We sit together at home, a shared weight on our shoulders at the thought of what comes next when all is so uncertain, but at least one of us knows what comes now.

Only now that the anger's passed does the weight of the decision she's made truly set in, the weight of the trust she has put in me. It is a decision I could never have imagined she'd make, one I didn't even know was possible, but when she's the last of a royal family there's no one to tell her no. It's not unfamiliar, many families who claim nobility no longer rule the planets they once did but still pass on the titles, although more often than not because they were deposed rather than the planet obliterated.

This is an entirely unprecedented decision in the eyes of the senate and the media, but no one could be more shocked than I am.

She never raised Ben and I to think for a moment we were royalty despite our mother being a princess. We were the children ofthe war heroes Senator Leia Organa and Captain Han Solo, a politician and a smuggler. Even on Naboo when they'd refer to me as the grandaughter of two queens, Padmé Amidala and Breha Organa, it felt so strange so this feels utterly surreal.

I can't help but struggle to grasp the thought process behind this decision. While it was no doubt made out of spite and the desire to stick it to the Senate I know there is a deeper motive behind this, there always is.

But that's another thought I'm too exhausted to ponder and so I push it away, focusing instead on now.

"I must admit," she begins. "Targeting Casterfo like that was perhaps more extreme than what I would have considered, but it's done the job. Bringing up his Imperial relic collection and the anti-Jedi sentiments of him and Carise Sindian will put them in a very precarious position within the Centrist Party. I dare say they'll be fighting as we speak to keep from losing their positions entirely. Coming from my mouth it would have fallen on deaf ears but a known Jedi standing up there to condemn them is more powerful than any words I could have spoken. Your lines about condemning anyone with links to Imperial leadership and the repercussions of discrediting Rebel soldiers will in particular send shock waves I'm sure, but again, no other words could have been more effective or controversial. I'm proud Hope."

The words I've never realised I've craved so badly, and yet it's not enough. Not when there's still so much more I could be doing to help her while ruining the people who did this to us. We still don't even know how Casterfo got the information he did, the people who acquired it for him still haven't faced justice.

"I promise you, that someday I will earn the trust you've put in me," I swear to her her, knowing how hard she has worked and everything she has sacrificed. Now all of that has been left to me to continue. For whatever reason she's trusted me with this, and I need to earn it. This legacy... I might not be ready to take it, I might never be, but I will and I'll do so as she has. Without complaint.

"You already have," she promises me, her eyes brighter than I've seen them in a long time, but there's a sadness to them. "I have some loose ends to tie up, one last diplomatic mission. Your father's going to remain on Theron if you want to go back and stay with him. The galaxy would sooner forgive me for being Vader's daughter than for taking him away from those damn races."

After the mob we saw I can't argue with that but I insist for her own safety. "I want to stay with you."

She shakes her head gently. "I'll be away on boring political business tying up loose ends regarding the bombing, I'll have my team with me. Greer and Joph Seastriker along with Threepio of course."

"Can you trust them?" I question, still not understanding how Ransolm Casterfo of all people got the information he did. "If they-"

"I can assure you, none of them could have ever guessed in their darkest dreams who my father was, let alone have the access to leak such information," she assures me. "Greer had helped me research Padmé Amidala but I can assure you she was as shocked as the rest of them." She studies my face and realises "You're worried for my safety."

I could laugh at her presuming I wouldn't be if it wasn't so serious. "Mom, someone tried to shoot me in the head for being his granddaughter, it's not a far stretch to assume they'd do worse to you."

She just sighs and shakes her head fondly. "Hope, I was once the most wanted person in the galaxy after the Death Star was destroyed, with a bounty that high it's incomprehensible. I assure you I am quite capable of looking after myself after all these years."

"What was the bounty?" I ask and she blinks at me in disbelief that that's the question I'm asking but answers it nonetheless.

"Ten million."

"Ten million?" I exclaim and admit "I can't believe Dad didn't turn you in at that point."

She can't help but laugh at that. "I'm sure he considered it, but no, that's how I knew he was a good one despite being a scoundrel." She smiles to herself for a moment before continuing. "Now, as I was saying. I'll be going away on a mission, I don't know for how long, but I want you to remember that still my words are true. I want you to be happy and to follow whatever path you seek."

"But after this-"

She waves my concerns off. "You'll have certain responsibilities now yes, but I do not expect you to serve in the senate as I have. While I'll no doubt ask you to speak on occasion I will not ask you to abandon what makes you passionate."

I understand what she's saying and tell her "I want to finish my training."

