Precipice by shadowsong26

Repost Note: Just a heads up I will not be posting an update this upcoming Wednesday. I may post an update later next week or perhaps post two updates the following Saturday. Haven't decided yet. Hope y'all are enjoying this story; we are about 1/3 the way through it as of this chapter.

Part 4: Commander

Commander: Chapter 1

Luke had never liked Empire Day. The whole Founding Week was full of long, boring speeches he had to sit still and listen to, and just about everyone was pretending to be a lot happier than they really were. Uncle Bail and Queen Velida were always really tense, Aunt Sabe usually wanted to stab things even more than usual, and Mamma got really sad. The only people who seemed like they actually liked it were mean ones, like Governor Tarkin. Even Lord Specter, who was the second-scariest person Luke had ever met, was more mad than anything else. Like he just wanted it to be over. Probably so he could go back to doing scary stuff.

About the only thing that wasn't awful about the holiday was that there were usually starfighters doing tricks on at least one of the days, and Luke could pretend he was up there with them. Even his birthday couldn't make it better, 'cause he basically had to share it with the whole Empire and he never got to see any of his friends. Not even Winter.

Last year had been sort of okay, at least. Mamma had managed to set it up so they could spend the week in Theed, instead of Imperial Center. The speeches were still boring, and Mamma was still unhappy, but at least the decorations were pretty flowers instead of army banners that tried to make him feel small. And he'd been able to play with Pooja and Ryoo, which was always nice even if his cousins were almost grown up and a lot older than all his other friends.

This year...this year was going to be different. For one thing, Mamma and Uncle Bail had had a lot of quiet, unhappy calls that he wasn't supposed to listen to in the last few days, which probably meant Something Important was about to happen. Or maybe had just happened and they were dealing with it. And they were going to spend the whole holiday in the capital this year-they were on their way back now. And Aunt Sabe wouldn't be with them like she usually was-there was going to be a new Queen next year, Mamma had said, and it was Aunt Sabe's job to teach her handmaidens how to be really cool, like all of Luke's aunts were.

So this year, Founding Week was going to be especially not okay.

Except…

If that was all, it wouldn't have been-well, it would have been very sad, because he'd miss his cousins and two of his aunts and probably have to see Governor Tarkin and Lord Specter and maybe even (he shivered a little) the Emperor, but...but…

There was something else. Something that made this year extra different. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew it was there. The way he sometimes just knew things. Like when there had been that really bad storm at the lake house last winter, and everything had flooded and they'd had to stay an extra three days.

(When he'd told her what he knew, Mamma had gotten all tight with worry and made him promise not to talk about things like that with anyone except her or one of his aunts. She hadn't cut their trip short to get away from the storm like he'd sort of thought she would, even though she'd had to miss a really important vote 'cause she was late getting back, but she'd made sure they'd be safe and have enough extra supplies even when the power went out.)

And this was sort of like that, only he didn't know it was going to be a flood. He didn't know what it was going to be. Just that Founding Week this year was going to be really, really important.

Luke wanted to believe that it might be the good kind of important-that something would change and make life better, and make Empire Day less sad for Mamma, and less tense for Uncle Bail. Maybe he'd meet a lot of new people who hadn't been to the parades before, and they'd be important lifelong friends. Maybe it would even be something that made Lord Specter less scary, somehow.

Except everything else that he'd noticed made it look like the bad kind of important. The kind where maybe Mamma would have to go someplace where she might get hurt, and he'd have to go stay with Aunt Sola for a while, with Aunt Elle and Aunt Motee taking turns to sleep so one of them was always, always watching.

All in all, even though it really felt more like home than Naboo half the time, Luke was dreading getting back to Imperial Center. He'd rather spend Empire Day anywhere else. The lake house would be best, of course, or Theed, with Aunt Sola and Gramma and Grandpa and the Queen, or maybe that place he dreamed about sometimes, where there was no pretend happiness, no Emperor, no Specter-nothing but a warm wind in his hair and a sky that never seemed to end…

He felt like a part of him was out there, wherever 'there' was. Maybe someday, if he was lucky, he'd get to see it for real one day.

He just had to get through Empire Day first.

Scowling a little with concentration, Leia wriggled into the narrow storage space above Daddy's bunk on the Waterfall. There was just enough room for her to fit, with all the spare parts and half-finished projects he kept in there. She pulled the panel shut behind her, then squirmed around in the dark until she found the position with the fewest things poking her that also didn't make her arms and legs twist up all funny.

Once she was settled, she closed her eyes and breathed, thinking quiet, quiet thoughts. She'd never tried it exactly like this before, but she was the best at hide and seek. Biggs and Tank and everyone always had to give up when it was her turn to hide. And she didn't even have to stay up here that long. Just until the ship went into hyperspace.

