Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Leia squinted up at the sky, the bright sunlight reflecting off the white snow and shining into her eyes. There was hardly a cloud to be seen, but the wind blowing across the snowy plain was bitterly cold, biting at her skin even through several layers of clothing. Adjusting her grip, she pulled on the reins of her tauntaun, slowing the furry, bipedal creature to a stop. Reaching up, she removed her green-tinted goggles up from over her eyes; the bright snow became almost blinding, and she blinked furiously as she gazed about her surroundings.

There was nothing to be seen but snow for miles. It covered everything in sight, broken up only by the dark grey of jagged rocks jutting out from the mountainsides. There was no sentient life native to Hoth, as far as they could tell, and next to no flora or fauna. It was little more than a hunk of ice floating about in the Outer Rim, which of course made it the perfect place for the Rebellion to set up a base.

Leia, for her part, disagreed — there was a reason no sentient life had ever evolved to live on Hoth, and it likely had to do with the fact that the planet just wasn’t suitable to live on. Unfortunately, however, the decision wasn’t up to her.

Pulling her scarf away from her face, she let out a deep sigh. The inside of the scarf was covered in a thin layer of crystals, her breath having frozen onto the fabric. She tried to brush it away, but her gloves were dusted with snow and did little to help.

She looked up just as something came streaking from the sky down to the ground. It impacted on the top of a nearby mountain ridge, sending up a large plume of rock and snow. Frowning, she unhooked her electrobinoculars from her utility belt, holding them up to her face. It took her a few seconds to focus on the impact site, but there wasn’t much to see when she did; whatever it was that had crashed, it was much too small to be seen from this distance.

At least, then, she knew it wasn’t some type of spacecraft. Most likely it was a meteorite; they had been picking up on a lot of meteor activity around the planet due to a nearby asteroid belt. Lowering her electrobinoculars, Leia made a quick note of its location. If she had the chance, she would go and check it out tomorrow, but for now, it was growing far too close to sunset, and she needed to make it back to base.

Lifting her wrist, she brushed snow off the comm built into her glove, quickly turning it on and ensuring it was set to the right frequency. “Echo Three to Echo Seven,” she said, holding it close to her mouth. “Do you read me, Han?”

Han’s voice crackled over the comlink. “Loud and clear,” he replied. “What’s up?”

“I just finished my patrol,” she said. “I didn’t pick up a single life reading.”

“There isn’t enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser,” Han said, and Leia gave a quiet laugh. “The sensors are placed; I’m going back.”

In the distance, Leia could make out the shape of Han atop his tauntaun, quickly making his way back across the icy field. Beneath her, her own tauntaun began shifting restlessly, letting out a quiet whine. Leia stroked her neck with her free hand and eased off on the reins; the tauntaun hurried forward, automatically beginning to make her way back to Echo Base. She seemed spooked by something, and eager to get away from the wide open plain. “Alright,” Leia said, speaking into her comm. “I’ll see you—”

She was cut off by a vicious howl. Turning in her saddle, she saw the form of a gigantic wampa barreling towards her through the snow, its mouth open in rage. Leia let out a loud curse. She’d heard about the wampas, but had never seen one in person before. They were one of the few creatures native to Hoth, and a couple of them had been found wandering about the natural caves near base; from the stories she’d heard, they weren’t very nice. They had a rather nasty set of teeth, and an even nastier set of claws, and they were strong enough to shred you into pieces. Leia guessed she must have wandered into its territory, though she had no idea where it had even come from, or how it had managed to get so close to her without her sensors picking it up.

She dug her heels into the side of her tauntaun, urging it go faster. Her comm was still on, and she brought it back up to her face, hoping desperately that Han hadn’t shut his off. “Han, Han, come in.” She was almost yelling into her comm, panic quickly welling up as the wampa let out another enraged roar. When she glanced back over her shoulder, it was even closer than it had been before; tauntauns certainly weren’t the fastest creatures, and it seemed that wampas were faster.

“Han, do you read me? Come in!” When he didn’t respond immediately, Leia let out another curse and grabbed her blaster pistol from where it had been resting in her holster. Twisting around, one hand still gripping the reins, she let off two shots. One sailed too high, flying above the wampa’s head, but the other struck it right in the shoulder. The beast barely seemed to slow, however, and the wound only seemed to enrage it more.

Leia pressed the tauntaun to move faster, but the animal was already exhausted from their patrol and likely frightened out of her mind. She had to quickly grab hold of the reins with both hands when the tauntaun began to veer off-course, letting out a terrified bleat, and when she glanced back at the wampa it was right there behind her, one ginormous, white-furred claw raised above its head.

She didn’t even have the time to scream before it was swiping down, throwing her from her tauntaun. She hit the ground on her back, all the air punched from her lungs on impact. She struggled for breath, listening helplessly as her tauntaun cried out in fear and agony. The cold air stung her throat as she sucked it in, feeling like shards of glass against her flesh, but finally her lungs filled again. Turning onto her side, she took in deep, gasping breaths.

Her tauntaun abruptly stopped crying, falling to the ground beside her in a broken heap. Leia saw the wampa looming above the dead creature, and it saw her at the same time. Seemingly displeased that she was still alive, it began moving towards her, blood dripping off its claws and making dots in the snow. It raised its arm to strike her once more, but Leia’s hand was already on her lightsaber, pulling it from her belt and igniting it just as the wampa brought its claws down on her.

Its arm was separated from its body, landing with a thud near Leia’s feet. The wampa reared back, howling in pain, and Leia jumped up, her ‘saber held defensively in front of her. The injured creature took a lumbering step towards her, and she slashed out with her lightsaber, striking it in the chest. It cried out again, but she didn’t even wait to see if it had died, retracting her blade and taking off, heading in the direction of Echo Base.

The snow was deep, coming up to her knees at points, and she stumbled through it, her lightsaber still held tightly in her hand. As she was struggling down a steep, icy incline, Han finally responded, his voice coming to life over the comlink.

“Leia? Leia, do you copy? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, not much,” Leia replied sarcastically, skidding to a stop at the bottom of the hill. “I was only attacked by a wampa. Not a big problem, really.”

“What?” There was genuine shock in Han’s voice, and a good deal of concern as well, which Leia had to admit made her feel some degree of satisfaction. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said, a bit breathlessly; she had once thought sand was difficult to maneuver through, but it was very little compared to knee-high snow. “I took care of it. My tauntaun’s dead, though, so I’m gonna need a pick-up.”

“Okay. I’ve got your coordinates from your transponder. I’m on my way.” Though she knew he probably would never apologize, Han actually sounded quite guilty, which was more than enough for her.

She decided to stay put while she waited for him, replacing her scarf and goggles to keep her face warm. It only took a few minutes for him to arrive, reaching down a hand to help her up onto his tauntaun.

“You sure you’re alright?” he asked, his voice slightly muffled by his scarf. Leia nodded.

“I’ll be a bit bruised in the morning, but that’s it.” She shifted uncomfortably in her position behind the saddle. A tauntaun certainly wasn’t made to be ridden by two people, and she had to sit atop the emergency blankets rolled up and attached to the saddle. She gripped them tightly, balanced precariously as she was, and she jolted violently as Han got the tauntaun moving again.

“You might wanna put your arms around my waist,” he advised her, speaking loudly to be heard over the wind. “It’d probably be safer.” When she hesitated, he was quick to add, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I promise I won’t get any ideas.”

Leia was glad that he wouldn’t be able to see her blush through her scarf, and she slowly wrapped her arms around his waist, linking her hands together on his front. Even though she couldn’t see his face either, she was certain that he had on one of his smug grins, which absolutely infuriated her — and made her blush even harder.

At least I don’t have to worry about my face being cold, she thought, with no small amount of bitterness, as they set off for the base.

◊◊◊

They came in through the north entrance, Han deftly avoiding the many pilots, mechanics, and droids bustling about the hangar. The space was mostly taken up by Echo Base’s squadron of X-wings, as well as several T-47 airspeeders that the pilots were attempting to modify to function in Hoth’s frigid environment. A group of them hovered around the vehicles — dubbed snowspeeders — talking amongst themselves and gesticulating wildly with various tools. They had already tried several different modifications, all to no avail, and until they got the speeders working, everyone was stuck riding around on tauntauns.

Han brought his tauntaun to a stop in the middle of the hangar, and Leia quickly untangled her arms from around him, slipping off the back of the beast. A pair of soldiers were waiting for them, and they took the reins as Han dismounted. Leia ripped her hat, scarf, and goggles from her head, thankful that her blush had, for the most part, dissipated. Her hair, cut short to just below chin-length, was wild from the furry interior of her hat, and she tried her best to smooth it down. She missed being able to pull it back into a braid, but the short length was much easier to maintain in the bare-bones conditions she often had to live in.

Han started off across the hangar, and Leia followed him, quickening her pace to catch up. “We need to report to General Rieekan,” she said. “He’ll want to know that there are wampas out there.”

“Yeah, I know.” He gave a dismissive wave of his hand, and Leia huffed a deep sigh, glowering at him.

The Millennium Falcon was tucked into a corner of the hangar, its front jutting out into the middle of the room. As usual, the freighter was in desperate need of repairs, and Leia could see Chewbacca perched on top of it, a welding torch in one hand and a dark pair of goggles held in front of his eyes.

“Chewie!” Han cried, strutting towards the ship. “Chewie!”

The Wookiee looked up, growling a reply. He seemed rather irate about something, and waved his torch about in the air as he spoke. Han held his hands up, as if asking for peace.

“Alright, don’t lose your temper!” he called. “I’ll come right back and give you a hand!”

Chewbacca mumbled a barely-audible response, and Leia couldn’t help but snicker as Han stalked away. He shot her a disgruntled look. “You wanna help, too?” he asked, gesturing back towards the Falcon.

“You’re still thinking about leaving?” she questioned, one eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, I am.” Han nodded. “I’m getting out of here as soon as the Falcon’s repaired. I can’t stay anymore.”

Leia frowned. She walked alongside him as they made their way from the hangar into the corridors, headed for the command centre. “I thought you had decided to stay,” she said.

“The bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mantell changed my mind,” Han argued, weaving out of the way of passing soldiers. “There’s a price on my head, and if I don’t pay off Jabba the Hutt, I’m a dead man. You of all people should understand that.”

Leia gave an irritated huff; she did understand, and that just made her angrier. Growing up on Tatooine, she knew more about the ruthlessness of the Hutts than most people. From what she could tell, Han owed a substantial amount of money, and Jabba wouldn’t rest until it had all been paid back or Han was dead. “Han, we need you,” she said. He was an excellent pilot and a skilled fighter, and though the Rebellion had grown substantially stronger in the three years since the Battle of Yavin, they could still use every person they could get.

“’We’?” Han stopped and turned to face her, eyebrows raised. “What about ‘you need’?”

“I need?”

“Yeah. You.”

Leia scoffed, shaking her head. “Don’t be ridiculous.” She started back down the corridor, but Han grabbed her arm, pulling her back. Scowling, she shook herself free of his grip.

“Just admit it,” he said, a small smirk playing on his lips. “You want me to stay because of the way you feel about me.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she stared at him, confused. Where in the galaxy had he gotten the idea that she had feelings for him?

“Come on.” He crossed his arms over his chest, giving her a knowing look. “You’re gonna be a Jedi someday, right? Aren’t they all about being in touch with their emotions, or some spiritual crap like that?”

“Well, my emotions certainly don’t feel anything for you!” Leia shot back, and she turned to leave, striding away down the corridor.

“Deny it all you want, sweetheart!” Han called, hurrying after her. “But I know the truth, and so does that Force of yours!”

Leia groaned in frustration, not even attempting to hide her anger as the door to the command centre opened and she strode inside. Luke, bent over one of the many consoles filling the room, stood as she entered, a questioning look on his face at her no doubt thunderous expression. His confusion was replaced with understanding, however, when Han stepped into the room behind her, and a quick glance over her shoulder told her that he appeared just as annoyed as she did.  

The command centre was, as usual, a hub of activity. Communications officers and controllers sat at nearly every console, carefully observing their screens and speaking into headsets. Others stood in front of large glass maps, tracking radar signals and monitoring the space around the planet. Leia found General Rieekan hunched over by a console, fiddling with the buttons and toggles on its sides. She guessed he must have just finished a communication with some other Rebel leaders; while Echo Base was the headquarters of Alliance High Command, many of its members were often spread to other parts of the galaxy.  

He looked up as she approached. “Captain Skywalker,” he greeted. Looking past her, he gave Han a short nod. “Solo.”

“We didn’t pick up any life readings during our patrol, General,” Leia reported. “But on my way back to base I was attacked by a wampa. My scanner didn’t pick up any signs of life at all, and I’m not sure why it didn’t show up. I managed to disable it, but it killed my tauntaun.”

Rieekan raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Are you alright?” he asked.

She nodded. “Just some cuts and bruises, sir, nothing serious. I’d like to go back out tomorrow and see if the wampa’s really dead. There was a meteorite that struck near there as well that I’d like to check out.”

The general seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding. “Alright,” he said. “Take a few scouts with you.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied. “All the sensors are in place, as well, and hopefully they should pick up anything else that wanders close.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“Sir.” With a nod, Leia turned to walk away. She purposefully avoided looking at Han as he stepped forward to take her place, no doubt meaning to talk to Rieekan about his imminent departure.

Luke had stepped away from the console, and was looking at her with a worried expression. He placed a hand on her shoulder as she approached him, looking her up and down. “You were attacked by a wampa? Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she said with a nod. “It’d take more than a wampa to take me down.”

Luke smiled, briefly, before his expression turned serious again. “What were you and Han arguing about?”

Leia let out a loud sigh, glancing to where Han still stood speaking to Rieekan. She remembered his words about how she really felt for him, and a small blush began creeping up her face. She looked away quickly, hoping Luke hadn’t noticed. “Just about him leaving,” she said, shrugging as if it were nothing. “He’s a good leader, and it’s a shame to see him go.”

“He’s still set on leaving, then?” Luke looked disappointed by the news. He and Han got along well — much better than she and Han did.

She nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. “Unfortunately. But we can’t force him to stay.”

He gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, and Leia realized that she really would miss Han — not just because of the role he filled in the Rebellion, but because he was her friend. They had gone through a lot together during the past three years, and she enjoyed spending time with him, when he wasn’t being absolutely insufferable. He was much more than the selfish, greedy mercenary that she had first pegged him as, though he certainly didn’t always act like it. But he was still a good man.

Han turned to face them, seeming to have finished his conversation with Rieekan. He smirked when he saw that Leia was still there, sauntering over to them. “What, you didn’t want to leave without a goodbye kiss?” he asked her.

Leia wrinkled her nose up in disgust. “I’d just as soon kiss a Wookiee,” she retorted, and turned to leave.

“I can arrange that!” Han called after her, some of his earlier anger creeping back into his voice. “You could use a good kiss!”

She stormed out of the command centre before he could say anything else.

◊◊◊

Luke watched the door slide shut behind Leia, turning his head to find Han watching it as well. His hands were curled into fists at his sides, and he kept working his jaw, his teeth grinding together. It seemed as if he would explode into anger again at any minute.

“She’s just upset because she doesn’t want you to leave,” Luke said. He had heard Leia complain about Han on numerous occasions, and had borne witness to many of their fights, but he knew that she cared about him, and he was quite certain Han cared about her as well. Otherwise he didn’t think they would put up with each other at all.

“Yeah, I know.” Han gave a dismissive shrug and turned to face Luke, his back to the door.

Luke sighed. He believed that the two of them would get along much better if they simply stopped antagonizing each other — but the chances of that happening seemed about as likely as a sweet-smelling nerf. “You should try and talk to her again,” he suggested, “in a little while, after you’ve both calmed down. You don’t want to leave things with her like this.”

Han scowled. “She’d probably just yell at me again,” he said. “Anyways, I’ve got to go and help Chewie with the Falcon. I wanna be outta here by morning.”  

“Alright. But you should talk to her, and at least try to actually say goodbye.”

“I’ll try my best, Your Highness.” Han bent over in a mock bow, his usual roguish grin on his face.

“I’m serious, Han,” said Luke, as Han straightened from his bow.

“So am I,” he replied, and for once he seemed sincere. There was a beat of silence, and Han took in a deep breath, visibly uncomfortable as he awkwardly adjusted the waist of his pants. “Alright, well, I gotta go. If you have the time, why don’t you stop by and help us out with the Falcon? Leia refused, and we could use all the help we can get. Besides, you’re not a bad mechanic, and it’ll give you a chance to get your royal hands dirty.”

Luke smirked, satisfied with Han’s response, and nodded. “I’ll see if I can’t stop by later tonight,” he said. As much as he didn’t want Han to go, there was nothing he could do to stop that now, and he would feel guilty making up an excuse to get out of helping his friend for purely selfish reasons.

“Then I’ll see you later tonight.” With a nod, Han turned and walked towards the exit. Luke watched him go, until the door was closing behind him, and then with a sigh went back to work.

◊◊◊

He managed to get away a few hours later, after the sun had been set for a long while and the base was beginning to quiet down for the night. On the short walk from the command centre to the hangar where the Millennium Falcon was docked, he ran into only two other people, in a corridor that was usually teeming with activity. Night was the only time when the base seemed to achieve any semblance of peace.

For having been constructed in only a few shorts weeks, Echo Base was surprisingly put-together. There were of course issues with heating, and other problems related to adapting technology to the cold, but for a base carved out of a snowy mountain, it worked well. Given time, Luke was certain they could smooth out any kinks and make Hoth as vital and important as Yavin IV had been.

Unlike the rest of the base, the hangar was still bustling when he arrived, with pilots and mechanics working hard on their ships. Some tinkered with X-wings, but most of the effort seemed to be focused on the snowspeeders. There had been a great deal of difficulty adapting them to the extreme cold, but it appeared as if they had finally found a solution, based on the excited chatter he could hear from the pilots.

Chewie was crouched beneath the Falcon, struggling with some component of the central lifters. He looked up when Luke approached, growling a greeting and pointing up the descended boarding ramp, no doubt to where Han was working on some faulty piece of his ship or another. It had taken Luke a while to realize that the Falcon was much more than the old pile of scrap metal that it had first appeared to be, but he still often felt that it was perhaps more work than it was worth — “fastest ship in the galaxy” be damned.

He found Han in one of the engineering stations, performing a check of all the systems. Luke had never known the Falcon’s computer to be cooperative, and it seemed as if that still held true, judging by the number of curses he heard as he approached.

“Everything alright?” he asked, pausing just outside the small room where the station was located.

Han lifted his head, twisting around to look at Luke. “Huh? Oh, hey, kid. Things could be worse, really, but they’re not the best.” He sighed, stepping away from the computer. “It keeps telling me there’s something wrong with the hyperdrive, but it won’t tell me what. I have no idea if it’s something minor or something that’ll blow us up if we try and jump into hyperspace. I doubt this piece of junk even knows what it’s saying half the time.” He gave it an irritated smack, though the diagnostics displayed on the screen remained the same. “I think we’re gonna have to go and actually check it out. Would you mind doing that for me? Chewie decided that now was the perfect time to take apart the hydraulics in the central lifters, and I gotta go make sure he’s actually put it back together.”

Luke nodded. “Yes, of course.” He stepped aside to let Han out of the engineering station, watching with an amused grin as he stalked off back towards the boarding ramp. Luke knew the Falcon fairly well, having travelled in it and worked on it several times since his rescue from the Death Star, and so he knew where to find the right tools and where to begin inspecting the hyperdrive systems.

He made his way to the main hold, collecting a few basic tools along the way. The large grate in the centre of the room could be removed to reveal a pit, filled with control panels and components of the ship’s various systems. The grate was easy enough to remove, but it was a bit of a squeeze to get himself into the pit; he suspected that his shorter stature was part of the reason Han had sent him to do this. Shifting in an attempt to find a comfortable position, he started a check of the hyperdrive systems, though he suspected it would turn up the same results as the computer.

The Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive was still somewhat of a mystery to Luke. Han had completely replaced the ship’s original engine with an Isu-Sim SSP05 — twice the size of the stock engine — and had then somehow managed to upgrade it from a Class 1 to a Class 0.5. It certainly helped to explain many of the hyperdrive problems that the Falcon experienced, but it also was the reason she was able to outrun an Imperial Star Destroyer.

The actual hyperdrive engine was located near the rear of the ship, but it was controlled by the ship’s main computer, located in the pit alongside many of the hyperdrive’s other vital components — including the motivator, a piece of equipment which, if broken, rendered a ship incapable of jumping to hyperspace. It was tucked into a small nook near the bottom of the pit, and typically it was shielded to protect it from any possible damage. One quick look at it, however, and Luke could tell that the shield wasn’t active.

He crouched down, shimmying about in the cramped space to get a better look at the motivator. Grabbing his glowrod, he flicked it on and shone the light into the small recess where the motivator was located. It didn’t take long for him to realize what the issue was: the motivator had somehow come loose from its wires, and more than a few of the connectors looked damaged. A closer inspection also revealed a short, hairline crack near the base. While it didn’t look particularly serious, motivators were finicky instruments, and a crack like that could quickly prove fatal.

“Why didn’t you pick up on this earlier, you stupid ship?” Luke grumbled, crawling up onto his knees with a huff and clicking off the glowrod. A repair certainly wasn’t impossible, but it would take some time, especially if one wanted it to be a long-lasting fix. Reaching up, he hoisted himself out of the pit, just as Han walked into the main hold.

“Did you figure it out?” he asked, pulling his hood back from his head.

Luke nodded. “Somehow, you lost the shielding on your hyperdrive motivator, and it got damaged,” he explained. “There are a couple damaged connectors, and what looks to be a small crack at the base. The connectors shouldn’t be a big issue, but it’s the crack that I’m worried about.”

Han let out a quiet curse, running a gloved hand through his already-messy hair. “Well, this is gonna set us back a few hours,” he said. “At least.”

Luke shrugged. “It’s better than getting out in space and realizing you can’t jump to hyperspace.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Han nodded, a tight frown pulling at his lips. “Alright, I’ll go and get the stuff we’ll need for that crack. You stay here and start working on those connectors.”  

“Alright.” With another nod, Luke dropped back down into the pit and got to work. It was easy enough for him to shift the motivator back into place, and to reconnect the wires that weren’t broken. The ones that were, however, were a different story. It would take a bit of time for him to repair each connector, but he relished the work. Ship repair was always a nice change of pace for him — coming to the hangars to work on ships, getting him away from the conference rooms and strategy meetings. It was something that most people considered a chore, but Luke supposed he had the luxury of being able to see it differently; he didn’t do it often enough for it to become menial. Still, whenever he got the chance he liked to slip away and do some work on whatever ship needed it. It was a way for him to clear his mind; to think about something besides galactic politics and the civil war, if only for an hour or two.

For once, however, he found it difficult to simply focus on the mechanical work, his mind intent on wandering elsewhere — to Han’s approaching departure, to his quarrel with Leia, to her wampa attack and, strangely, to the meteorite that she had seen falling to the planet’s surface. The thoughts left him with a lingering sense of unease, a heavy weight in the pit of his stomach. He failed to shake it long into the night.

Chapter Text

Leia left for patrol early that morning. She took two soldiers with her, both of them new recruits. The Rebellion had been steadily growing since the Battle of Yavin and the start of the war, and it seemed as if recruits were constantly pouring into Echo Base. Many of them were Imperial defectors, tired of fighting for a tyrannical regime, while others were former civilians drawn to the cause by the suffering on their home planets caused by the Empire. The two soldiers were somewhat star-struck to be on patrol with her, and though it was irritating, she understood where it came from — her name was known all across the galaxy: Leia Skywalker, last of the Jedi and hero of the Rebellion.  

She had considered asking Han to go with her, but he had been in a bitter mood all morning. Rieekan had decided that it was too dangerous for any ships to leave the system until the energy shield was properly activated, which meant that Han was effectively grounded for the time being. He and Chewbacca had spent the better part of the night carrying out repairs on the Falcon, with no small amount of help from Luke, and now they weren’t even allowed to leave. She’d seen him only briefly on her way to the tauntaun pens, and he’d looked absolutely thunderous. No doubt he would have found a way to pin this on her, so she’d decided to leave him well enough alone and go out on patrol with the two soldiers assigned to her.

