A/N: This is insanely late, but I have an explanation at the bottom of the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, or any of the characters mentioned. They all belong to LucasArts, which is now owned by Disney...not sure how I feel about that last part...

~Three days previous~

It was night, but it wasn't dark. The burning planet was always bright. The heat of the fire planet was increased by a thousand fold by the entwined energies by the two warriors engaged in an intense battle. Two blue lightsabers clashed against each other in blurred motion, the sounds of the electrified swords clashing against each other echoed against the vast expanse.

Now they were standing on a lava river, staring each other down. In one awesome blurred moment, the battle is over.

Luke woke up sweating. He ran his hand over his face, and then through his hair. His chest was heaving from the intensity of the dream, his heart racing a mile a minute.

For all his life, Luke had been plagued by dreams. Sometimes they were good, sometimes they weren't. And some dreams just didn't make sense to him. He had dreams of times that he had no knowledge of. Of people he didn't know.

Since joining the Rebellion, he had been having the same dream every night. Two people engaged in an epic lightsaber battle. They were on a burning planet. Every dream was the same; just the two of them, fighting, over and over, until he woke up.

But somehow, this one was different. Maybe it was watching the one Jedi strike the other down. Was it the reality of the battle? The heat of the lava? Luke didn't know why made this dream different, but it just was. He half sat, half rolled out of bed and staggered to the fresher adjoined to his quarters. Flipping on the light, he stared at his reflection.

From the moment he joined the Rebellion, everyone looked at him as if he was some sort of hero, some kind of savior. He, the son of the legendary Hero with no Fear, would free the galaxy of the evil Empire. And he can't even escape from his sleep.

Luke shut off the light and escaped the confines of his quarters. He walked past the mess hall and was surprised to see Leia up. She was sitting in her usual spot, hair down, head resting on her hand. From the distance he was away from her, he couldn't tell if she was asleep or awake. He quickly walked past the mess, hoping not to disturb her.

Eventually Luke found himself in the Rebellion's archives. He aimlessly browsed the shelves, not sure what he was looking for. Something across the room caught his eye. He walked over to the shelf and looked at the inscription.

Empire Day

Luke pulled the datachip from its storage spot and inserted it into a datapad. Luke scanned through the information, trying to find something like an answer to his question. He was almost to the finish when he found something.

On the day the creation of the Galactic Empire, suspected traitors Mon Mothma, Bail Organa and Padme Amidala were not present during the latter half of the celebration that the Emperor had arranged. Later, Mon Montha was sighted at the 500 Republica, but Senators Organa and Amidala were not seen at all.

Luke frowned. Of course he knew that Mon Mothma and Bail Organa were original members of the Rebellion, but he didn't recognize the name of the third senator. He continued reading, but turned up nothing. He frowned, and started re-reading it.

It was a bunch of holonet clippings, journal entries of different people and a few holos. He looked through the journal entries and found one written by Bail a few days after the creation of the Empire.

These are trying times indeed. There are some days I cannot stomach the idea of standing in front of the man I once thought of as a man of integrity, smile, and pledge my allegiance to him and his empire. But I do this out of respect to my dear friend.

So many things have changed. In one quick stroke, everything I know is gone. Destroyed. I had a fleeting hope that Yoda would be able to end the Emperor's rule, but he didn't. Dejected at his own failure, he told me he was going into a self-imposed exile. He didn't say where, but that he would contact me should the time arise.

Luke stopped reading. Jedi Master. One that might possibly be alive. One that could teach him the ways of the Jedi. Luke returned the datachip, then went back to his quarters. He needed to get to Tatooine, to old Ben's old house. Maybe he had some information on this…Yoda.

~Present~

"You should really stop pacing, your highnessness," Han drawled. "You're gonna wear a hole in the floor."

Leia looked at the smuggler who was casually sitting on the couch, arms crossed, eyes trained on her. Tearing her eyes away from his, Leia looked down at her feet and sighed. "I'm just tired of waiting," she said at last.

