1
“They’re thinking of calling it ‘Luke Lake,’ y’know,” Han said, his grin audible in his voice.
Groaning, Luke buried his head in his pillows and tossed a spare pillow across the room.
“Rude,” Han teased, catching the pillow and sitting down on the bed. “Seriously, though, kid, I thought I told you not to do the dangerous stuff till I got here.”
Luke snorted. “What part of what I did was dangerous?”
Han stole another pillow. “Ahsoka and her girlfriend both threw a fragging fit, Luke, so I’m figuring - all of it.” He frowned. “Where's your creepy Kenobi-ghost?”
“Spying on Master Yoda,” Luke mumbled. “Can you go away and let me sleep?”
“No,” Han drawled. “I’m gonna drag you to a weird swampy planet in the middle of nowhere, like you asked, so you can be scolded by a ghost and a grumpy old troll.”
Luke Force-threw another pillow. The last thing he wanted to think about was the weird way he had somehow managed to command an entire (water-filled) planet’s worth of rivers, lakes, and seas. So he had made a new inland sea just below Theed - couldn’t he sleep away his migraine without people talking to him about it?
Plus, Han was right. The moment Ben knew about this, he was going to get such a scolding (as if Ben had never done anything like that before).
Luke was still trying to decide if he should point out that his plan had actually been to just use the waters of the Solleu and the Andrevea. The other bodies of water had almost been an accident - water liked the Force, it sang with the Force.
He’d first discovered the affinity between water and the Force on Tatooine, tired, thirsty, and angry after a failed day of attempted meditation. He hadn’t wanted to return to the farm, where Aunt and Uncle would call him “Nateli” all the time, and he had been seething with frustration. When he’d felt the flow of something bright and peaceful, deep beneath the surface of Tatooine, Luke had just reached -
After that day, Luke had always known the best places to put the moisture collectors. It was like an extra sense. The Force flowed through the universe, and water flowed beneath the ground. It just happened that, on Naboo, the water was a great deal more abundant than on Tatooine.
“Luke?”
Luke blinked, and realized that he had paused halfway through the motions of standing up. “What? I just got lost in thought for a -” he stopped.
Shimmering in the air, like a chandelier of diamonds, was a sparkling pattern of water droplets, dancing through the room briefly before -
Luke blinked, and the water collected gently, flowing like a river into the small cup where it had originated.
Han had brought him a cup of water. That was...surprisingly sensitive of him. And then Luke had ruined it by doing weird Force-things with the water. Sith-dammit.
“Huh.” Han raised an eyebrow. “Gotta say, kid, that’s probably the coolest thing I’ve seen you do with this Force mumbo-jumbo yet.”
...Maybe everything would be alright, after all.
2
“You didn't come and tell me how ill he was getting!”
Ben scowled, and flickered for a moment. “You needed an emotional vacation,” he sighed, fading and rematerializing seated on a log. "I would have told you if something immediate occurred."
Luke rubbed his face. "Yeah. Sorry. I'm just - I don't want to lose another friend." He shut his eyes. "I don't want to be the last Jedi."
"Luke..." Ben whispered. "I'm sorry."
"It's just -" Luke shook his head, feeling tired. "If Master Yoda dies, it's just me and Ahsoka. And Ahsoka insists that she's not a Jedi, and - how am I supposed to rebuild it all by myself? How am I supposed to 'defeat the Dark' if it's just me?"
"Just you, it will not be."
Luke whirled around. "Master Yoda, what are you doing?"
"Taking a walk, I am," Yoda replied tiredly. "Teaching your sister, are you?"
Luke nodded. "Slowly. Just enough for control, though. She doesn't really want to learn."
Giving a gusty sigh, Yoda sat slowly beside Ben on the log. "Sad, this is. Others, there will be, though. Deserted by friends, are you?"
"No," Luke said, thinking. "Han and Chewie are waiting for me, and Ahsoka would probably chase me down if I didn't keep in touch."