There's no thought behind that decision, but something in the force is telling me to prepare, and I am not going to ignore it.

She searches my eyes and again I see a mixture of pain and pride in her own. "I remember the days as a child when I'd rather spar and train with a blaster than sit through my lessons. I remember telling my father that I didn't want to spend my life pleasing people and arriving at carefully measured solutions, that I wanted to be in action." She shakes her head now with regrets I cannot understand. "I followed the path that had been laid out and look what good that's gotten me. So you go and follow whatever it is your heart tells you is right. Luke will take care of you and when the time comes I will call you back here because our work is far from finished."

"What about Ben?" I finally ask, knowing exactly what state he's in and she's less certain when it comes to him, hesitant.

"I sent him a transmission but there's been no response," she says regretfully. "Even if I went to Ossus I suspect he'd leave the planet to avoid speaking to me and I can't blame him. You were right, we should have told him considering everything he's struggled with, but I can't change that now."

I reach over to take her hand. "But you can still make it right." I lean forward, pleading with her. "Come to Ossus with me, he'll listen if I'm there."

"Hope," she says sadly. "I can't."

"It doesn't have to be this way Mom," I say, unable to hide how my voice breaks. "We don't have to be in four separate corners of the galaxy, we can be together now. You- you can finish your training as well. Dad, he can-"

The look in her eyes quietens me and remorse is thick in her voice. "Hope, my duty to the galaxy doesn't end with this. Something is happening in the Outer Rims and unknown regions, a paramilitary that we believe is behind the bombing with links to a cartel."

"What?" I whisper, quickly realising the ramifications of an independent military being behind such a terrorist attack, a military that is for hire.

"That is what this mission is about, discovering the truth," she says and sighs "Things are only going to get worse which is part of the reason I've made the choice to transfer my title and the little that still comes with it to you. So I can act knowing I will still have a less tarnished voice to speak the truth who is young and passionate and fearless. A voice that hasn't yet been beaten down by the weight of decades of duty. I fear I may yet need to get in contact with what allies from the Rebellion I still have to prepare for it." Before I can open my mouth she says "Let me handle it and find out what we're facing, focus on your training in the meantime and keep yourself out of trouble. I dare say what the galaxy will need is Jedi."

I have a million questions, but instead I trust her judgement and for once follow her instruction without argument. "Okay."

She nods as well and then says "Before you go to Ossus you might want to return the Falcon to your father." She manages half a smile. "It'll be yours someday but not yet."

"So, is that in his will or?" I begin and she just gives an amused tilt of the head. "Because if Ben gets it after this I will kill him for it."

At this point I would kill him for far less.

"Well, I might beat you to it after what you've told me," she says but tries to keep the mood light. "But yes, considering you were that desperate to get in the pilots seat you decided to be born two weeks early onboard the Falcon I think you can consider it yours." She shakes her head then, smiling to herself. "I still remember your father taking you while I was recovering on our way to the capital and finding him with you in his lap, not even two hours old in the pilots seat of the Falcon with your tiny newborn hands on the controls as best as could be possibly managed. I'm convinced he wrapped your hands around them even if he tried to convince me you did it yourself." She chuckles to herself at the memory. "I don't think he ever believed in fate until he looked at me with the biggest grin on his face and told me 'Ben can be the Jedi in the family but this little bandits mine, the youngest starpilot in the galaxy.'"

I can't help but smile and say "Well, I might not be the youngest anymore but I can still be the best."

"You are your fathers daughter, but also mine," she says fondly, warmth in her eyes. "Now go see him, Ben can wait."

I nod and with that I go to the Falcon. It still feels so strange being inside it without Dad but as I step into the cockpit it only feels right that someday it will be mine, and I will kill Ben if he tries to cheat me out of it.

"This is going to be mine someday you know," I tell R2, having always coveted this ship, maybe because it's the only place that's ever truly felt like home and I've never been able to say that for anywhere else. "Now I'm gonna need your help to fly this thing back to Theron without a co-pilot."

~

With the silent hours that pass I again try to reach out to Ben and only find silence, I try to stay optimistic but it's hard when exhaustion begins to creep into my bones and I begin wondering how long it's been since I've slept more than a restless hour or two, certainly not since the bombing.

A bombing Mom is trying to uncover the truth behind. She said it has links to a cartel but after these past days I can't shake the nagging feeling all of this, the truth about Vader, the bombing, the trial by media, it's all a part of something far darker and far more elaborate.

After all, when you spend years sitting through a history class piecing together the hand Palpatine had in every major political event from the Invasion of Naboo to Order 66 it's impossible to erase the chill of paranoia that darker forces are at work that can't be seen.

