Imperial Throne Room
Imperial Palace
Imperial Center
4 days later
Darth Sidious, known to the galaxy as Emperor Palpatine, chewed obsessively on his left, very yellow, cracking thumbnail. It was a bad habit, and one he rarely reverted to, but he was really upset right now. Of course, he could just kill some of his minions for a little light stress relief, but he had already murdered four Imperial Guards today and given that he did not know what was going on in the galaxy, he had best not wipe out too many of his defenders; he might need them if there was an assault on the palace.
He was, of course, incredibly powerful in the Force and could easily handle most attacks on his own. He could wipe the floor with an entire legion of Rebel troops if it came to that. But...the Force had been roiling and confused and uncontrollable and peculiar for several days. That was bad, very bad, and weird, very weird, but worse than that, his precious Death Star had gone missing.
He cursed aloud, causing his guards to jerk in surprise and fear. The red robed Emperor's Guards were the very best of the best of the best, but the last days were wearing even on their nerves. On the one hand, the Dark Side, coiling like a serpent in Sidious's black soul, relished the fear emanating from his guards. On the other hand, he wanted his protectors sufficiently calm to fight well if someone did break into the Throne Room and start tossing bombs around.
What could possibly have happened to the Death Star? It was well protected by the second best Imperial troops (the best, of course, were tasked with guarding his own precious person.) Tarkin was entirely loyal and as for Darth Vader, well, the cyborg was entirely devoted to his master. It was barely possible that someone might take out Governor Tarkin on a good day but Darth Vader? Darth Vader? The cyborg was a one man army!
And yet somehow, some way, the Death Star had been hijacked, or lost, or something. It definitely wasn't orbiting Scarif anymore. What could have happened? How could a moon sized space station get lost? Where could it be?
There was a sudden, demanding beep from the com on his throne and he hit the appropriate button impatiently.
"Yes?" he barked.
"Your Highness," a voice quavered. "Master, the Death Star has come out of hyperspace and ... and we have hailed it and... and... no one is answering. Furthermore, oh, this is bad. This is terrible."
"What is happening!?"
"The Death Star's laser has commenced primary ignition, Your Highness. It seems to be...oh ... oh, the energy signature from the space station indicates...we are all going to die!"
Darth Sidious, Emperor Palpatine swung his throne around and stared, wide eyed and even more pale than usual, out the window of his enormous throne room. There was a sudden bright light which flashed from horizon to horizon and...
Everything went black, forever.
/
Command Center
Death Star
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, stared down at the great planet of Imperial Center, formerly Coruscant. A great cloud of dust and metal and matter was now billowing outward into space, with the epicenter of the destruction being the former Imperial Palace. In some ways, it would be more satisfying if the entire planet had blown up, but his Alter Son had given him a stern lecture about not murdering billions of civilians, so ...
Not that he cared about billions of civilians, but he did care about his son and daughter. He knew Leia Organa was enthused about democracy and the poor and disenfranchised, and presumably his son was as naïve and idealistic as his daughter. Best to start things off on a good foot by not wiping out an entire planet unnecessarily.
In any case, the most important goal had been accomplished.
Darth Sidious, his former slave master, the murderer of his dear wife, was dead.
"For Padme," Darth Vader muttered softly, and turned toward the engineers. "Prepare to go into hyperspace."
"Yes, my lord."
/
Guest Quarters
Royal Palace
Aldera
Alderaan
Bail Organa followed his wife into the main living room of the best guest suite in the Royal Palace and came to a sudden halt.
Two men stood on the wooden floor, one old, one young, both dressed in tan garments appropriate for the deserts of Tatooine. The older man was as so very old. How could Obi-Wan have aged so much in a mere twenty years? As for the boy...
Bail gulped convulsively and turned his attention on the boy, on Luke Skywalker. He had last seen Leia's twin when the two infants were but a few hours old. Now Luke was all grown up. He felt tears spring to his eyes and blinked them away. He looked nothing like his sister, but he did look so much like Anakin. Leia, of course, was the very image of her mother, Padme.
His precious, lost Leia...
"Bail?" Obi-Wan said aloud, breaking into his thoughts.
"My apologies," the viceroy said, shaking his head. "Obi-Wan, it is so good to see you. And this is Luke, of course."
"Yes. Luke, Queen Breha and Viceroy Bail Organa."
The boy, whose blue eyes were clear as the desert sky, bobbed his head and asked urgently, "Have you heard anything from Princess Leia?"
The royals exchanged grief stricken glances and the queen said, "No, I fear we have not. It ... there were reports that the Tantive IV was destroyed at Scarif..."
"That is not true," Obi-Wan said. "However, her ship was captured by an Imperial vessel in space over Tatooine, but Leia managed to put the Death Star plans in this R2 unit."
R2D2 beeped a few times from his corner in the room, causing both Organas to turn in surprise.
"R2D2!" Breha exclaimed. "Do you know anything about Princess Leia?"
The droid whistled and twisted his dome, then a beam of light shone out of his eye. In a moment, a tiny holographic image formed. Bail blinked back tears at the sight of his beautiful daughter as he focused intently on the words now emanating from the little astromech.
"General Kenobi, years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars; now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person; but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I've placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope."
The droid turned off the recording and beeped sadly. Bail wet his lips with his tongue and said, "So you think she has been captured?"
"I fear so," Kenobi said gravely.
"We have to do something," Luke exclaimed, his blue eyes blazing passionately. "We have to save her!"
"We do not even know where she is," Breha murmured, her regal mask slipping sufficiently to allow tears to fall down her cheeks. "She might be anywhere..."
"We must focus on the Death Star," Bail said resolutely. "Leia...Leia is strong. We must trust that she can ... she can..."
