Chapter Text
Leia being there made things easier. Luke knew she would always be there for him, of that he had no doubt, but knowing she was there to help with his struggles made him feel stronger, made things seem less difficult. He was less alone; he didn’t fear the dark or who could be hiding in the corners of his vision.
The two would spend much of the rest of the journey to Sullust together, each night one would go to the other’s cabin and just talk. It was Leia’s idea, a way to check up on Luke each night without it feeling like being psychoanalysed by his best friend. The conversations were always welcome. Lots of it being reminiscing over adventures they’ve had. Featuring many not exactly brilliant impressions of Han.
“Hey, your worshipfulness, this is still my ship, I get to decide where it goes! And we ain’t going to Mimban. Trust me, this part of space is empty. I used to fly it all the time for Jabba” Luke laughed his way through imitating his friend. Spinning in the chair to talk to Leia over his shoulder.
“Oh, then then that imperial battle group came out of the nebula and was all.” Leia cleared her throat. “Right fine, Mimban it is, but not because you said so. I swear, these guys never used to patrol this route. Why can’t a guy have his secrets anymore? Chewie, punch it,” she mimicked, pressing all the controls in the Falcon’s cockpit.
The two of them laughed more.
“He spent the entire time to Mimban explaining every run he did along that route and how there were never any imperials. He couldn’t grasp that maybe they change their patrol routes.”
Luke came and sat on the bed with Leia “To be fair to him, didn’t he fight on Mimban? Maybe he just didn't fancy going back. I swear that’s where he and Chewie met.” he floated them both over a drink from the little desk table in Leia’s cabin.
“Yeah, he said the mud was awful, well, he said everything was awful, admittedly, it was not the best place while we were hiding out,” Leia responded, taking hold of the drink floating in front of her. “Chewie was having the worst time of it, all the mud in his hair, or remember when you and Han had to try and get Artoo out of the mud when he got himself dug in trying to follow you.”
The two stayed and talked for hours each day. Luke could tell Leia always grew tired first, but she’d try and hide it and stay up until he got tired. Not wanting to send him away before he was ready to sleep. She was far too good to him. She did everything she possibly could to make him feel safe.
It’s just that she couldn’t do everything.
Luke’s cabin felt haunted. He’d head inside, brush his teeth, checking behind him in the mirror constantly, change out of his clothes, making sure his eyes were covered for the shortest of moments. Turn the small reading light on before turning the larger room lights off to make sure there wasn’t a moment of him alone in the darkness. He’d ask R2 to power down now, a positive change from having him scan the room while Luke slept. On that front he felt proud of himself, but the last part of this nightly ritual was always the same: tucking a blaster under the pillow. He knew the things that came for him in his sleep weren’t real, but maybe it made him feel after, or maybe he just read about it and it seemed like something you're supposed to do.
Luke climbed into bed, pulling the covers over him and his old poncho up like a blanket. Staring up at the ceiling, he waited, fighting sleep as long as he could; his eyes stung; they were heavy.
Ok
Ten breaths and he closed them, allowing himself to sleep.
He was cold.
Nonono not again, please
Luke opened his eyes. He’d never been here before, jet black walls, jet black floors all stone polished to a mirror shine, tall vaulted ceilings. It felt like a mausoleum.
There was a light at the end of the corridor. He began to move towards it. This place was barren; there was no decoration on the walls, no marks to show ownership of a person or a culture. He could sense a pulsating misery baked into the stone. This place felt like a temple, but no deity or faith could be as cruel and hateful as this place felt. Luke walked further down the corridors towards the orange light; the walls echoed with voices.
‘The war is over! Lord Sidious promised us peace. We only wan…’
Then a brutal gurgling hiss
So cold, so empty
‘I have brought peace, freedom and justice to my new empire!’
That voice, it rattled through the empty halls like wind. Was it the emperor? No, he sounded young, too young.
Luke continued to approach the light. He could tell now it was a window, but the glare of the light made seeing outside it impossible.
‘My allegiance is tae the republic, tae democracy!’
Ben! The voice was younger, his accent clearer than when Luke knew him after many years of hiding his identity. Luke ran to the window, sliding to a stop on the onyx floors.
Fire, that's what he saw, a world a flame, veins of lava flowing, crackling, exploding out of the ground, the environment oozed hate with each crashing wave of molten rock. This was a place of pain and hatred. The only place this dark monolith of depression could stand. It pained Luke deeply within himself; he could feel so much torment, so much misery, so much death. No, it wasn’t death; it was suffering pain, but not death.