"I'm okay R2," I try to promise him as he beeps his worry at me falling asleep in the pilot's seat. "We're almost there, I promise I'll sleep when we get back to Dad's apartment. I know you're worried but you don't have to be, I'm always gonna be okay as long as I've got you."

I reach over to rub a hand on his dome and somewhere between my eyes falling shut and R2 nudging me I realise we've approached Theron. When I pilot the ship down to where I technically stole it from I'm hesitant to leave, not having to put on a brave face when it's just R2 and I. The silence is painful as I wonder what crowds will be standing between me and Dad's apartment since the arrival of the most famous ship in the galaxy wouldn't have gone unnoticed.

And then onto my next dreary adventure.

If this darkness I feel is real I can't afford to be held back. I stopped a blaster bolt but it was too close a call, I could feel its heat and still it remains even now. It only convinces me that I need to go to Ossus and if Luke won't teach me what I need to know then Ben will. No matter where his head is at I know he won't hold me back from my full potential like Luke will.

I'd be dead if Ben hadn't gone behind Luke's back to teach me what he has and that leaves me shaken to my core, the fact if I had left my training to Luke's instruction alone I would be dead. Ben didn't see it with his own eyes, he was still inside the temple with Luke when I ran out, but I know damn well he knows it's the truth as well as I do.

Luke's failed me, but Ben hasn't. Luke's left Mom to face this alone, she defends his name while he's nowhere to be seen. He burdened her with the truth and isn't there to share that weight now it's been exposed. I'd always had my problems with Luke, always harboured a deep frustration that he never trusted me like the other students, but now I've lost all respect for him.

All these years he spoke of Anakin Skywalker, filling our heads with the belief he was one of the greatest Jedi to ever lived and that we are his legacy.

Ben was right, it was all a lie.

I want my brother. I want someone who shares the anger I can't show to Mom. She wouldn't let me attack Luke despite it being justified, she loves him too much to see the truth that her brother has already abandoned her, but mine hasn't and I know he won't.

I don't know how long passes as thoughts race through my sleep deprived mind, finding myself frozen in the pilot's seat until I see Dad along with Lando and Chewie come into the hangar.

The moment I walk out Dad pulls me into a tight hug with a protective hand on the back of my head and it's all I can do not to cry as everything begins to hit me at once. Chewie joins the hug, and I hold onto both of them tight knowing if I have nothing else, I have my family.

Except even that is fractured.

"It's going to be alright kid," Dad promises me. "We're going to make it through this."

This time I don't say anything. I just hold onto him with a pit in my stomach and a voice in my head telling me 'no we aren't going to make it through this,' but still, I force as much of a smile as I can and nod.

"How's your Mom?" he asks me, worry thick in his voice. "I've barely been able to get hold of her."

"She's strong," I say and he nods in agreement. "She's a fighter."

"And so are you it seems," Lando says proudly from behind them. "Princess."

The word feels hollow, princess. That's my Mom not me, at least until yesterday it was. Only now I'm away from her I feel the extent of that hollowness. I want her, I want Ben, I just want all of us to be in the same damn room for five minutes.

"Well it seems there's two of you now," Dad remarks. "But you're Mom was right doing what she did. I don't think the pair of you could have given that damn senate a bigger up yours than that."

Chewie roars in agreement, neither he or Lando seeming too jarred by the news and he puts a hand on my shoulder. "Even after all these years, you people are still full of surprises," Lando says fondly, not looking at me any different and I remember that neither of them knew. "What I said to you at the races about having a crazy family, it still stands even if it's gotten a bit crazier. Who your grandpa was doesn't change a thing about who you are, no matter what all the rich people on Hosnian Prime say. Anyone who knows Leia knows the truth about her, and about you."

There's a slight numbness to my voice. "Still, people are furious, hell- someone tried to kill me on Coruscant." Their faces turn grave, no doubt having seen it on the holonews but by the looks of it having some pre-arranged agreement to not start freaking out the moment they saw me and so I pull it together. "But I'm not afraid of what people think, I can defend myself because of the powers I got from him, and to be honest I already knew."

Dad blinks at me before gaping. "What?"

"I'd figured it out," I say but he still only looks alarmed. "I guess the force knew it was coming and tried to warn me. I started having visions and well... I sure as hell didn't want to accept it and I didn't until I heard her admit it, but I knew the truth deep down."

"I'm guessing you didn't give Ben the memo?" Dad asks and that anger returns when I see how he's carrying his shoulder, I look at Lando who sighs.

"I tried, but he thinks he's twenty years younger than he is and refuses bacta."