Yoda nodded. "Just you, it will not be," he stated resolutely. "Now...a nap I shall take, I think." Turning, he slowly started back towards his home.
Luke paled. "Master Yoda! Do you mean -?" A quick sprint brought him level with the much older being.
Yoda looked up at him and smiled, gently. "Fine, you will be, Knight Skywalker. Fine, you will be."
3
"He's really gone, huh?"
Luke nodded, frowning at the holo-comm. "Yeah. Vanished, just like Ben."
Ahsoka shook her head, one of her eyes blurring across the connection. "So it's just us, now. I don't suppose you have any idea of what to do next?"
"No." Luke shut his eyes. "How much time do you have before you have to ditch this comm?"
"Not much." Ahsoka's image froze for a long moment, and jolted into motion again when Ahsoka sighed. "I should tell you, though the Alliance knows this too, but the Empire is building another Death Star, and this one's got shielding."
Luke nodded. "Are you suggesting I return to the Alliance for a while?"
"Listen to the Force," Ahsoka responded, smiling faintly. "Force knows, poor Han would probably love someone to buffer him from your sister. Besides, I'm all the way in Wild Space, and Asajj is still lurking in Impie space somewhere - may as well join her." Her image flickered with static, and Ahsoka scowled. "This is it for this comm, Luke! Force be with you -"
Staring at the blank comm for a long moment, Luke mulled over his options. He wasn't particularly eager to return to the Alliance, but the Force seemed to push in that direction...
Asajj. He'd go find Asajj first, and then rejoin the Alliance.
Of course, finding Asajj wasn’t exactly easy, even with the Force guiding him. The woman was a former Sith Apprentice, former bounty hunter, and current all-around madwoman. After several days of barely missing her, Luke finally caught up with Asajj in the middle of a firefight on an Imperial space station in the Corellian blockade.
“I could have made that shot!” Asajj shouted in greeting, just as Luke took out four snipers who were beginning to look greedy.
“Sure you could,” Luke returned. “That’s why you’re busy fighting the rejects from Stormtrooper Academy.”
Stabbing a stormtrooper with all of the notice that one might give to swatting an annoying bug, Asajj ducked a blaster shot. “Rejects, hah!” She kicked another stormtrooper in the back, sending him into an empty elevator shaft. “More like the top of the class!”
Luke casually redirected a blaster bolt to its point of origin. “Really,” he said, joining the mêlée. “Why are you here, anyway? You’re no smuggler.”
Asajj cackled. The Force swelled for a moment, and silver-white lightning leapt from her hands to the remaining stormtroopers. “Nah, this is something of a personal favor to the galaxy,” she breathed, cracking her neck with a well-pleased expression on her face. Stalking like a wildcat, Asajj jammed one of her lightsabers into a datascreen. “Last thing anyone needs is Lida Solo and Araran Mak La Seya out on blood vendetta.”
Blinking, Luke followed Asajj out of the main bridge, and into the bowels of the station. The Force wasn’t sending him anything in the way of danger warnings, so he let himself simply follow. “What do you mean?”
A short way down the corridor, something exploded. Asajj broke into a gentle jog, coming to a stop in front of a scorched former cell. In the midst of collecting themselves, approximately fifty people suddenly froze and focused on Asajj and Luke.
“Heya, guys, it’s fine!” A smoke-blackened figure stumbled to its feet, white teeth drawing a wide curve in a smiling face. “Red Jedi’s on our side.”
Asajj growled, low in her throat. “I am not -”
“Yeah, yeah,” the blackened figure waved a hand. “Scares the pants off the Impies, though, so deal.” The beaming smile widened. “Damn, it’s good to talk to you, Ventress.” In one swift movement, the figure leaped forward and embraced Asajj.
Luke stared. Most of the people in the cell were his age, and some were considerably younger. The smoke-covered person, whose voice was young and light, couldn’t possibly be older than he was.
