Millennium Falcon
In Hyperspace
En route to Alderaan
Han Solo twitched but kept his eyes shut. He had been stunned, he remembered that. The question was, where was he? Who were his captors?
"I know Han doesn't believe in the Force, but you do," a feminine voice said confidently. "You knew Master Yoda."
"True," Chewbacca replied in Shyrriwook, "but Han is young and does not have my experience."
"I understand totally, of course. He was still young when the Jedi Order fell, and there aren't many Force Sensitives rolling around the galaxy these days."
"Sadly, no."
Solo cracked open one eye and looked around furtively. He was in the main cabin of his precious Millennium Falcon, lying on one of the dilapidated but comfortable seats, and he could see that Chewbacca was sitting next to the dejarik board and was not tied up or anything. That was encouraging. The lovely brunette, Leia, was seated on the other side of the board, looking very comfortable indeed.
"I do apologize for the whole stunning thing, Han," Leia said, turning toward him with an apologetic look on her face.
Prevarication was obviously useless so the captain of the Falcon opened his eyes, sat up, swung his feet onto the floor, and leaned forward to glower angrily at the woman.
"I hate being stunned," he said truculently.
"Yeah, me too. Like I said, I'm sorry. But look at the bright side, we left a witness alive who can tell anyone who cares that you had nothing to do with Jabba's death."
Han choked on his own breath and his eyes flared wide. "What?"
"We killed Jabba," Leia said calmly.
Han shot an incredulous, questioning look at Chewbacca, who said, "I was stunned as well, so I do not have first hand knowledge of what happened."
"Then I don't believe a word of it," Solo replied, crossing his arms.
"You'll find out soon enough," Leia remarked, and then turned as Han's paying passengers, along with Luke, entered the cabin.
"How are things?" Leia asked, obviously worriedly.
"I hope we will be in time," Luke said, a deep furrow in his own brow. "I charted a pretty odd course but it'll cut off time..."
"Wait, we're in hyperspace?" Solo snarled, leaping to his feet. "You stole my ship and charted some random, crazy course..."
"Kind of crazy, but not random," Luke said, holding up a staying hand. "It'll get us to Alderaan a few hours earlier, hopefully in time for us to save it. My wife is in the cockpit keeping an eye on things, and she is a great pilot. Don't worry, Han"
The younger, blond man, who had been standing with his mouth slightly opened, blurted out, "Save Alderaan? Whaddya mean?"
"The Empire has constructed an armored battle station called the Death Star," Leia said, her dark eyes suddenly grief stricken, "and it will shortly destroy Alderaan."
"How can you possibly know that?" Han demanded.
Luke sighed deeply and said, "That's a complicated question, and the answer is, I know, hard to believe. My sister and wife and I are from about 15 years in the future, and from another timeline."
Young Luke stared at him, his blue eyes bugging out, and then turned a bewildered look on his mentor. "Ben, is this true?"
Old Kenobi stared at the time travelers and said, "It seems impossible, and yet you are all very powerful in the Force, and I do not know any of you."
"Well, you kind of do," Older Luke said, wandering over to his younger self and slinging his arm around the youth. "I'm actually Luke Skywalker but, as I said before, from a different timeline."
"What?" young Luke demanded, barely keeping from drooling.
"I'm Luke," Older Luke said, "and this is my twin sister, Leia Organa Solo, who…"
"What?" shrieked Han Solo and young Luke simultaneously.
"Princess Leia of Alderaan?" Kenobi demanded.
"I married a princess?" Solo yelped. He had been thinking about marrying a princess, and now this?
"I have a sister?" young Luke howled.
"I am indeed married to your counterpart, Han," Leia said, grinning mischievously. "We have four kids together."
"That is …," Han began.
"You are saying that Princess Leia, the girl in the holographic projection, is my twin sister?" young Luke shouted, drowning out the Corellian. He pulled away from his older self and turned a disbelieving look on Obi-Wan. "Ben? This isn't true, is it? I don't have a sister, right?"