"Dad," I chastise but he waves me off.

"I'm fine, I've been more worried about you," he says and puts a trembling hand on my back, the only thing that reveals how shaken he truly is. "Let's head inside, you might be able to stop a blaster bolt but I wouldn't want you to try your luck."

~

Dinner's quiet, my eyes lingering on the dent in the wall, hating Ben for what he's done and hating myself for still needing him. Just praying that when I see him again I'll be with my brother and not whoever did that to Dad.

"So kid, what's the plan?" Dad asks, trying to pretend everything's normal for my sake. "Planning on staying for the rest of the races?"

I shake my head, knowing I can't put it off. "As much as I wish I could, Mom and I have agreed I should finish my training, so I'll be heading to Ossus sooner rather than later."

"Stay the night," he says, his voice suddenly serious. "Before you see Luke and your brother let me explain some things, what did your Mom tell you?"

"Enough," I answer stiffly. "I heard her say what he did to her when he destroyed Alderaan."

He nods slowly and says "I never knew your Mom before that, you know I met her when Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi dragged me on that foolhardy crusade and next thing I knew I was stuck with a princess and some blonde kid."

"So I've heard," I say, forcing myself to manage a smile.

"But I saw what Vader did to your mother after he destroyed Alderaan and the pain he's caused her," he says, harbouring a protective anger that I wish Luke did. "I remember the night Luke told her the truth, she didn't tell me what he said until later but I don't think I'd ever seen her really cry until then and I'd seen her through a lot. When the battle was over she told me Luke was her brother, I was confused but considering I thought she was in love with him I was more relieved than anything else." He sees the look of disgust on my face and sighs "Yeah, that was my second reaction. But it was when we decided to get married in the aftermath she told me Darth Vader was their father. In truth I was more shocked she wanted to marry me than anything else, she thought it would change my mind but the thought of that never even occurred to me and Hope, the people who matter won't see you any differently either alright, so get all that crap out of your head."

"He's right," Lando echoes, knowing my insecurities. "I'd know. For more than twenty years I've known Luke and Leia, and I can promise you it hasn't changed a damn thing, everyone else who knows them won't look at them any differently either."

Chewie roars in agreement and I couldn't be more grateful for the support but still I can't let go of Luke's role in this. "If Luke knew the truth why did he tell us Anakin Skywalker was a great Jedi. I know what he did for the Republic before he turned, I know he was the literal poster boy for the Jedi Order, but why would he still tell us that after what he did to Mom?"

"Luke's going to give you some grand story about the redemption of a psychotic machine," he tells me, seeming relieved I don't buy into Ben's delusional fantasies about it all. "He might have forgiven his father but your mother never has, and I don't think she ever will."

"She shouldn't have to," I grind out and feel myself struggling to keep composure as I confess "Ben still idolises him Dad." I watch his face harden. "He only feels justification now for his anger, that his hero was seduced by the darkside and-" I cut myself off, shaking my head and tell him the details I couldn't bring myself to tell Mom. "We went to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for answers, I saw him slaughtering children who were hiding from him, and he just chased them and cut them down like they were nothing." Tears burn in my eyes now. "I-I saw him kneeling before the Emperor and Ben- he just denied it before accepting it as just a flaw in his now humanised hero. I think I might have killed him if Luke hadn't come."

He suddenly winces and rubs his shoulder, trying to bite back a groan of pain.

"Dad-"

"I'm fine," he insists as I get up to get him some pain killers out of the cupboard, walking past the dent in the wall. "Hope, I don't need-"

"Take them," I say shoving them in his hand. "No arguments."

"I should be the one taking care of you," he says as he reluctantly forces them down with his whiskey. "And your mother, but she's just as damn stubborn as you are." He looks up at me from his chair and sees the stress I've tried to hide, the worry, that despite her brave face she still needs us. "Chewie, Lando, how about you go stand in for me at the races, I've got more important things to care about right now."

They reluctantly leave us and when we're alone he puts a hand on my shoulder, pain in his eyes as he remarks "You aren't a kid anymore are you?"

"Not after this I'm not," I find myself admitting and he only looks at me with pity.

"I know how much you love your Mom, I know how badly you want to help her but just promise me you aren't gonna let the weight of this crush you," he pleads and I lower my eyes. "I know you come from a line of child politicians, you might be older than they were when they started but you're still my kid and I'm gonna be looking out for you. Which means if it's too much say the word and I'll help you get out of whatever mess you're getting yourself into."

"I know," I say without letting myself consider it, afraid that if I'm offered an out I'll lose my nerve, and instead promise him "But don't count me out yet, I might still have a racing career."