“Skywalker.” Asajj called. The blackened figure was wiping away the soot and who-knows-what to reveal a heavily scarred, slightly-rounded tan face with wide brown eyes. A girl, probably sixteen or seventeen Standard at the most -
“Meet Andaroshoshanna Solo, your Captain’s niece.”
Luke decided not to protest the whole “your Captain” thing again. He stared at the beaming, dirty young woman in front of him.
“Call me Drasha,” she chirped at Luke, bouncing on her heels. “Welcome to CorSec!”
4
Drasha, Luke found out, was insane. She was also only barely sixteen years old, and the victim of a horrible hospital bombing during the Fifth Siege of Corellia.
“Got some metal floatin’ around in there,” Drasha said cheerfully one morning, over the awful caff that every ship’s automatic drinks machine seemed to produce. She tapped her chest. “Can’t do nothin’ ‘bout it till we’ve got free surgery again, though, ‘cause the metal’s Impie metal, and Impie medics won’t operate on me ‘cause of it.”
Luke barely managed to keep from staring at her in horror. Hopefully, she thought that his expression was due to the caff. “So, instead of surgery, you...fly around the sector and shoot people?”
“Shoot Impies,” Drasha emphasized. “Really, though, Ma Licia says that I’d be better off with CorSec for real when the war’s over, ‘cause I’m not in love with fighting or anything.” She shrugged. “That, or swoop bike racing, prob’ly.”
Two of the most dangerous jobs that the Galaxy had to offer before the Clone Wars, and Drasha talked about them like she was thinking about opening up a restaurant. Then again, Drasha’s idea of edible was...questionable.
“Want my ration bar?”
Luke took the bar gratefully. While ration bars were singularly unappealing, they were at least familiar. The only other option on the ship (at least until they made planet fall) was sludge produced by the ship’s auto-galley, and that kind of thing was only edible to the desperately starved.
Drasha plopped herself down beside him. “We’re about two hours out from Corellia, but the last bit’ll be some rough flying, so I figured we’d eat before. But, really, ration bars?”
Luke looked up from his ration bars to see that Drasha was now chewing on something...entirely unrecognizable. “What are you eating?”
Drasha pulled the thing out of her mouth. “Hm? Gizka.”
Luke stared. “What? But - Gizka aren’t edible. Not to humans, I thought.”
Drasha shrugged. “Tastes like metal and rubber, really, and the flavor does not improve when cooked, I promise. We ate a lot of them during the Second, Sixth, and Seventh Sieges. They’re technically edible. You just gotta drink lots of alcohol.” She paused. “You want?”
A bit nauseated, Luke shook his head. “No, thanks, I’ll take the ration bars.”
Drasha shrugged again. “We-ell, that leaves plenty for me. Not like we’re gonna run out of gizka unless Ventress decides to start shooting them again.”
“I could!” Asajj called from other side of the room, where she was scowling at her datapad. “With lightning.”
Drasha grinned. “Actually, that might improve the flavor. We always tried cooking them in a cooker.”
5
Drasha, Luke reminded himself, was crazy.
The rest of her family, Luke found out, was probably just as insane.
Licia Solo, the declared head of the family, (Luke wasn’t so sure that she was any more the head than Lida or Dorron,) was a wiry older woman with pale grey-violet hair and dark caff-colored skin. She acted almost like a Jedi, serene and mostly observatory and a giver of advice, but Luke had heard the stories. Licia Solo had personally taken on one of the Emperor’s favored Force Users, and ripped the being’s throat out. She had out-thought, out-tricked, and out-battled Imperial forces for over twenty years, and survived the deaths of her spouse, children, and grandchildren. Supposedly, she had been slotted to take the leader’s position at CorSec before the Empire had taken over.
Dorron Zarden-Solo was a Clone-Wars veteran, and it showed. Like Licia, he was not quite Core-Standard human, though he had milky-pale skin mottled with old battle scars and a wild thatch of dark-grey hair.