‘I don't know you anymore! Anakin... you're breaking my heart! You're going down a path I can't follow!’
Anakin? His father was here, Vader was here. That voice, that woman who was she, the shortest warmth entered Luke upon hearing it, like a balm, like his poncho, the words were laced with such grief and despair, but the voice comforted him, who was she.
Luke stared out the window as that comfort faded just as suddenly as it arrived. Luke found a staircase and moved down closer to the planet's surface, finding himself in more long dark corridors. The place echoed with the sound of lightsabers, exertion and the determined breaths of someone fighting for their life, not just a battle to survive or live. This felt like more; this duel was overwhelming his senses. This was for somebody's soul.
Every step this monolith became darker and more imposing, the walls seemed to grow taller so much that the ceiling faded into the murky darkness above.
Liar! You’re with him. You’ve brought him here to kill me!
That voice it stormed through the corridors again. It shook Luke to his core. The voice was pained in emotional agony, the mad desperation in its accusation that only a person on their very last shred of sanity could muster.
‘You were my brother, I loved you.’
Ben again, heartbroken, this place amplified it all. These emotions hung from the ceiling, the air heavy with darkness, it pushed down on Luke’s shoulders like a yoke, a weight, a chain he was dragging that grew heavier the longer he spent here. He feared that too long would leave him stranded, forced to feel all this pain. As he came to another window, hoping to see more, he approached it cautiously.
As he reached it, the room shook.
‘I hate you!’
A lava wave crashed up against the rock face, a blood red gout of flame and hatred crashing against the window
And he was there, stepping out of the lava, his armoured body forming like lava cooling into rock; he stepped out in a flame, a being of malice and hatred. Still glowing hot as he approached
Vader. Sabre ignited. It hissed a piercing, grating hiss
He held up his glove and tore the window out, shattering it, glass failing like rain, and the deathly cold of this place was replaced by the oppressive heat of the planet.
Luke found his saber by his side, Anakin’s saber, the first and only gift the Jedi knight ever gave his son.
“You aren’t real, you can’t harm me,” Luke said, raising his blade defensively. “A vision and nothing more,” he said this wondering then why he was so scared.
“You underestimate my power.” Vader responded hauntingly, advancing on him with each heavy footstep marked by spays of lava from the rock face. Then suddenly, with unnatural speed, he was upon him. Luke moved to block the two blades clashed, hissing violently. Luke dived away, regaining his composure and sending some of the larger shards of glass towards Vader, who held them in the air, gripping them until they shattered further into sparkling dust drifting to the floor like glittering sand. Luke turned, held his blade aloft again and ran at Vader. He swung at him. Maybe if he beat him, he’d be free of these nightmares. Maybe it was a test.
The two clashed again and again, blades meeting each time. Luke could sense Obi-Wan; he could feel his presence. He ducked under Vader's blow and landed a strike, licking the Sith lord’s thigh with the blue of his father’s blade. Vader grunted. Luke wheeled back, panting. The room was unbearably hot it was impossible to maintain the pace. He needed to escape.
Luke saw an exit. Behind Vader, there was the doorway he came through. With all his might, he held out his hands and pushed Vader, braced himself, sliding back his blade, digging into the floor to steady himself.
This was Luke’s moment, he ran towards the door, jumping, trying to clear Vader
Then that burning hiss came for him, a flash of red, and he tumbled to the floor in agony. The room went dark, and everything faded around him.
Obi-Wan... there... is good in him. I know there is... still…
Luke awoke with a gasp; his legs burned, each one cramping. He was alive, though. That place, was it real? It couldn’t be. No place such as that could exist in a universe so full of life and colour.
He sat up in his bed. Why wasn’t he terrified? He was breathing hard, but there wasn’t the panic, there wasn’t the need to be armed; he was in his cabin, and Vader wasn’t. He was resolved; he needed answers. What happened at that place? Why were Anakin Skywalker and Ben there? Who was that woman?
He knew he had to talk to Leia; he promised her that he would after these dreams, but he’d let her sleep a little longer. She’s already doing so much for him; the least he can do is let her rest. She has so much to worry about, he thought, sleep should at least be a time she can escape it all.
He sat with R2, gently waking him with a pat on the dome. “Hey pal, wanna go for a wander?” the chord chirped to life and waddled into Luke. “Ok, buddy, let’s go.”