He wears a lopsided smile. "I hope so, because trust me none of it is worth it if you aren't chasing what you love. I'd know."

I study him more carefully now, knowing what he loves. The adventure of open space with no end in sight. "You miss it don't you Dad?"

He nods and admits "I do. I went respectable for Leia and for you and Ben, but I do miss it." It's then I see regret fill his eyes. "But what happened to you and Ben with those thugs... it reminded me that there are consequences now, and not just to me." Before I can open my mouth he says "There's something I want to give you." Mildly concerned I watch as he brings over a box and I take it with a small smile as he says "Call it an early birthday present."

I open the box to find within it a heavy blaster pistol, a DL-44, custom made so it's on the more lightweight end of what's available on the market and slightly smaller so it's more practical to carry as a sidearm for someone my stature, but the model is still more than familiar to me.

"Do you like it?"

"Of course I do," I smile and reach over to hug him as tight as I can with his injured shoulder. "It's just like yours."

He nods with a smile of his own. "I once said hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side. I've seen a lot since then but the principle still stands." He starts showing me the modifications. "I went ahead and had the scope removed for a faster draw and better concealment, it's not like you need the sight anyways being a Jedi and all, it's a technically illegal adjustment but don't worry about that. I can promise you it will pack a punch since I have no doubt you'll be getting yourself into the sort of trouble where you'll be needing it. You're my kid after all."

"I think you're right," I say quietly, unable to shake the feeling all of this is far from over. "Thank you Dad."

He nods and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Now go get some sleep, you look like shit."

"Thanks," I laugh, R2 beeping in agreement and I can't even be bothered to change out of my clothes as I fall into bed, the moment my head hits the pillow I'm out like a light but it seems like only moments pass before my door's thrown open and Dad's yelling.

"Kid we've gotta go your Mom's in trouble!"

R2's beeping at my feet as I sit up, voice hoarse. "What?"

"I need a copilot and probably a gunner, get your blaster and your saber!" he orders before going to get his own and it's the panic in his voice that has me jumping to my feet, grabbing both and running out, relieved but unsurprised to find I fell asleep with my boots on.

"Dad, what the hell's going on!"

"No time for questions, we've got to get to the Falcon. Chewie's not here and we don't have time to find him so we're either flying a skeleton crew or rigging racers."

I follow him out the door, not stopping to ask questions until we've reached the Falcon and I've jumped into the co-pilots seat, having been well trained to do what I have to do without any orders from him as we lift off the ground and take off into the atmosphere.

He's busy cursing under his breath and inputting co-ordinates as I ask for the fifth time before he hears me "Dad will you tell me what's going on?"

He opens his mouth but shakes his head and instead slams his com down onto the console and a transmission plays.

"Han, it's me," Mom says and by the tone of her voice I know something isn't right. "By the time you receive this I'll have left Hosnian Prime for what the rest of the world thinks is my hiding away to contemplate my disgrace. I'm not going on any sabbatical. What the rest of the Senate doesn't know is that I'm travelling to Sibensko, as part of the project you and I already discussed." I look at Dad in confusion, not aware of any project aside from her diplomatic mission. "Sibensko can be a dangerous place, I know, but don't worry. I'm not going alone, and I know what I'm doing." She hesitated, pain written across her face before saying "I love you."

"She- she told me she was going on a mission but she never told me it was dangerous, she said it was just boring diplomacy?" I stammer, still not fully comprehending what's going on.

"Well I know your mother and she never tells me she loves me like that unless she's going on some mad mission that usually ends with her getting shot at so strap in," he says and I'm that alarmed I actually do, R2 echoing my alarm. "And I'll be damned if she finds out without backup, whatever assistant she's got with her isn't gonna cut it if she's going to Sibensko."

"I- she said she had one last diplomatic mission investigating the bombing-"

"Sounds about right and I'm guessing she left out the part where the cartel's run by Rinnrivin Di."

She mentioned a cartel funding the paramilitary, but I know I'm missing something from the tone of his voice as I ask "And who's that?"

He looks at me in bewilderment before exclaiming "He kidnapped your mother and you don't know who he is!"

That's when I'm the one yelling. "The hell do you mean Mom was kidnapped!"

"She really didn't tell you anything," he realises, shaking his head. "She received an invitation just before the First Senator crap about meeting with some business leaders who ended up kidnapping her since she was targeting the cartel in the senate and took her to their leader Rinnrivin Di. But be rest assured," he remarks sarcastically. "According to her she was 'completely in control of the entire situation' and was masterminding how to put him in prison, Except he's a crime lord who rivals the worst of the Hutts. Since your Mom killed Jabba the Hutt he respected her enough to give her an audience instead of outright trying to kill her and she escaped after that Casterfo idiot got involved and tried to save her, only for him to stab her in the back of course but that's politics."