Lida Solo declared herself nothing, her coppery eyes revealing little about her thoughts. She was ridiculously tall for a Core-Standard human, and looked incredibly young for her purported age of one hundred and five Standard years. Her short-cropped hair was still reddish-brown, her skin unwrinkled, and her movements unhindered by the breakdowns of age. She seemed younger than her own children, Luke observed, but her knowledge revealed otherwise. Lida Solo was a walking, living, font of knowledge.
There was something cold about Lida Solo, something that resonated in the Force. Luke kept his mouth shut - not only was he a guest, (and Lida was Han’s mother,) but there were also times when Lida Solo drifted through the Force like a wondrous, Light-filled song.
Shanna Solo, the famous CorSec Captain who had literally spat in the Emperor’s face, was dead.
The Solo family was also, aside from a distinct adoration of mad ideas and adrenaline rush-inducing events, huge.
Han had thirteen living siblings, eight siblings-by-marriage, twenty-nine niblings, fifteen niblings-by-marriage, and thirty niblings’-kids. There were, as far as Luke was aware, one hundred people calling themselves Solo.
And most of them were adrenaline-junkies and inventive bastards who never let anyone else win.
From Corellia, Luke couldn’t help but wonder how the Empire hadn’t fallen already.
“We can hold Corellia, but our power, political and physical, weakens outside of the sector.” A slim woman with ankle-length black hair held back in two braids sat neatly beside Luke outside of one of the Clan Solo houses. “Ma Lida said you would want to know why we don’t often leave the Corellian Sector. It’s because here is where we can fight. Outside of Corellian space, we are merely lawbreakers and Rebels, smugglers and spies.” She blinked slowly. “Ma Licia was upset when Han left Corellia, but Ma Lida said nothing, which means he was doing something for her. Han is your friend, now, yes?”
Luke nodded. He definitely counted Han as one of his friends. “One of the best.”
The woman smiled, pale teeth flashing against tanned skin. “Good. He and I are of an age, and he taught me to speak Basic when I was young. We are friends, and I miss him dearly.” She stood up. “Speak to Ma Lida before you leave Corellia, yes? She has a secret to impart.” To Luke’s surprise, the woman bowed. “I am Rahakdabaryah, formerly of House Iyahloh, now of House Solo. The friend of my friend is my friend, Luke Skywalker.”
Luke made a spur-of-the-moment decision. Standing, he bowed back to Rahakdabaryah. “The friend of my friend is my friend, Rahakdabaryah of Solo.”
6
“Jedi.” Lida blinked slowly at him, and bowed her head in greeting.
“Lady Solo,” Luke replied, bowing.
Lida smiled faintly. “I am only Lida, Knight Skywalker. Sit.”
Luke sat tentatively across the small table that Lida had dominated with flimsiplast and datapads. “Rahakdabaryah told me that you wished to see me?” Luke asked politely.
Lida’s smile vanished. “I did,” she said. “You are going to start a new order of Jedi.”
Luke startled. “I - how did you -?”
“Once, I was not broken.” Lida’s eyes burned a bright, polished copper. “When I wedded Licia, Shanna, and Dorron, I was not broken.” Her presence in the Force was cold and sad, like frost, but not ice. “I was San Lida Lifa, then, just as Shanna was Shanna Beltana. We were stationed on Corellia, when we met Licia. Undercover, but not deep cover. Licia saw right through us.” She huffed a weak laugh. “You would not know - it was that mission that saved our lives. We were Jedi, Knight Skywalker. Shanna and I were Jedi.”
Luke was half-shocked, half-unsurprised. “You - what happened?”
Lida stood sharply, nearly toppling her chair. “There was a reason that the Jedi Order prohibited attachments for all but Masters, once. If you lose someone that close to you, someone tied to your very Force essence-” her voice broke. Taking a shaky breath, Lida shook her head. “Sidious burned her to death, Skywalker. I felt it. Every second. Her death ripped a hole in my soul, and left me something less. I am no Jedi, now.”
