Millennium Falcon
In hyperspace
4 hours later
Darth Vader wanted to stride up and down the room in a rage, but he couldn't, because his legs were still lying in an ungainly heap on the ground.
He could, however, wave both arms, because his son had reattached the right arm, making a few helpful tweaks along the way.
"I will kill him," he snarled for the 14th time, clenching his cyborg fists so hard that they creaked and groaned. "He murdered my angel!"
"Killing him is a great idea," Luke said for the 14th time, though a trifle wearily. There were only so many times they could have this conversation, but Vader was, of course, still in shock at being defeated and dismembered today, and betrayed by his master 14 years previously, betrayed in the most excruciating way possible.
The Sith hissed in fury; he had loved Padme so much, had been willing to die for her, and Palpatine had drained his darling's life away to sustain his own useless, burned carcass. How he hated his master!
Vader looked around rather hopelessly for a datapad. The cabin of the Millennium Falcon was no more of a mess than most freighters of its ilk, but he was still appalled and offended. It was nothing like his Star Destroyer, where everything was required to be shiny and clean and tidy and just so. He really wanted to start writing down ways to kill off Palpatine, but maybe that was premature? At the moment, he didn't even have legs, though Luke was working away hard to fix and then, presumably, reattach them. Also, there were other major concerns, such as...
"Where are my children?" he demanded, causing his Alter Son to look up in surprise.
"Ah, I don't know," Luke admitted. "I mean, I could guess, but it might be wrong because your timeline is pretty weird."
"Very well," Vader acknowledged, "where were you when you are fourteen?"
Luke was silent for another moment as he connected a recalcitrant wire and then said reluctantly, "You won't like this, but...Tatooine."
"Tatooine? Tatooine? Tatooine?!"
"I know. Thirst, wind, suns, and sand everywhere, which is rough and coarse and irritating. I did not like it at all, I promise you. But maybe your Luke is somewhere else."
"And what of my daughter? Surely they are together?"
Luke rolled his eyes and grimaced. "No, they were separated at birth, which is not cool, but you have to remember the Jedi are really stupid about attachments. They didn't realize what a problem it would be for us to be torn away from one another. I mean, we didn't know we had a sibling, of course, but when we finally learned the truth, it filled in a hole in our hearts. We had actually been friends for several years then, which presented its own set of problems. We are exactly the same age, and were thrown into a war together under very volatile circumstances. Fortunately, my sister was sensible enough to fall in love with Han Solo, so that took care of any potential romance between us. Still, it was moronic to leave us in the dark, so to speak."
Darth Vader was too mad at his master to dwell for long on his daughter's choice of mate, but he still managed to mutter, "Solo is not worthy of her. But that is for another time. Where was your sister raised?"
"Um, Alderaan, as the adopted daughter of the Organas. I don't know..."
Luke trailed away as his Alter Father wobbled noticeably and his Force sense suddenly projected horrified surprise.
"Your sister is Leia Organa of Alderaan?" the behemoth croaked, his voice shaky even through the vocoder.
"Yes?"
"I ... I was ... I was sent by Palpatine to capture the Organa family and use the daughter to obtain information from her parents regarding the budding Rebellion. Once I had extracted ... I was to ... "
The Sith trailed away, and Luke tightened his fists, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
"Well, I guess that is why we are here," he said in a studiously neutral voice, turning back to his work on Vader's right leg, "to stop you from torturing and killing your own daughter."
The resulting hiss of furious despair smote his heart, and he patted the Sith's arm reassuringly. "It did not happen, Father. Calm down."
"Do you think Palpatine knows?" the cyborg demanded hoarsely. "Does he know that Leia Organa of Alderaan is my daughter?"
"I doubt it, or he would have captured her and tried to turn her to the Dark Side," Luke said. "She is very strong in the Force, or at least I assume she is; I mean, if Han Solo is a Force sensitive in this timeline, your twins might be entirely incapable of using the Force..."
"That is not possible. No child of mine could be Force blind."