She'd been waiting maybe about five minutes when she heard footsteps approaching. Not Uncle Rex; his were heavier than this. And Aunt Beru's were a little slower, and Uncle Owen never came on the Waterfall, which meant-

The panel lifted open, and Daddy raised an eyebrow at her. "Come on, princess. We talked about this."

She sighed, and uncurled to sit on the edge of the shelf, her legs swinging back and forth. "I wanna go with you."

"No. It's too dangerous."

"But I can help."

"No," he said again. "Not this time. You're not old enough."

"I'm almost six!" she protested, hating the way it whistled through where she'd lost a tooth. It made it really, really hard to talk people into doing what she wanted them to when she couldn't even sound like a grownup.

Besides, Daddy was racing when he was her age. That was pretty dangerous-Aunt Beru wouldn't even let her watch, it was that dangerous.

"I know," he said. "You still can't come. Not this time."

She pondered for a minute. "When, then?"

"What?"

"When can I come?" she asked.

"Uh…" He glanced off to one side, thinking. "In a few years, we can talk about it."

A few years meant three. She'd be nine then, or almost-that's how old he was when he'd left to be a Jedi. She decided she could accept that. For now. "And then I can go hit the bad guys with you?"

He made a face. "We can talk about it," he repeated.

She scowled again. "That means you won't let me."

"No, it means we'll talk about it."

"But I wanna help," she said. Because Daddy and Uncle Rex and Uncle Obi-Wan were always off doing Important Things, and there was a whole entire galaxy out there-like the silver planet she dreamed about sometimes, with all the towers-and she knew she could make it better. But all she was doing was waiting around on the farm, helping Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen and playing hide and seek with her friends. She could be doing more. And that meant she should be doing more.

(She'd asked Daddy about the silver planet once. He'd gotten very quiet, and then asked her if it had been a bad dream. When she'd said it wasn't, he'd looked very relieved and told her not to worry about it. She'd borrowed Aunt Beru's datapad later and found pictures of a place called Coruscant that looked almost like her dream, but that was all she knew. It was very, very annoying, not knowing things.)

"I know you do," Daddy said, running a hand over her hair. "But the best way you can help me right now, princess, is to stay here, with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, where it's safe. So I don't have to worry about you."

She made a face. "That's not helping," she muttered. Not like she meant, anyway.

"It is," he said softly. "More than you know."

And he meant it. She knew he did-she could always tell when people were lying to her, and anyway Daddy was really bad at it-but it still didn't feel like enough. "Okay," she said anyway, because there wasn't a lot else she could say. Not until she was grown up.

Three years, she thought. That felt like a long, long time away.

"Okay," he said, and kissed her cheek and lifted her down from the shelf. "I won't be gone too long this time," he added. "It's your birthday next week. You didn't think I'd forgotten, did you?"

"No," she said. And that wasn't the problem at all, but it did make her a little less unhappy. She liked that he made sure her birthday was always special, no matter what else was going on. Sometimes, he was gone for days and days and days, but he always came back on her birthday. "Is Uncle Obi-Wan gonna come with you?" He usually did, but he was a lot less predictable than Daddy.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But I'll find out when I see him. Okay?"

"Okay," she said again. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. "You sure I can't come?" she tried one last time, turning her biggest, most beseeching eyes up at him.

It did work sometimes.

Sadly, this was not one of those times.

"Yes, I'm sure," he said. "Come on, let's get you back in the house, okay? The sooner Rex and I get going, the sooner we'll be back."

She wrinkled her nose. "I know."

He gently peeled her off and, keeping hold of her hand, led the way out of the ship.

Aunt Beru was already halfway up the ramp when they reached it, and Leia did feel a little bad when she saw how worried she'd probably been.

"Sorry, Beru," Daddy said. "We just wanted one last goodbye." He winked down at Leia, who rolled her eyes.

She's not stupid, Daddy.

Aunt Beru just sighed, but she played along. "A little warning next time, Ani?"

"Of course," he said, then bent down and kissed the top of Leia's head. "Go on inside, princess. Be good. I'll see you next week."

Leia nodded and hugged him one more time. "See you next week," she echoed, then jumped down off the ramp like she'd seen Daddy do a million times.

Aunt Beru sighed again, but Daddy laughed. She grinned up at him, and he waved before disappearing back into the ship.

The two of them backed up towards the house, so they wouldn't get blown over when Daddy took off, and watched until the Waterfall disappeared into the sky.

"All right, sweetheart," Beru said. "I need your help in the kitchen, come on."

"Coming," she said, scuffing her shoes a little as she did. It wasn't that she didn't like helping Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, too, it just...felt so small, next to what Daddy did. Next to the silver planet in her dreams.

Three years, she reminded herself. The galaxy will still be there to save.

If only it wasn't such a long, long time away.

Original Author's Notes:

Lol, what even are children: Part 3.

The twins will be viewpoint characters from now on! I can't promise how often we'll hear from them, but from time to time. :D

Hope you enjoyed, and see you next week!

~shadowsong