Luke felt as if someone had slapped him. “You mean -”
“I mean many things!” Lida snapped, her Force presence swirling. “I mean that, if you plan to change things, you must be careful! I mean that there may be others, former Jedi, who escaped! I mean that, if you plan to build a new future, you must learn the past! Learn!”
For a moment, Luke thought that he was drowning in a sea of fire - and then Lida’s presence in the Force vanished.
“It’s too late for me, Luke Skywalker,” Lida said, drifting back into her chair. The very vibrancy of her character melted away, her coppery eyes fading to brown and her hair falling lankly around her face. “For many of us, it is too late. The Republic is dead. The Jedi are dead. Those of us who survived in body, died in soul. The danger before you is that you are not rebuilding the Jedi. You are a crux point. Jedi versus Sith, Light versus Dark, Life versus Death. You are a sign, a sign of hope. Build something new, Luke Skywalker. A new Order. A new hope. It’s time to remember that there is an Empire, and that you are against that mass of darkness as well as the Dark itself.”
“But...the Jedi…” Luke stumbled over his words, shaken. “I’m meant to fight the Sith, and rebuild the Jedi - and you want me to do something totally different!”
“Take a look at what would happen if you simply took out the Sith!” Lida returned, throwing a datapad at him. “Think before you act, Luke Skywalker!”
7
“Luke…”
Luke curled into as small of a ball as he could, fitting himself neatly into the tightest corner of Asajj’s ship, the Damn Fireball. The wall’s grates pressed uncomfortably against his back. Go away, he projected as firmly as he could. Go away!
“Luke, listen to me.”
“Go away!” Luke snapped, shoving outwards with the Force when Asajj continued to talk.
Asajj stumbled slightly, regained her balance, and scowled at him. “Skywalker, now is not the time for you to be imitating all of your father’s worst attributes -”
“If I was imitating all of his worst attributes, you would be dead!” Luke snapped, standing up. “Now leave me alone!”
Purple light crackled at the edges of his vision. Didn’t she understand?
Asajj looked at him pityingly. “Luke, you have a lot on your shoulders, but so do we all. Now, -”
“Shut up!” Luke said, his head throbbing painfully. “Shut up, shut up, shut up! What do you know about it, you’re not a Jedi! You don’t have the weight of the entire future balance of the Force on your shoulders!” All he could see was the information Lida had given him, scrolling benignly across the datapad’s screen.
...average of five point five hundred trillion beings per Sector within the current borders of the Empire are entirely dependent on the social security systems which subsidize their food, clothing, shelter…
...economy of seven thousand forty two planets entirely dependent on the Imperial military…
...Imperial Ruling Council set up to maintain order in the event of the lack of presence of the Emperor…
...collapse of the central ruling order could result in the destruction of multiple planets in the ensuing power-grab, spies indicate that the military favors the strafe-fire technique demonstrated on Ctonnakt, former agrarian planet turned desert planet…
“Leave me alone!”
Something snapped, and lights exploded just outside of Luke’s range of vision. What did Asajj know about responsibility, anyway? She had been a Sith Apprentice, and had turned away from the Dark to become a bounty hunter. Even now, she hadn’t committed to the Rebellion or anything -
“Haar’chak floob, you’re - computers - Luke -”
Luke shoved Asajj aside. “Just leave me alone.”
Asajj kept on talking, because for some reason she was ignoring everything he said, but Luke heard nothing but static. Backing up to the wall, Luke slid down to drown within his despair. Nothing he did - nothing he attempted - none of it would matter.
Something warm touched his face. Luke jolted into sudden awareness, and tried to back away from Asajj, who had sat down directly in front of him and touched his face with gentle hands. His back hit the wall. “What -”
“Idiot!” Asajj snapped at him, moving her hands to hold his shoulders tightly. She leaned her forehead against his. “You’re not alone, and alone is the last thing you need, anyway. Breathe in the smoke and ash, breathe out the despair. You’re not alone.” Warmth pushed insistently against Luke’s mental barriers. Weakly, he resisted, but…
He didn’t want to be alone. But Asajj didn’t understand, so he let her in, so that he could show her -
Instead, Asajj pushed her own images into his swirl of agony and despair.