Obi-Wan looked rather as if he was sucking a Roonan lemon. He looked at the time travelers with obvious indignation, and then said, "You do have a sister, yes, young Luke, but we did not have time…"
"My sister has been captured by Imperials?" Luke yelled, even more loudly.
"Calm down, Luke," Leia said, walking over and sending waves of calm toward her much younger self. She had forgotten how dramatic 19 year old Luke was.
"We have to rescue her!" young Luke screeched. He was also, even at this impressionable age, sufficiently strong in the Force that he was able to bat away Force suggestion with ease.
"And we will," Older Luke said. "She's on board the Death Star and we will get her out, I promise."
"Why didn't you tell me?" young Luke demanded, turning hurt, betrayed eyes on Kenobi.
The old Jedi coughed twice, cast a nervous glance at the time traveling twins, and said, "The situation was very complicated, you see; after your father was killed, you and your sister were separated…"
"I thought you said your dad was rich and could pay me a lot!" Solo interrupted angrily.
"We did say that," Leia said, her mouth now a thin line, "and it is true."
"I didn't know Jedi Knights were rich," young Luke said in confusion. "Besides, he is dead."
"The Jedi weren't rich, and they still aren't," old Luke said. "The thing is, your father is still alive, Luke, right now, and he isn't a Jedi Knight anymore."
"Please," Kenobi interpolated, starting to sweat in spite of the cool ambient temperature. "This is a difficult time and I think…"
"Our father fell to the Dark Side and he is Darth Vader," Older Luke continued remorselessly, and then, as Leia tightened her comforting hug on the younger man, turned an irritable look on Kenobi. "Listen, Ben, I love you to the ends of the galaxy but the whole secrecy about our father…"
"That can't be true!" younger Luke gasped.
"It does seem impossible, but Vader is super wealthy," Solo commented greedily.
"Ben? Is this true?" Luke implored. "You said that Vader betrayed and murdered my father!"
Kenobi now looked as if he had climbed a Roonan lemon tree and eaten the entire crop.
"Your father was seduced to the Dark Side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. So what I told you was true, from…"
"A certain point of view!" the time traveling twins yelled with him.
"That is one of Ben's favorite lines," Leia said, pushing her young brother onto a nearby bench where he could hyperventilate without falling down. "Now just breathe slowly, and deeply…"
"My father is alive?" the youth quavered.
"Well, he's mostly alive," Older Luke said judiciously. "I mean, he is, but he's half machine now and as Ben likes to say, twisted and evil."
"Well, he is," Kenobi said grouchily. He felt, very strongly, that this whole situation was spiraling completely out of control.
Old Luke wandered up to him at this point and put a comforting hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Ben. I know this is a lot to take in. But just think, maybe you and Father can become buddies again."
Kenobi blinked and blinked again. "He has fallen…"
"If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will," Older Luke croaked in a peculiar tone.
"And, of course you know Master Yoda," Obi-Wan grumbled.
"You guys are weird," Solo commented.
"I know, but part of the entertainment of going back in time to different timelines is that we get to hear the same things over and over, and laugh about them," Leia explained cheerily.
"You've done this before?" Kenobi demanded in disbelief.
The twins exchanged glances and Luke said, "So, so many times. We don't control it, either. The Force just yanks us out of our normal lives and into whatever scenario it likes…"
"We were actually enjoying a swim at Varykino when we were dropped here," Leia continued. "The whole clan, including House Naberrie."
Young Luke was breathing very rapidly now but he managed to gasp out, "House Naberrie?"
"Our mother was a queen of Naboo, and then a Senator, and a member of House Naberrie."
"My mother was a…?"
"Queen, yes," his older counterpart said, "and your sister is a princess and you and I were stuck on Tatooine for 19 years though, to his very great credit, Ben was there that entire 19 years making sure that you and I weren't killed by Tuskens or krayt dragons or whatever…"
"He did sneak off that one time to save my skin," Leia remarked. "When I was abducted."
"Oh, right."
19 year old Luke Skywalker leaned back against the slightly smelly foam cushion at his back and groaned loudly.
"It's a lot," Leia said sympathetically. "But hey, we have a busy few days ahead of us. Why don't we all get some sleep?"
