cockpit viewport, and the group hurriedly gathered their supplies and hustled on board, the medics carrying the three invalids on stretchers.
"Are you kidding me?" Solo had come into the main hold to check progress and saw Threepio waddling up the gangplank. "Did I do something so horrible in a past life to be stuck with that droid for all eternity?"
After settling the injured onto the few bunks in the back of the shuttle, the rest of the passengers found spots to strap in-more or less-and Solo carefully lifted them off. Bail joined him and Chewbacca in the cockpit, looking down wistfully as they skimmed the Juran Mountains.
"Now, as long as our exit codes are still good, we should be on our way to Rendili," Solo said idly, fingering the controls. "Wedge better have taken good care of my ship."
Bail glanced over his shoulder, making sure no one else was eavesdropping, and leaned in close to Solo. "We have to find Leia."
Surprising the viceroy, Solo nodded. "I'm scheduled to pick Luke Skywalker—remember him?—in a few days. He seems to have some weird ability to figure out where she is, or so he claims. I thought we could get him to help us."
"You've thought about this," Bail said. "So you're coming along?"
Solo blushed. "Well, yeah. I mean, if it's all right with you. I have to get Luke anyways, so I thought we could all go together…"
Bail simply raised an eyebrow and walked back into the rear cabin.
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Yoda pulled his blanket over his arms and rested his head back on his homespun pillow, breathing deeply as he watched Luke tucking his belongings into a bag.
"Going so soon, are you?"
"Han will be here to pick me up tomorrow, Master," Luke explained. "I have to go."
"Have to go you do not," Yoda said firmly. "Stay, you can."
"I can't," Luke argued. "My friends need me."
Luke had emerged from his last encounter in the cave shaken. He had intended to face the vision of Vader, man to man, without resorting to violence. But seeing Leia so overwhelmed had distracted him from his plan. How would he save her from the Dark Side if he couldn't first save himself? Without needing any confirmation, he somehow knew Leia was in Vader's hands again. He had dreams of her lost in a sandstorm on Tatooine, with Vader's voice guiding her inexorably towards the edge of a cliff as she stumbled forward.
"Save your friends, will you, or doom them?" Yoda's tone was harsher than usual. He leaned over and coughed.
"I won't let Leia fall," he said adamantly. "It's not fair. She doesn't know what's happening to her."
"So confront Vader will you?"
Luke stopped, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion. "I can't kill my own father. I just can't."
"Then not ready for the challenge are you."
"It doesn't matter," Luke responded stubbornly. "The challenge is ready for me."
Yoda coughed again. "Not long have we then. What else need you to know?"
The boy dropped to his knees, crouching beside the old Jedi. "I don't know, Master."
"Tell you, the Force will. Trust in the Force, Luke." With a slight snore, he dropped his head and fell asleep.
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"Might I inquire…" Vader's voice was softly dangerous, "Exactly what you think you were doing there?"
Leia gave him a sickly smile, the full magnitude of her actions hitting her as Vader double checked to ensure that the comm connection was indeed shut off. He'd slammed his hand down to break the link before Palpatine could react to the girl's appearance, but he could still feel the depth of his master's rage transmitting across the galaxy.
"I'm not going to let you hurt Luke."
He leaned over her, his mask inches from her face. "I thought you wanted to get rid of the Emperor. You gave up everything to join the Rebels and destroy his Death Star. Why would you give all that up now?"
Leia stepped back. "I'm not going to let you hurt Luke."
He desperately wanted to hit her, to smack the self-satisfied look off her face. But there were better ways to punish someone.
"What makes you think I was going to hurt Luke?"
"You were going to hand him over to the Emperor! I doubt Palpatine was planning to throw him a ticker tape parade."
"It may surprise you to learn, girl," he said slowly, "That on occasion I am not entirely forthcoming with my superiors. But surely you know nothing of being a liar."
"What do you want with Luke, then?" she asked sullenly.
"It hardly matters now. You've ruined everything with your little outburst. The Emperor will find us and kill us, and then he will find Luke and follow through on his plan to train his as his apprentice."
Leia sucked in her breath. "Luke would die before he joined Palpatine."
"Don't underestimate the power of the Dark Side, daughter. You've tasted its strength." Backing her up against the wall of the cockpit, he leaned down. "You think I wanted to follow him?"
"I don't understand."
Vader grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look directly at him. "I was trying," he hissed, "To protect you both from the Emperor."
"Why?" Leia stared into the eyes hidden behind the dark mask. She could see her face reflected in the black, her own eyes sunken and sickly yellow. Suddenly she was tired, so tired. "Why?"
"Because that's what a father is supposed to do."
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It had only been a few days, but Captain Solo relished being back in his own ship. True to his word, Wedge had kept the Falcon safe on Rendili and even managed to stop some of the more curious Rebel techs from trying to take apart his hyperdrive to see how he was able to push it 0.5 past lightspeed. The festivities around their arrival were cut short though as the Rebels scrambled to round up a ship that would take General Rieekan to the fleet rendezvous point, which boasted a far more advanced medical facility than the makeshift first aid station that Wedge's group had erected.