Battlefield after battlefield, death after death, even torture, and yet she says that she has turned her back on the Sith and blue-green eyes the same color as the lightsaber which has met hers’ so many times simply meet her eyes and believe.
“There are people all over the galaxy, Ventress, working to build something so that when this is over, and the destruction is done, we can build something new. That’s what the Light is about, it’s about life. Make a new choice, and choose a new path, and all is forgiven.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“You think this is easy? I was trained to be a diplomat with martial skills, not a kriffing soldier. Now they have me up on a kriffing pedestal and I have to be the image of this General, and not a Jedi at all. Light is a choice I have to make every day, and most days it’s a hard choice to make. But the same goes for Darkness, Ventress. It’s a choice that you make, every day. To kill or to spare a life. Expediency or mercy. The bigger picture or the little picture. The Jedi or the galaxy. Myself or my men. Light or Dark. There’s no easy answer, because it changes when you’re not looking. You have to just keep making that choice.”
“...Why the fuck did you trust me, anyway? I’ve tried to kill you how many times?”
“Me, personally? Fifty-eight. I decided to trust you, Ventress. You figure out why.”
Death and pain, meeting old enemies as new friends, and old friends as new enemies…
Betrayal and pain and loss, pouring through the Force like a hammerblow…
… Ahsoka Tano, distrust still burning in her eyes, taking Asajj’s hand and following her onto a beat-up shuttle. “Don’t know why I’m trusting you, Ventress. One wrong move and there’s a blaster bolt in your back.”
… A man with gentle eyes and a firm jaw, handing over a datapad. “The Guardian of the Light says that you did strategy during the Wars. How can we improve this, so that a new system can be dropped in place? Is the Corellia situation repeatable?”
… A hologram of an aging man, tired and wearing worn-out robes. She sits silently as Organa talks at the hologram-communicator.
“Fifteen Sectors and counting now within the Loyalist Legion. You still sure about not telling the Rebel Alliance about this?”
“They’re politicians, Bail, and idealists. Most of them actually want to rebuild the Force-damned Republic!”
“That’s no reason to exclude them.”
“The Republic is Sith-fucking dead. Let the dead lie as best they can, enough of them are still walking around.”
“You’re not dead yet, Guardian of the Light.”
“Shut up, Bail.”
… A blaster in her face. “What the kriffing fuckity fuck, Ventress?”
“I’m on your side, now, Jedi.”
“I’m not a Jedi anymore, Ventress.”
“And I’m not Dark anymore. Your point?”
“Ah...Did you really name your ship after Obi-Wan?”
“I’m not answering that question. The Sector is secure?”
“Stockpiles high and hidden. No Impies are gonna get at it. Seriously, tell me.”
“Fuck off, Vos.”
...System upon system upon system, never to be united again, but safeguards built up as best as they can…
...Dead men walk, and most of them can fly and shoot blasters as well as the next person…
..You are not alone…
...You are not alone…
… Ahsoka, rolling her shoulders back after a particularly good shot…
… Ben, doing his best to feign sitting on a log…
… Leia, awkwardly trying to be sisterly and failing as she succeeds…
...The Solos, in all of their many shapes and sizes, all as crazy as each other…
… Han, half-smile on his face and hand on his blaster…
… Chewie, rolling his eyes at yet another quip by Han…
… Asajj, flooding throughout his mind in her best attempt to show him what she cannot say -
Luke opened his eyes, his heart pounding. His role wasn’t pointless. He wasn’t alone.
He wasn’t alone.
Blinking away what felt like a fog, Luke stared around in horror. Sparks flew from several surfaces, multiple computers were either smashed, scorched, or both, and Asajj had shiny new burn marks on her face.
“What have I done?”
