Leia's comlink chimed.
She yawned, stared at it for a moment, then two synapses connected and she snatched it up.
"I'm here," she said. "Is something wrong?"
"Leia," Luke said. "I'm sorry for waking you-"
"Luke?" Leia asked, now almost entirely awake. "What happened?"
"...you're probably not going to believe me if I tell you," Luke replied. "Can you get the command team to the west side of the village as soon as possible?"
Leia held back a yawn, which was a struggle, and checked her chrono.
"Everyone should be asleep, it's not even dawn," she said. "Everyone from the command team who sleeps, anyway. I can do Threepio and Artoo, and myself on about… five hours of sleep? Maybe four?"
She paused, thinking. "Chewie might be awake, I honestly don't know. Han almost certainly won't be."
There was a long pause, and Leia frowned.
"Luke?" she asked her brother.
"That'll do," Luke decided. "See you then."
"All right, I'm here," Leia told Luke, unnecessarily. "Han and Chewie were both asleep, so I got another commander in their stead… what's this about?"
She stifled a yawn, and took a drink from some caf. "This had better be important."
"Skywalker knows what he's doing," Commander Rex said.
"Yeah, you weren't speaking to him last night," Leia muttered, glancing at Luke. "I believe Luke knows what he's doing, I'm not so sure that what he's doing makes any kind of sense."
"You might need to think again on that, Leia," Luke said. "It turns out, it was surprisingly easy… I think we're ready."
He gestured, and Darth Vader stalked out of the pre-dawn gloom.
Leia nearly dropped her mug of caf, but the dark and imposing impact of the scene was immediately and drastically undercut when Darth Vader actually did drop his lightsaber.
"...what in the name of Padme Amidala are you doing here, Rex?" the Terror of the Galaxy asked, his vocoder apparently suffering some strain.
"Who would-" Rex began, his blaster covering the Dark Lord, then he dropped the weapon as well. "...General? You're – you're Darth Vader?"
"...yes?" Vader replied, looking down at himself as if he actually had to check. "I believe so?"
Then he did a double-take.
"What are you two doing here, exactly?" he asked, his helmet turned towards Artoo and Threepio. "Is this some kind of reunion? Am I going to see Snips come out from behind a tree? Is Obi-Wan going to appear?"
He sounded slightly frazzled. "Where is Hondo Ohnaka?"
"Father," Luke said, his voice calm. "Please, allow me to explain as much of the situation as I know myself."
"I'm not sure how to explain this situation," Leia said. "What is going on?"
R2 beeped something that indicated that he knew exactly what was going on, and found it very amusing, thank you very much.
"Well, I don't," 3P0 said, with a sniff. "Why don't you introduce everyone, you tin can?"
"Don't worry, 3P0," Luke told him. "None of us are in any immediate danger."
Leia wasn't sure she believed that.
"Oh, thank the maker!" C-3P0 sighed.
"You're welcome," Vader replied, crouching down to pick up his lightsaber.
"...okay, that bit I didn't know," Luke admitted. "But I'd better get started or we'll be here all morning… I went to confront my father, and turn him away from the Dark Side."
He glanced to his side. "I… don't know if it's worked, but I'd say it's working at the moment."
"How exactly did you pull that off?" Rex asked.
"I said that the Dark Side forced me to obey my master," Vader intoned. "Then my son told me, quite passionately, that I was not a slave – that I was a person, and my name was Anakin Skywalker."
His shoulders moved in a slight shrug. "He also asked me to come with him. As you can see, I chose to take up the offer."
Vader let that stand for a moment, then pointed in succession. "That is Rex, formerly the commander of my personal legion in the Clone Wars. Those are the droids C-3P0, who I built on Tatooine, and R2-D2, who worked with me during the Clone Wars after a swap of C-3P0 for R2-D2 with my wife Padme Amidala. And that is… actually, I find myself unaware of your current personal situation. The only connection between us that I am aware of is that you are the daughter of one of my wife's close friends, and that I should probably apologize to you at some point."
Luke coughed, and R2 made a sort of beeping giggling noise.
C-3P0 still seemed to be in shock, which was fair enough, because so was Leia.
"Furthermore," Vader went on. "Since I have defected, I will tell you the following. The Emperor is aware of your plans. He has an entire battle group ready to ambush your fleet. The shield protecting the Death Star is to be disguised by jamming. And an entire legion of the best troops the Empire has are waiting in ambush for any attempt on the shield generator."
"So… what you're saying is that our enemy has an overwhelming numbers advantage, an excellent tactical and strategic position, and they know we're coming," Rex said, having recovered his aplomb slightly and picked up his blaster. "And the only advantage we have is that we've got two Skywalker Jedi on our side."
"I am still a Sith," Vader replied. "Not a Jedi."