Han sat forward and clasped his hands. "I know. But when intelligence finds out where he went, then we can go get him back." He sat straight again and patted the seat next to him. "Sit down princess, before you start up your pacing again."

Leia looked at the couch, an internal war waging inside of her. She felt herself move towards him and the couch, and then felt herself sit down.

"We'll find out where he went," Han said. "You know Luke. He wouldn't just leave without a good reason."

Leia turned and looked at him, a frown growing on her lips. "But without telling anyone? Han, it's irresponsible and something you'd-" she cut herself off short.

Han's face gave way to a soft smirk. "Something I'd do, eh?"

Leia blushed slightly and nodded. "Yes," she said, brushing her hair away from her face and sitting up as straight as she could. She looked Han in the eye. "Yes, something you would do. But not Luke."

Han's mouth opened to say something when the door to their left swished open. Leia looked away from Han and towards the door. Strutting into the room, wearing a blue cape, was the epitome of old school money.

"I'm afraid I don't have much. I heard from one of my contacts than an old and battered X-Wing landed near Rhen Var to refuel. Could be your boy," he said, swaggering towards Han. He turned to Leia and half paused, a smile forming on his lips. "Sorry," he said. "That was rude. I'm Lando Calrissian. I own a-"

Han stood up abruptly and interrupted him. "He's just a classier version of me," he said, scowling at him.

Leia raised her eyebrow at Han's abruptness. She turned towards Lando. "I'm Leia Organa," she introduced.

Lando nodded. "Yes, I've heard a lot about you," he said, a grin on his face. He turned to Han and winked at him.

Leia felt her face go warm. She too turned to Han, and said, "Oh? And just what things have you heard?"

Lando grinned at her. "Only good things, I promise."

Han stood up abruptly and walked over to the two. "Hey, can we focus on finding Luke?"

Lando nodded. "Of course. If you want, I can send some of my people over to sweep the area, look around, see if anyone saw something," he said.

Leia nodded. "That's a good idea. Rhen Var is an isolated ice planet, not much there. Just some old ruins."

"Ruins from what?" Leia asked him.

Lando shrugged. "Not sure. I started some excavations there a few years back when the Empire kicked us out. There is an Imperial base located on the planet, near the ruins."

Leia was shaking her head. "Why would Luke go to that planet? If there are Imperials on it, they might have discovered him."

"Chewy and I can go over and find out," Han said, a little awkwardness in his voice.

Leia shook her head again. "If there are imperials on that planet, you are just as much a target as Luke would have been." She turned to Lando. "Thank you for your offer. I think I'll take you up on it."

Lando smiled at her. "If you want, we can run over a plan of action."

Leia smiled back at him. "Perhaps later. Right now, I need to go inform Mon and the others of what happened." She smiled again, nodded to him, then walked out.

Once she was gone, Lando let out a whistle. "Wow, Han old buddy, your descriptions of her certainly didn't do her justice. She doesn't seem a spitfire to me."

Han glared at his friend. "Just wait, Lando. She'll eat you alive." He shoved past the other man and walked out of the room.

Lando just grinned.

A/N: I know you all will be reading this, thinking, "here comes another excuse for the insane lack of update", but in truth, there really wasn't an excuse. There was a short moment of writers block, but I got over that quickly. No, truth is I'm scared to death of this fic. For instance, I hate this chapter. I really do. If I could do it over again, I would. But you guys want to read something, and I really do need it to set up for the rest of the story.

Anyway, the reason this fic terrifies me is because I feel like I'm messing with powers that are beyond my control, i.e. the OT characters. I know I've used them before, but not on this scale. The other two Ahsoka stories were easy to write. Except for Ahsoka and Rex, DV and Palps, all of the characters were mine. Easy. Not so with this. So I would love to hear your thoughts on the next few chapters. Got an insight? Share it with me! Think someone said something they wouldn't normally, please tell me!

MLV