Asajj’s burns faded slightly, a pulse of Force-healing rushing through her and through the air like a gust of fresh air. “Had a dramatic tantrum that out-did anything your dad or Damn-Fireball ever threw. Great job, you had your teenaged tantrum, please don’t do it again.”
“What - I - you -”
Asajj hesitated, and awkwardly embraced him. “Idiot. Maybe now you’ll listen when I say that you’re not alone. Just because I’m not a Jedi, and Damn-Fireball Kenobi is dead, and most of the founders of the Loyalist Legion are dead, doesn’t mean we can’t help you.”
Perhaps one of the only…
But not alone.
8
“But you just returned! You can’t just take off on some mad quest!”
Luke stared at Leia, for the first time feeling all of the fear and insecurity flowing through his sister. Her words said be loyal to the Rebellion, but her Force presence screamed I just met you and I screwed up and now I’ll never get a chance to fix it don’t you dare get hurt!
“I’m not a member of the Rebel Alliance,” Luke said calmly. “I am a member of the rebellion against the Empire. My quest is bigger than one battle, Leia, you know that.” And now I know it, too. “I won’t just leave you. Aren’t you participating in the attack on the Endor facility?”
Leia scowled, her hands on her hips. “Yes, but you were supposed to be on the team that was going to make the shot after we took down the shield, just like the last time!”
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem.” Leia whirled around to face Han, who was giving them both one of his odd little half-smiles. “Don’t suppose they’ve got room for volunteers?” He waved an arm at a pair of girls.
Luke started forward. “Drasha! And… Tikvah, right?”
Han’s nieces grinned. Drasha bounced forward, throwing her arms around Luke’s neck in an exuberant hug. “Hiya, Luke! Hitched a ride with Shanna on our way in - she’s over with the politics people, she had information from Ma Licia and Ma Lida. I’m the best fighter-flyer in our family, beside Han of course, and Tikvah wouldn’t ever let a real fight happen with me and not be there too, she’s still mad she missed the Battle of Corellia Five Station!”
Luke took in the blast of information. “That… was when we met, right? When you were captured, and blew open half the station?”
Drasha pulled back, still grinning. “Yup!”
Leia looked shell-shocked. Tikvah, hips swaying and half-smile so like her uncle’s smile firmly in place, reached out and shook Leia’s hand. “Hullo, I’m Tikvah Kesef-Solo,” she said amiably, a low rasp in the back of her throat. “Are you really Princess Leia Organa?”
Leia blinked a few times. “Ah - yes. I mean - that is, would you like to speak somewhere more comfortable?”
“Comfortable would be lovely,” Tikvah drawled, leaning slightly to the side so that her shoulders bumped Leia’s as they walked. “Do you know any good places around here?”
As the door shut behind them, Drasha made a pained noise. “I’m… going to go find someone I know. Somewhere else. Not here. Bye!” She bolted.
Luke turned to Han. “What was that about?”
Han shrugged. “My niece flirting with your sister, my other niece being grossed out by the flirting, or my impeccable timing?”
Luke snorted. “Just in time to save me the rest of the argument, I guess. How have you been?”
“Alright. Saving the universe, you know.” Han’s grin widened to encompass his whole face. “So, what’s this I hear about you blowing up the whole inside of Damn Fireball?”
Luke groaned.
9
Breathe in the Force, breathe out the fear.
Luke stared across the catwalk at the black figure that had once, in a different lifetime, been his father.
Breathe in the Force, breathe out the fear.
He was in Force-binders, handcuffs that kept him from using the Force at all - or ought to. Considering who Vader had once been, Luke was surprised that he hadn’t found some way to reinforce the binders. After all, it had been Obi-Wan Kenobi who had proven that it was possible to work around Force-binders, Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Master, and Vader had been Anakin Skywalker once.
But, right now, he needed no aggressive use of the Force. There was no need to use the Force at all - except -
Breathe in the Force, breathe out the fear.
One Imperial soldier behind him, one in front of him, and a higher-ranking soldier two feet ahead. Every step was one step closer to the worst trial by fire that Luke would ever face.