Though the sky was clear and the sun was shining, the cold still bit at her skin. She remembered well enough where the wampa had attacked her, but it still took them the better part of an hour to reach it; everything seemed to look the same when it was blanketed in snow. They did eventually find the frozen corpses of both the tauntaun and the wampa, their fur covered in snow and icy blood. So, she had killed the wampa then.

“Be cautious,” Leia warned as they maneuvered their tauntauns around the bodies. “There might be more wampas around here.”

It only took a few minutes for her to locate the ridge where she had seen the meteorite strike. Pulling out her electrobinoculars, she focused them on the top of the crest, scanning for any sign of the meteorite.

“We’re going to have to scale the ridge,” she said, lowering her electrobinoculars. “I can’t see anything from down here.”

The two soldiers nodded. She had seen the meteorite impact near the eastern side of the ridge, so that’s where they headed. It was quite a hike to the top, and halfway up they had to dismount and lead their tauntauns the rest of the way. The rocks were slippery with ice under the snow, and at one point one of the soldiers, a boy even younger than she was named Jokar, slipped and nearly fell. He managed to catch himself at the last second, scrambling back up onto his feet.

“Be careful,” Leia said, glancing back at him over her shoulder. “Don’t rush; that meteorite isn’t going anywhere.”

Jokar nodded, obviously shaken from his near-fall. “Yes, ma’am.”

When they finally reached the top, it wasn’t difficult to see where the meteorite had landed. It had created a crater about four feet wide in the snow, reaching all the way down to the rock below. At the centre of it, however, where the meteorite was supposed to be, there was nothing.

“It looks like the meteorite did go somewhere,” said the other soldier, a small, wiry man by the name of Grosser.

Leia frowned, and handed the reins to her tauntaun to Jokar. “In that case, I don’t think it was a meteorite,” she said, and began to make her way down into the crater. It wasn’t very deep, so she was able to slide down the sides to the bottom with ease. She brushed aside the thin layer of snow that had covered the ground near the centre, but all that it revealed was solid rock. Something large enough to make a crater of that size would have been easily noticeable.

Letting out an sigh, she stood. “Whatever it was that landed here, it’s gone now,” she said, removing the scarf that covered her mouth. She looked down at her comlink, setting the frequency to Echo Base, and lifted it to her mouth. “Echo Three to Echo Base,” she said. “Come in, Echo Base.”

It took only a few seconds for a response to come in. “Echo Three, this is Echo Base. Have you found something?” the controller asked.

“It’s more what we didn’t find,” Leia replied. “I don’t think that meteorite I saw was a meteorite at all. There’s no sign of it at the impact crater. My guess is some sort of droid; it was definitely too small to be a ship or a pod of some kind.”

“Noted, Echo Three. We’ll send a group out to search for it. Return to base.”

“Copy, Echo Base. We’re on our way.” She lowered her wrist, flicking off the comlink. “Let’s head back,” she ordered, beginning to make her way back out of the crater.

◊◊◊

Luke was standing in the command centre, watching one of the large glass maps, when Leia arrived. General Rieekan stood on the other side, his brows creased as he observed one of the senior controllers working. Luke tried to force himself to look on the bright side — to think of any other explanations for the disappeared meteorite — but the twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach kept telling him otherwise. As soon as Leia had called in to report that no trace of the meteorite could be found, he had known something was wrong, like it had set off an alarm bell in his mind.

Looking up, he waved Leia over to the station. “We think we’ve found your droid,” he said. They’d sent out a small group led by Han to go look for any sign of it as soon as Leia had called in her missing meteorite. Alongside the base’s scanners, it hadn’t taken them long — there weren’t many things moving about on the surface of Hoth, living or otherwise. “We’ve picked up something metal heading east, in zone twelve.”

“Are you sure it’s not just a speeder?” Leia asked, looking intently at the map.

“Hold on,” the controller said, putting one hand to his headset. “There’s something weak coming through.” He flipped a switch on his console, and a strange, metallic voice came on through the speaker. Whatever it was saying sounded garbled, and it wasn’t speaking in any language Luke could understand.

3PO shuffled forward from where he had been standing behind Luke. “Sir, I am fluent in six million forms of communication,” he said. “This signal is not used by the Alliance. It could be an Imperial code.”

Luke’s expression darkened. “Then it’s almost certainly a droid.”

Han’s voice replaced the droid’s on the comlink. “We’re coming up on station three-eight,” he said. “We should be within range of this thing in a few minutes.”

“What if it’s an Imperial droid?” Leia asked, looking from Luke to Rieekan. “Some sort of probe?”

“Then it would probably be wise for us to get out of here,” Rieekan replied.

A tense silence settled over the room, broken only by the quiet chatter of the controllers. Leia kept running a hand through her hair, her face stoic as she stared at the map; Luke could practically feel the anxiety rolling off her, though she kept her expression calm. Sidling close, he placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze, and she seemed to relax, almost imperceptibly. He was sure that everyone in the room was feeling the same dreadful anticipation; he certainly was.

After several long, silent minutes, Han’s voice crackled onto the comlink. “Afraid there’s not much left,” he said.

Leia leaned forward, her hands gripping the edges of the console. “You destroyed it?”

“It attacked us first,” he responded. “It was a droid, just like you thought. I didn’t hit it that hard, though. It must have had a self-destruct.”

“An Imperial probe droid,” said Luke, and he heard Leia utter a quiet curse.

“It’s a good bet the Empire knows we’re here,” Han continued. Luke’s mind was already whirling with logistics — they would have to evacuate, and fast; load up all the equipment they could onto transports, find a way to get everyone off the planet, ensure no sensitive data got left behind… It was a lot to carry out, in not a lot of time.

Rieekan looked up from the console, his gaze settling on Luke. “We’d better start the evacuation,” he said, and Luke nodded.

◊◊◊

The base was swarming with activity as Leia hustled through the corridors. People were running in every direction, carrying crates of equipment to be loaded onto the transports; she passed several pilots rushing about with only half of their uniform on, no doubt pulled unexpectedly from their downtime. She had already been to her own quarters, wiping her computer of any information that could cause trouble were it to fall into Imperial hands. She hadn’t bothered with any of her few personal items, save her datapad; so long as she had her lightsaber and a blaster, she was set.

Now, she had to worry about loading her troops and equipment onto transports. There were a couple dozen soldiers under her command, and it was up to her to make sure they got off the planet safely. She also had a few pieces of heavy artillery to deal with, but there were so many people to evacuate and so few transports, that she suspected they would have to be left behind — guns could be replaced, but people couldn’t.

She pulled up the list of troops under her command on her datapad, and was quickly scrolling through it as she stepped into hangar 7. Pilots were hurrying to X-wings and snowspeeders; the fighters would be used to escort the transports, while the speeders would be loaded up and taken away. Han was perched atop the Falcon, shouting harried instructions to Chewie, positioned down below near the lifters. They would be leaving with the evacuation, but unlike the rest of the fleet, they wouldn’t be heading for the rendezvous point; instead, Han was taking the opportunity to get out and finally settle his score with Jabba the Hutt.

“Chewie, take care of yourself, alright?” Leia said, stopping in front of the Wookiee and lowering her datapad. He nodded, growling his affirmation, and then threw his arms around her in a crushing embrace. She laughed, patting the side of his arm. “I’ll miss you, too, bud.”

He released her, and she turned to look up at Han. He was standing near the Falcon’s front freight loading doors, watching her and absently twirling a hydrospanner around in his hands.

“Han,” she started, then stopped, running her teeth over her bottom lip thoughtfully. She wasn’t going to let herself get angry at him; it was too late for that. He was leaving no matter what she said, and she didn’t want them to part on a bitter note. “Stay safe,” she decided on finally.

Han was silent for a moment, his expression unreadable. “You, too.”

She nodded, and gave him a small smile; she really would miss him, and she hoped he knew that. After a few seconds, he returned her smile with one of his own, and Leia turned away.

She was halfway across the hangar when her comlink beeped. Her heart jumped, and she thought for a split second that perhaps it was Han, telling her to come back, that he wasn’t going to leave after all. But instead of Han’s voice, it was a controller’s that came out of the comm. “A fleet of Star Destroyers have come out of hyperspace,” they said. “Report to the briefing chamber immediately.”

Leia cast one last quick glance over her shoulder, at Han and the Falcon, and then took off at a run, heading back the way she had come.

◊◊◊

She was out on the surface of Hoth within a half hour, making her way through the deep snow trenches that criss-crossed the wide ice plain around Echo Base. Her company was busy at work around her, setting up weapons and connecting them to power packs. The heavy artillery was already prepared, with soldiers stationed at the turrets. They knew that the enemy would almost definitely come from the north, and everyone’s gazes kept wandering to the horizon, watching it warily. Some held electrobinoculars to their faces, and soldiers with sniper rifles lined the northern wall of the trench, their eyes fixed unwaveringly to the distant white horizon.

Grabbing hold of a nearby ladder, Leia used it to haul herself up out of the trench. Two soldiers were kneeling beside one of the DF.9 anti-infantry batteries, struggling to load one of the power packs through their thick gloves. The cold was brutal on the plain, with nothing to protect you from the icy winds; the trench offered some refuge, but not much. Leia could already feel her toes growing cold in her boots. Growing up on Tatooine, she was about as unused to cold weather as one could be.

“Everything alright?” she asked, coming to a halt near the gun. The two soldiers looked up and, upon realizing who she was, scrambled to their feet, sending off hasty salutes.

“Yes, Captain,” said one, a woman with a face rosy pink from the cold and covered in freckles. “This power pack is being a bit finicky, is all.” Beside her, her partner nodded in agreement.

“Well, don’t be afraid to use brute force,” Leia said, eyeing the difficult pack. Much of the equipment the Alliance had was old and used, and so some of the components didn’t always fit right. It was something she was used to; many of the moisture vaporators on her uncle’s farm had been decades old. “They’re pretty tough machines. A good kick won’t hurt them too much.” She smiled, and the freckled woman nodded.

“Yes, ma’am. I think we’ll try that.”

“Good luck.” Leia turned, and continued walking alongside the trench. The ground troops had several objectives, all of which had the main goal of delaying the Imperial assault long enough to allow as many transports as possible to escape. They knew that the base was lost; nothing they could do now could prevent that. So instead, they would focus their efforts on protecting the power generator, keeping enemy troops from entering the base, and protecting the transport take-off zone on the South Slope. If they could do that, and stall the Empire just long enough, they could evacuate the entire base.

A sound came from above of a ship taking off, and Leia looked up to see one of their GR-75 medium transports speeding off into space, flanked by two X-wing escorts. Though the sky was clear, she couldn’t make out any of the Star Destroyers lingering in orbit and blocking their escape. Everyone around her seemed to stall in their work, their breath held as they watched the transport grow smaller and smaller. The large ion cannon built into the side of the mountain let off two successive shots, the red bolts soaring into space after the transport and quickly overtaking it.

For a moment, nothing happened, and no one said a word. Then, a voice broke through the silence, triumphantly declaring, “They made it!” A cheer went up from everyone in the trench, and Leia let out a relieved sigh. They might just be able to do this.

She continued on her way, finding the man she was looking for a short distance away, giving orders to a pair of lieutenants. They saluted and hurried away as she approached, and Colonel Ledick Firest turned to face her.

“Captain Skywalker,” he greeted. “How are your troops faring?”

“Well, sir.” Leia came to a stop in front of him, her hands clasped together behind her back. “I was only wondering, what sort of enemy do you think we’ll face today? There’s an entire fleet of Star Destroyers up there. We don’t have the numbers to face that kind of force.” She’d fought against Imperials on the ground before; they were ruthless soldiers, better armed and better trained that any force the Rebel Alliance could scrape together. She understood why they needed to face off against them, but she still couldn’t help but think of how many people were going to die.

“No, we certainly don’t,” Colonel Firest said, “or, we wouldn’t, if we were trying to win. But remember, Skywalker, we’re not trying to win against them — not today. Today, we’re only trying to buy enough time for the evacuation to be carried out.”

“But people are still going to die.” It probably wasn’t wise to argue with a colonel, especially not one as experienced as Colonel Firest, but she couldn’t help it. She had faced incredible odds before, and had come out as one of the few survivors. “The Empire is so much better equipped than we are. Even if it’s a defensive retreat, we’re still outnumbered.”

Firest shot her a sharp glance, and Leia snapped her mouth shut. “That’s the nature of this war, Captain,” he said. “It’s the nature of all wars. Men and women fight and die for what they believe in — for what’s right. Everyone here knows the stakes. I suspect you do, as well.” He paused, and his gaze softened. “But it’s good that you care about your fellow soldiers. When an officer starts seeing their troops as numbers and stops seeing them as people, that’s when they stop being a good officer.”

Leia was unsure if she was being reprimanded or complimented, or both. “I… understand, sir,” she said, after a moment of consideration. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem, Skywalker. We can talk more about the ethical implications of war later, but for now, there’s work to be done.”

Leia nodded, and with a quick salute, turned to leave. She was stopped in her tracks, however, by the sound of distant rumbling, like thunder echoing off the mountainsides. But there was hardly a cloud in the sky, and she was quite sure that Hoth didn’t have the proper climate to support thunderstorms. She found her answer when she looked to the north, and saw the lumbering shapes of half a dozen gigantic, metal walkers crossing the plain towards them.

For the second time in ten minutes, the work around her stilled. Soldiers peered through electrobinoculars, and she heard someone reporting the walkers to Echo Base. Leia had seen them once before, when a mission to Fillithar had turned sour; they were AT-ATs, all-terrain armoured transports, and the toughest walkers in the Imperial arsenal. Their firepower was devastating, and their armour near impenetrable. The Rebel troops didn’t stand a chance against them, not with their flimsy blasters and second-hand artillery.

She looked back at Colonel Firest. His expression was grim, but determined. He noticed her gaze, and turned his face towards her. “You were right, Captain Skywalker,” he said. “Our enemy is superior to us in nearly every way. But we fight against them, even though they are much bigger and more powerful than we are, because that’s what we need to do to set the galaxy free.” Then he looked away and began shouting orders, a plan already no doubt forming in his mind of how they were going to manipulate the situation to their advantage.

“Essentially, we’re going to trick them,” he said, speaking into his comm for all officers in the field to hear. “They’re going to head for the shield generator, so that’s where we’re going to lead them; towards it, and away from the evacuation staging area. Understood?” Leia, standing right beside the colonel, nodded, and he looked over at her, lowering his comm. “Skywalker, I want you to take two of your platoons and create a path to the generator. Make it look like you’re defending it, and make sure that the Imperials stay on target.”

“Yes, sir.”

Rogue Squadron would take care of the AT-ATs, and the ground troops would focus on keeping them away from the transports. She hurried away to go relay the orders to her company, just as the enormous walkers opened fire. Red bolts exploded into the snow, sending ice flying, and Leia dove for the trench. She didn’t even bother trying to find a ladder to lower herself down, instead jumping in and ducking low as more bolts sailed overhead.

The artillery was quick to return fire, and riflemen pressed against the wall of the trench, their blasters aimed towards the walkers. Leia took only a moment to right herself before continuing on; for once, her short height came in useful, allowing her to walk along the trench without ducking to keep her head below the top. In the distance, she could hear the roar of engines, and then suddenly a formation of snowspeeders were zooming overhead, flying so close to the ground it felt almost as if she could reach up and touch one. They headed straight for the AT-ATs, releasing a deluge of laserfire as they approached. Beside the hulking form of the walkers, they looked like flies circling a nerf.

Running along the trench, it didn’t take Leia long to reach her company’s position. Some commanded the heavy artillery, firing uselessly at the slowly approaching walkers, but most were crowded into the trench, pressed together as the ground was blasted apart around them.

“Lieutenant Tocri!” Leia called, hurrying up to the Twi’lek woman who served as her second-in-command. “Two of our platoons have been assigned to guard the shield generator. We’re to create a path straight to it, and make sure the Imperials stay on that path.”

Tocri’s eyes widened in surprise. “What’s the point of guarding the generator if we’re just going to lead the Imps straight to it?” she asked.

“To keep them away from the South Slope,” Leia replied. “They’re going to head for the generator anyways. If we guard it, it makes it look all the more worth it, and they’ll stay away from the evacuation area.” That was the plan, at least, and she hoped desperately it worked. She continued, “I want Isk and Krill Platoons on the job. Jenth Platoon holds their position here.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tocri turned and rushed away, already speaking into her comm and relaying orders to all members of Isk and Krill Platoons. Within seconds, soldiers were on the move, slinging their blasters over their shoulders and taking off at a run down the trench. They needed to move quickly — they had to create another trench and place proper defenses around it, and there wasn’t much time.

The DF.9 anti-infantry batteries were impossible to move from their fixed emplacements, and so they would have to rely on any light artillery weapons available to them. Leia knew that several of the soldiers in Isk Platoon had T-21 light repeating blasters, and the Mark II medium repeating blaster cannons could be moved easily enough. Both of those weapons would be useless against the AT-ATs, but if wielded skilfully they could be devastating against any ground troops deployed.

She hurried after the platoons, giving orders over the comlink and telling them to grab whatever weapons they could carry. With over thirty soldiers on hand, the trench to the shield generator wouldn’t take long. It would be shallow, just deep enough that you could lie down and aim your weapon over the side. If they were lucky, Rogue Squadron will have dealt with the walkers before they could reach the generator, and they’d only have infantrymen to contend with. She prayed that they would be lucky.

The trench was already partially dug when she arrived, with soldiers working from both ends to meet in the middle. She grabbed the nearest shovel she could find, and started digging alongside them. It wasn’t a particularly long stretch of land, but it felt like miles when the ground beneath your feet was shaking and your ears kept ringing with the sounds of exploding bolts. She kept glancing back over her shoulder, nervously eyeing the steadily approaching walkers. Several of the snowspeeders had been downed, and they lay in crumpled, smoking heaps on the ice plain.

When most of the trench was dug, Leia tossed her shovel to the ground and grabbed a Mark II cannon from where it had been left in the snow. It only took a few seconds to set up the tripod, and a couple more to attach it to a power pack. Kneeling down, she began adjusting the sight and checking that it was fully loaded. The shallow trench offered almost no protection, but there was no time to build a better defense.

A few of the AT-ATs had survived the snowspeeder assault, and they slowed as they approached the shield generator. Several people fired uselessly at them with blasters, but that did nothing to stop the walkers from deploying the ground troops who had been nestled inside. The snowtroopers would be nearly impossible to track with their white, hooded armour, and they moved like a giant wave of snow as they charged down the corridor. Leia hardly bothered to accurately aim her weapon before shooting; she simply opened fire, and hoped that she would hit something.

The AT-ATs continued to fire on them as the troopers made their advance. The bolts exploded into the ground all around her, knocking Rebel soldiers off their feet and destroying their equipment. Leia took deep breaths to try and calm herself, to release the fear she was feeling — but then a bolt struck the ground right in front of her, and she was sent flying backwards, her head smacking against the hard ground beneath the crusted snow. Everything seemed to grow quiet around her, overpowered by a high-pitched ringing in her ears. Her vision swam as she stared up at the bright blue sky, and every breath she took made her chest burn with pain. She lay for several long moments, trying to right her vision and clear the ringing from her ears, but it only seemed to grow worse. Slowly, she forced herself to sit, the world spinning and swimming in and out of focus. Her hat had been knocked mostly off her head, and she pulled it off, wincing at the sharp pain the movement sent through her ribs.

The air smelt like burnt ozone, and everywhere she looked, soldiers were lying dead. The few left standing were making their retreat, running for the South Slope and the transports. She could still see dozens of snowtroopers in the distance, chasing after the retreating Rebels. She needed to get up — they had lost the battle, and were in the middle of a retreat. If she didn’t go and get on a ship, she would be left there, to be captured by the Empire or killed.

Carefully, she began to lift herself up onto her feet. The ground titled precariously beneath her, and she stumbled, falling to one knee. Her head was throbbing, and her ribs smarted painfully, making it impossible to draw a full breath. Looking up, she noticed a pair of snowtroopers had begun making their way towards her, having no doubt noticed her struggle. She cursed loudly and reached for her blaster, only to find it wasn’t there — and neither was her lightsaber.

She looked around wildly, and quickly spotted her ‘saber a few feet away, half-buried in the snow. Climbing once again to her feet, she staggered towards it, her arm outreached, but dropped abruptly back to the ground when the snowtroopers suddenly let out a barrage of blasterfire in her direction. They were running now, moving as quickly as they could through the obstructive snow, and Leia stretched for her weapon. But it was just too far out of reach, and the troopers were coming fast, one of their shots barely missing the top of her head, and she was beginning to panic.

Taking a deep breath of cold air, she let her eyes slip shut for the barest of moments. The Force, she thought, her arm still grasping for her ‘saber. Reach out with the Force. And she stretched, feeling the Force flowing through and around her, extending out towards the lightsaber, reaching for it. Opening her eyes, she saw the lightsaber begin shifting in the snow, and then suddenly it was flying into her hand.

She rolled over onto her back, igniting the bright blue blade. She managed to deflect one shot, and struggled onto her feet. The snowtroopers hesitated for just a moment before charging her. She was still disoriented, her vision lurching as she swiped out at the troopers; she caught one in the shoulder, and they cried out, dropping their blaster. Swinging for them again, she managed to the slice them across the stomach, sending them to the ground.

The other one fired, and the bolt got her in the side, ripping through her jacket and searing the skin underneath. She screamed, one hand going to the wound while the other lashed out with her lightsaber. She struck the trooper in the neck, the blade dragging further down onto their chest, and as they fell Leia stumbled backwards, retracting her blade. She took a few tottering steps, breathing deeply through gritted teeth as hot flashes of pain poured from the gash in her side and the undoubtedly broken ribs in her chest.

She managed only a few feet before falling forward, landing hard on her knees. With shaking hands, she managed to re-clip her lightsaber to her belt. Her comm was caked in snow, and she tried to brush it off, to clear it away from the buttons and speaker, but she couldn’t focus. It felt almost as if she’d had too much Corellian whisky, but the hangover had already hit her like a ship at lightspeed.

Leia…

The voice was like a sobering bucket of water. She looked up and, impossibly, saw Ben Kenobi standing in front of her. He was like an apparition, almost entirely transparent and seemingly hovering above the ground, dressed in the same dark brown robe he had been wearing when he died.

“Ben?” Leia’s voice was weak as she spoke, and she had to brace her hands against the ground to keep herself from falling over.

Leia, you must go to the Dagobah system, Ben continued. There, you will learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me.

The words repeated themselves in her head, implanting them in her memory — Dagobah, Yoda, Dagobah, Yoda… Ben slowly began to fade from view, and Leia reached out to him. She needed more answers, she needed his help; she couldn’t go to Dagobah if she died here on Hoth. But as he disappeared, she could see someone behind him, running towards her. They were a Rebel soldier, their scarf flapping wildly in the wind behind them like a flag.

As Leia slumped forward into the snow, exhausted and weakened from blood loss, she could hear Lieutenant Tocri calling her name.

Chapter Text

The command centre was in shambles. An explosion above-ground had collapsed part of the ceiling, and half of the room was effectively destroyed; glass maps lay shattered on the floor, and many of the consoles were damaged well beyond any use. Still, Luke remained, alongside two controllers operating at the small handful of communications consoles still active. Most everyone else had already evacuated, including General Rieekan. On top of all that, Luke had just received the news that Leia had been injured, and had already been whisked off-planet by the most recent transport. Many of them hadn’t made it past the blockade of Star Destroyers; Luke hoped desperately that this one would.

He’d relayed the information about Leia’s injuries to Han, figuring he would like to know, but he hadn’t received any response. He suspected that Han had already left, and was flying away through hyperspace.

He leaned forward, watching the screen of the console in front of him and listening intently for any news on Leia’s transport. C-3PO stood beside him, talking to R2-D2 and reassuring the little droid that Leia would be alright. R2 had refused to be assigned to a pilot after the Battle of Yavin, insisting on staying with Leia. Of course, astromechs were of little use during ground assaults, and so Luke had promised Leia that he would make sure R2 got off Hoth safely, along with C-3PO.

Worry was twisting in Luke’s stomach like a knife. When he’d first heard about the Star Destroyers entering the system, he’d wanted to go and join the fight; to fly one of the snowspeeders alongside the other pilots, and help hold off the Imperial attack. He’d loved flying in the fight against the Death Star, though it had been terrifying. All his life, the only time he had ever felt truly free was when he was piloting a ship — free from his duties to the Rebellion and to Alderaan, and from the expectations that everyone placed on him. Flying a ship, he was just a pilot; not a prince, not a Senator, not a leader of the Rebel Alliance. Just a pilot.