His voice faded away as he considered the reality that his precious daughter was probably being tortured at the hands of the Empire.
The door to the room slid open suddenly and all turned in surprise, which morphed into incredulous shock.
"Father, Mother!" Leia Organa exclaimed, rushing into the room. "I'm here! I'm safe!"
Bail choked on his own saliva and found himself rushing forward side by side with his wife. A few seconds later, the Royal Family of Alderaan was embraced in a massive group hug, and all three were sobbing in relief and joy.
"How...how did you get here?" Breha finally managed to say. "How did you escape?"
"That is a long story and very complic...," Leia began, then stopped as her brown eyes fixed on the face of young Luke Skywalker, standing next to an old man in a cloak.
"You...are you Luke Skywalker?" she demanded, gently removing herself from her parents' embraces and taking an urgent step toward the tanned youth from the desert.
Luke, not surprisingly, looked bewildered. "Um, yes, but how do you know my name?"
Leia launched forward and threw her arms around her twin. "I am so happy to meet you, finally. To meet you again, I mean. I don't remember you of course."
Older Luke, who noticed the constipated look on Obi-Wan's face, interposed to say, "Leia, you are confusing him."
"Right," Leia returned, retreating a step and wiping the tears off her face. "I know this is crazy – well, I assume you don't know this, but you and I are biological twins!"
A moment passed.
"What?!" Breha and Young Luke exclaimed simultaneously.
"Yes!" Leia said excitedly. "See, our mother died in childbirth and we were split up because..."
"Leia, that is not true!" Breha interrupted, her eyes dark with dismay. What had been done to her precious daughter that she thought this young man was her twin? That was just crazy!
"But it is true, isn't it, Father?" Leia said, turning to glare into Bail Organa's eyes.
Bail Organa, consort to the Queen of Alderaan, looking vaguely nauseous, said, "Um..."
The queen turned toward her husband in disbelief. "Bail?"
"Um," Bail repeated, shooting a pleading glance at Obi-Wan, whose sabacc face had given way to wide eyes and a shocked expression.
"Ben?!" young Luke demanded.
"You might as well just tell the truth," Older Luke suggested. "A quick med test for shared DNA would prove it."
Obi-Wan swallowed hard and said, with stiff lips, "It is true, Luke, and Princess Leia; you two are biological twins."
The queen of Alderaan was a serene, well controlled individual most of the time, but now, with fear followed by relief followed by incredulity hitting her in quick succession, she turned furiously toward her husband. "Did you know this, Bail?"
"Yes," Bail began, "But..."
"How...how could you not tell me? That our daughter has a twin brother? What were you thinking?!"
Obi-Wan, observing the dilating pupils in the eyes of his old friend, interposed quickly, "Queen Breha, we concealed the truth for the safety of the twins. You must understand that as the children of Anakin Skywalker, they are in great danger from the Emperor and his minions. We deemed it safest to tell as few people as possible of the truth."
"So how did you find out the truth, Princess?" young Luke asked shrewdly.
Leia rolled her eyes and corrected, "Leia, call me Leia! I'm your sister! As for how, well, this part is truly crazy, but I believe it, because..."
"I am also Luke Skywalker," Older Luke said, "but I am from a different timeline and fifteen years older than you."
Thirty seconds passed by as people gaped and blinked until Bail said, "Time travel? That is impossible..."
"I know, people always say that," the time traveler said cheerfully. "It's true, though. We messed with a holocron a few years ago and now I keep getting tossed through space and into different timelines. Leia can attest to the fact that I know a crazy amount about her, and that's because my twin, my Leia, told me."
"It is true," the girl agreed, nodding emphatically. "There are things he knows that you don't even know, like the time Winter and I were... well, I really don't want you to know now. It would just stress you out."
"Wow, that is amazing!" younger Luke said, eying his counterpart with interest. "We do look a lot alike, though, um..."
"I look old, and scarred," the other Luke agreed. "Partly that is because the last decade has been exhausting, and partly because I got whacked by a Wampa ten years ago, which did some permanent damage."
"A wampa?" Leia demanded. "What's that?"
"Huge snow creature on Hoth, but I'm guessing you won't have to deal with wampas. We've changed the timeline a lot so I hope you won't have to have a base on Hoth. It is ridiculously cold."
"How has the timeline changed?" Obi-Wan demanded, his Force sense radiating worry.
Older Luke smirked and said, "Well, for one thing, Darth Vader and I had a really important talk about some extremely important family matters."
Obi-Wan promptly turned ghostly pale and collapsed onto a couch. Younger Luke stared first at his mentor, then took an angry step toward his older counterpart, his fists clenched with fury.
"You talked to Darth Vader?" he yelled. "Why didn't you kill him? He murdered my...our father!"
"No, he didn't," Luke said sympathetically.
"Obi-Wan said..."
"Obi-Wan lied," the time traveling Jedi interrupted, and pointed a scolding finger at Kenobi. "And don't give me that nonsense about 'from a certain point of view', Obi-Wan. That's bantha poodoo!"
"Who did kill Anakin Skywalker, then?" Leia demanded, her brow creased in confusion. "I mean, I believe you, because Vader was totally weird on the Death Star..."
"Did he hurt you?" Bail asked fearfully.
"No," Leia said, throwing her hands in the air in confusion. "I mean, he was rude and menacing when I was captured, and I was definitely expecting an interrogation droid, but then he and Luke...and Older Luke turned up at my cell in the Death Star and Vader escorted us to a hanger and told us to get out of there, which we did."
"Who killed my father?" younger Luke demanded.
"No one did," Luke said gently. "Anakin Skywalker, terrified at the prospect of losing his wife and your mother in childbirth, pledged his allegiance to Palpatine and turned to the Dark Side. Darth Vader is your father."