I shake my head now in disbelief that while I was skipping history lessons on Naboo she was in the midst of all of this, and I'm even more shocked to learn the very man who exposed her darkest secret and accused her of being a spy had tried to save her life only perhaps a fortnight before. Now Mom's reaction to him begins to make sense, it wasn't just anger, it was betrayal.

"So you're telling me she got away and now she's going for round two?"

"Considering she sees her kidnapping as part of a plan she concocted that was foiled by that idiot trying to save her from a situation she claims to have masterminded yes, yes she's going back for round two except this time she is most definitely not in control of it. She's been meeting with him in secret trying to set him up, to get whatever she thinks she needs to link him and this paramilitary to the bombing and something tell's me she's quite content putting herself in danger to finish it."

Everything goes over my head, dumbstruck that she's been in such danger and I never even knew, that while I've been carrying on and running about searching for the truth she's been dealing directly with a crime lord who is as dangerous as the Hutt's were at their prime.

More than anything I'm disturbed to realise just how well she keeps secrets and how I'd never even suspect she had any. First Vader and this... what else could she be hiding?

Whatever this plot is, it's linked to the bombing that could have killed her and in trying to uncover the truth she could be killed, that's all I need to get through my head.

"Just tell me what I need to shoot at," I swallow, even in the Falcon the hyperspace journey is taking too long when I know I can't fathom what danger she must be in for Dad to be so worried he's taken off from the races and abandoned all else but me.

"I taught you to use a blaster right?" he asks in an unusual state of panic. "I'm sure I did."

I blink at him now in disbelief. "Dad, you taught me to use one when I was eight and I've done specialised combat training since I was twelve."

He seems to be unaware of the latter, slightly incredulous, but just nods along. "Right, yeah, I knew that."

It seems that while he's still my father, the years of separation have taken more of a toll than I've realised if he isn't even aware of just what I've been doing on Naboo.

"And you know I've been in the starpilot corps for just as long?"

"Now that I do know," he promises me and flashes me a smile to try to make up for it. "Who do you think wrote the damn letter for them to accept a kid into a starfighter corps? The name Han Solo's gotta mean something after all."

"So it wasn't my mind tricks then?" I finally realise and he just laughs.

"You are my kid. You know when Luke and Leia were fighting over your training he said it would be like teaching me to use the force. He was confident when Leia gave him Ben to train but he nearly had a nervous breakdown when you started, turns out it was two Solos too many along with all that Skywalker crap."

I laugh but still taste bitterness on my tongue and finally ask "Was the real reason Luke didn't want to train me because I reminded him of Anakin Skywalker."

He's caught completely off guard by that question but considering we're nowhere near Sibensko it's not like he can escape it but tries to talk his way out of it. "Luke never didn't want to train you-"

"Then why did he spend my entire childhood trying to convince me not to follow that path?" I ask him, Mom might be an excellent liar but he's not and my voice becomes demanding. "Dad, I can tell if you lie."

I'm not that skilled but he doesn't know that.

"He- look, he was always apprehensive because of-"

"Snoke," I finish and his eyes widen in alarm. "I know about him so go on."

"Right," he says, looking at me with the exact same nervous avoidance he wears when Mom's mad. "Yeah, him. We thought training Ben would help him so he wouldn't end up being manipulated and seduced like Vader was, or so Luke says. I don't really care why that bastard became what he did but that's not the point. We were wrong and we started to realise it too late, after you two met those mask wearing force junkies Luke was in a crisis about what to do, I don't know how much you remember-"

"I remember all of it," I say and he only looks more alarmed. "I remember them saying that I was something else."

"Yeah," he says and curses under his breath. "Luke's gonna kill me."

"Not before I do if you lie to me," I say and considering he's trapped in a cockpit with me and not Luke he relents.

"Luke sensed Ben's strength from when your Mom was still pregnant, but with you it was apparently different. I don't understand how this midi whatever shit words, the force I've learned to understand, but the science behind it not so much. Essentially Luke had his panties in a knot because the two of you should have been equals in strength, but you weren't." He hesitates before saying "He felt that you were stronger, that the Skywalker blood ran thicker in you than him. I ignored it and your Mom dismissed it but Luke held onto it like some paranoid nagging monk. I love that farmboy but hell, training Ben's aged him like he's still on Tatooine and as you grew up he worried you'd be harder to train than Ben." He just waves it off despite whatever look he must see on my face. "But you've turned out fine and he'll get over whatever he's hung up on, it's Ben he needs to be worried about not you."