Luke frowned and reached out cautiously along the bond between himself and the younger Luke. "Yeah, Luke is strong, anyway; I can sense that, though I don't know where he is exactly. Not Tatooine I think. Anyway, we stopped you from hurting Leia, and now we can join with Solo and your daughter and the Organas and probably Obi-Wan Kenobi..."
The room literally shook at these words and Luke waved a couple of casual fingers to block his Alter Father's Force tantrum.
"Look," he said, shifting over the mammoth right leg of the cyborg and leaning over to attach it. "I know you hate Kenobi's guts, and I do get it. First of all, you are a Sith Lord, and you get off on anger. Also, he left you burning on Mustafar, which totally stinks. He should have stuck a saber through your chest and been done with it, though I admit, from a selfish, emotional perspective, I am glad he didn't."
Vader, who had been ready to let loose with a bellow of fury as a general indication of how much he hated Kenobi, paused at these words.
"Why are you glad he did not?" he asked, genuinely puzzled. "I sense you are a Light Sider and I must assume that we are enemies."
"Were," Luke corrected, patting the behemoth on the shoulder before turning his attention back to Vader's leg. "You died when I was 24 years old after you killed Palpatine to save my life. Before that, yes, we were enemies; in fact, you cut off my hand in our first duel. But I cannot..."
Here, to Luke's surprise, his eyes actually misted and he said, in a choked voice, "You have no idea at all how much I longed to know my father, all my life. I can tell you confidently that your son, wherever he is, has been watching the skies hoping that you will come to him. From a practical perspective, the galaxy would probably have been better off if you had died on Mustafar, but I love you so..."
He trailed off into silence, forcing himself to focus on properly hooking up the tiny wires of Vader's leg.
Darth Vader himself found himself swallowing convulsively, his thoughts a chaotic maelstrom of confusion and yes, hope. It seemed impossible that anyone out there could actually love him and to hear that his own son (probably) longed to know him.
He wanted to cry. (But he couldn't, because his tear ducts had been seared to oblivion on Mustafar).
/
Han Solo's cabin on the Millennium Falcon
Han Solo woke up with a start, his heart racing, and sat up with a groan as he struggled to escape the horrifying nightmare image of Darth Vader, standing over him, his red blade of death ready to swing and strike...
It had happened, he thought with wonder. He had actually fought Darth Vader and survived, but only because of the intervention of the weird space twins from the future.
He blew out a slow breath and lay back down on his pillow, struggling to calm his breathing. On the one hand, it was great to be in his own bed in his own cabin in his own precious Millennium Falcon. On the other hand, he was short his right hand, and Darth Vader was inhabiting his hold. Kenobi was going to be totally pissed off.
The door slid open, and he reached for his lightsaber, only to remember, again, that his right hand and weapon were gone. Fortunately, the intruders were his closest friend in the galaxy, Chewbacca, and the beautiful Leia Skywalker.
Chewbacca had a bunch of things to say, none of them complimentary.
"I know, I know, Chewie," Han said in a placating tone. "I shoulda told you Vader was likely to be on his way, but I figured he would just kill us both. I care about you, Big Guy. The last thing I wanted was for both of us to fall to the red blade of death."
A chime sounded in the background, and Chewie woofed and glanced toward the cockpit.
Go on," Leia said, placing a tray on a nearby table. "I will take care of him."
Chewbacca frowned down at his pilot and snarled one last remonstration before lumbering out of the room.
"He trusts you," Han said in surprise and relief. If Chewie thought this Leia person was decent, she almost certainly was.
"Well, we've known each other or a long time, or at least I've known his counterpart. Are you well enough to sit up and drink some tea and eat some convor eggs?"
Solo discovered, to his astonishment, that he was ravenously hungry. On further thought, perhaps that was no great surprise after all. He was hungry more or less all the time. He had even rather liked Yoda's root stew.
"Thank you," he said, taking a gulp of tea. When he lowered the cup, he lifted a doubtful eyebrow. "Is there something else in here?"