But he couldn’t be a pilot now; he had to take on his role as a leader. Since he was a child, that had been what he was meant to be — a leader, for his people and for the galaxy at large. He would have been king, once, and though that destiny had died with Alderaan, he still helped to lead the Rebellion. So he’d made the decision to stay and help guide the evacuation. That was where he was needed, and he would stay until he could make certain that everyone had evacuated safely.  

“Hey.”

Luke startled, turning to see Han in the doorway to the command centre, partially obscured by the mess of rubble between them. He began to make his way over to where Luke stood, climbing over the debris.

“You’re still here,” Luke said, very much surprised. Han had already received his clearance to leave; he should have been long gone.

“So are you,” Han observed. “I got your message about Leia. Is… is she gonna be alright?” He looked uncomfortable to be asking, but genuinely concerned — he was obviously worried enough to delay his own departure.

“She should be fine, if her transport makes it out safely,” Luke said. “They’ve already taken off.” He glanced back at the communications console, but there was still nothing. “You should get out of here, Han. The base could come down at any minute.”

“Then you should get out, too. You’re much more important than—”

He was cut off by an explosion that rocked the room, snapping wires in the ceiling that sent off bursts of sparks. Luke braced himself against the console, and 3PO stumbled backwards with a cry. Han caught the protocol droid in one deft move, settling him back onto his feet as a voice came on over the loudspeaker, announcing, “Imperial troops have entered the base.”

“Come on, kid.” Han reached out, placing a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I’ll get you and the droids out in the Falcon.”

“There’s still one more transport. I can—” Luke’s protests died on his lips as realization dawned. Han had told everyone that he wouldn’t be heading for the rendezvous point once he left Hoth, but now that Leia had been injured, he had a reason to go — he just didn’t want anyone, especially not Leia, to know that was why. Luke stepped away from the console, letting out a sigh. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Han nodded, obviously relieved, and began to lead the way out of the command centre. R2 trundled happily along after him, followed closely by C-3PO, who struggled to maneuver his stiff limbs over the rubble. Luke turned back to the two controllers, still working dutifully at their consoles. “Give the evacuation code signal,” he ordered, “and then get yourselves to a transport.”

The head controller nodded, and Luke hurried out after Han, into the hallway. It was completely deserted, making the announcement of the code signal bounce ominously off the walls. “K-one-zero, all troops disengage. K-one-zero, all troops disengage.”

The ceiling above them shook as they ran through the corridor, snow trickling down from slowly expanding fissures. It felt as if the entire place was going to collapse on top of them at any minute. Around every turn, Luke kept expecting them to come face to face with a cave-in, or a squad of snowtroopers. 3PO kept yelling for them to wait, unable to move as quickly as they could, until R2 beeped a retort that could have been either encouragement or an insult.

Despite Luke’s fears, they encountered no resistance, and made it to the hangar without any trouble. Like the rest of the base, it was entirely empty; not a single ship remained, save for the Millennium Falcon. The freighter’s boarding ramp was already descended, and Chewie stood at the bottom of it. Growling loudly, he waved them over, then ran up into the bowels of the ship. Parts of the hangar ceiling had fallen, creating large piles of snow on the ground. Luke was careful to avoid them as he dashed for the Falcon, just a few paces behind Han.

“Wait! Wait for me!” 3PO cried, moving as quickly as his metal legs could carry him. Han paused, glancing back at 3PO, and R2 rolled past him towards the ramp.

“Hurry up, goldenrod, or you’re gonna be a permanent resident!” Han called, and rushed up into the Falcon. Luke wasn’t far behind him, and he paused at the top of the ramp, waiting for 3PO. As soon as the droid stepped foot onto the ramp, it began rising. He stumbled forward slightly, but Luke caught him, shuffling him further into the ship.

Han was already sitting in the pilot’s seat when Luke walked into the cockpit. Most of the start-up sequence had been performed, and as Luke sat down in one of the passenger seats, Chewie shuffled in past him and settled into the co-pilot’s chair.

“Are you sure all your repairs will hold?” Luke asked, as the Falcon’s engines let out a strange coughing noise before roaring to life.

“Come on, Your Highness, have some faith,” Han said.

Through the cockpit viewports, Luke could see a group of snowtroopers charging into the hangar, blasters in hand. Almost immediately, they opened fire on the Falcon. “Well then you’d better get her into the air,” he said, settling back into his seat and securing the safety belts.

“You heard him, Chewie! Let’s go!”

The Wookiee let out a quiet growl, flipping several of the overhead toggles, and then the Millennium Falcon was lifting up off the ground. They hovered in mid-air for only half a second, but it was long enough for Luke to see Darth Vader striding into the hangar. At the sight of that black figure, Luke’s entire body went cold; it was like that first step out onto the surface of Hoth, when the icy wind sent a chill through your bones.

“Punch it!” Han ordered, and Chewie forcefully pressed a button on the dash. The Falcon shot towards the open bay doors, blurring the walls of the hangar and the Imperials below. Within seconds, they were flying above the snow-covered mountains of Hoth, aiming up towards the sky. From this height, Luke could see nearly the entire scope of the battlefield. AT-ATs and snowspeeders alike lay in smoking heaps, but they were too high up for him to see the bodies.

“You think you can make it past the blockade?” he asked, leaning forward with his hand on the back of Han’s chair.

“Of course I can, kid! Try to remember who you’re dealing with here.”

Luke raised a skeptical eyebrow, but he had to admit that, despite having a ship that didn’t seem to work half the time, Han had a strange knack for getting out of tough situations. “Let’s just hope our luck holds,” he said.

His confidence in Han’s skills began to falter as they left Hoth’s atmosphere, and he finally saw the real strength of the blockade. He counted nearly half a dozen Imperial-class Star Destroyers and, dwarfing them all considerably, an Executor-class Star Dreadnaught. He had never seen one in person before, and the size of it left him slack-jawed; it was the size of an entire city, piled onto possibly the largest ship ever created. Had he not seen the Death Star and known that the Empire was capable of creating such ginormous monstrosities, he would hardly have been able to believe it was possible.

It took the nearest Destroyer only a few seconds to notice them, and hardly a moment more before it began firing. A bolt exploded off the side of the Falcon, flashing brightly, and Luke flinched back.

“There’s two more of them, heading straight for us!” he warned, pointing out the viewport to where two of the Star Destroyers were quickly making their way towards them. A group of four TIE fighters had appeared behind them, spewing green laserfire. It was going to take a lot of luck to get out of this situation.

“I saw them! I saw them!” Han cried, his hands flying across the dash, flipping switches and pushing buttons. Instead of banking away from the Destroyers, however, Han continued to head straight for them. “Check the deflector shield!” he ordered Chewbacca, who began fiddling with one of the overhead switches. After a few seconds, he growled a reply, and Han’s already serious expression tightened. “Great,” he said. “We’re just gonna have to outmaneuver them.”

“Outmaneuver?” Luke asked, shifting forward even more. “How?”

A small smirk played at Han’s lips. “You’ll see.”

He continued on his course, racing towards the two approaching Star Destroyers. The four TIEs were hot on their tail, and the third Destroyer wasn’t far behind. Suddenly, just as the two giant ships began to fill up the entire viewport, the Falcon made a deep dive, the force of it pushing Luke back into his seat. The TIE fighters dove after them, but the Star Destroyers, too large for such quick maneuvers, were stuck on a collision course.

The Falcon raced off into space, just barely keeping ahead of her TIE pursuers. Laserfire exploded against the hull of the ship, and Luke winced; much more of this, and something vital would no doubt get hit.

“Prepare to make the jump to lightspeed,” Han said, his gaze focused on the dash in front of him. Chewie barked his affirmation.

“Better make it quick,” Luke said, hoping desperately that the repairs they’d made on the hyperdrive motivator would hold.

“Don’t worry, kid.” With a cocky grin, Han reached over, twisting the handle of the hyperdrive controls. Almost immediately, the star field in front of them began to blur and condense together, until the Falcon shot forward and it was replaced by the swirling blue of hyperspace.

Luke let out a relieved sigh, slumping back; he had been so sure that something was going to go wrong. Han looked over at him, his grin even wider. “What did I tell you?” he asked. “You can always count on the Falcon.”

Luke couldn’t keep the quiet, grateful laugh from escaping past his lips.

◊◊◊

Leia woke with the bitter taste of bacta in the back of her throat. Her mind felt thick, like her thoughts were wading through mud, and her eyes were groggy, like she’d been asleep for a hundred years. She peeled them open, blinking blearily but finding the light thankfully dim. Huffing, she struggled up onto her elbows; remarkably, the pain in her chest had almost completely disappeared. She took a few deep, experimental breaths, and found that only the barest ache remained. The blaster wound on her side seemed to have mostly healed, as well; when she reached down and prodded it with gentle fingers, it felt more like a fading bruise than a gash from a bolt.

It took only a few seconds of looking around the room for her to realize she was in a medical recovery suite; there were three other beds, all of them occupied by people who looked much worse off than she was. Judging by the quiet, barely-noticeable rumble in the background, she guessed that they were on a ship, but not one that was currently travelling through hyperspace. That meant that they must be at the rendezvous point, because this was most definitely not an Imperial ship; if it was, she’d be laying in agony in a prison cell, not comfortable in a hospital bed. She didn’t remember getting off Hoth, but someone must have dragged her to a transport.

There was a 2-1B surgical droid in one of the corners, quietly sorting vials of medication, but it must have heard her stir because it was at her side in an instant, checking over the various machines arranged near her bed. “Hello, Captain Skywalker,” it greeted. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” she replied, “but alright.”

“That’s good to hear.” It paused, as if recording some information from the machines, before continuing, “Do you remember what happened?”

Leia thought for a moment; she remembered the explosion that had sent her flying, and the two stormtroopers who had attacked her. Ben, appearing to give her a message… She paused, her forehead creasing as she frowned. Ben had appeared to her as some sort of ghostly apparition, and had told her to find someone; a Jedi named Yoda, on the planet Dagobah. Had he really been there, or had she just imagined it?

She couldn’t remember much that happened after that; just someone calling her name, and the sensation of being carried. She thought she could remember hearing Han speaking, but it was impossible to tell whether it had been a dream or not.

“I remember the battle, and being injured,” she answered, after a few moments of thought, “but I don’t remember how I got here.”

“That is perfectly normal,” 2-1B assured her. “You are currently on board the medical frigate Redemption. It was Lieutenant Jak Tocri who rescued you from the Battle of Hoth and brought you to a transport. You were unconscious for most of the journey, but thankfully you were not gravely injured. A short submersion in bacta was able to heal your wounds almost entirely.”

Leia made a note to find Tocri when she was released and thank her for saving her life. Were it not for her, Leia would likely be stuck in some Imperial prison, being tortured and interrogated. “What were my injuries, exactly?” she asked, shifting the pillows propped up behind her. Her mind was clearing gradually, her vision becoming less blurry; after a short rest, she would likely be free of all the side effects of the bacta.

“You had three fractured ribs, a minor concussion, and a shot wound from a blaster,” 2-1B replied. “None were severe enough for major concern.”

Leia nodded, her thoughts straying back to Ben. “The concussion…” she began, and then paused. It was something of a silly question, but she needed to know. “Could it cause something like… hallucinations?”

“No. Concussions do not cause such symptoms.” 2-1B paused, as if assessing her, before asking, “Did you experience hallucinations after you were injured?”

Did she? If her vision of Ben hadn’t been caused by the concussion, then it must have been real. After all, she had heard his voice speaking to her shortly after his death, guiding her during the attack on the Death Star. Perhaps he had discovered some way to project an image of himself to her, to communicate with the living. She shook her head. “No, no, I didn’t,” she responded, then, more quietly, “I don’t think so.”

Whether 2-1B truly believed her, or whether it was programmed to not question her responses, she couldn’t tell, but the medical droid seemed satisfied. “If you have no more questions, I will leave you to rest,” it said, and Leia nodded.

“Alright. Thank you.”

Still groggy, it took her only a few minutes to drift back to sleep, but her rest didn’t last long. She woke from a nap that was much too short to the sound of Luke and, to her surprise, Han talking quietly beside her. Opening her eyes, she looked to the side, to where Luke was seated in a chair by her bed and Han was leaning against the wall. Chewbacca was there as well, as were R2 and 3PO; Leia was surprised they allowed that many visitors into the recovery suite at once.

Noticing she was awake, Luke stopped mid-sentence, leaning forward with a relieved smile on his face. “Leia! How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I’ve had worse,” she said, grinning back.

“I’m glad you’re alright. I was so worried when I heard that you’d been injured.” He glanced over at Han, giving him a pointed look. “We both were.”

“As was I!” C-3PO chimed in, raising one arm into the air and shuffling forward a bit. “I must say, Mistress Leia, it’s so good to see you fully functional again!” Beside him, R2 let out a series of happy little beeps, and 3PO added, “Artoo expresses his relief, also.”

Leia smiled, nodding her thanks, and then looked to Han. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “I thought you were leaving.”

Han raised his brows questioningly. “What, aren’t you happy to see me?”

“I just wasn’t expecting you to be here.”

“Yeah, well, someone had to get His Royalness here off that hunk of ice before it exploded around him,” Han said, clapping a hand on Luke’s shoulder. Luke glanced up at him, a rather unimpressed look on his face, but Han was too busy smirking at Leia to notice. “Just admit that you’re glad I’m here. I can see it on your face.”

Leia scoffed, shaking her head. “I don’t know where you get your delusions, laser brain.”

Chewie gave a quiet laugh, grinning a sharp-toothed smile, and Han turned to glare at him. “Laugh it up, fuzzball,” he said, “but you didn’t see us back on Hoth.” His glare turned into a smug grin and he pushed away from the wall, sitting down on the edge of Leia’s bed. “She confessed her true feelings for me.”

Luke’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief, but one look at Leia’s appalled face and he let out a snort of laughter, obviously realizing it wasn’t true.

“Why, you…!” Leia leaned forward, despite protests from her still-aching ribs and her spinning head, and gave Han a hard smack in the shoulder. “You stuck-up… half-witted… scruffy-looking… bantha herder!”

“Whoa, hey!” Han jumped to his feet, throwing his hands up to stave off any further assault. “No need to get all riled up, alright? I must have hit pretty close to the mark, huh, kid?” He gave Luke a wide-eyed look, as if to say, “Women, am I right?” but from Luke’s somewhat irritated expression Leia guessed that he would get little empathy.

“You’re quite the piece of work, aren’t you?” she asked, and Han merely shrugged. Chewie began to say something about how he didn’t understand why Han was being so rude when the only reason they came here — but Han silenced him with a shout and an angry look.

Luke, looking rather uncomfortable, rose to his feet, one hand going to Leia’s shoulder. “I think we should leave you to rest,” he said, and though Leia was already tired of resting, she had to admit that she was still exhausted, so she nodded and let him begin herding everyone from the room. Han left with a huff, still glaring at Chewie, who ignored him and paused at the end of Leia’s bed to growl a few well-wishes.

“I hope you have a speedy recovery, Mistress Leia!” 3PO said as he shuffled to the door, R2 beeping in agreement beside him. Leia nodded her thanks, and Luke turned to her with an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry we woke you for that,” he said. “I’ll be back when I get the chance, but I’ll make sure to not bring Han with me.”

Leia smiled. “Alright. Thanks.”

“Get some rest,” Luke said, and then he left her in silence, the only sound in the room the laboured breathing of the other patients.

And even though her mind was swirling with thoughts of this mysterious Yoda and Han’s infuriating behaviour, Leia was soon sound asleep again.

Chapter Text

Leia was released from the medcentre the next day, with orders to rest and not over-exert herself. She was to be transferred from the Redemption to Home One, but before she had even left the medical frigate she knew that her stress-free recuperation wasn’t going to happen. When Luke had come back for a second visit the previous day, she’d demanded he tell her about the full extent of the losses they’d incurred at Hoth. She knew some of the story — she’d seen the bodies herself, sprawled out in the endless snow — but she’d wanted numbers, statistics. Luke had argued at first, telling her to focus on recovering, but she’d insisted, and he’d given in quickly.

It had been a devastating loss. Hundreds of Rebel troopers had been killed or were missing in action, their current location unaccounted for. Seventeen of the thirty GR-75 medium transports had failed to make it past the blockade, taking even more casualties with them. Of Leia’s own company, less than half had made it out; most of the dead came from Isk and Krill Platoons, who had helped her to guard the shield generator. She did a quick count in her head — over sixty letters of condolence would have to be written, letting the families know that their loved one wouldn’t be coming back. She had done this type of thing before, but never so many at once. Her heart already ached just from the thought of it.

R2 was there to greet her when she arrived on Home One, wearing standard-issue fatigues given to her in lieu of actual clothes. She had no possessions to speak of except for her lightsaber, hanging off her belt as it always did; everything she owned had been left behind on Hoth.

The corridors the headquarters frigate were crowded, the cruiser full to bursting. Every available piece of space on every available Rebel ship was being used; thousands of Rebel soldiers and pilots and crew needed somewhere to live, and without a planetary base, their only option was the Alliance fleet. R2 led her through the maze-like ship to her quarters, beeping cheerfully the whole way. She had her own room, but it was tiny, just barely big enough to fit a bed and a droid charging station; R2 proudly informed her that the charging station had been his idea, so that he could stay with her.

She smiled, patting him gently on the dome. “That’ll be great, huh, bud?” she said, stepping into the small room after the astromech and letting the door close behind her. There was no window in the room, though she didn’t suspect there would be much to see; the rendezvous point was located well past the Galactic Rim, with little in the way of scenery except for the distant pinpricks of stars. There was apparently a protostar nearby, but Leia doubted her room would have had a view of it even if it did have a window.

Shucking the jacket of her fatigues, Leia sat with a huff on the bed. Home One was a Mon Calamari cruiser, so its atmosphere was sustained at a temperature and level of humidity comfortable for its aquatic owners, but suffocating for nearly every other species. She didn’t mind the heat so much, but the humidity was brutal; already the shortest bits of her hair were starting to curl, and sweat was beginning to shine on her face.

“Artoo, think you can slice into this place’s atmosphere controls and turn the humidity down just a bit?” she asked.

R2 replied that he would be happy to, and trundled over to the room’s single computer outlet, plugging himself in. While he busied himself with that, Leia picked up the datapad that had been left on the bed for her, waking it and doing a quick scan of its contents. It included much of the same information that had been on her previous datapad, though a list of casualties from Hoth had been added. She went to open it, but then hesitated; she wasn’t sure if she was ready yet to see the names of all those they had lost — names of people she had known.

So instead, she opened up the planetary database, her fingers typing in the word ‘Dagobah’ before she even really registered what she was doing. It was a planet she had never heard of before, and with good reason: It was located in the Outer Rim, only a few parsecs from Hoth, and the entirety of its surface was covered in swamps and forests, with no sentient life to be found — except, apparently, for this Yoda. According to Ben, Yoda was the Jedi Master he had trained under. The Empire’s feelings towards Jedi were no secret, and so it made sense that Yoda had chosen a swamp-covered rock in the middle of nowhere as his place of hiding.

Exiting the planetary database, she opened the pitifully small collection of records from the Old Republic that the Alliance had managed to salvage. Almost all information regarding the Jedi Order had been destroyed after the rise of the Empire, and there was little that remained. She figured it was still worth a try; even the smallest inkling of information she found would be useful.

To her surprise, a search of the name ‘Yoda’ turned up an immediate result — just one, but it was a result all the same. It was a document, an official report from the end of the Clone Wars. Opening it, Leia scanned its contents quickly, searching for all mentions of this Yoda. The report was short, describing in very few details how Master Yoda, having survived the initial purge against the rebellious Jedi, had snuck into the newly-crowned Emperor’s own offices and had attempted to assassinate him. He had been thwarted, though the report neglected to describe exactly how, and had been killed by the Emperor himself.

It was easy to see that a large portion of the report was fabricated, or at least unwilling to include any conclusive details. The ending was certainly false: Ben wouldn’t send her to a dead man. Unless, of course, this Yoda could project himself as Ben could, though in that case Leia didn’t understand why the old hermit wouldn’t just train her himself. No, Yoda was most definitely alive, and he would have to be considerably powerful to survive not only the Jedi Purge, but also an assassination attempt on the Emperor. And it seemed as if the Empire had gone to at least some trouble to ensure his death was known; something she doubted they would do for just any Jedi.

With a sigh, Leia set the datapad down on the bed beside her. R2 was still over by the computer port, fiddling with the atmospheric controls, and she watched him for a moment, her mind wandering. The journey from the rendezvous point to Dagobah would be long, and she was unsure if she would be able to fly it herself. Since the Death Star, she had become determined to learn to pilot a starfighter. She’d started with the simulations, practicing for several months before climbing into the cockpit of a real ship. The controls were different from those of the T-16 skyhoppers she’d flown back home on Tatooine, but not so much so that they had been completely alien to her. Still, she’d never flown for more than an hour or two by herself, and she hesitated at the thought of the long journey to Dagobah.

But she needed to get to Yoda. If she wished to become a Jedi, she had to see him, to hear what he had to say. With Ben’s death, she had no teacher, and her training had stalled. She’d tried the best she could by herself, but the truth was that she knew only a fraction of what she should. She needed a real master, who knew the ways of the Force as Ben had; and if this Yoda had taught Ben, and if what she surmised from the report was true, then he must be a great Jedi indeed.

Laying back on her bed, she stared up at the metal ceiling above, a plan already forming in her head.

◊◊◊

She had a briefing with General Rieekan early the next morning. They went over details from the Battle of Hoth, specifically outlining how many troops and how much equipment they had lost. It was a defeat that would take them months to recover from, and for now they were vulnerable, drifting as they were through open space — a problem Rieekan and the rest of Alliance High Command were eager to fix.

Afterwards, once all the other officers had begun shuffling from the briefing room, Leia approached the general, waiting patiently off to the side as he talked quietly with an aide. He seemed to notice her lingering, however, and sent the aide away, turning to face her.

“Something I can do for you, Skywalker?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.” Leia took a few steps forward, her hands clasped together in front of her. “I know the timing is poor, but I was wondering if you might give me permission to leave the fleet and carry out a mission.”

Rieekan raised his eyebrows. “A mission? What sort of mission?”

“One on Jedi business, sir,” Leia answered. She had gone away on Jedi-related missions before, and they were well-tolerated by the Alliance; the Jedi had once been great allies to the Republic, and it was a relationship the Rebel Alliance hoped to rekindle. Leia continued, “I think I might know where to find a surviving Jedi master, and I’d like to try and contact him, find out what he can teach me.” She hoped Rieekan wouldn’t ask how exactly she’d discovered this mysterious master’s whereabouts; explaining that her dead mentor had appeared to her as an apparition was something she wasn’t sure she could do, and she doubted the general would believe her.

Thankfully, while he seemed unsure, it didn’t appear to be about the Jedi master. “Are you planning to do this alone?” he asked.

“Artoo would be coming with me.”

“You certified to fly a fighter?”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.” She’d considered asking Han to go with her in the Falcon, but she knew how he felt about Jedi and she didn’t think she could put up with his mockery. Luke was far too busy to go; Leia had yet to see him since her release from the medcentre, and so she doubted he would be able to take a trip with her to Dagobah for an undefined amount of time. But she could at least take R2, and between the two of them she was sure they could make the trip. Besides, she wasn’t a bad pilot. Just… unexperienced.

Rieekan seemed to think for a long while, his lips pressed together into a thin line. “I don’t think I can authorize this, Skywalker,” he said, after a silence that felt like it had stretched on for hours. Leia’s heart sank, but she did her best to keep her disappointment from showing on her face. The general continued, “It’s just too risky right now. We lost far too much at Hoth, and we’re operating almost completely blind. The Empire could be anywhere, just waiting for us to show, and we can’t risk even a lone fighter leading them back to the fleet. Not to even mention the fact that you still haven’t fully recovered.”

Leia nodded, though her hands were tightly clenched together. “I understand, sir.”

“I’m sorry, Leia. We just can’t risk it. Maybe in a few weeks.”

She nodded again and turned to leave, the heels of her boots pounding rhythmically against the dark floors. She couldn’t wait a few weeks; even then, it wasn’t a guarantee that she would be given permission to leave, and she needed answers now. Her training had been stalled long enough, and she needed a teacher, Empire or injuries be damned. The Rebellion was important to her, but becoming a properly-trained Jedi was more important.