Dad might be dismissive, but there is a reason for Luke's reluctance all these years, and I'm going to find out what it is. Enough people who've known Anakin have said I reminded them of him. I've heard the same said about Padmé, but with Anakin it was always spoken with the slightest apprehension that I tried to ignore. It makes me wonder if they would say the same for Ben, or if this is something else.

Before I can speak we hear a familiar noise from below and Dad curses "I hadn't finished fixing the damn hyperdrive."

"I've got it, come on R2," I say and we head down to the hyperdrive generator, quickly grabbing the tool box to get to work and he helps as best he can. "I don't suppose you have any insight into any of this do you?" He doesn't comment. "Is it part of your programming to not tell us anything or are you just stubborn." He beeps offensively. "Yes R2, I know you aren't a snitch but it would sure help if you were."

One of the convenient things about having the force when it comes to mechanics is that sometimes it helps with those repairs that usually involve considerable strain and frustration, but when you're taught to manipulate energy it can sure help with getting parts where they should be or managing energy fluxations, something that made Dad rejoice when he was teaching me the most important part of flying the Falcon which is fixing the damn hyperdrive or at least keeping its energy contained and going where it should until it can be properly fixed. Something learned through sheer experimentation that somehow hasn't gotten me killed.

He calls me up when we reach atmosphere, the hyperdrive repaired enough we'll be able to make it back to the core worlds with no problems, hopefully.

"Alright kid, I don't know what we're going to find down here so I need you to pull out whatever tricks you've got up your sleeve to find her," he says and I look out the cockpit to find a planet consumed by oceans, from above it looks as if most of their population has to be living in below water cities which makes this considerably more difficult.

"I don't suppose you've got a submarine in one of the cargo holds?"

"No, I do not have a submarine," he mutters as we fly over the surface, finding several landing platforms but I can't sense her beneath any of them. "You got anything?"

"No, she's here I can feel that but- wait, I see something over there."

I watch as a platform breaks through the ocean from below, and my stomach drops at the sight of Mom standing there alone and drenched in water with only a blaster in hand and a low grade forceshield protecting her.

"There, I've got her," Dad says but feel panic quickly flood the cockpit at the sight of two starfighters heading straight for her. "Bottom gunner, I'll fly low, got it?"

He doesn't need to tell me not to miss and without another word I'm running to the laser canons, even as I sit in the gunners seat I can hear echoes of Mom yelling at me as a child to not dare touch the controls but she'll be dead if I don't now.

Dad flies low, letting me line up the two starfighters in my sights and just as Mom raises her own blaster at them I lock on and fire two consecutive shots, she ducks as they both explode above her and the burning wreckage is catapulted into the ocean.

Quickly I run down to the boarding ramp to lower it as Dad hovers over the platform and see her standing there out of breath and pale.

"Hope?" she exclaims at the sight of me, but still takes my hand as I pull her up into the ship. "What the hell are you doing here? You should be on Ossus."

"And you said you were investigating a terrorist attack, not hunting down a crime lord," I retort as she finds her footing.

"I told you I was investigating a paramilitary group a cartel was involved with," she corrects as we make our way to the cockpit. "The crime lord's dead by the way."

"Hope!" I hear Dad yelling from the cockpit and we start running. "We're getting out of here before more fighters come, I need you to co-pilot." He looks back at Mom and gives her a smile. "Sorry I'm late sweetheart."

She shakes her head fondly and I slip down into the co-pilots seat as he takes the ship in a sharp turn upwards and I answer the transmission that come's through.

Dad grins when he sees who it's from, Mom's assistant that he'd mentored in the Five Sabers. "Greer! How the hell are you?"

"Captain Solo?" Greer exclaims. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't worry," Mom says to her. "Han and Hope have me. We'll follow you guys out of this system as soon as we take care of a little unfinished business."

I blink at her in exasperation. "Unfinished business?"

"And it's coming right at us," Dad says and we look to see more fighters coming. "We've got company. Hope activate the deflector shields and get back on the cannons. Nothing like hands on learning huh?"

I don't miss the warning look Mom gives him for bringing me here as I activate the shields and run back to the laser cannons, pulling on the headpiece and getting into position as Dad guides me through it.

"Alright we've got four now, you see em?"