"A little jogan fruit brandy, yes," Leia answered with a twinkle. "I think you deserve it."
"Yes, I do," Han said with a huff, and returned to attacking his meal with enthusiasm. Leia waited patiently until he was done, and then gestured for the tray to move over to a handy shelf.
"How is your pain?" she asked sympathetically with a look at Han's right arm.
He shrugged and said, "It isn't bad. I'd rather talk about the plan, if you don't mind. Do you have a plan?"
Leia shrugged back and grinned, "Not really. I figure we will meet up with Kenobi and go from there. We have Vader all primed to kill Palpatine, but it isn't enough for him to charge in saber waving. The Emperor is stinking powerful, and it'll take a little plotting to bring him down."
Han blew out a slow breath and admitted, "It is hard to believe Darth Vader actually was in love with a woman."
"Our mother was very special," Leia said, her eyes misting a little. "We have saved her a few times in our trips back through time, but obviously we are 14 years too late this time. The Force does what it will; at least we saved you, and that makes me very, very happy."
Han, to his surprise, actually felt himself flush a little. He had not been in love since he lost Qi'ra, and it was incredible to even think...
"You really married my counterpart?" he blurted out.
"Yes, I did," Leia said, gently reaching out to inspect some bruises on Solo's face. "We have four children, too."
Now his eyes bugged out. "Four? Are you serious?"
"Totally serious and yes, we are tired. But they are great."
"So what are you called? Leia Skywalker? Leia ... Solo?"
"Well," Leia mused, dabbing some bacta ointment on Han's face, "I didn't find out my Skywalker heritage until I was in my 20's and I kept my adopted name, so I am Leia Organa Solo."
The resulting shock wave in the Force was so powerful that she threw up hasty shields in protest.
"What?" she demanded, staring at Solo, whose eyes were wide in disbelief.
"Wait, you are Leia Organa?" he sputtered.
"Oh, sorry, I thought...yes, I guess I didn't say that. Yes, Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan."
"Wow, that is crazy," Han muttered. "I mean, you do look like her, or she looks like you. I mean, I have been guarding her for the last month, so I should have known, but..."
"I was kind of plump at 14, and I look pretty different now," Leia said with a chuckle, "especially since I don't wear my hair in big ear buns anymore."
"I like the ear buns! I think they're cute!"
"Yes, but the kids like the ear buns too, and the last thing I need when carrying a toddler around is having him or her pulling hard at my hair!"
Solo grinned and said, "That makes all the sense in the world, I guess. I haven't been around kids much. So your husband is like the Prince Consort of Alderaan, right?"
This wiped away Leia's smile in an instant, and he stared at her worriedly.
"What did I say?" he asked worriedly. "Did the Empire keep you from ascending the throne or something? Or are your parents and you not on good terms?"
Leia bit her lip, took a deep breath, and said, "No. My parents are dead, and Alderaan is no more. It was destroyed by an Imperial battle station called the Death Star when I was 19 years old."
He stared at her, and she ducked her head at his intense gaze. It was wonderful to see Alderaan on these trips through back through time, but it was agonizing as well, to know that when she returned home, Alderaan would still be a floating pile of space rocks in orbit around the sun of her homeworld.
"I am so sorry," Solo said huskily. "Also, a Death Star?"
"Yes, you'll need to destroy it," Leia said, shifting her brown eyes to gaze into his own. "It is probably in orbit around Horuz now? Maybe? Anyway, it has flaws, including one deliberately introduced by a scientist named Galen Erso, so you can wipe it out, or Luke can; this Luke I mean. My brother is a phenomenal pilot."
"So am I, your Highnessness," Solo answered, looking insulted.
"Now there is the Han Solo know and love," Leia chuckled, patting him on the cheek. "I am glad to hear that the Jedi haven't removed your snark. So please tell me your story, Han. How did a Corellian scrumrat with ties to the Hutt cartels end up as a nascent Jedi?"