Thankfully she’d anticipated that this might be the answer Rieekan would give her, and she’d prepared for it. She wouldn’t be waiting a few weeks for his permission to leave: She would be leaving tonight.  

◊◊◊

Unfortunately, she couldn’t just take an X-wing and leave, as simple as that would have made things. There were measures in place to keep people from running off with ships, and so she’d have to find a way around them. Thankfully, she knew someone who owned an X-wing, and while she might not be able to get permission to take it away from the fleet, she could in all likelihood get permission to take it out for a “quick spin”.

She commed Luke as soon as she left the briefing room, and since he was nearby he told her to wait there and he would meet up with her. He had only a few minutes free before his next meeting, however, and so she would need to make it quick.

It took only a few minutes for him to appear at the end of the busy hallway, waving to catch her attention and hurrying over to her side. “How are you feeling?” he asked, approaching and placing a hand on her shoulder. “You look a lot better.”

“I feel better, too, now that I’m out of that medcentre,” Leia said, starting off down the corridor to somewhere much less crowded and quieter. “How have you been? Busy?”

“Of course.” He sighed, glancing briefly at the datapad in his hands, no doubt full of documents dealing with issues far above Leia’s head. “But it’s important work. Anyways, what did you want to ask me?”

Leia tried to calm her fast-beating heart; this was the easiest part of her plan, and if she couldn’t handle this she certainly wouldn’t be able to handle the rest of it. “I was wondering if it was alright if I took your X-wing out for a quick ride this afternoon,” she said. “I haven’t practised in a while, and I think Artoo’s getting antsy for a flight.” Both were true, though they certainly weren’t her real reason for wanting to borrow Luke’s starfighter.

“Are you cleared to fly?” Luke asked. She could hear the concern in his voice, and she felt a stab of guilt in her heart. He’d been so worried after she was injured, and now here she was, planning on running off with his ship. She almost wanted to tell him the truth, but she knew she couldn’t; she trusted Luke with her life, but he would no doubt try and talk her out of going, or even insist on coming with her. And while she would have loved for him to come, she also knew how important his work was, especially with the precarious situation the Alliance was now in. She couldn’t take him away from that.

She nodded, forcing herself to smile. Luke always seemed to be able to see through her lies, far better than anyone else — and she was a pretty good liar. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “Probably in better shape than you were when you flew in the Battle of Yavin.”

He laughed, nodding his head as if conceding his point. “Alright, yeah, you can take it,” he said. “I’ll make sure it gets cleared. Just don’t go too far.”

Leia managed to keep her smile from faltering as another wave of guilt rolled over her. She hoped Luke wouldn’t worry too badly, and that he wouldn’t be mad. And that maybe after, he’d be able to keep her from getting in an inescapable pile of shit with High Command for going AWOL.

“I promise I won’t wreck your ship,” she said.

Luke laughed. “That’s all I ask for.”

They parted ways after that, Luke going to his meeting and Leia returning to her room. There wasn’t really anything she could pack — climbing into an X-wing with a bag slung over her shoulder when she was only supposed to be going for a test flight would likely draw more than a bit of suspicion. The X-wing would be equipped with emergency supplies, so she didn’t have to worry about food, but depending on how long she was gone, the set of fatigues she was going to wear under her flight suit might become a bit gross. There wasn’t much she could do about that, though.

R2 wasn’t in the room when she arrived, having likely rolled off to pester C-3PO about something. While he hadn’t managed to lower the room’s temperature, he had been able to decrease the humidity significantly, meaning her room was much more comfortable than any other location on the ship. It felt almost like she was back home, until she breathed in and the air smelled of recycled oxygen instead of dust and her aunt’s cooking. She breathed out slowly, and tried to shake away the feeling of homesickness. If she was going to leave that afternoon, for who knows how long, there were things she needed to take care of.

◊◊◊

The Falcon was empty when she arrived, its ramp closed with no sign of where Han or Chewie might have gone. Han was refusing to answer any of her comms, as well, and so Leia sat down near one of the central lifters, determined to wait for him. She didn’t really know why she was so focused on seeing him before she left. It was likely going to end in another argument, leaving them even more bitter towards each other than they already were. But the thought of not saying goodbye — of coming back and finding that Han had gone to pay his debts with Jabba the Hutt — left her feeling even worse.

While she waited, she tried to think of something to say that didn’t sound completely ridiculous. She couldn’t tell him she was leaving, and he wouldn’t believe her if she said she’d just stopped by for a chat. But she still wanted to try and mend some of the animosity between them; it could be a long while before they saw each other again.

And whether it was good or bad, she didn’t have long to mull it over. About five minutes after she sat down, she saw Han walk into the hangar, carrying a box of what looked to be spare parts. He was still working on the Falcon, then, hoping to get her back into shape before he took off. Leia stood as he approached, wiping the dust from the back of her pants, and he looked at her warily, as if worried she might immediately start yelling at him.

“Don’t look so scared,” she told him. “I’m not here for a fight.”

He set the box down on the floor, and pulled the lever that lowered the boarding ramp. “Then what’re you here for?”

“I want to talk.”

Han let out a quiet laugh, obviously skeptical laugh. “Listen, sweetheart, you’re not gonna convince me to stay.” He picked the box up, and started up the now-descended ramp. Leia followed after him, scowling as she tried to remind herself to stay calm.

“I told you, I’m not here to fight,” she said, “and I’m not here to try and convince you to stay. Frankly, I don’t care whether you stay or go.” Likely not the best thing to say, and not entirely true, but Leia was tired of this argument. Han looked at her over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised in a way that told her he absolutely did not believe her, and she glared right back.

“Look, Han,” she said, hurrying to keep up with his fast pace. “I just wanted to tell you that I understand why you’re going.”

Han scoffed, setting the box down on the dejarik table in the main hold. The large grate in the middle of the room had been lifted up off the floor, revealing a pit full of all sorts of machinery, half of which looked at least partially taken apart. “You weren’t so understanding a few days ago,” he said, beginning to rummage through the parts, pointedly not looking at her.

“I was frustrated. Surely you can understand why.”

He shook his head. “No, not really.”

She sighed, going up to the table and pushing the box away, forcing him to focus on her. “Listen. I’m… I’m sorry about that. I really am. I know that this price on your head has been haunting you for a long time, and I know how ruthless Jabba can be. It wasn’t fair of me to try and force you to stay.”

Han was silent for a long while, his gaze focused on hers, and for a moment she thought he might still be mad, until she saw the beginnings of a self-satisfied smile creeping up his face. “You’re apolog—” he started, but she was quick to cut him off.

“Han Solo, I swear if you say anything smug, I will take it all back and never speak to you again.”

His smile widened, but he at least had the good sense to keep his mouth shut about it. “Well, if it makes you feel better, I probably won’t be leaving for a while,” he said. “Rieekan’s being very picky about who he’s letting leave the fleet.”

Leia scowled. “Yes, I’ve heard.”

“You needn’t worry, though, sweetheart. I’ll be sure to annoy you about something before I go.”

“Oh, I’m sure it’ll be more than one thing.” She wasn’t really sure how either of them had managed this conversation, but she was glad they had. Of course, Han was still an infuriating scoundrel, and Leia doubted they would ever get along for more than a few minutes, but she was glad they could part on good terms — even if one of them didn’t know they were parting.

She left him to his work shortly after that, part of her afraid that if she stayed any longer something would come up that would ruin it. She wished she could have at least given him a proper goodbye, but the past few minutes had been infinitely better than any of their more recent interactions, and so it was good enough.

It was going to have to be.

Chapter Text

The vast star field of space stretched out in front of Leia, and cramped into the tiny cockpit of Luke’s T-65B X-wing, she felt incredibly small. The large protostar in the distance did little to help, burning bright and dwarfing everything nearby, despite how far away it was. The fleet was somewhere behind her, and there were only a couple other starfighters flitting about, too far to be of any note to her.

She took a deep breath in through her nose. Was she really going to do this? Was she going to steal her friend’s X-wing and take it to a distant swamp planet in hopes of meeting an exiled Jedi Master? It sounded crazy when she laid it out in her mind, and yet here she was, seated in the cockpit of Luke’s X-wing, the coordinates to Dagobah typed into the navicomputer. She’d gone over it so many times — this was something she needed to do, more important than the Alliance. For the past three years, so much of her life had been defined by the fact that she was a Jedi-in-training, a symbol of a bright new hope for the galaxy. But she couldn’t remain in training forever. She needed to become that bright hope, not just be a shadow of what it could be.

Her hand stretched towards the hyperdrive controls. With the other, she reached up and flicked off all frequencies to the comlink in her helmet, except for the one to R2. As soon as she made the jump, the control centre back on Home One would know, and there would be no going back.

She pressed the button.

The stars began to blur and condense, the bright spot of the protostar disappearing as they jumped forward into the blue tunnel of hyperspace. R2 beeped a question, and Leia couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes, I know we weren’t authorized to jump,” she said, and the astromech’s binary beeps took on an almost excited tone, as if he was enthusiastic about the prospect of breaking the rules. “We’re going to Dagobah. I’m hoping to find an old Jedi Master there.” R2 bleeped another question. “I don’t know how long we’ll be. And no, you won’t be in trouble — the blame for this is all on me.” He let out a low whistle, as if impressed. “It’ll be fine, Artoo. Don’t worry about it.”

She wasn’t entirely sure if she said that more for the droid or for herself.

Home One was no doubt already trying to contact her, wishing to know where she was going without authorization and demanding she return to the fleet immediately. She had been careful to not let General Rieekan know where exactly she was planning to look for Yoda, and so nobody could be sent after her. They might try looking for her anyways, but she doubted they’d expend considerable resources for it; the Alliance had much bigger concerns than a wayward Jedi trainee.

R2 beeped another string of binary, asking if she wanted him to take over the controls. There wasn’t much for either of them to do while they were in hyperspace, and it would be a while yet before they reached the first of the stops she had planned, an added precaution to throw off any pursuers, Imperial or otherwise. She let R2 take over, content instead to let her mind wander as she stared through the transparisteel at the whirling blue around them.

Her thoughts strayed mostly to Yoda, wondering what the Jedi Master must be like; wise and powerful, no doubt, though if he had trained Ben he would certainly be getting on in years. She hoped he would be willing to train her, though she could see no reason why he wouldn’t be. The Jedi were a dying order, brought down to just two members, one only half-trained. He would likely be eager to pass on his knowledge; to breathe new life into the order he had dedicated his life to.

That is what she hoped, at least. But she had long ago learned that, when it came to the Force and the Jedi, you didn’t always get what you were expecting.

◊◊◊

Rieekan was furious. He stood beside Luke in the small control room for Hangar 12, a deep scowl on his face as he listened to the officer explain the situation. Leia had jumped into hyperspace without authorization during a practice run, and they had no idea where she was going; she’d disabled the X-wing’s tracker, and her comlink was turned off, so they had no way to reach her.

“You’re certain there’s nothing you can do?” Rieekan asked, his voice tight. He sounded as if he was trying very hard not to yell.

“Not right now, sir, no,” the officer replied with a shake of her head. “When she comes out of hyperspace, we might be able to access the ship’s logs and see which systems she’s jumping to, but it’ll take some time, and she might have found a workaround. Until then, we can only continue trying to contact her.”

Rieekan nodded, his frown somehow deepening. “Thank you, Lieutenant.” The officer gave a quick nod and returned to her station.

“Where could she be going?” Luke asked, gazing out of the control room’s viewport into the hangar below. It was the hangar that housed Rogue Squadron, and he could see several of the pilots milling about their X-wings. There was now a rather conspicuous blank spot where his own X-wing was usually docked.

“I think I might have an idea.” Rieekan grumbled, and Luke looked to the general in surprise; he hadn’t actually expected him to have an answer.

“Really? Where?”

“She asked me earlier for permission to go find an old Jedi Master,” Rieekan explained. “It seems she didn’t agree with my refusal.”

A Jedi Master? That was even more surprising. Luke had thought Obi-Wan Kenobi had been the last surviving Jedi, until Leia had taken up the cause. “Did she say where she was going to look for them?” he asked.

Rieekan shook his head. “No. And unfortunately, I have little idea where one can find a Jedi nowadays. Particularly one who has remained hidden for so long.”

Luke frowned. How had Leia found this master, then, and why hadn’t she told him anything about it? She was usually rather enthusiastic about anything to do with the Jedi, and she always told him when she had any sort of breakthrough with her training. Finding the location of a surviving master seemed to be a big breakthrough, and yet he hadn’t heard a word of it. “Maybe we can figure out how she found them, discover where she thinks they are,” he suggested. “There must be information somewhere.”

“You can try, Your Highness, but I wouldn’t spend too much time on it. I don’t think Captain Skywalker’s leave of absence is going to be permanent, and at present we have much bigger concerns. We can deal with her when she returns.”

His wording was menacing, and Luke had to keep himself from wincing. What had Leia been thinking, taking off in search of some Jedi? The entire Alliance was on tenterhooks after Hoth; he doubted she could have chosen a worse time to go AWOL. If she weren’t one of the last remaining Jedi, she would likely be court-martialed over this. As it stood, he wasn’t entirely sure she wouldn’t be. She’d put both herself and the entire fleet at risk; they’d lost track of so many Imperial ships during the scramble to evacuate. They were trying to amass new intelligence, but at the moment they had no idea where the vast majority of the Imperial fleet was. She could be intercepted by a cruiser wandering through a system previously deemed safe, and then it would be all too easy for the Empire to discover where her ship had jumped from.

Her best course of action would be to return to the fleet as soon as possible. Luke doubted she would come to that conclusion on her own; they either needed to find a way to contact her, or someone needed to go after her.

There likely wouldn’t be any developments regarding Leia’s position for a while yet, and so Luke left the control room with a short farewell to Rieekan, intent on finding what information he could. Her room would be the best place to start, and it was thankfully easy for him to get a key — people rarely questioned your demands when you were a prince. Of course, he had a perfectly legitimate reason, but news had yet to break about Leia running off, and he didn’t want it spreading across the fleet as gossip.

Her room was tucked into a far-off corner on one of the ship’s mid-levels, little more than a closet with a bed. Thankfully at this time of day the hallways near the sleeping quarters were practically abandoned, and so he didn’t have to deal with any curious army officers, though he doubted they would have questioned him anyways. He let the door to her room slip shut behind him, sealing him into the almost-claustrophobically small space. A quick peek into the narrow closet revealed that it was entirely empty, save for one set of standard-issue fatigues, never worn. There were no personal items to speak of, and the only sign that anyone had actually lived there were the slightly-mussed covers on the bed.

Sitting on top of that bed, partially obscured by the thin, flimsy pillow, was a datapad. Luke bent down, picking it up and turning it around in his hands. If he was going to find any information about Leia’s whereabouts, it would be in this datapad. At the thought of digging through it, however, he hesitated. He had no idea what could be on it; Leia was one of his closest friends, but it was still an invasion of her privacy, and a breach of her trust.

Looking down at it, he frowned and slowly lifted a finger to its screen, tapping twice to wake it. To his surprise, the datapad opened without requesting a password, revealing rows of carefully organized programs and folders. It took only a few seconds for him to figure out that it was because the datapad was brand new, likely given to Leia after her original was left behind on Hoth. Judging by the titles, all the folders had to do with the Rebellion, and there didn’t seem to be anything personal of any sort. That made Luke feel a bit better about snooping around in Leia’s room, but if she hadn’t even set the thing up with a password yet, he doubted there would be any information about this supposed Jedi Master on it.

He sat down on the bed, his eyes scanning the screen. He could check to see what files she had opened most recently, and what searches she’d completed on the various programs; perhaps she had done some last-minute research, leaving behind clues that he could use to figure out where she’d gone.

He went through the pad quickly. Most of the programs had never been used, with nothing showing up in their history. He was beginning to think she had either never used the datapad or had wiped its memory, when he selected the planetary database and it called up a previously-open entry. The image of a dark green planet rotated slowly off to the side as text filled the screen, revealing that it was the entry for a planet called Dagobah, a remote, swamp-covered world in a rarely-travelled sector of the Outer Rim. It was surprisingly close to Hoth, and Luke wondered if perhaps that was part of how Leia had found the Jedi Master in the first place, if this truly was where they were hiding.

There was relatively little information on the planet. The list of its native flora and fauna seemed to go on for pages, but there were no sentient lifeforms or settlements to speak of. The whole place seemed like one giant, fetid mudhole — the perfect hiding spot for a Jedi Knight wishing to avoid the Empire.

It was enough of a start for Luke. Standing, he tucked the datapad against his side and made his way to the door. He would let Rieekan know what he had found. If they were able to get into the X-wing’s logs and see what systems Leia was jumping to, they could figure out whether Dagobah was her final destination or not, and if it was, they could send someone after her. Luke was already coming up with ways to convince Rieekan to let him do it as he stepped out into the hallway and headed for the turbolifts.

◊◊◊

He didn’t make it to the briefing room. He stepped off the lift, and had taken only a few steps down the corridor when Han was running up to him, a look of deep concern on his face.

“Luke! There you are!” he cried, slowing to a stop in front of him. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Wedge told me that Leia’s gone. Do you have any idea what the hell’s he talking about?”

Luke couldn’t say he was surprised that Rogue Squadron already knew about Leia’s disappearance; news travelled fast on ships, even when one tried to keep things under wraps, and pilots were terrible gossips. 

“She took my ship and left the fleet,” he explained. “Rieekan thinks she’s going after some Jedi Master who survived the Empire’s purge, and I have an idea as to where she thinks she might find them.” He held up the datapad, waving it slightly.

“Are you gonna go after her?” Han asked, eyebrows raised. “High Command doesn’t want anyone leaving the fleet until it’s more secured.”

Luke gave him a skeptical look. “Since when do you care about orders?” he asked. “The reason Command doesn’t want anyone leaving is because we lost all our intel at Hoth. We have no idea what systems the Empire is operating in, and until we figure it out, we have to assume that they’re all hostile. Leia’s smart, but she’s an inexperienced pilot, and she hasn’t fully recovered from her injuries.” He paused, frowning. He had been thinking on his way up from the sleeping quarters, and had reached a rather unsettling conclusion. “Besides, I don’t like the idea of her going after this Master on her own. We have no idea where she got her information from, but the Empire knows she’s a Jedi; it could all be some sort of ruse to try and lure her into a trap, to capture her and do who knows what.”

Han was silent for a moment, his arms crossed over his chest and a quickly darkening look on his face. “If you’re going after her, I’m coming with you,” he said eventually. “If you think Leia might really be in danger, you shouldn’t go alone either.”

Luke’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Han’s departure from the Rebellion had already been delayed, and Luke hadn’t expected him to delay it a second time, not for Leia’s sake. It certainly seemed a lot for someone he claimed to not get along with. Still, Luke couldn’t say he wasn’t pleased. “Are you sure?” he asked, and at Han’s determined nod, he smiled.  “Alright. Then let’s go let Rieekan know.”

They took off down the hallway side by side. The briefing room that Rieekan operated out of was close to the command rooms for Home One, and so the corridors were crowded with soldiers and officers. Luke recognized several of the people they passed, giving them a quick nod by way of greeting. It had been several days since the evacuation from Hoth, but the Alliance was still in chaos, and it showed in the way everyone rushed through the ship, eager to get to their next assignment or briefing. Luke tried to push away thoughts of the recovery effort, to focus instead on making sure Leia was safe. The Rebellion staying afloat did not rest single-handedly on him, and while neither did ensuring Leia’s safety, that was what was more important to him in this moment. The Alliance would survive without him for a while.

Thankfully, Rieekan was in the briefing room when they arrived, unoccupied with any other guests. Like most rooms on the frigate, it was small and stuffy, but it got the job done. The round table in the middle had a holoprojector in its centre, currently projecting a map of the Expansion Region, and Rieekan sat at its head, poring over a datapad and several stacks of flimsi.  

He looked up when they entered, darkening the pad, and Luke let the door slide shut behind them, blocking out the noise from the hall. “General,” he greeted.

“Prince Luke.” Rieekan nodded first at him, and then at Han. “Captain Solo. We haven’t gotten any news on Captain Skywalker’s whereabouts, if that’s what you’re after.”

“We might have some news of our own,” Luke said, waking the datapad in his hands and passing it across the table to the general. “I decided to see what I could find, and found this in Leia’s room. The planetary database was open on the entry for Dagobah.”

Rieekan took the pad, quickly scanning the information it presented. “You think the Jedi Master is hiding here?” he asked.

“It’s definitely a possibility,” Luke said with a nod. “But… I’m worried it might be a trap. We have no idea where Leia got her information. If the Empire wasn’t able to find this Master, why was she?”

A look of grim concern crossed Rieekan’s face, and he leaned back in his chair, frowning. “So you think it might be the Empire, luring her in?”

“I definitely think it’s something we should consider.” He leaned forward with his palms flat against the table, looking across at Rieekan. “I want to go after her, and so does Han. She could be in real trouble, and as it stands, she’s the last hope for the Jedi Order.” She was so much more than that to Luke, but he needed to persuade Rieekan — the general needed to think of her in strategic terms, in terms of her overall importance to the Rebellion. “We lose her, and we lose the Jedi.”

“I’m well aware of that, Your Highness,” Rieekan said, “and I agree that we should send someone after her. But I don’t think putting you at risk is the right choice. We’re still only just beginning to recover from Hoth, and Leia is important, but we can’t waste precious resources getting her out of trouble she put herself in.”

Luke had expected that this might be Rieekan’s answer, and he didn’t necessarily disagree — he was a member of Rebel High Command, after all, and Hoth had put a big strain on their resources. That didn’t, however, mean he should stay where it was safe, watching people sacrifice their lives while never risking his, and that certainly didn’t mean he was going to stand by when Leia was potentially in danger. But he was a prince and a raised politician, and he knew how to convince people.

“I understand that, General,” he said, pushing back from the table and straightening. “But Leia’s my friend. She’s risked her life for me, and I should be able and willing to do the same. I can handle myself, sir, just the same as any other soldier in this Rebellion. My life is worth no more than theirs. If things go smoothly, we should be back here no more than three days from now.”

“Plus,” Han interjected, taking a step forward, “he’ll have me to keep him from getting shot, and I was planning on leaving anyway, so I’m no big loss.”

Rieekan’s frown deepened, but he let out a resigned sigh. “Alright,” he said, and Luke allowed himself a small smile. He had known Rieekan for a long time now, and he suspected the general knew that he would be going after Leia, with or without his permission. Rieekan continued, “But I’ll be leaving Rogue Squadron on standby. At the first sign of trouble, I’m sending them after you.”

“Of course, sir.” Luke nodded. While he was sure Rieekan wanted to send the entire squadron in with them, if the Empire really was at Dagobah waiting for Leia, a single ship would go undetected much longer than a dozen X-wings.

“Make sure you bring her home,” Rieekan said, giving them a grim nod. “And bring yourselves back, too.”

◊◊◊

Leia stared out the viewport at the dark green, cloud-covered planet hovering in front of her. Somewhere on its swampy, animal-infested surface was a Jedi Master. It would be difficult to find him; while a quick scan of the planet showed no signs of technology or settlements, the life-form readings were off the charts, meaning the scanners would be near-useless in pointing her in the right direction. Behind her, R2 gave a couple hesitant beeps.

“Yeah, that’s Dagobah,” Leia replied. “Finding this Master Yoda might be a bit harder than I thought. There doesn’t seem to be any settlements anywhere, but the life-form readings are massive.” R2 beeped again, and Leia shook her head. “Sorry, buddy, I’m not gonna change my mind. I’ve come too far to just give up.”

Still, she slowed their approach to the planet, hesitating for just a moment. If Ben was going to offer her any guidance on finding Yoda, now would be the time. She listened intently to the silence around her, focusing all her thoughts on Ben and waiting for his voice to sound in her ear as it had during the Battle of Yavin. But several seconds passed, and nothing happened; the silence remained unbroken, and ahead of her, Dagobah waited.

Taking in a deep breath, Leia let it out slowly through her nose. “Here goes nothing,” she muttered, and pushed forward on the throttle. They moved forward into the planet’s atmosphere, growing closer to the grey clouds that obscured the swamp-covered surface. Leia’s grip tightened on the controls as they dipped into the haze, her visibility quickly reducing to zero. R2 let out a high-pitched noise of concern as harsh winds began buffeting the ship.