Breathe in the Force, breathe out the fear.
“This is a Rebel that surrendered to us. Although he denies it, I believe there may be more of them, and I request permission to conduct a further search of the area.”
Luke lifted his head to meet Darth Vader’s eyes (or at least, the places on the helmet that implied eyes). He needed no control to restrain his reaction to the Imperial Commander as the man held out his lightsaber. It was planned. He needed to walk into the Death Star, and the only way that he was going to do that was peacefully and disarmed.
“He was armed only with this.”
Vader took Luke’s lightsaber, and seemed to look it over. Luke felt it when Vader looked over the lightsaber with the Force.
“Good work, Commander. Leave us. Conduct your search and bring his companions to me.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
The Imperial soldiers left the area, which was now saturated with the rich beauty of the world’s natural Force presence and the roiling Darkness that emanated from Darth Vader.
“The Emperor has been expecting you,” Vader said. Luke fixed his eyes on the greenery just beyond the Imperial base.
“I know, father,” he responded.
Vader hummed, his voice rumbling oddly through the voice synthesizer on his helmet. “So, you have accepted the truth.”
“Truth is something that needs not be accepted,” Luke said placidly. “Truth is. You are the man who was once Anakin Skywalker, my father.”
Vader stiffened. “That name no longer has any meaning for me,” he snapped harshly. His Force presence twisted with conflict - the constant fury that was Darth Vader, clashing with something else that Luke couldn’t quite identify.
Fear?
“It is the name of your true self,” Luke reminded his father. “Your first self. You've only forgotten. I know there is good in you.” Vader’s Force presence flinched. Luke pushed on, relentlessly but as pleasantly as he was able. “The Emperor hasn't driven it from you fully. That is why you couldn't destroy me, your son.” And now, the final hook: “That's why you won't bring me to your Emperor now.”
Vader breathed in, and out, each breath loud through the voice synthesizer. For a moment, the confusion in his Force presence nearly overwhelmed his Darkness. Then, as if he couldn’t stand it, Vader changed the subject.
“I see you have constructed a new lightsaber.” With a practiced flick, Vader opened the blade, sending bright blue light into the air. “Your skills are complete. Indeed, you are powerful, as the Emperor has foreseen.”
Luke waited. The compliment felt...good. He knew that this man was not his father in the way that he had once dreamed, so many years ago, but still -
It was spoiled by the mention of the Emperor - the true Sith, Darth Sidious.
When another long moment passed with Vader still staring at Luke’s saber, Luke took a wild leap into his tiny, burning hope.
“Come with me,” he blurted impulsively. It was an unlikely scenario, but if only…
Vader made a sound that might have simply been a breath - or it might have been a sigh. “Obi-Wan once thought as you do.”
Luke stepped forward, one hand outstretched. “Please,” he breathed. If he could, if only he could...
Vader didn’t move. “You don't know the power of the dark side.” he rasped. “I must obey my master.”
Luke allowed himself a moment of disappointment, a moment of aching mourning, but dared have no more. It took most of his concentration to maintain his Force shielding with the Force-binders on, and every moment lost in Dark emotions was a moment of lost concentration.
“I will not turn,” Luke said, turning to face the greenery in a movement calculated as both a representation of his response to Darkness, and a careful show of trust. “You'll be forced to kill me, father.”
Vader’s confused presence resettled into Darkness - albeit a murkier grey color than the deep blackness of moments previous. “If that is your destiny.”
Luke made one last wild grasp at his lost hopes. “Search your feelings, father,” he pleaded, his eyes carefully focused away from the Dark presence of Vader at his side. “You can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate.”
Murky grey fought with black. “It is too late for me, son.” Vader sounded...resigned? “The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is your master now.” He waved a hand, and a group of stormtroopers began to approach.
Luke let his shoulders sag. It was time to desert his dreams, and return to the plan.
“Then my father is truly dead,” Luke whispered.