"You should come with me," he said to the Organas as he allowed the medics to put him on a stretcher and start an IV drip. "Leia's there."
Breha patted his shoulder gently, her eyes sad. With his injuries from his time in Imperial custody, they hadn't had the heart to tell him that Leia had been recaptured. "I'm afraid she isn't. But we're going to go get her and bring her home."
"She is," Rieekan insisted, laying his aching head back. "She was on the first transport off Yavin."
"Yeah, about that…" Solo walked up to join them. "She kinda stowed away on my ship instead. I didn't know until it was too late to send her back."
"Solo!" Rieekan's voice was sharp. "I told you to make sure she got on Rebel I!"
"I thought I had," Solo protested. "She snuck away."
"Don't blame him," Bail said to Rieekan. "This is my daughter we're talking about. If she gets an idea in her head, gods help anyone who tries to stand in her way."
They stood and waved as the shuttle lifted off, taking Rieekan back to the fleet. Then Solo, Chewbacca, Bail and Breha turned to walk back to where the Falcon awaited.
"Hang on!" Wedge chased after them. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Oh. Right." He slowed his pace, allowing Threepio and Artoo to catch up. The protocol droid was yammering on to his little companion about his recent adventures, adding in any number of editorial comments about how he was neither suited for long walks in the woods or being crammed cheek by jowl into the storage area of a snubfighter.
"When this is over, I shall need an oil bath." Artoo tweedled at him and zipped up the gangplank as Solo hit the controls to begin closing the entry.
"Wait for me!" Threepio howled, tottering up and nearly falling as the door slammed closed behind him.
Without being asked, Chewbacca shut down and stored both droids in the rear hold before flopping into the copilot's seat.
"So where is Luke right now?" Breha asked him as they hurried through the pre-flight procedures.
"It sounds crazy, but he had this wild vision that he should go off and train with some supposed Jedi master in a swamp," Solo responded, thinking that perhaps leaving Luke hadn't been the best idea after all. The Kid seemed confident enough, but he could have easily been eaten or drowned in the ensuing few weeks.
"What Jedi master?" Bail asked. "Did he tell you who it was?" Solo was surprised at how easily they accepted the story, though in his experience old people did tend to put greater stock in hokey religions.
"Yoyo or something, I think?"
"Yoda? He's still alive?"
"Yeah, that sounds right. You know him?"
"Quite well, yes," answered Bail, suddenly feeling more confident than he had since Leia told him that she agreed to the mission to deliver the Death Star plans. If Yoda was involved, they did have a chance.
"Okay then. Get buckled in. Next stop, Dagobah. Let's see how fast we can push this baby."
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Vader locked Leia in her cabin, needing time to concentrate on his next steps without her constant harping at him. She'd been relatively meek when he dragged her off, and laid down on her cot before he even slammed the door behind him. He had little time to think about her condition, but it did seem to him that her use of the Dark Side of the Force was affecting her body more quickly that he would expect. He could sense the battle raging within her, her bright and noble spirit desperately trying to win out over the fear and anger that were driving her every action. He would need to work with her on control, teaching her how to embrace the dark emotions and use them to her advantage instead of allowing the Dark Side to overwhelm her, bursting forth only when her tiny form could no longer contain its power.
The Emperor could track and find him easily, he knew that much. Whether the old man would confront Vader on his own or send in a fleet to blast him from space, he couldn't predict. Their distance from the Core at least afforded him some time: the nearest Imperial fleet was two days away, and travel from Imperial Center would take even longer. The common bitter joke among Tatooine residents when he was young had been to say, "If there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet it's farthest from."
He knew Luke would come here, had seen it in more than one vision. Even if Vader fled with Leia, the Emperor might find his son when he sent troops to search for his erstwhile apprentice. No, they would only leave as a family. If only the boy would hurry along.
He glanced towards the door to the cabin where he could sense Leia had fallen asleep. Trying to get her to cooperate in calling Luke would be a fool's errand: she was convinced that Vader planned to harm the young man and no amount of logic could change her mind. Briefly, he considered hurting her, hoping that her cries of pain would echo through the Force to her brother. But he couldn't bring himself to that again, not now that he knew she was his child. He had never been sure whether there was any sort of afterlife, or whether the visions of dead Jedi that some describe were mere figments of the imagination, but a lump rose in his throat when he imagined his wife and mother seeing what he had done to Leia. Perhaps Luke would be better off if they left—he was incapable of keeping himself from hurting those he was supposed to love the most.
A shuddering wave of dark energy rippled through the ship, bringing Vader to his feet. Could it be the Emperor already? Another tremor in the Force revealed that the source was in fact Leia, and Vader walked back to check on her.