“It’s alright, Artoo,” Leia said. “I’ve got this.” The control stick jerked in her hand, the wind attempting to destabilize the ship, but she held it firm. Still, her heart pounded in her chest; she had never attempted landing in bad weather, and from what she knew of Dagobah, she didn’t think there would be many good places to set down an X-wing. Hopefully, things would be better once she got below the clouds, and she would be able to cruise around the planet looking for signs of Yoda and somewhere to land.

But the winds only grew stronger as they continued their descent, the clouds refusing to clear. R2 let out a string of panicked trills as an alarm began sounding, and Leia desperately scanned the dashboard. All her scopes were dead, blocked by the thick fog and strong wind. “Yes, Artoo, I know!” she cried, as the droid continued his anxious beeping. “Just hang on, alright? I’ll start the landing cycle.”

She reached up, flicking the toggle to activate the landing gear, and when she glanced back at the viewport it was to see branches suddenly crashing against the transparisteel as they sped into heavily-obscured trees. Letting out a cry of surprise, she attempted to regain control of the X-wing, but they were trapped in by the vegetation. The branches snapped off as she tore a path through the jungle, its trees unwilling to let her go no matter how hard she tried to pull up.

The ground was much closer than she’d realized, and as they broke through the bottom of the vegetation they struck dirt hard, throwing up mud and felling trees. Leia lurched forward as the X-wing came to a sudden, jolting stop, her head smacking against the dashboard with a resounding crack, despite the helmet she was wearing. Her vision swam and her ears filled with the sound of R2’s worried tones, but they died quickly as everything grew dark and the world slipped away from her.  

Chapter Text

Leia woke slowly, blinking her eyes in an attempt to clear the fuzz from her brain. Already she could feel the beginnings of a headache pounding at her temples, and she hoped desperately that she hadn’t made her concussion worse. Reaching up, she pulled off her helmet, strands of hair sticking out every which way as she did. It must have looked a fright, plastered to her head and falling in front of her face. Brushing it aside, her fingers grazed a sore spot on her forehead and she winced. Thankfully there was no wound, but there would definitely be some bruising. If it weren’t for her earlier concussion, Leia doubted that the impact would have been enough to knock her unconscious; from what she could tell, though, it had only been for a few minutes.

She pulled the release for the hatch, breathing in the thick, swampy air as it slowly raised up. The humidity on Dagobah was worse than Home One, and the entire place smelled like a Hutt. The front of Luke’s X-wing was crumpled into the ground, so it was no trouble for Leia to climb out of the cockpit and hop down onto the damp earth. At least they’d crash-landed somewhere relatively dry. She could see the beginnings of a swamp only a few metres away, and the thought of wading through the cold, slimy water made her shiver in disgust.

As it was, however, her current situation wasn’t very good. It didn’t take an expert pilot to see that the X-wing was damaged beyond flying. The nose cone was bent into a concerning angle, meaning that the primary sensor array was likely out of commission. The sensor computer was probably damaged, as well, judging by the extremely beat-up exterior of the ship’s entire front end. She didn’t even need a closer look to tell that the forward landing gear was shot, and there was a good chance the back gear was, as well.

The worst part, however, was that the engine on the bottom of the starboard wing was gone — it had been knocked clean off, leaving not a trace. Even if the X-wing could have flown with all the other damage, it certainly couldn’t get far missing one of its engines; at least not far enough to get her somewhere civilized and friendly to the Rebellion.

Taking a step back from the ruined ship, she gave her surroundings a cursory glance. The area of the planet she had landed on seemed to be a mix of swamp and jungle. Her crash had cut a path through the mossy, vine-covered trees, but the jungle was still far from silent. She could see animals crawling through the branches overhead, hear the chatter of things running through the brush and the cries of beasts flying overhead. Even with the hole her X-wing had made in the thick canopy above, the jungle was still dark, the sun blocked by the grey clouds that covered the sky. Everything seemed to be soggy and damp, which only served to make the entire place appear slimy and covered in moss.

From his hole nestled behind the cockpit, R2 let out a series of worried beeps. Leia sighed, running a hand through her flattened hair and shaking her head. “I’m not sure how we’re going to get out of this one, Artoo,” she admitted. They didn’t have the tools or the parts to get the ship running, and something told her she wouldn’t be able to find them on Dagobah. “Let’s just hope this Yoda has some way off this mudhole.”

“Need help, do you?”

Leia let out a startled gasp at the sound of the voice coming from behind her, nearly jumping out of her skin as she spun to face it, blaster already drawn. It took her a moment to spot the creature who had spoken, his short stature and ratty brown cloak camouflaging him against the jungle background. She took aim at him, her finger hovering above the trigger. He gave a startled yelp, throwing one arm up across his face and flinching away. Even though she had no idea what species he was, it was easy to tell that he was old — his green skin was wrinkled and leathery, with wisps of white hair coming off an otherwise bald head and a gnarled wooden cane clutched in one of his three-fingered claws.

“Away with your weapon!” he cried, peeking, frightened, past his arm. “I mean you no harm!”

“What are you doing, then, sneaking up on me?” Leia demanded, though, slowly, she lowered her blaster. The little creature didn’t seem to have any weapons on him, and his old age and short height would make him easy enough to fend off in case he came at her with his cane.

Seeing her replacing her blaster in its holster, the creature lifted its head, reassured. “Your crash, I saw,” he said. “To investigate, I came.”

“You live here?” Leia asked, and the creature nodded. She hadn’t thought anyone besides Yoda lived on Dagobah, but it didn’t seem as if it was a particularly common stop for Imperial census-takers.

“Very near, yes,” the creature said, still bobbing his pointy-eared head. “But I am wondering, why are you here?”

“I’m looking for someone,” Leia replied, and paused. “Maybe you can help me.” Even if she hadn’t expected to find any small green creatures on Dagobah, there couldn’t have been that many more sentients living on the planet. It was very likely that this alien knew Yoda, and where she might be able to find him.

“Yes, yes.” The creature’s voice was gravelly as he spoke, and he took a few hobbling steps towards her. R2 gave a skeptical chirrup, and the creature peered past her to where the astromech was sitting atop the X-wing, having popped himself out of his cubbyhole.

Leia glanced over her shoulder. “Artoo, be careful up there,” she warned.

“Your ship, in not so good condition, it is,” the creature said, and Leia frowned.

“Yeah, I noticed,” she huffed, wandering over and placing a hand on the X-wing’s beat-up hull. “It means I’m stuck here for the time being.”

“Good at flying, you are not?” There was a mischievous tone to the creature’s voice, and he was smirking when Leia turned to glare at him.

“Hey, I’m plenty good at flying!” she protested. “But it’s not like there was a spaceport to land at, and the weather here isn’t exactly pleasant. I’m lucky I didn’t land in a swamp, you know. That seems to be the main feature of this slimy mudhole.”

“Slimy? Mudhole? My home this is!” The creature tapped his cane on the ground indignantly, his mouth screwing up into a scowl. “If you want not my help, give it I will not!”

Huffing, Leia resisted the urge to slap the X-wing with the flat of her hand, and glanced up at R2, who beeped unsympathetically, as if he wasn’t also stuck on this smelly swamp of a planet with a strange, wizened old hermit. She turned to face the creature, just as he began to hobble away, leaning heavily on his cane.

“Hey, wait,” she said, catching up to him quickly. He paused, glancing at her, and she sighed. “Listen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you. I do want your help, really. It’s just… frustrating, being stuck down here with a busted ship.”

The creature hummed, his expression unreadable as he stared her down. Finally, he turned to leave again, and Leia thought he was going to refuse to help her when he said, “Come with me. To my home I will take you, and help you find your friend I will. Yes?” He looked back and nodded, a smile revealing a mouth of widely-spaced, pointed teeth.

Leia was a bit hesitant to trust this strange, enigmatic creature, but she didn’t have many other options — her ship was unflyable, and she had no idea how she was going to find Yoda on this swamp-covered planet. This little green alien seemed to be her best chance.

Sighing, she nodded. “Yeah, alright.” Obviously pleased with himself, the creature turned and began scurrying away, the end of his cane making imprints in the soft ground. Quickly checking to make sure she had both her lightsaber and blaster, she began hurrying after him. R2 beeped a protest, and Leia looked back at him. “You stay here and watch the ship,” she ordered. When he began to argue, she fitted him with a stern glare, and his objections turned to quiet, disgruntled tones. “I’ll be back soon,” she promised, and then she took off after the strange creature, who was already beginning to disappear into the foggy trees.

◊◊◊

The Falcon was almost ready to go. Rogue Squadron had already been put on standby, and Luke had seen several of the pilots hurrying through the corridors, dressed in their bright orange flight suits. The Falcon was already well-supplied due to Han’s earlier plans of leaving, and Luke hoped that also meant it was in good condition for flying. Many of the repairs Han had been working on at Echo Base hadn’t been completed before the evacuation, and it was honestly a miracle that they had managed to escape the blockade. Hopefully in the time since, Han had been able to get the ship into top shape, or else this would prove to be a very short trip.

Glancing down at his chrono, Luke quickened his pace through the hallways. They were scheduled to leave in less than a half hour, but he had been busy finishing up some last-minute work that couldn’t wait until they returned. C-3PO hobbled along behind him, very obviously anxious, particularly for a droid.

“Please, Your Highness, I must ask again that you allow me to accompany you and Captain Solo,” he said, struggling to keep up to Luke’s fast pace with his stiff metal legs. “I know—”

“Threepio.” Luke cut the droid off, twisting to look back at him. “We already talked about this.”

“I must ask that you reconsider, Your Highness,” 3PO said. It was probably the boldest the protocol droid had ever spoken to him, and Luke was admittedly a bit taken aback. “Mistress Leia and Artoo-Detoo are my friends, and I am worried about their safety, just as you are.”

Luke stopped, turning fully to face 3PO. The droid stumbled back a bit, surprised by Luke’s sudden halt. “If you come, you have to promise to stay out of the way,” Luke said, and 3PO nodded. “It’s probably going to be dangerous, so you can’t panic if anything goes wrong. Do you understand?”

“Of course, Your Highness.” 3PO’s voice was full of relief, obviously pleased that Luke had given him permission to come along. In all honestly, Luke wasn’t entirely sure what had prompted him to allow the protocol droid to accompany them — perhaps it was the fact that, for what seemed to be the first time, C-3PO had spoken to him candidly. If he was willing to break protocol, then it must indeed be important to him.

Luke really shouldn’t have been surprised that it was — 3PO and R2-D2 had worked together for years under Captain Antilles on the Tantive IV, and though they often bickered, Luke knew that they were fond of each other. And Leia was the one who had rescued all three of them from their crashed escape pod on Tatooine, and both he and the droids had been close to her ever since. Of course, C-3PO wouldn’t be completely useless; it was always good to have a droid around, even if it was a fussy protocol droid.

Giving 3PO a quick smile, Luke nodded and turned back around. “Alright, then, let’s go,” he said, and continued down the corridor, 3PO shambling along behind him. Quietly, and under his breath, he added, “Han’s going to kill me for this.”

◊◊◊

Han certainly wasn’t pleased, but he put up much less of a fight than Luke was expecting. He seemed anxious to leave, and after only a small amount of complaining, he was shuffling both Luke and 3PO up the boarding ramp and into the Falcon. Chewbacca was already in the cockpit, putting the coordinates to Dagobah into the navicomputer. From what Luke could tell, everything seemed to be in working order — there were no panels open, no tools lying about, no signs that Han had been working on last-minute repairs. That seemed to bode well. If the Empire really was at Dagobah, the last thing they needed was for the Falcon to break down.

“We’ll be leaving in a few minutes,” Han said, pressing the button that retracted the ramp. “It’s a bit of a hike to Dagobah, so strap in for a long ride.”

“What route are we taking?” Luke asked, following Han down the corridor towards the cockpit. The door was open, and he could see Chewbacca inside, hunched over something on the dashboard. Han strode in, taking the pilot’s chair, and Luke positioned himself between the two front seats, peering down at the navicomputer.

“Well, the fastest route takes us past both Hoth and Eriadu, which is less than ideal,” Han said, pointing out the traced route on the computer. “The whole Javin sector is going to be swarming with Imperials after Hoth, but there are so many systems in that area we might be able to slip by. Eriadu’s going to be more difficult.”

Luke scanned the map, frowning. Eriadu was a major planet in the Galactic Empire. He had been there only a couple of times before, back when he was a teenager. It had been the home planet of Grand Moff Tarkin, and his family were still major players in the world’s politics. Not to mention that it also housed the office of the HoloNet News Bureau Chief, making it the heart of Imperial propaganda.

“I don’t think we have a choice,” he said. “Any other route will take too long. The fastest way to Dagobah is along the Rimma Trade Route, and to get on it, we have to go by Eriadu. Otherwise this trip could take days.” It was a risk, but it was one he was willing to take — and one he suspected Han was, as well. The sooner they got to Dagobah, and to Leia, the better. He wouldn’t be able to relax until he knew she was safe.

“That’s what I was thinking,” said Han, nodding. “If the Empire really is after Leia, then we won’t have long until they’ve got her.”

“Let’s get moving, then,” Luke said. He took the seat behind Han’s, strapping himself in as they began the pre-flight systems checks and start-up sequence. 3PO shuffled into the cockpit, and settled into the seat beside Luke.

“I do hope we won’t be too late,” the droid said, his voice tinged with worry.

“You and me both, Goldenrod,” Han muttered. His hands moved deftly across the dashboard, pushing buttons and flipping toggles. The Falcon’s engines roared to life, sending vibrations rumbling through the ship, and a voice came on over the comms, giving them the all-clear for take-off.

The Millennium Falcon lifted into the air, spinning slowly so that it was facing the hangar bay doors. They started towards them, the burning protostar visible just beyond the shimmering blue of the magnetic field. Another voice sounded from the comms, and Luke recognized it as General Rieekan’s.

“Good luck,” he said, his voice solemn, “and may the Force be with you.”

◊◊◊

The creature’s home was only a short distance away from the crash site, a small, barely-noticeable hut nestled amongst the roots of a tree. It was a strange construction, dome-like and bulbous, with a few rounded windows and a tiny circular door. Its size was certainly befitting of its inhabitant, who walked easily inside, while Leia had to practically crawl through the door, dirtying the legs of her pants in the mud. But while the hut was certainly too small for her to stand up in, her short stature at least allowed her to sit up comfortably.   

There was a fire already burning in the hearth, and its heat easily filled the entire hut, warming her up substantially and chasing away the cold dampness of the swamp. The little creature shuffled off into the kitchen, which was really only one side of the single room that made up the abode, leaving Leia sitting with her back up against the wall near the entrance. There was something about the hut that reminded her vaguely of home — perhaps it was the rounded walls, made out of a lightly-coloured stone that closely resembled the pourstone most homes on Tatooine were made of. Of course, it never rained on Tatooine, but it certainly did on Dagobah. What had begun as a light drizzle during their walk to the hut was now a steady pour, the fat drops thumping loudly on the stone roof.

“Food, yes,” the creature said, stirring something cooking in a pot over the fire. “Eat, we must. Then help you find your friend, I will.”

“He’s not really my friend,” Leia explained, gazing around the room. There were few possessions — cooking utensils, a few sparse pieces of furniture, and a worn blanket on the small alcove that no doubt served as the creature’s bed. She looked back to where he stood with his back to her, adding some sort of ingredient to the bubbling pot, and continued, “He’s a Jedi Master.”

The creature paused in his stirring, turning to look at her with an expression of understanding on his wrinkled face. “Oh, Jedi Master, hm? Yoda. You seek Yoda.”

Leia sat up straight, shuffling forward a bit. “You know him?” she asked. “You can take me to him?”

He hummed, nodding his head. “Yes, yes. But first, we must eat.” He turned back towards the pot, grabbing a small wooden bowl and spooning what looked to be a thick stew into it. Shuffling over, he pressed it into Leia’s hands. It was warm, but the smell was sharp and strange. Hesitantly, she lifted the spoon up to her mouth, taking a small bite. It tasted just as it smelled, and she had to resist the urge to wince. Instead, she gave the little alien an encouraging smile, and he gave a wheezy laugh, hobbling back over to the pot.

“How far away does Yoda live?” she asked, lowering the bowl. “Will it take long to get to him?”

“Not far, no, not far,” the creature said, nodding as he tasted a spoonful of the stew from the pot. “Patience. Soon you will be with Yoda.” He turned back to her, motioning at the bowl in her lap. “Eat, eat. Good food, hm? Hot.”

She nodded, bringing another spoonful up to her mouth. It wasn’t horrible, but it was certainly a step or two beneath the rations that the Alliance distributed, and that was really saying something. Seemingly satisfied, the creature shuffled across the room to a small counter, where dried plants hung from the ceiling. He began puttering around, gathering things and chopping them up, apparently intent on feeding her a good meal with what little he had.  

“Why seek you Yoda, hm?” he asked, and Leia looked up from the goopy stew.

“Because I want to become a Jedi,” she replied. “And I need someone to train me. It’s… not really something you can learn to be on your own.”

The creature nodded, humming thoughtfully. “Yes, yes.” He paused in his work, looking at her from across the room, his expression curious. “And why wish you become Jedi?”

Leia thought for a moment, pushing around the chunks of vegetable in her bowl. She had never even heard of the Jedi until Ben had told her, only three years ago on Tatooine, when her aunt and uncle were still alive and she had still thought of her father as nothing more than a spice navigator. Back then, she had been aimless, unsure of everything except that she needed to get off Tatooine. She’d had no idea what she wanted to do with her life, where she wanted to go.

And then Ben had presented her with her father’s lightsaber, and had asked her to go with him to Alderaan. Since that moment all she’d wanted to do was become a Jedi — like her father, like Anakin Skywalker had been. So much of her life since had been dedicated to following in his footsteps, and finding Yoda would bring her that much closer.

“Because of my father,” she answered. “And because the galaxy needs the Jedi again.”

“Ah, your father.” The creature nodded again, and began to make his way over to where she sat, his cane thumping against the hard ground. “Powerful Jedi was he, powerful Jedi.”

Leia frowned, her brows furrowing together. “You… you didn’t know him, did you?”

“Oh yes, yes, knew him I did, Leia,” the creature said, and Leia was thinking that she didn’t remember telling him her name when realization dawned.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” she asked, placing her bowl on the ground and clambering onto her knees, leaning forward to stare at him. “You’re Yoda.”

Yoda smiled, the eccentricity she had seen in him only moments ago now gone, replaced by an expression that betrayed deep wisdom. “Ready to become Jedi, you think you are?” he asked, his voice sounding less like that of a crazed hermit and more like that of a Jedi Master, steady and sure.

“Yes,” Leia answered immediately, before pausing, settling back. “I hope so,” she amended. “I want to be.”

“Hmm.” Yoda considered her for a moment, before looking away, his gaze growing distant. She thought for a moment that she had failed — she had been too eager, too sure of herself — but then Yoda spoke again, and it wasn’t her that he was addressing. “The girl is clever,” he said. “Very clever. Sooner you should have sent her to me, Obi-Wan.”

Leia’s eyes widened. He was talking to Ben? She cast her gaze around the room, looking for any sign of her old master, but she saw none; no shimmering apparition lingered in the corner of the room.

“I did not have the chance, until now,” Ben explained, his voice seeming to resound throughout the hut, his entire presence filling the small space.

Yoda harrumphed, obviously unimpressed. “Anger she has, like her father,” he said, and Leia felt her cheeks flush. “Were she sent to me earlier, staved it off, I could have. Prevented it from growing.” He turned to face her, his eyes narrowed and piercing. “Dangerous, your anger can be.” It was a warning, and Leia swallowed deeply, giving only the faintest nod. Now that his true character was revealed, she found the small alien intimidating, his years of experience obvious in every move that he made.

He looked away again, his gaze turning upwards, towards the mottled ceiling of his hut. “But a great Jedi she can still become. She has patience, commitment. Her mind wavers not from her goal.” A pause, and he lowered his head. “Too old she may be, but long have I wished to train her. Yes… This chance I will not miss.”

“Her anger will not be her undoing, Master,” Ben said, and Leia sensed that there were words he left unspoken, ones he did not wish her to hear.

She shifted where she sat, staring at the back of Yoda’s tattered cloak. He was right — she did feel anger, towards many things, and she often let it guide her actions, but no longer. If she was to become a Jedi, she would not allow it to control her.

“I won’t fail you,” she said, and Yoda’s head swivelled in her direction. “I promise.”

The Jedi Master’s expression softened, an almost sad look overtaking his wrinkled features. “Let us hope not,” he said, and then again, much quieter, “Let us hope not.”

Chapter Text

The hold of the Millennium Falcon was silent, the only sound the distant hum of the engines as they propelled the ship through hyperspace. Luke stared at the comlink in his hand, a deep frown pulling at his features. He had been trying since they left to make contact with Leia, to no success — neither the Falcon’s comms unit nor his own handheld communicator were able to reach her. He hoped desperately that they weren’t too late, and that her silence did not mean she had been captured by the Empire.

And what if it did? What if they arrived at Dagobah to find that the Empire had already been there, and they’d taken Leia with them? Luke’s heart dropped to his stomach at the thought. He knew what the Empire did to its prisoners, and the image of Leia being tortured by Darth Vader was almost too much for him to bear. She was, inarguably, his closest friend — one of the few that he had had throughout his life. He had watched too many people that he loved suffer and die, and he wouldn’t allow the same to happen to her. No matter where they took her, no matter what they did, Luke decided, then and there, that he would do anything to get her back. He wouldn’t stop until she was safe again.

Letting out a shaky breath, he dropped the commlink onto the dejarik table in front of him and ran both hands through his hair. He owed so much to Leia. She was the one who had found him in his crashed escape pod on Tatooine, and had taken in both him and the droids without hesitation. Then she had gone on to rescue him from the Death Star; without her, he likely would have been executed, killed with Alderaan and the rest of his people. He wouldn’t allow her to suffer as he had.

The silence in the hold suddenly deepened, growing deathly quiet, and it took Luke only a few seconds to realize that it was because the ever-present hum of the engines was gone. The hyperdrive had stopped, and they’d dropped out of lightspeed, hours away from their destination. He looked up, casting his gaze around the room as if he would find the answer there, and stood.

“Oh, I have a bad feeling about this,” he muttered, hurrying out of the hold. He should have known that something would go wrong — something always had to go wrong.

Both Han and Chewbacca were still in the cockpit, and Luke could hear the distant sound of Han swearing profusely. “Han!” he called, practically running down the corridors towards the cockpit. “Han, what’s going on?”

His worries were confirmed as he stepped into the cockpit, the angular viewport revealing a field of stars against the black of space instead of the blue vortex of hyperspace. An alert was going off on the dashboard, filling the cockpit with a shrill beep. “What happened?” he asked.

“The hyperdrive failed, that’s what happened,” Han grumbled. Beside him, Chewie warbled something, and Han shot him a dark look. “Yes, of course I’m sure I didn’t hit the switch by accident!”

“Do you know where we are?” Luke couldn’t see any planets outside the viewport, or any other indicator as to where they might be. “Or why it failed?”

“We’re somewhere in the Gerrenthum system,” Han said, quickly checking the navicomputer. “A pretty isolated part — it’s far enough away from Gerrenthum itself that we don’t really have to worry about it yet.”

Luke raised his eyebrows. “Yet?”

Han stood, moving Luke out of his way. “Well, if we don’t get this hyperdrive working again soon, it might become a problem.”

“I think it’s already a problem,” Luke argued, following Han as he made his way out of the cockpit. “Gerrenthum is the capital of the Anoat sector. This entire system is crawling with Imperials, not to mention that Hoth is only a handful of parsecs away. We need to get out of here now.”

“Can’t really do that without a working hyperdrive, kid.” Han stopped in front of one of the Falcon’s engineering stations, starting up the main computer and beginning a systems check. Stepping away, he called down the corridor, “Hey, Goldenrod! Come here, see if you can’t figure out what’s wrong.”

C-3PO appeared at the end of the hallway, his feet clanking against the metal floor as he hurried towards them. “Right away, sir!” he chirped. “If you don’t mind, though, might I ask what is going on?”

“Something’s up with the hyperdrive,” Han replied. “It’s spit us out of hyperspace somewhere in the Gerrenthum system.” He continued down the corridor, heading towards the main hold, motioning for 3PO to follow him. The droid did as he was ordered, and Luke trailed along after them both.