"Still," Rex protested. "Because… yeah, they're karked."
"This is the place?" Han asked.
"This is it," Chewbacca agreed.
"Still can't believe we're going with this plan," Han muttered. "Still can't believe we're doing what Darth Vader suggested."
"I know," Chewbacca noted. "You said."
"I said because it's true, fuzzball," Han retorted.
He glanced around at the other commandos, then to either side of the draw they were in. It was a minor flaw in the deployment positions of the Imperial legion, a small blind valley through which troops could get close enough to attack by bypassing just a few Imperial guards… with a judicious mind trick from Luke, of course.
Not many troops, though. No heavy equipment. Just men and blasters, with two blaster cannon hauled up the draw.
"Stand by," Leia said. "Who's in position?"
"Team Besh, in position," Rex reported, levelling one of the blaster cannon and being careful not to skyline himself.
"Team Aurak, ready," Han said, as Chewie readied the other blaster cannon.
"Ten seconds," Leia said, then activated her commlink.
A commlink set to Imperial scramble frequencies.
"Execute Alderaan," she said, firmly. "Alderaan, Alderaan, Alderaan. Open fire!"
Rex opened fire, and so did the commandos on his side of the draw. His cannon shot hit the neck of an unsuspecting AT-AT, knocking it to the side and sending up a shower of sparks, and the commandos fired out a volley of shots at troopers and officers before ducking into cover.
At almost exactly the same time, Chewbacca and Aurek team opened fire as well. With different targets to aim for, Chewbacca elected to shoot out the knee of an AT-ST, and it fell over before exploding in a cloud of smoke.
A dozen or so stomtroopers fell in the fusillade of blaster fire, and then all the Rebels were behind cover as the Imperial battalions reacted.
Each had just taken fire from the direction of the other. Each had suffered casualties and taken hits.
And they'd just heard someone give a clear codeword. And when they looked in the direction of who could have been firing… all they saw were other Imperials.
Within seconds, blaster bolts were flying back and forth over the draw, as the Rebels began evacuating back down the way they'd come in. Leia flicked her comlink away from transmit mode, then nodded, and Han took out his own.
"They're shooting," he said.
"We're far enough down the valley," Rex pointed out. "We can run now, and we'll need to – go!"
"Admiral Piett," Vader said, his override codes cutting him on the Executor's main viewscreen without preamble. "Your assistance is urgently needed. The Rebels have sprung a trap."
"Lord Vader!" Piett replied, startled. "I thought – there were reports you were missing?"
"I was investigating the Rebel presence," Vader retorted. "I am ordering immediate orbital bombardment, coordinates seven four two aurek nine, eight three six leth two."
"But – I don't understand-" Admiral Piett protested, glancing at the nearest reports.
They showed that firing was going on on the surface, and two defending battalions were already reporting losses.
"I do not require your understanding, Admiral, I require your compliance," Vader said, his voice like iron. "If your mewling causes our defeat then you will have to answer to me personally."
Piett could almost feel the forceful grip around his collar.
"Don't just sit there!" he snapped, turning to the command pit. "Get a shield window ready and open fire!"
The Executor's port turbolaser batteries opened fire, two volleys blasting into the sphere of the planetary shield, then a third one passed right through the now-open shield window and raised hell on the ground. The explosions hit like the mightiest ground artillery available to the Empire, raising huge plumes of smoke, and harried officers and ratings called reports back and forth.
"Correct north, fourteen," Vader said, firmly.
"Correcting north fourteen!" one of the officers said, and the turbolasers spat fire again.
And destroyed the main shield dish in a fountain of explosions.
"What?" Piett demanded. "What just happened? Lord Vader, what is going on?"
The channel had already closed.
About ten seconds later, one of the Executor's escort star destroyers opened fire on it, and Piett lost all track of what was happening.
"All wings report in," Lando called, flicking a switch as the Falcon closed in on the Death Star, then frowned at his scanners as Wedge and Arvel and the others reported their squadrons ready.
"...well, I don't know what's going on there, but it sure looks like Han and the others have pulled something off," he said.
There was some kind of battle going on in sector 3-7, what looked like an Imperial battlegroup tearing itself apart with turbolaser fire flashing back and forth in every direction and a boil of fighters trying to work out who was on what side. There was also a battle on the surface going on, one far more intense than anything Lando had expected the commandos to need to do.
Or be capable of.
"It looks like the Imperials are doing our job for us," Nien suggested.
"Yeah, but we've still got a job to do," Lando muttered. "Other squadrons on combat patrol; red group, gold group, all fighters follow me! Let's pop that grenade!"
He shook his head. "And I thought rescuing Han was chaotic! I wonder who came up with this?"
AN:
So what would have happened, if Vader accepted that offer in the film?
A Three Skywalker Plan, that's what.