Luke walked the Corridors of the Dignity with R2 close at his side. He thought he’d head to the bridge and see how things were doing there. Heading inside, the small command crew nodded a quick greeting before getting back to their monitoring stations. Captain Farr was stood by the window with Chewie the two seemed to be sharing a small joke.
“Commander Skywalker, nice of you to join us.” Captain Farr said, turning to face him, Chewie waved him over.
“Hey, captain, hey big guy,” Luke said, reaching up to grab Cheiwie's shoulder.
Chewie let out a happy bark and ruffled Luke’s hair.
The captain laughed at the display. “As I was telling Chewbacca, we should reach the meeting point on the far side of Sullust by the end of this rotation. Once we pass out of this cluster, we should, in theory, have put enough distance between us and the imperial battle group at Bespin that we can risk sending communications.”
“Wouldn’t it be wiser to go silently until we reach the destination proper?” Luke asked. “Any risk of the imperials intercepting the message puts the whole squadron in danger?”
The captain looked out the window. “Yes, technically. It puts us at risk, and a handful of my officers have suggested flying silent still and avoiding Sullust for a further rendezvous so we don't risk the capture of the two of you and the Princess. The decision came down to weighing up how precious our cargo has become against making sure the squadron at Sullust knows we are still out here and hoping they wait for us.” he looked between the Jedi and the Wookie for reassurance. “It’s a choice that invites criticism either way.”
Chewie placed a paw on the captain's shoulder in reassurance. “URahawa,” the rodain nodded. “Well, hopefully that’s the case.”
Luke stayed on the bridge, looking around. It’s odd, he thought he’d been a fighter in the rebellion for a while now, a commander in its Navy, but never spent much time actually on the bridge of ships, normally in a little cockpit or a briefing room. R2 and Chewies were chatting, probably about Dejarik and who won their last game. Luke always liked to imagine listening to their conversations as an outsider, one only using beeps and chirps, the others growls and roars.
Tsoobo took his place in the captain's chair. Luke sat in the back of the room watching over navigational charts, mentally making a note of Degobah’s location. Probably best not to tell anyone though, he thought, he imagined Yoda probably wouldn’t much like the extra company of a secret alliance base as his neighbour. Although there must be more Force sensitives in the alliance than just him, maybe if the alliance had a base on Dagobah, Yoda could find others like him, more Jedi. Maybe when all this war is over, Luke would try it, see who else could be trained.
Luke sat and pondered this new Jedi school, academy, temple, whatever the correct terminology was. It was a nice thought. He let himself slip into that daydream; he saw himself in those robes that Ben wore, watching over a class of people, helmets on, blinders down, using those little droids he had first trained with. Master Skywalker, it has a nice ring, he wondered whether Anakin had been master Skywalker, whether he taught a class of young Jedi, if they respected him and learned from him. Luke hoped so. He sat in his mind, watching over this future, letting time slip by.
“Where’s your head at?” a voice broke him out of it. Leia was standing in front of him, smiling.
“Pondering the mysteries of the force, you know, like us great powerful mystics do,” he said, gently raising himself off the seat to hover in the air for a second. They both laughed.
She was so beautiful when she laughed, the way her eyes shone, and her face lit up. It was a precious thing to see in times like these. She sat next to him. “Sleep well? You didn’t need me in the night?”
“You make it sound like I’m running to find my mother after a bad dream.” Luke laughed.
“Well, I mean……you kinda are.” she ripped him.
Luke shrugged. “I had a vision I was meaning to tell you about it, it wasn’t exactly fun, but it left me more with questions than crippling terror like the others. Well, it was horrifying, but that’s outweighed by curiosity,” he said, leaning in. “There was this temple, a terrible place. I’ve never felt anything like it, anguished was carved into the very stone, and I heard ghosts of the past.” he was talking low, Leia was focused. “Ben was there as my father and this woma…”
“Dignity come in Dignity, Respond. Protocol Ghorman.” A voice over the ship's communications came in. The two snapped up. Chewies let out a triumphant roar and moved to man the comms console. Captain Farr gave the order, and Chewie opened the line.
“From where does the emperor reign?” Captain Farr spoke into the comms station
“From the hearts of the hopeless,” the voice came back. The command crew looked around each other, smiles slowly growing. “Chewbacca, the holoprojector, please,” Farr spoke, and the projection blinked into life, showing the form of a Sulustan alliance officer flanked by a weequay in a pilot’s jumpsuit.
“Dignity, this is Commander Pik of the Alliance cruiser Agitator. I believe you’ve been trying to join our merry band.”