“My guess is it’s the hyperdrive motivator,” Luke said. “The patch we put on it on Hoth must not have held. If the damage isn’t too bad, we might be able to get it working just long enough to get us out of this system, but we won’t be able to make it all the way to Dagobah — not without docking somewhere and doing some extensive repairs.”

Han scowled, letting out a deep, exasperated sigh. “That’s exactly what I was hoping it wouldn’t be,” he mumbled.

As soon as they reached the hold, Han went straight for the grill in the centre of the room, removing it and ducking his head down into the pit below. 3PO hobbled over to the technical station, quickly busying himself with trying to figure out what exactly had gone wrong. Luke stood near the doorway, his forehead creased with worry — hyperdrives were difficult to fix, and without a functioning one they wouldn’t be able to get far. Leia could very well already be in the hands of the Empire, and they were stuck here, floating aimlessly in a sector crawling with Imperial ships.

Han let out a stream of disgruntled curses, pulling himself out from the pit with a groan. “Yeah, the motivator’s definitely shot,” he said, wiping his hands on his pants. “With some work, we might be able to get one quick jump out of her, but that’s it.”

He stood, his expression darkening as he gave the grate lying on the floor an aggravated shove with his foot. Luke watched as he went around the room, pulling out crates of tools and supplies that they might need to make their repairs. Taking in a deep breath, he began to rummage through the boxes alongside him, looking for anything that might be useful.

They were going to be here for a while.

◊◊◊

Yoda began Leia’s training at dawn, as soon as the sun began to peek dimly through the thick canopy. He roused her from where she had been sleeping, curled up on the floor near the fireplace, and ordered her out into the chilly Dagobah morning. It was misting lightly, and though the trees protected them from the worst of the precipitation, fog shrouded everything, giving the world an eerie look. She shivered at first from the cold and the damp, but soon found herself thankful for it.

The drills that Yoda put her through were rigorous, testing her endurance and agility. He strapped himself to her back and made her race through the trees, teaching her how to use the Force to enhance her abilities. She learned how to jump higher than any person should be able to, to sense obstacles before they even came into view. He had her running through the swamp for hours, flipping over roots and using vines to traverse the environment more easily, until she was soaked in sweat and her muscles burned. All the while he talked, about the Force and the Jedi, the dark side and the light.

The strength of a Jedi came from the Force, he told her, and as Leia opened herself up to this great energy, she could feel it — it allowed her to run faster, to climb higher. Yoda’s weight tugging at her shoulders grew lighter, until she barely registered it. She felt as if she could do anything.

But you must not draw that power and strength from the dark side, he warned — from fear and anger and aggression. It was easier yes, but infinitely more dangerous.

“If once you start down the dark path,” he said, “forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”

Leia was full of questions — about the Force, about the dark side, about Vader — but Yoda told her to clear them from her mind. They had made it back to his hut, and she removed the backpack holding him, setting in gently on the ground. Though the Force gave her strength, it did not give her endless stamina; she felt exhausted, her limbs sore and aching and her breath coming in deep puffs. Stepping out from the pack, Yoda ordered her to sit, and she obeyed gratefully, glad to rest her legs.

“Close your eyes,” he said, and she did. “Empty your mind. Breathe deeply, and reach out to the Force. Feel it all around you. Feel it move within you.”

She took a deep breath in through her nose, exhaling it slowly through her mouth. She forced all thoughts from her mind: thoughts of the damp earth she was sitting in, of the burning ache in her muscles, of her worries over her ship. She focused instead on the Force, on its energy, and let it surround her and fill her, until all that existed was herself, the Force, and Yoda, burning brightly in her periphery.

“Good, good…” Yoda’s voice was gentle as he spoke. “What you feel, that is the Force. Not the dark side — not fear, not anger. It is peace. That is the light side — calm, and serenity. You do not let your emotions control you. The Force, that is all there is.”

“I… think I understand,” she said. The Jedi drew their power from the Force, and they connected to the Force through peace, and calm, and control. They did not use their emotions to fuel themselves.

“Hm.” Yoda grunted noncommittally, and she could hear his feet and gimer stick thumping against the ground as he moved about. “Obi-Wan taught you well, young Skywalker,” he said, “but much you still have to learn.”

Leia’s shoulders slumped, and she nodded, opening her eyes. Like a warm blanket being pulled away on a cold night, the Force receded, no longer the focus of all her attention. Yoda was no longer in her line of vision, and when she glanced over her shoulder, she saw that he was already halfway back to his hut.

Without even looking back at her, he said, “Tell you to stop, I did not. Continue. No more will I teach you today.”

And so she continued. For what felt like hours, she sat on the cold ground outside Yoda’s hut, her legs crossed and her eyes closed, focusing on the Force and contemplating what Yoda had taught her. It was difficult at first, and she found herself struggling to keep her thoughts from straying for more than ten minutes at a time, but eventually she got it. To her surprise, she did not fall asleep, despite her deep exhaustion, and when Yoda finally came to fetch her for dinner, she felt strangely rested, as if some of her energy had been rejuvenated.

Still, she fell asleep shortly after scarfing down the strange food that Yoda prepared for them, warm by the fire and under the emergency blanket from Luke’s X-wing. Her exhausted body didn’t seem to mind the hard floor she slept on.

◊◊◊

When she woke, hours later, it was to find the fire burned down to a pile of glowing embers and Yoda still sleeping soundly, the sun several hours from rising. She tried for only a few minutes to fall back asleep, suddenly aware of how stiff her muscles had become and how uneven the floor of Yoda’s hut was. She wasn’t particularly tired, anyways — she had slept soundly and deeply, and now felt restored.  

Quietly, she sat up, setting the blanket aside and grabbing her lightsaber. She crawled across the floor to the door, struggling out into the open. For once it wasn’t raining, but a thick fog clung to everything and the air was sharp with the chill of nighttime. She struggled onto sore legs, stretching until the bones in her back cracked. R2, positioned in sleep mode by the door, roused himself as he detected her movement, beeping a query.

Leia quickly shushed him, glancing back at the hut to make sure that Yoda hadn’t woken. All remained quiet, and she scurried away, R2 rolling along after her.

“Yes, I know it’s early, Artoo,” she said, her voice hushed, “but I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t want to wake Master Yoda.”

The droid let out another string of beeps and whistles, and Leia sighed.

“No, I don’t know when we’ll be leaving. I still have so much to learn here, and besides, until we find some way to get the X-wing running again, we’re stuck.” R2 beeped a reply, obviously unhappy. “I know you don’t like it here, but there’s not much either of us can do about it.” He beeped again, quietly, and Leia scowled. “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” she said.

She found somewhere dry to sit, nestled among the roots at the base of a tree, her back up against the rough bark. R2 followed, warbling a question. “I’m going to try to meditate,” she replied. “So hush.”

Settling into a comfortable position, with her legs crossed and her hands resting on her knees, she let her eyes slip shut. She tried to let her mind clear, as she had that afternoon, but found it infinitely more difficult. Perhaps there was only a set number of hours per day that you could completely clear your head of thoughts, and she’d reached her quota. It was, after all, an exercise that did not come naturally to her. She had never been particularly spiritual; to her, power came from action. She felt it in the strength of a body and the heft of a blaster, not the honing of a mind. It was difficult to see how power could come from meditation.

Taking in a deep, centering breath, she tried to remind herself that the Jedi were warriors, yes, but they were also a religious order. They wielded their minds just as they wielded their lightsabers, and in time the mind could grow to become a powerful weapon.

Opening her eyes, she unhooked her lightsaber from her belt, the metal of its hilt cold in her hands. This was what she would like to learn — lightsaber combat. Ben’s simple lessons had served her well enough, but she needed to know more if she was to help take down the Empire, and Darth Vader.

It was difficult to see the ‘saber in the dim light, but by now she knew it well. For over three years she had clung to it, the only piece of her father she had ever held, the proof that her mission to become a Jedi wasn’t futile. Her training with Ben had just scratched the surface, but whenever she looked at this lightsaber it encouraged her — she would honour her father’s legacy, and bring back the Jedi Order.

She had never forgotten the first time she had held her lightsaber in her hands, back in Ben’s hut on Tatooine — the images that had flashed before her eyes, voices echoing in her ears. Ben had mentioned an ability known as psychometry, giving a vague warning of the dangers it held, but that had all quickly been overshadowed by R2 playing Luke’s message, and the subsequent scramble to Alderaan and ultimately the Death Star. Nothing like it had happened since, with the lightsaber or any other object, but now, perhaps…

Ben had told her she had unwillingly witnessed events from the lightsaber’s past, just by taking it in her hands. He had described it as rare, meaning it was not an ability that all Jedi possessed — but that she apparently did. Perhaps, now that she knew more of the Force and how to connect with it, she could purposefully establish some sort of connection with her father’s lightsaber: search through its history, potentially discover more about her father’s life during the war.

Wrapping both hands tightly around the hilt of the ‘saber, she closed her eyes, slowly breathing out. She focused on the weapon, reaching out to the Force and pulling it towards her, towards the lightsaber. The Force seemed to twirl and dance around her, and she directed it at the weapon, focusing all her attention on the metal hilt. Show me its memories, she willed. Show me its past.

A breeze blew past her, almost like a voice whispering into her ear, and when she opened her eyes she was no longer sitting cross-legged on Dagobah — she was staring out across a lake at sunset, tall, forested hills wreathed in clouds stretching across the far shore. A woman was there, shrouded in white, and at the sight of her Leia’s chest filled with feelings of peace and love and pure, unfiltered joy.

She turned towards the woman, opening her mouth to speak, and instead found herself staring at the white armour of a soldier, reminiscent of a stormtrooper but very obviously different. There was a battle going on — she could hear the loud booms of heavy artillery in the distance — and much of the crystalline city around her was shattered and crumbling. She took a step forward, and was suddenly standing on a dusty plain, more of the same white-armoured soldiers marching past her. A blink, and she was facing off against rows and rows of battle droids, their blasters aimed and firing. The world around her was a blur of colour, as red bolts were deflected by beams of green and blue, and a man ran past, his clothing dark and his sky-coloured blade held high.

Leia moved to chase after him, feeling drawn to him — that’s him, that’s him, that’s him — but then the scene of a cityscape flashed before her vision, and feelings of sorrow and hurt and betrayal flooded her as a young girl’s voice whispered, “I’m sorry, Master.”

“What?” Leia asked, spinning around, searching for the girl. “What are you sorry for?”

But the scene was already changing, and she was on the bridge of a ship, the glittering planet hanging outside the viewport listing dangerously as its gravity pulled them in. She saw a man seated on a chair, his face twisted in anger, and another standing with two lightsabers, one red and one blue, crossed at the throat of a third. The standing man’s arms moved back, as if preparing to strike, but before Leia could see what happened the world tilted sharply and the floor rushed up to meet her.

Before it impacted, she blinked and was suddenly standing in a tall chamber, rows of thick columns marching up either side of a wide aisle. A man and a woman were standing in the shadow of one of these columns, and as she watched, the man scooped the woman up in his arms, twirling her around. Leia’s heart filled with excitement and anticipation and the same joy she had felt by the lake, and she almost smiled.

But then there was fear — crushing, all-consuming, immobilizing fear. A woman’s pained screams echoed in her ears, and she looked over her shoulder, searching for the source. When she looked back the man and woman were gone, and there was another, older man in their place. His face was shrouded in shadow, but he seemed to look straight at her as he spoke, the words somehow reaching her from all the way across the great chamber.  

“The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities…”

Leia flinched away, taking a step back, and then she was in another room — some sort of office, the long window smashed open to reveal a sprawling city at night. She saw the back of a man, kneeling on the floor, his breath coming heavy, and another, dressed in dark red, standing before him. Somewhere in the distance, someone yelled, “I need him!”

And then the next series of scenes came so fast that Leia could barely comprehend them. All she felt was a blinding, uncontrollable rage, a hot coal burning in the pit of her stomach that made her hands tremble. She saw rows of those white-clad soldiers marching into a stone building, led by a figure in black. A fight — blasters firing, lightsaber after lightsaber being extinguished as its wielder was cut down. Children, frightened; teenagers, defiant. All of them dead.

The clash of blue on blue as two lightsabers struck against a background of fiery red. Enraged shouts, feelings of hurt and betrayal and that ever-present, sickening anger. A man yelling, “The Jedi are evil!”, and a retort of, “Well then you are lost!”

And then there was terrible, agonizing pain, and Leia gasped, her eyes flying wide, and she was back on Dagobah, sitting cross-legged at the base of the tree, the pain vanished. Her skin was sticky with sweat, and she was panting as if she had just run from one end of Home One to the other. R2 was beeping at her, worried, and Yoda was standing beside him, leaning on his gimer stick, frowning deeply as he stared at her.

“Visions you have seen, young Skywalker?” he asked. Slowly, Leia nodded, and Yoda made a displeased noise, deep in the back of his throat. “Visions of your father’s past, yes? Extracted from his lightsaber.”

“Yes.” Leia’s voice was shaky as she spoke, and she set the ‘saber down beside her, not wanting to touch it any longer. “I saw… terrible things, Master.”

“About this ability, did Obi-Wan tell you?” Yoda asked, and again, Leia nodded.

“He said it was called psychometry,” she replied. “It caused me to see visions, the first time I held my lightsaber, but… not like this. This was…”

“Warn you of the dangers that psychometry brings, did he not?” Yoda’s tone was slowly growing sharper, and Leia realized that perhaps it had not been wise, to pull memories from her father’s lightsaber without entirely knowing what she was doing.

“He mentioned that it was dangerous, but he never explained why — there was no time.”

Yoda scoffed, and he began to walk towards her. “Not ready to see those memories were you,” he said. “I did not think you would be foolish enough to try, or warned you I would have. But warn you now I will.” Stopping in front of her, he grabbed her lightsaber from where she had set it. “Allows you to see and feel the memories of those who have held the object, psychometry does. The seeing part is not dangerous, no — it is the feeling that brings danger. Feelings of anger or hate or fear — feelings that lead to the dark side.”

“The dark side?” Leia asked, remembering what the old man in her vision had said. A pathway to many abilities… “But… why would my father’s lightsaber carry feelings of the dark side?” Even as she spoke, however, she knew that it did; she had felt the anger, the hate, the fear, that dwelled within those memories, and she could still feel them now, like a lingering sickness.

“The Clone Wars were a dark time,” Yoda said. “Very dark. Their end saw the rise of the Empire, and of Vader.”

Vader. Leia suppressed a shiver; Vader was the one who had killed both her father and Ben. He was a monster, twisted and cruel. Ben had told her that Vader had once helped hunt down and murder the Jedi Knights, and Leia realized that must have been him in her vision, leading his soldiers in the massacre of the young Jedi. Her father must have been there, trying to protect them; the clashing lightsabers had been theirs, and that was when Vader had cut him down.

“I saw him, in my vision,” she said. “I watched him slaughter Jedi, and murder my father.”

Yoda’s eyes narrowed, and his thin lips pressed together. He glanced down at the lightsaber, turning it over in his clawed hands. “Careful you must be,” he said, looking up at her. “On this vision you must not linger. Your father was a great warrior, yes, but he carried within him much anger. You cannot do the same.” He stretched his arm out, offering the ‘saber to her. “Forget the memories you saw. The past has happened — to the present, you must turn your focus. You must not attempt to use this ability again.”

Leia slowly took the lightsaber in her hand. She almost expected to be thrown back into another vision, but nothing happened. She remained on Dagobah, the cries of its strange creatures filling the air. Above, the beginnings of dawn were starting to filter down through the trees. Yoda turned, and began hobbling away.

“Come,” he ordered. “Let us begin today’s training.”

Leia watched him go for a moment. He had seemed almost frightened of what she might have seen, and his insistence that she forget the vision entirely only increased her suspicions. There was something, buried in the memories of her lightsaber, that he did not want her to see.

She looked down at the ‘saber, running her fingers briefly over its worn metal, before standing and following after him.

Chapter Text

Over six hours after they had first dropped out of hyperspace, the Millennium Falcon was still stuck in the Gerrenthum system. Han had stopped the engines to save fuel, and so they were at a standstill, the field of stars outside the viewports unchanging. Luke had found Gerrenthum a few hours ago, the brightest and biggest star of them all. They were too far away to see any of the ships no doubt flying around it, or the security station that he knew orbited the planet, but it was still far too close for comfort.

But they were almost finished their repairs. They weren’t pretty — they hadn’t had some of the proper materials needed and had had to improvise — but with a few more touches they would hold just long enough to get them somewhere that did have the necessary supplies. Hyperdrive motivators were touchy instruments that required large amounts of fine-tuning; even if one single component was off, it would be impossible — not to mention potentially fatal — to jump to hyperspace. Apparently, the crack that Luke had found on the motivator on Hoth had been a sign that things were out of place internally, and while it had held out for a while after the initial repairs were made, it had finally broken down under the stress of the long jump to Dagobah.

Thankfully, close inspection of the rest of the hyperdrive units revealed that they were working, if not optimally than at least functionally. This meant that they could focus all their attention on the motivator, with Luke, Han, and Chewie all working as quickly as possible to get it fixed, while C-3PO sat in the cockpit, keeping an eye out for any approaching ships.

The longer they stayed in the Gerrenthum system, the more anxious Luke became. None of the other planets in the system were inhabited, meaning it was unlikely that any ships would wander out this far, but it was entirely possible that the Empire was surveying the entire area, especially with Hoth only a few parsecs away. They could have easily picked up the Falcon’s signal as it fell out of hyperspace, and could be monitoring the ship at this very moment. Even if they weren’t, sooner or later someone would notice a freighter loitering at the far edges of the system, and send a ship out to investigate. Luke only hoped they would be gone before that happened.

“Pass me that micro-driver, will you?” Han asked, poking his head out of the mechanical pit. They’d managed to get the motivator up and running again, but it was still acting buggy — jumping into hyperspace at this point would likely have them jumping out in the middle of a sun. Luke handed Han the requested tool, and he disappeared again down into the pit.

Chewie, standing near the technical station observing the data readouts from the motivator, growled some advice. “What do you think I’m doing with the micro-driver?” Han called up, and Chewie shrugged, warbling more quietly.

“How much longer do you think it will take?” Luke asked, peering into the pit. Han was splayed onto his stomach, an activated glowrod held in his teeth as he twisted at various bits of machinery with the micro-driver. Attempting to remove the motivator from the mechanical pit for easier access would have only caused more damage, but they’d managed to take out some of the larger pieces for individual repair. It was all put back together now, and Han was doing the last few bits of fine-tuning to make sure the machinery was working as it should and would hold long enough for them to do a quick jump.

“Hopefully not long,” came Han’s reply, his voice strained by the uncomfortable position he had wedged himself into. “How’s it looking, Chewie?”

Chewie gave a short series of growls, and Han sighed, shifting up onto his elbows and peering out of the pit. “How is that supposed to help me?” he demanded, and Chewie grumbled in a way that seemed to say, “I dunno.”

“Is it at least getting better?” Han asked. Chewie leaned in close to the screen, scrutinizing the data, before nodding and growling an affirmative. “Alright, that’s all you had to say,” Han said, before ducking his head and getting back to work.

Over on the dejarik table, Luke’s comlink began beeping, its small red light blinking a steady rhythm — someone was trying to contact him. Getting to his feet and hurrying over to the table, he grabbed the comlink, flicking the button to accept the transmission. He almost expected to hear Leia’s voice on the other end, letting him know that she was safe and he hadn’t failed her, but it was C-3PO’s tinny voice that came through instead.

“Oh, Your Highness, I’m sorry to disturb you,” 3PO said, “but a ship has just come out of hyperspace nearby and appears to be heading straight for us.”

“What?” Luke spun around, looking first at Chewbacca and then to Han, who had stuck his head back out of the pit. “What kind of ship is it?”

“Um, I’m not entirely sure—”

“I’m coming to take a look,” Luke said, cutting 3PO off. He turned off the commlink, striding across the hold to the door. “Han, stay here and keep working — we may need to get out of here sooner than we thought.”  

Chewie followed him out into the corridor, and the two of them hurried along towards the cockpit. C-3PO was seated in the co-pilot’s chair, but he quickly moved aside when they entered.

“The ship appeared on the display only a few moments ago,” he said, pointing out the small blip on the display monitor that indicated another ship, “but it is moving towards us quite quickly.”

And it was — as Luke watched the monitor, the ship moved several hundred metres in their direction, coming from straight ahead. Looking up, he peered through the viewport, and could see the lights of the ship in the distance, steadily growing larger.

“Chewie, start the engine,” he ordered. “I doubt they’re friendly, and we’re going to need to be able to run. We have to buy Han enough time to get the motivator working again so we can get out of here.”

Chewie nodded, sinking into the pilot’s chair and revving the engines back to life. Luke watched, his breath held, as the ship quickly grew closer, alternating between watching the small symbol on the display monitor and the actual ship visible through the viewport. It eventually drew close enough that he could discern its shape, and it didn’t look like any Imperial ship that he recognized. It was approximately the same size as a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, but it was ovoid in shape, with two small wings jutting out from the side and a long, snout-like cockpit. Despite its very distinct appearance, Luke couldn’t determine what make or model of ship it was, or even who it was affiliated with.

But it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t anyone they were friendly with. The ship was coming in hot, and as soon as they were in range, it opened fire, peppering them with laser bolts. C-3PO stumbled back in surprise, and Chewbacca let out an enraged roar, accelerating forward and then swinging the Falcon around so that the strange ship was behind them. It immediately gave chase as Chewie flipped on the rear deflector shields, several shots sailing overhead of the Falcon and off into space.

“Try and keep it from hitting us too badly, alright, Chewie?” Luke said. “Threepio, help him out however you can. I’ll do what I can from the gun.” He turned and hurried from the cockpit, racing down the corridor towards the gun well. As he passed by the main hold, he heard Han call out to him.

“Hey, kid, what the hell’s happening out there?” he asked

Luke paused just long enough to respond. “Don’t worry about it! Just focus on getting the motivator fixed. The sooner we can get out of here, the better!”

Han grumbled something, but Luke didn’t hear what it was, already beginning the descent down the gun well to the turret for the lower quad-laser cannon.  He settled into the seat, starting up the cannon and putting on the headset so that he would be able to communicate with C-3PO. It had been a while since he had sat at the controls for the guns on a ship — it wasn’t often he got to fly, too busy with the political side of the rebellion to spend much time in a fighter. In any case, he preferred piloting for the thrill of being able to soar, not for shooting; that was more Leia’s area of expertise. But he could do if it when he needed to, and right now he needed to.

The other ship was fast, but the Millennium Falcon was faster, able to stay just that bit ahead of their mysterious assailant. What blasts Chewie wasn’t able to avoid by flying were absorbed by the deflector shields, keeping the Falcon from taking any damage, but they wouldn’t hold forever, and then they would be in real trouble. Taking the firing-grips into his hands, Luke placed his feet on the directional control pedals and began aiming the cannon, trying to get a feel for how the other ship was moving.

The pilot at its helm was certainly talented; all of Luke’s first shots missed, and he had to adjust accordingly. Of course, the other ship was also shielded, just as he had expected, but firing on it was better than letting themselves be chased around like animals being rounded up for the slaughter.

The Falcon swerved to avoid a volley of shots, tilting sharply to the side, and Luke opened fire, most of his bolts melting into their opponent’s shields. He had no idea who this person attacking them was; there were no visible markings on the ship, but Luke could tell that it was heavily modified, even if he didn’t know what model it was. That pointed to someone who operated on the shadier side of the law; another smuggler perhaps, someone with a vendetta against Han who had recognized the Millennium Falcon — but that didn’t explain how they’d been found.

Luke’s best guess was the security station orbiting Gerrenthum. It probably had a large enough scope to monitor the entire system, and had noticed them loitering in the fringes and had reported it. Their location would have then been entered into the security system and marked for investigation. So not an old friend of Han’s, then — no smuggler would have access to that information. This was someone with connections. A bounty hunter, perhaps, one somehow able to get into the Empire’s many security databases and scour them for information on potential targets. There were a few powerful people who would be looking for the Millennium Falcon; Han still owed a substantial debt to Jabba the Hutt, and the Empire had reason enough to want the ship and her crew in their hands, though Luke couldn’t see the Empire stooping low enough to hire bounty hunters to do their dirty work.