"Yeah, this is definitely not like the N-1's but I'll make it work," I answer as I raise the cannon, the seat jerking violently as I try to get into position, this being a little more difficult than the clear shot I'd had before. With a careful eye I watch the starfighters moving together to create a battle formation but it just makes an easier target and I fire, taking out the two in the centre while the flanking ships scatter. "I can take out the other two just get me into position!"

"On it," he says and I spin in the seat as he makes a sharp turn and I aim the cannon higher, eyeing the positioning of the second ship beneath the one I'm locked onto.

"Higher!"

He gets me at the right angle to fire on the first ship so it spirals into the second, taking them both out in one shot. "I got them!"

He cheers proudly before warning "Now don't get too cocky, we're not out of this yet."

I watch the ships hit the water hard only to gape as the water rises up in a tsunami with explosions breaking through the surface. The Falcon quickly climbs to avoid fallout from the sudden natural disaster that is certainly not natural. If it is it's a hell of a coincidence burning wreckage just crashed into whatever's below the waves at the same moment.

"That might have been too good a shot," Dad says as I watch in pure astonishment, still sleep deprived and confused at this entire situation but I shot at what I was told and blew it up so I did my job.

"Now I know these canons didn't do that," I say as I march back into the cockpit and exclaim "What the hell was beneath that water that the wreckage ignited to cause a tsunami?"

"The speeders crashed into the main station," Mom answers and she realises "Explosives. They must have kept a massive amount of armaments down there. The crash set them off, and the explosives did the rest."

I'm still in a state of loss for what the hell she was doing there and why she went alone knowing how dangerous it was if she felt the need to send Dad a goodbye message. "Mom, what were you really doing there and don't give some half baked answer about investigating. Getting shot at is not investigating it's engaging."

She sighs before explaining. "I've been doing some inv-" she stops and corrects herself. "Researching and found the people responsible for the bombing of the complex are, or rather were, known as Amaxine Warriors. They were being funded by the Rinnrivin Cartel that I was trying to bring down and well, it would seem all of their weapons and ships were just destroyed by you."

Even with only an inkling of what the ramifications of that could be I cautiously ask "Is that good or bad?"

"Both," she answers to my relief. "We destroyed assets that could have been used to launch an attack against the New Republic but we're still lacking physical evidence of those assets, which is my doing not yours since I found myself in a predicament."

"Predicament?' I repeat at how we found her, stranded in the middle of the ocean about to be blown up, prepared to shoot at a starfighter with a blaster.

She waves off my concern. "This destruction is the better outcome, the enemy is gone."

I nod slowly as I realise I'm not in trouble and ask "So how do the Centrists tie into this."

She just looks confused "What do you mean?"

"This is clearly a Centrist controlled planet and is it just a coincidence the Centrists launched a personal attack to destroy your reputation the moment you begin investigating?" I reason as if it's common sense and watch a realisation dawn on her, one the personal betrayal by Casterfo might have made her blind to. "I know Casterfo did this because he was emotional but whoever gave him that information knew what they were doing and only a fellow Centrist would have dared do it. All of this... it makes too much sense for them not to be involved."

"You did say the cartel was funnelling their resources through Centrist worlds," Dad gently points out to her and she sits in silence for a moment, deep in contemplation before agreeing.

"It does make too much sense, but we don't have any evidence aside from circumstance."

"Then we get some," I say and she lowers her eyes. "Mom, if the Centrists were involved with those guys that means ex-Imperials are militarising which is breaking the Galactic Concordance."

"Which is why they'd make sure that by all appearances it was just dirty cartel business that the senate wouldn't want to interfere in. Tthey'd blame the bombing on a vengeful crime lord to conceal any political motivations," she continues and decides "We'll take what evidence we have to the senate if they'll hear it, and then I'll handle the rest." She looks at herself, soaked with water from whatever the hell happened down there and looking as if she ran ten miles which I dare say she might have. "It might not have gone to plan but I think we got what we needed."

"Yeah and nearly got yourself killed doing it," Dad scolds but now the danger's passed he eases up and puts a hand on my shoulder. "You did good kid, I knew I could count on you."

"Thanks Dad," I smile and look back towards Mom. "You know if you told me this was part of what you wanted my help with I would have left Theron in a heartbeat. I didn't realise this was part of diplomatic missions."

She just laughs but I can hear pride in it. "This is the part I've missed. Unfortunately the mess that's going to come after this in the senate has made up most of my career." She kisses the top of my head and says "You did great honey, it's just a shame our political careers are in the gutter the moment things are heating up for the first time in twenty years, but if you're still interested I could use your help one last time in the senate."

I give a single nod with no doubts in my mind. "Of course."