/
Cockpit
Millennium Falcon
Coming out of Hyperspace
Alderaan System
Some Time Later
"Alderaan!" Leia cried out, pointing at the blue and white jewel that was her home planet. "We're in time!"
"Death Star!" Older Luke said, pointing in another direction.
"We need to get on board the Death Star and …" Leia began.
"I think it's too late!" Mara interrupted, pointing at the super laser, which was beginning to glow.
"Join me!" Luke yelled, reaching out with all his power, and his wife and his sister immediately glommed onto his Force presence and…
/
Control Room
Death Star
In Orbit Around Alderaan
A few minutes earlier
"I grow tired of asking this," Governor Wilhuff Tarkin said, glaring down at the diminutive Princess Leia, "so it will be for the last time. Where is the Rebel base?"
"Dantooine," the princess responded, and lowered her head to look at the polished floor. "They're on Dantooine."
"There, you see, Lord Vader? I told you she could be reasonable. Continue with the operation, you may fire when ready."
"What?!" Leia cried out in horror.
"You're far too trusting," Governor Wilhuff Tarkin replied condescendingly. "Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration. But don't worry, we will deal with your Rebel friends soon enough."
"No!" Leia cried out, taking a step forward, only to be yanked back by Darth Vader, who was mostly looming dramatically behind her.
"Commence primary ignition," a random male voice said.
Various switches and levers were pulled, and Governor Tarkin stared out the window at Alderaan as the giant, immense, impressive green laser beam cut through space and suddenly, abruptly mysteriously deflected, missing Alderaan completely, and made its merry green way into the distant, dark reaches of the outer star system.
"What?" Tarkin barked in disbelief.
Leia, who had watching in horror, collapsed onto the polished floor in relief. For now, her planet was saved.
"What happened!?" Tarkin demanded, glaring furiously at the hapless techs, who were looking at each other and their machinery in total bewilderment.
"Does Alderaan have some kind of shield?" Admiral Motti suggested, staring at a recording of the event on a screen. "Look, you can see how the laser deflected…"
Tarkin watched the recording, which was now on an annoying loop, and spun around to stare at the chief technician. "How long until we can fire again?"
The tech was pale, and his lips were thin, but he managed a steady voice, "It will be many hours before we can fire again, sir…"
"Silence, everyone!" Darth Vader suddenly said, speaking for the first time in some minutes.
Everyone did so, because the Sith sounded upset, and an upset Darth Vader was the last thing anyone wanted to deal with on top of this embarrassing failure.
The former Anakin Skywalker was not used to hearing voices in his head except for, occasionally, that of Darth Sidious, his master. In fact, it had been many years since he had been in mental contact with anyone other than Palpatine. So this voice, this insouciant, powerful voice, was definitely stressful.
"Hey, that was pretty good, wasn't it?" the voice remarked. "I wasn't sure we'd be able to deflect that beam, but we did! Anyway, we're on board a small freighter and are going to board the Death Star and chat with about the situation as soon as possible. I hope you'll meet us!"
"There is a freighter approaching the Death Star," Vader said a moment later, his masked head tilted toward the ceiling of the room. "We must capture it."
"Really, Vader, given the situation…" Tarkin began.
"There are at least two powerful Force Sensitives on board that ship," Vader said coldly. "They are responsible for the deflection of the beam."
Motti turned an incredulous, disbelieving look on the tall cyborg and said, "You cannot seriously believe that someone with the Force was able to…!"
Vader was feeling a bit wigged out after this failure on the part of the Death Star, and the weird voice in his head. He was also really tired of Motti.
He reached out a hand and crushed the Admiral's throat, causing the man to collapse on the floor, entirely dead.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing," he snarled, and spun around so that his cloak flowed menacingly behind him.
Everyone relaxed a teeny tiny bit after Vader left the control center and an aide was even courageous enough to say, "What should we do with the Princess, Governor Tarkin?"
"Take her to her cell," Tarkin snapped, and took a few steps toward the door before spinning around to point a skeletal finger at Motti's body. "And clean up the mess!"