Farr smiled and seemed to relax his shoulders for the first time since Luke met him. “Yes, we are carrying special cargo, requesting permission to transfer you some passengers.” Farr gestured for Luke, Leia and Chewie to come into frame.
“Fantastic, you found them. Yes, come alongside, and we can take them aboard.” Pik answered, turning and giving orders to some of her officers,
The Dignity dropped out of hyperspace, and before them was the rebel squadron.
A dauntless cruiser, which could be assumed to be the Agitator
A Quasar fire-class cruiser: the Songbird
A Nebulon-B frigate: the Poet
2 GR-75s: the womp rat and the bug.
And a CR-90: the Herald.
It wasn’t much, but thankfully, it was here. They sat by an alliance dockyard, forming up and preparing to depart. This may be the largest battle group in this whole quadrant, Luke thought grimly.
“I’ll go find Lando and Threepio. You, Chewie and Artoo get to the Falcon.” Leia ordered Luke and Chewie. Luke and Chewie were sitting in the Falcon in the hangar bay of the Dignity, getting everything ready for take off. Thankfully, the ship's engineers, under Chewie's watchful eye had cleaned up the damage sustained on Bespin. Leia came into the cockpit, followed by Lando. Luke made a mental note to try and get to know him better; he seemed effortlessly cool. As everyone prepared to take off, suddenly the hangar went red. Alarms started blaring.
A voice came over the intercom broadcast throughout the ship.
“This is Dorian Collis of the Imperial Star Destroyer Justicar. You are members of the Rebel Alliance, and traitors surrender or die.” This was followed by Farr’s voice. All pilots to your starships, we’ll need you to buy us time for the fleet to make jump calculations.”
The hangar filled with the few pilots aboard the dignity scrambling to their ships. Before taking off and roaring out of the hangar.
Luke looked to Leia and Chewie.
“RUWHARAK.” the Wookie growled. “Like he said, get out there. Don’t wait for my permission.” Leia added. Luke sprang from his chair
“Good luck man.” Lando added as Luke sprinted down the gangplank of the Falcon, grabbed a helmet left abandoned in the hangar by a pilot who never made it aboard during the Echo Base evacuation.
Luke found an X-Wing, booted it up as R2 was getting the systems online, the Falcon lumbered out of the hangar “We’re gonna get Leia to the Agitator, then double back to support.” Lando’s voice came over the commlink.
Luke followed to join the battle.
“Raptor 2 here, all wings report in,” came the call.
“Raptor 3 reporting in.”
“Raptor 4 reporting in”
“Ratptor 7 reporting in.”
“This is Crisis leader.”
“Crisis 2 here.”
“Crisis 3 reporting in.” Luke recognised Jop’s voice.
“Crisis 6 here.”
Then coms fell silent for a second.
“This is Rogue leader contacting all wings, I’m here to support.” Luke added, feeling more himself than he had in days. R2 chirped in celebration as the X-wing fell in with the rest of the flight wing.
“Raptor 2 relinquishing mission command to rogue leader. What's the plan sir?” the pilot said as the mix of X and Y-wings formed up and began moving towards the ISD and its two escort ships.
“All we need to do is keep the enemy fighters off the fleet, Crisis squadron. If we give you an opening, see if you can destroy the tractor beam aboard that death triangle; we don’t need anyone getting snared,” Luke said, checking his computers and locking a course for the enemy capital ship.
“Flight wing. This is Farr. We’ve been given orders to pull back and join the main fleet. I’ve been told to relay to you that once jump calculations have been made, the fleet will move. I will transmit these coordinates to you as soon as I get them. There will not be time to re-dock. Good luck,” the captain spoke, and Luke saw the Dignity set its engines to full burn as it moved to link up with the fleet properly.
There was the eerie hum of a battle about to be joined, the silence of space only broken by the hum of your ship's engine and the various mechanical sounds of your controls and astromechs, the stage of a battle just before the clash, where every pilot was silent, bracing for what comes next. These weren’t rogue squadron, there were no quips and jokes, these guys were scared.
Before Luke could dwell on it for long, you could hear it closing in
The pained screaming of a tie fighter squadron racing towards them.
The two wings held, charging one another, the screeching of the ties growing closer, louder. Closer, faster, nearer, louder, faster.
“Break!” was the order.
The fighters peeled off, and the void lit up with green and red bolts. Ships diving and spiralling around one another, constantly trying to out turn out manouver their prey while dodging their hunter.
Luke tore through the formation of ties, swinging the back if his fighter round and thundering back across their line, laying down fire. Clipping the support strut of one causing it to smoke but not be destroyed.