As he opened the door, he could see that the small room had been turned upside down. The cot lay on its side, blankets strewn about, and the small table and chair has been smashed to pieces. Leia stood in the midst of the destruction, her eyes open and blank, her mouth wide in a silent scream.
He froze, not knowing what to do. He knew about nightmares, having suffered them nearly his whole life. Padme always knew what to do, waking him gently and soothing him, but he imagined that Leia would not be comforted by the sight of the Sith Lord. Lacking any better ideas, he stepped out and shut the door behind him, feeling her terror and turmoil continuing. She was silent, but he could hear her screams echoing painfully in his head as she fought against the darkness that was trying to consume her. Finally, in desperation at her distress, he focused his mind on a picture of her mother, sending the calming sensations he remembered from Padme's voice and touch to his daughter. He felt her relax, then heard a thump as she collapsed to the floor.
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"This is the planet?" Breha sounded skeptical as she looked down on the misty surface of Dagobah. "It doesn't look inhabited."
"As far as I know it has a sentient population of two," Solo told her, agreeing with her assessment. "Now, let me pull up the coordinates- there was a specific spot we were supposed to land…"
Solo held his breath as they descended, suddenly terrified of what they might find. Luke was smart, and tough, but Solo doubted his survival skills in an unfamiliar, hostile environment. When they found her again, the Kid could probably learn a lot from the Princess. She'd managed to pull herself together with little more than a bunch of blasters and a first aid kit and survive for way longer on Endor. There weren't many people that could come out of that sort of situation unscathed. Hopefully a bit of her toughness had rubbed off on Luke…
He exhaled loudly as they settled into the small landing area, spotting Luke waiting just beyond the trees and looking as healthy as ever. Lowering the gangplank, he ran out, giving Luke a hearty handshake before pulling him into a hug.
"Looking good, Kid. How was the vacation?"
The bags beneath his eyes and dirty, sweaty hair and clothes made Luke look far older than his years. The effect was amplified by the hard look in the Kid's eyes, as if he'd been through yet another war in the last few weeks. Solo cleared his throat.
"You okay, Luke?"
"I am." Luke smiled, the pain in his eyes fading slightly. "It's good to see you, Han."
"Luke!" The young man looked up in surprise as he saw Breha and Bail tripping over roots in their haste to get to him. Breha gave him a tight hug. "Oh, Luke, we're so glad to see you again."
"Are you ready to go?" Solo asked him, looking around for the little green Jedi that had been there when he dropped Luke. "We've got some work for you….Leia's been taken again."
"By Vader," Bail added somberly, "You have to help us find her."
"I know," Luke nodded. How could he tell these kind people that their daughter's captor was his father? They would hate him. "First, I need to do something. Yoda is sick- he needs to come with us." He walked quickly towards the mud hut where the Jedi Master rested, Bail on his heels.
Yoda was awake when they poked their heads into the hut, and Bail quickly crouched beside the bed.
"Master Yoda," he said reverently, alarmed at the Jedi's condition.
"Senator Organa, good it is to see you," Yoda whispered. "A good friend to the Jedi, always have you been."
"Master, we need your help," Bail said desperately. "Leia is in terrible danger."
"Seen this, I have," Yoda replied, closing his eyes for a moment. "Tempted by the Dark Side, is she." Bail blanched as Yoda confirmed his earlier suspicions.
"How can that be?" he said, his voice pleading. "She's nothing like Vader. She's always been a good girl."
"In all of us, the Dark Side is. Appears when we least expect it, it does. Fell trying to save the one he loved, Vader did. Repeating this history, Leia is."
"We can't let that happen. You have to help!" Bail begged. Yoda breathed deeply and said nothing.
"Please, master," Luke added. "The Alliance has medical facilities that can treat you for whatever is wrong."
"Wrong, nothing is," Yoda told him. "When 900 years old you reach, tired will you be. Reach their end, all lives do. Even mine."
"Master, you can't die," Luke said, "Not now. I still have so far to go."
"Lead you, the Force will. Always with you, will I be. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." He reached out to poke Luke's arm. "Think Vader destroyed the Jedi, do you? Only gone are their bodies. In the Force, forever live their spirits."
Bail was silent as the old Jedi lectured his young apprentice. Yoda had done little to reassure him that Leia was still salvageable, and he grew frustrated as Yoda settled into his bed, clearly preparing for death.
"You can't hang in a few more days?" he finally spat out angrily. "Nine hundred years and you let yourself go now?"
Yoda smiled indulgently at Bail. "Trust in the Force you must as well, youngling. Accepted that burden, you did." He gestured for Bail to lean in close, whispering so Luke couldn't overhear. "No easy task is raising a Skywalker. Done well, you all have. Done well."
Bail leaned back as Luke gave them a perplexed look, wanting in on the secret. Yoda raised his hand in one final blessing for them both. "May the Force be with you, always." Then he laid back and closed his eyes, and Luke and Bail watched in solemn silence as his body faded away, leaving the rough blanket to float gently to the now empty bed.