It was likely Jabba, then, out to get Han for his unpaid debts. Luke didn’t know much about the slimy crime lord, but what he had heard wasn’t good. He certainly seemed like someone they wanted to avoid.

“How are you doing, Han?” Luke called, twisting in his seat to peer up the gun well.

He could just barely hear Han’s response. “We’re getting there!” he yelled. “Just a few more minutes!”

“Well hurry!”

“I’m trying my best!”

Luke turned back to the gunport, letting off a flurry of shots and managing a few directs hits on the other ship’s shields. He had no idea how strong its shielding was; it could take a dozen more blasts like that to bring it down. Luke just knew he didn’t want to deal with their own shields going down.

The Falcon jerked violently again as Chewie swung the ship this way and that. Luke could hear Han’s distant cursing as he was no doubt thrown about in the mechanical pit, but it was quickly drowned out by 3PO’s anxious voice coming on over the communicator in the headset.

“Your Highness,” the droid started, “I’m afraid that the ship’s deflector shields are down to just 37%. It would be in our best interest to leave the system immediately.”

“We’re working on it, Threepio,” Luke said, before looking back over his shoulder. “Han!” he cried.

“Almost there, hold on!” Han called back. “One more minute!”

The Falcon swerved again, avoiding most of the shots that their opponent lobbed their way, though a few made contact with the shield. Luke was quick to reply in the same fashion, his chair swiveling as he constantly adjusted the cannon’s position. One more minute — they could hold out for one more minute.

“Your Highness, the shields are at 29%!” 3PO said.

“Han! We’re running out of time!”

“Just a second!”

The other ship fired, and Luke fired back. The Falcon dashed through space, pursued by this relentless hound. If the shields went down, they would probably only have a few more minutes until the engine or the hyperdrive or some other necessary machinery was disabled. Then they would be boarded and captured. If this hunter really was working for Jabba the Hutt, Han and Chewie would no doubt be dragged off to Tatooine, with C-3PO in tow as a gracious gift. Luke, however, would be much more valuable to the Empire, and so he would be brought to the Emperor in shackles, an Imperial prisoner once more. He did not want to even think of the last time he had been in their custody.

But then Han gave a cry of success, and Luke could hear his boots clacking along the metal floor as he ran to the cockpit, yelling for Chewie to get them out of here. Luke stayed in the turret, doing what he could to keep their opponent occupied while their hyperspace trajectory was calculated. He had no idea where they were going, but Han and Chewie must have had someplace in mind, because it was only a few more moments before the stars outside the gun turret transformed in a flash into a blue vortex, the strange ship disappearing with them, left behind.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Luke slumped back in the chair, yanking off the headset. He sat there for a moment, breathing deeply, before hopping to his feet and clambering up the gun well. Han had taken over from Chewie in the pilot’s chair, with 3PO relegated to one of the back seats. Chewie looked up when Luke entered the cockpit, growling something that sounded like a compliment, and Luke replied with a smile, positioning himself between the two front seats and peering down at the console.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Bespin,” Han replied, tapping the mapscreen. “It’s just a few systems away from Gerrenthum, so the jump won’t take long.”

Luke studied it for a moment. “It’s pretty close to Hoth,” he observed. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“It’s safe enough,” Han said. “I know someone there — a guy by the name of Lando Calrissian. He’s a card player, gambler, scoundrel — you know the type.”

Luke raised an eyebrow, skeptical. “I do,” he said. He looked back at the mapscreen, reading the presented information on the planet. “It’s a mining colony?”

“A Tibanna gas mine,” Han said with a nod. “Lando conned somebody out of it, if I remember correctly. We go way back, Lando and me.”

“Can you trust him?”

“Not as far as I can throw him. But he has no love for the Empire, I can tell you that. He’ll be able to help us out.”

Luke frowned, settling into the seat beside 3PO. “Let’s hope you’re right,” he said. He didn’t particularly like the idea of putting themselves at the mercy of a con-man, but at the moment, it seemed as if they didn’t have any other choice.

As they made their way through hyperspace to Bespin, none of them noticed the tracking device planted on the underside of the Falcon’s hull, and none of the computer systems detected it.

◊◊◊

Leia’s arms were shaking with strain, her fingers digging into the soft, damp earth. She felt like she was going to collapse any minute, and she wobbled slightly, her balance precarious, but she managed to quickly steady herself before she toppled over. For the past several minutes she had been standing on her hands, Yoda perched on her foot, instructing her to use the Force to stack a pile of stones together, one on top of the other.  

She focused on the rocks, ignoring the burning of her muscles and thinking only about the task at hand. She had used the Force to control objects before, but that wasn’t what made this particular exercise difficult — the difficult part was doing it with all of her blood rushing to her head and her arms screaming out in protest.

“Concentrate,” Yoda reminded her. “Use the Force.”

Closing her eyes, Leia took in a deep breath, and did what she had done on Hoth, when she had been lying in the snow with her ribs broken and her lightsaber out of reach. She pushed the pain and discomfort away, reaching out to the Force, wrapping it around herself like a cocoon and then extending it out towards the rocks. She opened her eyes, and watched as one of the smaller stones lifted itself up into the air and settled onto the larger one.

“Good, good,” Yoda said. ”Now the next. Reach out to the stone. Feel it…”

Leia did as he said, stretching out with the Force, feeling as it enveloped the stone. She could sense it, and beyond the stone itself she could sense all the connections between it and the planet, between everything — the plants that made up the jungle, the creatures that lurked in the swamp, herself, Yoda, even between her ship and the earth it had crashed into. The Force connected her to the stone, allowed her to lift it and place it on top of the others. It connected everything.

And she could feel beyond Dagobah, beyond the stones and the murky swamp. She saw Luke, sitting in the Millennium Falcon, and felt his uncertainty. She saw a city in the clouds, and felt his fear. And she felt Han’s pain, heard him crying out. Above it all, there was a sense of dread — of darkness, and danger.

“Han! Luke!” The cry was involuntary, and it yanked at her focus, pulling it away. Her arms were suddenly too weak to bear her weight, and she fell, Yoda jumping nimbly from her foot and landing safely near the now-collapsed pile of stones.

“Focus!” he scolded. “Lose your concentration, you must not.”

“My friends…” With some effort, Leia lifted herself up into a sitting position, her arms and hands caked in muck. Her pulse was thundering in her ears, and it was as if a shadow had fallen over her heart. “I saw them — they’re in trouble.”

Yoda’s eyes narrowed, and he watched her for a moment, his wrinkled lips pressed tight together. “Felt this in the Force, did you?” he asked, and Leia nodded. He gave a soft grunt. “In the Force, all is connected. Its energy surrounds us and binds us.” He hobbled over, pinching the skin of her shoulder between his claws. “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Between you, between all living things.” He gave her another scrutinizing look. “So certain are you that what you saw is the truth?”

“Yes, of course,” Leia said. “I know that they’re in danger — I can feel it.”

“Hmm.” Yoda crossed his hands at the top of his cane, leaning on it heavily. “Yes, it is the future you see. Through the Force, things you will see — other places, the past.” He paused, giving her a look meant to remind her of her failure with psychometry. “The future, as well. Guide you, it can, yes, but it is also dangerous. You must not let it mislead you.”

“Mislead me? What’s misleading about this? They’re my friends. I have to warn them, while I still can.” She stood, pushing herself up with shaky arms. Luke’s X-wing would have a comms unit strong enough to get a message out to Han and Luke, wherever they were, if she could just get the ship to start. She looked around, scanning the clearing for R2 — he would be able to help her. She couldn’t just let Han and Luke walk into danger, not if she could help it. If she could have, she would have hopped into the X-wing and gone to them, but she was stuck here, the X-wing too beaten up to fly. A message was the best she could do.

“Your feelings for your friends, strong they are,” Yoda mused. “You feel deeply for them. But you must learn to control your emotions. You cannot let them overwhelm you — or give you away.”

“I’m helping my friends, Master,” Leia argued, irritated with the way the cryptic old Jedi tried to sneak lessons into everything. “Why would the Force show me these visions if it didn’t want me to help them?”

“So sure are you, that you can help them?”

“I can try.”

Yoda grunted, shaking his head. “There is no try,” he said. “Do, or do not. That is all there is.”

Leia stared at him for a moment, puzzling through what he was telling her. Did he want her to help her friends, or not? Either way, she knew what she had to do. “I’m going to help them, Master,” she said. “However I can.” She didn’t look back at him as she took off, going in search of R2.

Chapter Text

Bespin was not what Luke had expected. He had been to mining outposts before — had seen labourers working grueling hours and living in squalor, and planets polluted by industry. He had thought that a mine run by a criminal would be no different, if not worse, but he had been quite mistaken.

The planet itself was beautiful, though only a small section of its atmosphere was habitable, which was where Lando Calrissian’s outpost was located. It hung in the sky, a city in the clouds — a characteristic which had given it its admittedly uncreative name, Cloud City. The entire thing sat atop a giant metal complex that looked like an inverted spinning top, no doubt the result of some ingenious design that kept the city suspended in the atmosphere. Bespin was a gas giant, and the Tibanna gas that Calrissian’s complex mined was extremely rare, making it a rather lucrative business for all involved.

The buildings were very modern, most of them of a rounded design and made from a sleek ivory-coloured metal. The streets and walkways that criss-crossed in between the buildings were made of white stone, and there seemed to be a garden on almost every corner for the inhabitants to enjoy. But that was only the part of the city that was perched atop the great disk. According to Han, there were hundreds more levels nestled within it, where the workers lived and the gas was mined. So perhaps Cloud City was, in actuality, the same as all the other mines that Luke had seen — it just put up a better front.

Unlike his mining outpost, however, Lando Calrissian was exactly what Luke had expected. He was suave, well-dressed, charming, and handsome, all the marks of someone who made an excellent con-man. It didn’t take long for Luke to see how he had managed to con someone out of an entire mining colony; he had a winning smile and the perfect voice for smooth-talking, and a smooth-talker he was, indeed. He had welcomed them with open arms, offering to have his people repair the Millennium Falcon and providing them with accommodations on one of the city’s top levels. They had accepted, of course, though somewhat suspiciously, at least on Luke’s part.

The Baron Administrator of Cloud City acted friendly enough, but Luke didn’t trust him. Shortly after they’d arrived, C-3PO had gone missing, and no one had seen any sign of him. Chewbacca was out looking for him, but Luke could feel dread curling in the pit of his stomach — he should have known that bringing the protocol droid along would only end badly. The accommodations provided to them were wondrous, with gorgeous views of the perpetually-clear sky, but he couldn’t help but to feel that there was something dark looming in the shadows.

Frowning, he stood from where he had been ruminating on one of their suite’s plush white couches and walked over to the long, curved window that took up the entirety of the far wall. Patrolling cloud cars circled around the city, and people strolled about in the open air, enjoying the sight of the mountainous white clouds that passed lazily by the floating complex. In a way, it reminded him of Aldera — the architecture, the pale stone, and the peaceful citizens were all vaguely reminiscent of his home planet’s capital city. But while the aesthetically-familiar surroundings helped to loosen some of the tension from his shoulders, he couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that plagued him.

The door to the suite slid open, and Luke turned to see Han enter.

“The ship’s almost finished,” he announced, collapsing onto one of the couches and stretching his arm across the back. “Two or three more things and we’ll be in great shape.”

Luke nodded tersely, striding over from the window to where Han sat, twisting his hands nervously together. “Good,” he said. “The sooner we’re gone, the better.” They had already been delayed long enough on their way to Dagobah, and all Luke wanted to know was whether Leia was safe. The horrible thought that Dagobah might not have even been her destination pushed itself into his mind, but he quickly shut it out — he couldn’t think about that, not now. He was uneasy enough, with Lando and his perfect façade, and with C-3PO missing. It had been hours since they had last seen the droid, and he was beginning to become seriously worried.

“There’s something not right here,” he said, resuming his pacing while Han watched from the couch. “Threepio has been gone for far too long, and no one knows anything about where he might be. He couldn’t have gotten lost — he isn’t that stupid.”

“Relax, kid,” Han said. “I’m sure he’s fine. I’ll talk to Lando and see what I can find out.”

Luke gave a quiet scoff, shaking his head. “I don’t trust Lando,” he said.

“Neither do I, but he is my friend. As soon as the Falcon’s fixed and we have Threepio, we’re out of here.”

Luke gave Han a sharp look. “And what if Leia’s gone by the time we get to Dagobah? What then?”

Han didn’t answer, looking away with a deep frown on his face. Luke stalked back over to the window and braced his hands against the sill, his fingers digging into the white metal. If Leia was in trouble or hurt, in any way, he didn’t think he would be able to forgive himself. He couldn’t help but think of her trapped in an Imperial prison, staring down Darth Vader, or dead in a swamp, her chest a smoking hole. The images left him feeling sick.

Luke.

The voice was like a whisper brushing against the back of his mind, so quiet he barely heard it. He straightened, glancing over his shoulder at Han, but he was staring at the ground, not paying Luke any mind. He looked back out the window, thinking he might have imagined it, but then it came again, sounding not in his ears but in his head, like a voice speaking to him from within.

Luke, it said again, and he realized with a start that it was Leia’s voice. He didn’t even stop to think of how this might be possible — he just knew it was her calling out to him, her voice somehow stretching beyond the parsecs of empty space that separated them. Where are you? She asked.

She sounded scared, and he sucked in a sharp breath. Something bad must have happened; she must have been in trouble after all. And he was stuck here, unable to help her. “Leia,” he whispered, hoping that somehow, his voice would be able to reach her, wherever she was. But he didn’t hear her again; she was gone, and he felt lost.

He turned to face Han, who was watching him now, a curious expression on his face. Luke opened his mouth, ready to demand that they leave immediately, by any means necessary, 3PO or no 3PO, but then Chewie barged into the room, growling loudly. He had a box in his hands full of various pieces of metal, and it was a few moments before Luke realized that the pieces were actually C-3PO, somehow disassembled into several shiny golden parts. The droid’s head sat nestled in the middle of it all, his usually-glowing eyes extinguished.

“Oh, no!” he cried, hurrying over as Chewie set the box down on the table with a loud clunk. “What happened?”

Chewie grunted an explanation, sitting down in front of the box and pulling out both of 3PO’s severed arms.

“Where?” Han asked, and Chewie let out a loud cry, waving the arms about as if they were mechanical extensions of his own limbs. Han’s eyes widened. “Found him in a junk pile?”

Chewie growled again, nodding. Luke looked between the two of them, and then to the box and its morbid contents. He had no idea how something like this could have happened — 3PO could be a bit clueless, yes, but not enough to accidentally get himself disassembled into half a dozen different pieces. No, Luke had the distinct feeling that this had not been an accident.

“This is bad,” he said, frowning, and looking down at Chewie. “Do you think you can repair him?”

The Wookiee surveyed the box for a moment, and the two detached arms in his hands, before shrugging.

“Lando’s got people who can fix him,” Han suggested, from where he still sat on the couch.

Luke wrinkled his nose, and looked over at Han, shaking his head. “I’d rather not,” he said. He hadn’t trusted Lando before, and he certainly didn’t trust him now. Something was up in Cloud City, and Luke would bet the Falcon that Lando was in on it.

As if the galaxy knew what he was thinking, there was a soft chime from the door and a few seconds later Lando strode in, his long cape billowing behind him. He paused in the doorway, looking between the three of them and the box of disassembled droid.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Am I interrupting something?”

Luke shifted awkwardly, clasping his hands together behind his back. He shook his head. “Not really, no.”

Lando was silent for a moment, before a wide grin spread across his mustached face. “You know, you truly belong here with us among the clouds,” he said. “You’re absolutely stunning.”

Luke felt himself blush, and he coughed uncomfortably, shifting again. “I… thank you,” he said, rather awkwardly.  

“Would you join me for a little refreshment?” Lando asked, taking a few steps forward and reaching out his hand for Luke to take.

Chewie looked up from where he had been fiddling with C-3PO and barked loudly, intrigued by the mention of food. Nervous, Luke glanced over his shoulder at Han, who was sitting with his hand over his mouth, as if hiding a smirk. Luke narrowed his eyes at him, not sure what he had to smirk about.

“Everyone’s invited, of course,” Lando added, and his hand was still hovering there, and Luke saw no other option but to take it. Chewie was already on his feet and halfway out the door, and Han brushed past them as Lando took a moment to take in the boxful of droid sitting in the middle of their suite. “Having trouble with your droid?” he asked.

Han paused, looking from the box to Lando and shaking his head. “No,” he said. “No problem. Why?” Lando didn’t say anything, and Han continued on his way out, casting Luke an apologetic glance and leaving him standing there, hand-in-arm with the gambler. 

◊◊◊

The X-wing’s comms unit was shot. No messages were going to get in or out using it — whenever Leia tried, all she got was static. Really, it was a miracle that they had managed to even get the ship to turn on, what with its missing engine. Sitting in the cockpit and fiddling with the comms unit, she half-expected it to cut out any minute, or even blow up, judging by the unsettling noises it kept making.

Not for the first time since crash-landing on Dagobah, she hoped that Luke hadn’t been overly-fond of his X-wing. It wasn’t likely that he was going to get it back.

Sighing in frustration, Leia pulled the helmet from her head, looking down at R2 from the open cockpit. “It’s definitely damaged somewhere,” she said. “We’ll have to take a look at the communications array. If we can find out what’s wrong, we might be able to fix it and get a message out to the Falcon.” Frowning, she hoisted herself up out of the cockpit, tossing her helmet onto the seat and walking down the crumpled nose until she reached the ground. “I just hope we get to them in time…” she muttered.

They got to work right away. The communications array on T-65B X-wings was located rather low on the ship’s starboard side, so she set R2 on diagnostics while she dug out the tools. It was a bit of a struggle getting into the X-wing’s cargo compartment, what with its rather unorthodox positioning very close to the ground, but she was able to get most of it out. She hadn’t had the time to go through it since her arrival on Dagobah, but it was all fairly standard — supplies like power packs, food, blankets, and even a pop-up emergency tent. The tools were basic and lightweight, but if the communications array wasn’t too badly damaged, they would probably be able to get the job done. At least, that was Leia’s hope.

She tried not to think about the alternative. What would happen to Han and Luke, if they weren’t warned in time? And what were they even doing away from the fleet? Looking for her, perhaps, but she hadn’t told anyone where she was going — a potentially bad move in hindsight, she realized, kneeling on the muddy ground by her crashed X-wing, with no way of contacting anyone. But even though the vision had been unclear, nothing more than images and feelings, Leia knew that they were in danger. Something bad was about to happen, and she was the only one who could warn them.

Letting out a huff, she settled back onto her thighs, dropping the lid to the tool crate on the ground. Even as she dug through the tools, pulling out hydrospanners and wrenches and extra lengths of wire, she couldn’t pull her thoughts from Luke and Han. She went over the vision again and again, seeing Luke sitting in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, the city in the clouds, and feeling the dread that had hung over it all. Dropping her hands to her lap, she closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. If only she could see more; something, anything, to give her a clue…

“Luke,” she whispered, as if willing him into her mind. “Luke, where are you?”

The seconds stretched by, and nothing happened. No images, no voices, no feelings — just her, on her knees in the muck. Sighing, she opened her eyes, and saw that Master Yoda was there, standing near the nose of the X-wing. He was watching her, his expression as inscrutable as always; she had no idea how long he had been there.

“You wish to go to them,” he observed, and Leia wondered if he had learned that through the Force, or if he was simply good at reading people’s intentions — perhaps it was a bit of both. He shook his head, looking down at the ground. “Unwise, that would be.”

Standing, Leia tried in vain to wipe the mud from her pants. “It doesn’t matter what I wish,” she said, motioning half-heartedly to the wrecked ship beside them. “I can’t leave either way.”

“Hmm, yes. Trapped here, you are.”

“Don’t sound so pleased about it,” Leia snapped. “Not even the comms unit is working. I have no way of telling Han and Luke that they’re in danger, and by the time I get it fixed it could be too late.”

Yoda observed the ship for a moment. “You worry greatly for your friends,” he said. “Distract you from your training, it must not.”

“How can I think about training when they’re in trouble?” Leia demanded. Groaning in frustration, she sat down on ones of the crates, running her hands through her frizzy, damp hair. “What’s even the point of becoming a Jedi if I can’t help the people I care about?”

Yoda let out a displeased grunt, shuffling around so that he stood in front of her. “The point? You wish to know the point of becoming a Jedi, young Skywalker?” He jabbed at her leg with his gimer stick, and she looked up, frowning. “It is not to help yourself and those you love, no. A Jedi is not so selfish. You must look beyond yourself to find the point. A Jedi’s purpose is to keep peace. While the Emperor lives, peace in the galaxy, there is not.” He gave her a long, hard look, his wrinkled lips pressed together unhappily. “The point to you becoming a Jedi, young Skywalker,” he continued, “is to bring peace. If you do not complete your training, do that, you cannot.”

Leia was silent for a moment. “I know that,” she said. “I understand.” And she did, but she still could not ignore the vision. All the powers of a Jedi seemed useless in the face of her inability to help her friends. “I’m sorry, Master, but if I don’t do anything, Han and Luke…” She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. “I’m not leaving, but I have to do what I can to help them.”

“Hmmph.” Yoda stared at her for a good long while, and then turned to walk away. He stopped by the pile of tools, nudging a welder with the tip of his gimer stick. “This ship, these tools — need them, you do not. Already have you reached out to your friends, and already has the Organa boy heard you.”

“What?” Leia’s eyebrows drew together and she moved to stand, but Yoda was already walking away. “What do you mean?” she called, but he didn’t answer. He simply kept walking. Leia settled back onto the crate, frowning. How could she have already reached out to Han and Luke? She hadn’t had contact with anyone since her arrival on Dagobah.

But he had said that Luke had already heard her. There was no way Yoda could know something like that, unless it had involved the Force. She hadn’t even known such a thing was possible… but then she remembered kneeling on the ground, only a few minutes ago, reaching out to the Force and asking it to show her more about the danger her friends were in. She hadn’t seen anything, but she had called out to Luke, not expecting any sort of response, just wanting to know. But perhaps he had heard her.

And maybe, if she tried, she could get a response. She could find him, and let him know that he was in trouble.  

◊◊◊

Luke was on edge. The corridors they walked through were beautiful, the architecture absolutely stunning, but he found himself unable to appreciate any of it. Lando had been droning on about the mine’s business for most of their walk to the dining room, and Luke had hardly paid him any attention. The feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach had been slowly tightening the entire time, and he had to continually remind himself to loosen his grip on Lando’s arm. It felt as if, at any second, someone was going to jump out from behind a corner and shoot him.

“So you see,” Lando said, ending his long explanation, “since we’re a small operation, we don’t fall into the, uh… jurisdiction of the Empire.”

Luke looked up, momentarily forgetting his uneasiness. That was certainly unusual; the Empire was anxious to get its hands on every possible resource, and Tibanna gas was rare. He had known, of course, that the Empire wasn’t present on Bespin — if it was, they wouldn’t have landed here. But the fact that Lando had managed to keep them away for so long was certainly a topic of some interest.

“You’re part of the mining guild, then?” he asked, and Lando shook his head.

“No, not actually,” he said, and he launched into another explanation. Though Luke really was interested, he found his thoughts pulled away, unable to focus on what Lando was saying. His words seemed to die down until they were just a murmur in the background, and then, as loudly as if she was standing right beside him, Leia’s voice sounded once again in his mind.

Luke, she said. His steps faltered a bit, and he had to resist the urge to look for her over his shoulder, knowing that she wouldn’t be there. Luke, wherever you are, you need to leave. You’re in danger. You need to get out.

He didn’t know if those were actual words that she was saying, or if they were just feelings and warnings she was trying to convey, but either way he heard them. He stopped walking, letting his hand slip from Lando’s arm, sure of very little but the fact that he absolutely could not go any further. He didn’t know how Leia would know they were in trouble, or how she was reaching out to tell him, but he believed what she was saying. They needed to get out of this city, and off this planet, immediately.

Chewie, ambling along behind them, nearly crashed into him at his sudden halt. Lando and Han paused in their conversation and turned to look back at him, both of them with concerned looks on their faces.

“You alright, kid?” Han asked, and Luke nodded automatically.

“Yes, I’m fine,” he lied. “I just… realized that I forgot something. I’ll be—” He turned to leave, but Lando reached out and clamped a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks and cutting off his words.

“I’m sure it can wait until after we eat,” he said, wearing his same charming smile. All Luke could see in it was danger.