“He’s right on top of me.”
“I’m on it, hold steady.”
“I can’t shake him.”
“Scratch one.”
“Crisis two pull left.”
“Two on my tail.”
The dog fight was frantic. Luke, trying to keep an eye on all his pilots, suddenly two thundering green bolts fly across his nose. The Justicar was in range of the Dignity.
“Crisis Squadron, I need you to make a bombing run on the Tractor beam emitter,” Luke commanded.
“Roger that rogue leader,” came the response from Crisis 2. The Y-wings began to try and peel away from the fuzzball with Raptor squadrons X-wings trying to clear out the ties. One Y-wing was destroyed as a fighter flew, snapping off one of the engine pods with a gout of laser fire. Luke barrel rolled off to chase after it, managing to lock on and destroy the Tie Fighter in turn after a lengthy chase away from formation. On turning around, Luke saw the state of the battle. The Y-wings, while durable, were slow; the beegered X-wings simply weren't enough. There were three more Ties than rebel snub fighters, so even with every raptor on their mark, the bombers had to cover themselves. Luke saw another salvo of turbo laser fire fly out from the Justicar; this time, two of the bolts slammed into the rear shields of the Dignity. E saw the falcon burning everything it had, racing towards the battle, but it would never make it in time, it was too far out even with Chewie pushing the ship to breaking. He raced back towards the fuzzball, an X-Wing, then a Tie Fighter, a Y-Wing, two more Ties destroyed or left adrift.
“This is crisis 3, starting my attack run.” It was Jop, he was the lead bomber.
“Everything into the engines Artoo.” Luke said, pushing the X-wing forward, he saw two TIEs streaming towards Jop and his remaining wingman. Each chased by an X-Wing trying to find a firing solution that doesn’t risk the bombers. Another salvo from the Justicar, the light anti-fighter weapons came online. It was a minefield to dodge all the laser fire. He was getting closer; the chasing ties let out a burst of fire.
“Crisis 3, you’re hit. Pull out of there.”
“No, I’ve got it, just nicked the shield cooling, I’ve got a good run, I can make it.” Job responded. You could hear the warnings and alarms in his cockpit over the coms. The chasing X wings managed to destroy one of the ties, the anti-fighter weapons on the Justicar decimated Raptor 7. Luke flew through the cloud of flame left behind from her explosion. He raced further ahead of job aware he had np shield sailing low above the hull picking off the small laser canons one by one. R2 celebrating each exploding gun emplacement.
An explosion behind him.
“Scratch one tie, you're clear crisis three, let’s blow this and go home.” Lando’s voice came over the radio as the Falcon soared past, laying down a streak of fire across one of the nearing escort cruisers. The two remaining Y wings dove down under the destroyer and fired off their torpedoes as the ISD landed another blow on the dignity, causing a deck fire to break out in the rear.
“Torps away, pulling out. Can someone access impact?” Jop called as his wounded bomber, and the other pilot wheeled out and rolled away onto the ISD’s disarmed flank. Luke wheels off with them to run interference.
A thud and a crackling explosion.
“Impact effective, let’s go,” Lando called out. You could hear Chewie in the background. The survivors peeled away.
“This is Commander Pik, uploading jump coordinates now,” the rebel group lead said across Fleetwide comms and in the distance, one by one, the battle group slipped away into hyperspace.
“Thanks for saving my ass, Commander. I owe you one.” Jop said before disconnecting from the channel as the two ships jumped to hyperspace.
Luke sat in the cockpit as the adrenaline wore off; he was panting. His face was wet; was he crying? He was crying.
I saved him; I managed to save someone.
The thought raced through his head. The mission was a success. He saved Jop and Crisis leader, and two of Raptor squadron, and the whole fleet. He’d probably get another medal.
He was still trying to catch his breath as he punched the air.
“Fuck that feels good,” he shouted out into hyperspace. Being a pilot that was natural; it felt right, he felt important, and he wasn’t a burden. Not just a passenger that got picked up, stuck in the medbay, and then wandered the halls of a frigate. Being Rogue leader, he could do something, lead strike missions, save people, and be the person everyone told him he was.
And as the fleet dropped out of hyperspace and headed towards a rebel deep space installation. Luke followed the Millennium Falcon into one of the hangar bays and, for the first time in a long time, being Luke Skywalker felt like a privilege, an honour rather than an ominous curse.
He was Luke Skywalker, Rogue leader, Hero of Yavin and a Jedi Knight like his father before him.