Without even thinking, he began to reach for the blaster concealed under his cloak. His eyes flicked over to Han, who noticed the movement and reached for his own hip. “It really can’t...” Luke started to say, and then the large dining room doors at the end of the hallway opened, and a tall, black figure stepped through them.

Darth Vader.

Han spun, blaster already pulled from its holster and aimed at Vader. He fired, but Vader seemed to deflect the bolt with his hand. Luke wrenched himself free of Lando’s grasp, giving the con-man a hard kick to the shin that sent him to the ground. He drew his blaster and turned to race away from the chaotic scene, Chewie not far behind him.

The sound of running feet filled the corridor, and then half a dozen stormtroopers were running towards them, blasters drawn. Luke lifted his own weapon, aimed, and brought one down. The stormtroopers lifted their blasters, ready to fire on him, but then Chewie let out an enraged roar and charged. They hesitated, caught momentarily off guard, before turning their blasters on Chewie. They let off a few shots, one of them hitting the Wookiee in the shoulder, but he kept charging, knocking one over and sending him flying into one of his comrades.

Luke squeezed off another shot, hitting one of the troopers in the leg, and then he ran. With the stormtroopers distracted by Chewbacca’s rampage, he was able to make it past them into the open hallway. He looked back only once, for just a second or two. Han was standing there, unmoving, his blaster somehow gone from his hands and the weapons of another half dozen stormtroopers aimed directly at his chest. Lando had gotten to his feet and was looking at Vader, who seemed to be staring directly at Luke. The sight of those soulless black eyes staring directly at him sent a shiver of fear through him, and he took off, racing back through the halls of Cloud City. He wished there was something he could do for Han and Chewie, but it would undoubtedly end in his own capture.

He just needed to make it to the Falcon. The chances of him getting there and making it off this planet were very slim, but he had to at least try. If he made it, he could go find Leia, and he could contact the Rebellion and let them know what happened. They would come back for Han and Chewie.

◊◊◊

Darth Vader watched Prince Luke disappear around a corner. He had expected such a stunt from the prince — the boy was more troublesome than most people believed, with far more stubbornness and heart. Before making his escape, he had looked back to his captured friend, and his gaze had met Vader’s from across the room. There had been defiance in those bright blue eyes, burning and unrelenting, and something else… something which had given Vader pause. But then the boy had turned and run, pursued by a pair of stormtroopers, and the moment was gone.

Another bolt to the shoulder effectively subdued the Wookiee enough for them to put him in binders, and he was brought over to join his companion. The smuggler let out a slew of curses, most aimed at Calrissian, but the Baron Administrator took them with a stony expression on his face.

“My Lord.”

Vader turned to the approaching officer, who stopped a few feet away and bowed his head. “It is likely the Prince is heading for his ship,” he reported. “Shall I send a squadron to intercept him?”

“That will not be necessary, Captain,” Vader said, and a confused expression darted across the officer’s face. “We will allow the Prince to board his ship and escape. I have no doubt that he will return for his friends, and he will bring Skywalker with him.”

After only a second of hesitation, the captain nodded and stepped away. The smuggler was put in binders, and he and his Wookiee cohort were dragged away to be imprisoned.

Skywalker. Vader had long been searching for the girl that had fired the shot to destroy the Death Star. He had sensed her power with the Force during the battle over Yavin, and had missed his opportunity to capture her at Hoth. The daughter of Anakin Skywalker was a powerful threat… and a strong potential ally. If she could be turned, nothing would be able to stand in his way.

He had redoubled his search efforts after that, looking for her relentlessly. A freighter found loitering in the Gerrenthum system matching that which had carried Prince Luke from the Death Star had provided him with an opportunity. It was a well-known Rebel ship, owned by the smuggler, a close associate of Skywalker’s, and if she herself wasn’t on board it, then the next best thing would be — bait. And his plan had worked wonderfully. There was a reason the freighter had been floating alone near Gerrenthum, far from its Rebel compatriots, and Vader believed that reason had to do with Leia Skywalker. Prince Organa was a bleeding heart; he would not be able to leave his friends here for long. He would come back for them, and Vader was certain the Skywalker girl would be with him.

And Vader would be here, waiting for her.

Underneath his mask, he allowed himself a smile.  

Chapter Text

Leia sat on the cold damp earth, cross-legged and breathing deeply. Dozens of thoughts swirled in her mind, all of them centered on Han and Luke. She had done her best to help them. There was no way of knowing if her message had reached them, but she hoped desperately that it had. Until she got confirmation, however, she was finding it nearly impossible to focus on any aspect of her training. Her thoughts always wandered back to her friends, and if they were safe.

“Focus!” Yoda jabbed her in the side with his gimer stick, and she winced, opening her eyes to glare at him. He had an equally displeased look on his face, his lips curled into a frown. He had been growing increasingly impatient with her, and her obvious lack of focus wasn’t helping any. “Your thoughts dwell on your friends,” he continued. “You must not allow them to distract you.”

“But how can I?” Leia asked, her hands slipping off her knees into the muck. “I have no idea what’s happened to them. They could be dead, for all I know.”

“And nothing can you do about it,” Yoda said. “Go to them, you cannot, so focus on your training you must. That is how you can help them.”

“I couldn’t ever forgive myself if they died.”

“What could you have done differently, hm?” Yoda asked, pausing in his pacing to stare her down. “Focus on the past, you must not. The past is gone. Only the present there is. Do not look to the horizon — place your focus here, now. That is where you can change things.”

Leia frowned, but still closed her eyes, settling her hands back on her knees. She took in a deep breath of air and let it out slowly, sending her thoughts of Han and Luke with it. She focused instead on what she could hear and feel — the cold earth pressed against her legs, the humid air on her skin, the cries of the creatures lurking in the jungle. She tried to imagine them, the reptilian birds that lived in the trees and the snakes that slithered through the underbrush. Slowly, she freed her mind of those thoughts as well, focusing only on the Force that connected it all.

There was a loud squeal, like an overly-excited screech, and Leia’s eyes flew open, the peace that had finally begun to settle on her flying away in an instant. The source of the noise soon revealed itself to be R2, rushing into the clearing and beeping a blue streak.

“Artoo, what is it?” Leia asked, scrambling to her feet and hurrying over to the astromech. He had her commlink in one of his graspers, and he extended it out towards her, his binary tones nearly incomprehensible in their speed. She took it from him, and to her surprise heard Luke’s voice coming through from the other end.  

“Leia?” he said, a sense of urgency audible in his tone. “Leia, is that you? Are you there? Leia?”

“Luke!” she cried, holding the commlink to her mouth and looking down at R2 in surprise. The droid was shuffling excitedly in place, his dome swiveling from side to side. “Luke, how is this possible? Where are you?” Handheld commlinks didn’t have a very long range — he would have to be within the same system at least for this to be working. 

“I’m in the Falcon, in orbit around Dagobah,” Luke explained. “I’m here to get you. When Artoo answered your commlink I knew that meant you were here.” 

“Yes, I — how did you find me? There’s no way you could have known I was here.”

“I’ll explain as soon as I get to you,” Luke said. “There’s a transponder, in the X-wing. If you turn it on, I’ll be able to pick up your signal and land nearby.”

Leia nodded. “Alright, give me a few minutes,” she said. “Be careful landing. It’s pretty rough when you enter the atmosphere, and if you’re not careful you’ll end up in a swamp.”

“Don’t worry,” Luke said. “I’ve handled rough landings before. I’ll manage.”

“Alright, I’ll see you down here,” Leia said. The commlink went quiet, and she slipped it into the pocket of her fatigues. R2 beeped a question, and if he had legs she was sure he would be jumping in anticipation. “I don’t know if this means we’re leaving,” she answered. “We’ll have to wait until they get here, won’t we?”

She turned to look back at Master Yoda. He was still standing in the same place, leaning on his gimer stick with a grim look on his face. They stared at each other for a few moments, neither of them saying anything, until Leia turned and began making her way towards the X-wing. She could tell he thought she was planning on leaving, even though she wasn’t — not yet. She just wanted to make sure that Luke and Han were alright first, and if they were, she would have no reason to leave with them. Of course, Luke would likely try and convince her to, but the only thing that would drag her away from her training would be if one of them was in trouble. Which, considering the Millennium Falcon was currently in orbit around Dagobah, seemed highly unlikely.

◊◊◊

Leia was right. The descent towards Dagobah’s surface was choppy, with thick fog obscuring the viewports and strong winds buffeting the ship. Luke had to keep a tight grip on the controls to stay steady, and even so it was like trying to hold onto the reins of an untamed thranta. He had no idea how he was going to land, with his visibility almost at zero. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t even have a co-pilot. The signal from his X-wing’s transponder was strong, though, and he was able to use it like a guiding beacon in a storm.

The Falcon shook violently, and then suddenly the tops of trees were rushing up towards him. He reacted quickly, pulling on the controls so that the ship lurched back up into the clouds. He would have to go slowly; if he could just skim across the trees, he would be able to find Leia and, with any luck, there would be a nearby clearing where he could land.

He gently pushed forward on the controls, moving them as little as possible while still actually lowering the ship. The Falcon dipped down, and he could see the topmost branches of the trees poking out through the murky grey haze. He held his hand steady; if the ship descended any further, he would likely end up crashing into the jungle that seemed to cover every inch of this planet. The fog and wind made the ship’s sensors practically useless, and so he had to rely on what little he could see outside the viewports.

He flew slowly in the direction of the transponder, its signal growing progressively stronger. There seemed to be no break in the steady onslaught of trees, and nowhere suitable to land. He tried to keep a look-out for any sign of where Leia might be, but while the clouds were thinner down here, they still obscured anything that might have been of note.

Eventually, the signal grew so strong that there was nowhere the transponder could be but directly below him. There still wasn’t anywhere for him to land — all he could see were trees, broken up occasionally by swamp. He circled the area for what felt like ages, radiating out slowly from where the transponder was. It soon became apparent that he was just going to have to find himself the nearest shallow swamp and set down there. It wasn’t a pleasant idea, but it would be better than crashing through the trees. 

It took a while longer before he was able to find a big enough break in the trees to squeeze the Falcon through. He positioned himself as well as he could above the opening, and then began his slow, careful descent. Several branches scraped against the ship’s hull and snapped, but none of them sounded big enough to leave a scratch. He shifted the ship as he went, hoping to position the back end as close to the shore as he could to minimize the amount of water he would have to trudge through.  

Everything was much clearer below the trees, so that he was actually able to see more than a couple of metres in front of the ship. The water he was descending into was so murky that he couldn’t tell its depth, but he hoped it would be shallow enough. After what felt like the slowest landing of his life, the Falcon finally touched down. He could tell right away that the front end was much lower down than the back, but he didn’t suppose he would be able to fix it; he was lucky enough that the entire ship wasn’t already sinking into the muck, and he didn’t want to test it.

He hurried out of the cockpit, making sure to grab his commlink as he left. The back end was only a few feet away from the shore, but the water still reached almost a metre up the landing ramp. He stared at it a moment, hesitant, before taking a cautious step forward.

As he moved down the ramp, he pulled his blaster from its holster, holding it up with his finger near the trigger. He had no idea what sort of hostile creatures lurked on this planet, and he wanted to be prepared. The cold muddy water came up almost to his knees, and his feet sank into the soft bottom. He trudged to the shore, the mud beneath the water unwilling to let his boots go with each step. It only grew worse as the water became shallower. Each stride was accompanied by a loud squelching pop as he pried his foot free of the mud, until he finally made it to what he supposed equated to dry land on this damp, stagnant planet.

He stamped his feet on the moss-covered ground, trying to get off as much of the mud as possible. Water had seeped into his boots, and his feet were already cold from the damp. Looking up, he took a moment to observe his surroundings. The jungle was thick, with a dense underbrush and a seemingly never-ending series of vines criss-crossing the space beneath the canopy. Not much light was able to penetrate the tightly-packed tree tops, and so the world below was dim, a situation not aided by the wispy fog that lingered over everything. The air was filled with the cries of strange animals and the beating of leathery wings, while behind him the swamp bubbled in a somewhat unsettling way.

His blaster still held firmly in his hand, Luke dove into the trees, heading in the general direction of the transponder. The ground was spongy beneath his feet, and many of the roots and logs that blocked his path were slippery from the constant damp. Creatures scuttled out of his way, disappearing quickly into the brush, and darkly-coloured snakes watched him from the trees. He thought at first that perhaps the weather had been unnaturally bad lately, but it seemed now that this was the way things always were on Dagobah. He couldn’t imagine living here for any extended amount of time, but he supposed that was what made it the perfect hiding spot for a hunted Jedi — if there really was one here.

He had not gone far when a sudden shuffling up ahead made him pause. Something was moving towards him — something large. The fog and the close trees obscured whatever it was, and so Luke watched closely for any sign of movement. He aimed his blaster at the spaces between the trees, and a few moments later the outline of an obviously humanoid figure took shape. He wondered for a split second if there was, in actuality, sentient life native to Dagobah, but then Leia materialized out of the fog, a wide smile on her face.   

Luke quickly lowered his blaster, holstering it before hurrying forward to throw his arms around her. They stood together like that for a moment, hugging each other tightly, before Luke finally broke the silence.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” he said, taking a step back and giving her a relieved smile, his hands on her shoulders.

“I could say the same for you,” she said. “I was so worried.” She glanced past him, her eyes searching the trees, and the smile on her face fell a bit. “Where are Han and Chewie? Aren’t they with you?”

Luke winced, and Leia’s smile turned into a frown. “What happened?” she asked.

“I was the only one who was able to escape,” he explained, his voice quiet. “Han, Chewie, Threepio… They’ve all been captured.”

“By who?”

Luke clenched his jaw, his lips screwed into a tight frown. Leia was looking at him with such worry and fear, and he felt like he was drowning in guilt. He had left them there, trapped in the clutches of the Empire. He knew it would have been impossible to save them — it would have just ended in his own capture — but the fact that he hadn’t even tried left him racked with guilt.

“Luke. Captured by who?”

He looked up from his muddy shoes, forcing himself to meet her eye. “Darth Vader.”

She let out a shaky breath. It was obvious that she had been expecting this answer. “Where are they now?” she asked.

“If we’re lucky, they’re still on Bespin. We had trouble with the Falcon, and stopped at a mining complex owned by an old friend of Han’s for repairs. But he turned us in.” His frowned deepened. Lando, with his charming smile and cunning words. Luke knew they shouldn’t have trusted him.

“How did you manage to escape, but not the others?”

From anyone else, the words would have sounded accusatory, but from Leia they just sounded concerned.

He managed to give her a smile. “Your warning,” he said. “I heard it.”

She straightened a bit. “Is that how you found me?” she asked.

“No, no.” He shook his head. “I… I don’t even know how you managed to do it, or how I even heard you. I found out you were here in a much more mundane way.”

She smiled. “You can explain on the way back to Yoda,” she said, turning and starting back the way she had come.

“Yoda?” Luke’s eyes widened, and he gave Leia an incredulous look. “Yoda is the Jedi Master you came here to find? And he’s really here?”

She looked back at him, curious. “You know him?”

“I know of him,” Luke explained. “He was famous, during the time of the Old Republic. My father told me so many stories about him when I was a child. But I thought he was dead.”

Leia gave him another small smile, before starting off back into the jungle. “I think that was the point,” she said.

He stared at her for a moment, not truly believing that this whole time she had been here training under Yoda. But then she began to disappear into the fog, and he hurried into the trees after her.

◊◊◊

Yoda was waiting for them outside his hut when they arrived. R2 was standing off to the side, and he hurried towards them as they emerged from the trees, greeting Luke happily. Leia left him to placate the droid with attention, stepping forward until she was standing in front of Yoda. His look was one of supreme disappointment, and Leia could already feel herself flooding with guilt.

“Leaving with him, are you?” Yoda asked. His disappointment showed clearly in his voice.  

“I have to, Master,” Leia said. “Han’s still in trouble. Vader has him, but I mean to save him if I can.”

“Leave, you cannot!” Yoda jabbed his gimer stick into the ground. “You must complete the training!”

“Not while I have friends in danger. Luke can’t rescue them alone. He needs my help — they all do.”

“You must not go!”

“Han will die if I don’t!”

“You don’t know that.” The voice that spoke wasn’t Yoda’s, but Leia recognized it instantly. As she watched, Ben materialized beside Yoda, translucent and shimmering but still unquestionably there. She had seen this ghost-like form before, but it was much more striking when she wasn’t half-dazed from blood loss. “Even Yoda cannot know his fate,” he said.

Leia stared at him for a moment, awed, before quickly glancing over her shoulder at Luke. He was staring as well, his mouth half-open in shock. He could see Ben too, then; he wasn’t just some apparition or voice inside her head.

“But I can help him,” she said, straightening her back as she stared down the ghost of her old master. “I know the Force. I’m stronger than you think.”

Ben gave her a doubtful look. “I know exactly how strong you are, Leia Skywalker,” he said, “and you may know the Force, but you cannot control it. This is a dangerous time for you, when you will be tested by the dark side.”

“Yes, to Obi-Wan you listen,” Yoda said. “Remember how you failed to control your visions of your father.”

“I’ve learned so much since then,” Leia argued. “I do have control!”

The two masters watched her for a moment, both silent. Ben’s gaze flicked to something past her shoulder, and when Leia looked back Luke was there, having left R2 back near the treeline.

“Leia, what’s going on?” he asked, not taking his eyes off Ben’s ghostly figure. He looked stunned, and more than a little unsure. Leia did not blame him.

Ben gave him a warm smile, nodding his head in greeting. “Your Highness,” he said. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you.”

“General Kenobi?” Luke asked, and Ben nodded again. “I… how is this possible? You’re dead.”

Ben’s lips turned up in a small smile. “That’s true — I am dead,” he said. “But no one who dies is ever truly gone. After death, all living things become one with the Force. It is just that some have learned to maintain their presence in this world — if only for a short time.”

“So… you’re a ghost?”

Another smile. “In a way, yes.”

Luke fell silent, as if trying to muddle through it all. Leia watched him for a moment, before looking back towards her masters.

“I promise I’ll return, Master Yoda,” she said. “You have my word. I’ll come back and finish my training. But this is something I have to do.”

“Leia, you should know that it is you and your abilities the Emperor wants,” Ben said, his face now grim. “That is why your friends were made to suffer.”

“It’s a trap?” Luke asked, taking a small step forward. “Of course. I should have known. They let me escape; that’s why it was so easy. They must have known I would come to you.” He looked to Leia, his forehead creased with worry.

“This doesn’t change my mind,” Leia said. “I’m still going.”

There was sadness in Ben’s voice when he spoke next. “Leia, I don’t want to lose you to the Emperor the same way I lost Vader.”

“You won’t,” Leia promised, and she meant it. The lure of the dark side might be strong, as Yoda had said, but she was stronger. She knew she was.

Yoda let out a deep sigh, shaking his head. “Only a fully-trained Jedi Knight with the Force as their ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor,” he said, his voice grave. “If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil.”

“I’m not choosing the quick and easy path,” Leia argued. “I’m choosing to save my friend. If I wait until my training is complete, it’ll be too late.” She paused, glancing around at everyone gathered there. Luke’s mouth was pulled into a tight frown, and his eyes were trained on the ground. Ben’s gaze kept alternating between her and Luke, his expression sad and distant. Leia knew that he agreed with Yoda, but that still did nothing to change her mind. She was going to go after Han, no matter what they said.

She looked back to Yoda. He had the look of a long-suffering teacher, his disappointment in her apparent. She still didn’t care. “I’ll come back,” she told him again. “I promise.” And she meant to keep that promise; she wanted to complete her training and become a true Jedi Knight. But she was going to rescue Han first.

“You should know that if you choose to face Vader, you will do it alone,” Ben warned her. “I cannot interfere.”

“She won’t be alone,” Luke said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be with her.”

Ben was silent for a moment, his expression gravely serious. “Remember, Leia — don’t give in to hate,” he said. “That leads to the dark side.”

“Strong is Vader,” Yoda added. It seemed as if he had finally accepted that she was leaving. “Mind what you have learned. Save you it can.”

Leia nodded, looking from one master to the other. “I will,” she said. “Thank you.” Luke let his hand slip from her shoulder, giving her a reassuring nod before heading back towards R2.

She cast Ben one last glance, and then turned to follow Luke. She would return — of that she was certain.

◊◊◊

Yoda watched Luke and Leia disappear into the trees, the little astromech rolling along after them. He could not help but feel disappointed; he had expected much more from the girl. He had felt in her great conviction, and a strong mind that would see her task through to the very end. And yet here she was, leaving before her training was complete, not caring that the task ahead of her was one that could only end in failure.

“This, I did not foresee,” he said, as beside him the shimmering image of Obi-Wan began to fade, the soft blue light he had been casting vanishing with him. “Unpredictable is she. Now matters are worse.”

“That girl is our last hope,” Obi-Wan said, his voice echoing. His presence was growing softer in the Force; soon he would be gone, and Yoda would be alone again, as he had been for so many, many years.

Shaking his head, he looked up. The sky was darkening, and it would be night soon. “No,” he said. “You forget the boy.” The boy — he was reckless and unfocused, but if Leia failed in her task, he was the only one who could take her place.

Obi-Wan’s presence faded completely, and it was not long before Yoda heard the sounds of a ship flying by overhead. Not for the first time, he was left with nothing but the feeling of having failed as a teacher.

◊◊◊

The sun was just beginning to set over Cloud City when they arrived, the clouds bathed in hues of pink and gold. Luke maintained a tight grip on the controls as they approached the giant floating complex; when they had arrived here the last time, they had been escorted in by sentinels. They had been hostile, but complacent enough when they had learned that Han was a friend of Lando’s. Luke doubted they would be shown the same courtesy this time.

But the sentinels never appeared. They grew closer and closer to the city, and no ships flew out to stop them. Frowning, he directed the Falcon towards an empty landing pad.

“It’s definitely a trap,” he said, glancing over at Leia, who sat quietly beside him in the co-pilot’s chair. “They must know that I’ve come back with you. Otherwise they would have shot us out of the sky the second we entered the atmosphere.”

He set the Falcon down with a gentle shudder. Leia’s expression was hard and determined as she stared through the viewport to the city’s entrance. No officers or troops ran out to greet them; everything was quiet. Luke worried for a moment that the Empire had already left. Maybe they hadn’t meant to lure him back to Cloud City with Leia in tow, and they were too late — Han and Chewie were already gone, halfway across the galaxy.

But then why would they have let him escape? It would have been all too easy to stop him. No, they had wanted him to go to Leia, and now they were getting ready to spring the trap.

Behind them, R2 let out a series of nervous beeps. Leia hopped up from her seat, giving the astromech a pat as she slipped by him into the corridor. “Come on,” she called. “Let’s get going.”

Luke stood, urging R2 out of the cockpit with him. He quickly checked that he still had his blaster strapped into his holster, before heading after her down the corridor. As they descended the ramp, weapons drawn, the only sound was the roar of the strong winds buffeting the complex. They moved cautiously across the landing pad, expecting at any moment to be overrun, but nothing happened — they reached the door unaccosted, and it opened readily at Leia’s touch.

R2 whistled nervously as they stepped through into the quiet hallway, and Luke glanced back at him. “You and me both,” he muttered, speaking softly, still worried that someone might be lurking nearby waiting for them.

“Do you know where they could be?” Leia asked, pressing herself close to the wall to keep out of view.

Luke shook his head. “I have no idea,” he said. “I’m not even sure what part of the building we’re in.” He glanced about the hallway, looking for some sort of clue, but there was none. This entire section of the building seemed to be abandoned; where before there had been the bustle of a busy colony, there was now an eerie silence. Glancing out a nearby window, he saw that the courtyard done below was also empty. It seemed as if the inhabitants of Cloud City had vanished — or gone into hiding.

He frowned. “Come on,” he said, slinking ahead of Leia and continuing on through the corridor. All the doors lining it were locked, and he could hear no sounds coming from the other sides. In a matter of hours Cloud City had been turned into a ghost town.

They were silent as they made their way through the halls, the only sounds their feet hitting the floor and R2’s gentle mechanical humming as he followed along. Leia kept an eye on their back, while Luke, knowing at least some of the city, took the lead. As they approached a large T-shaped intersection, he slowed a bit, wanting to be cautious. Vader knew they were here, and Luke had no doubt he had some sort of sinister trap laid for them.

He took one small step past the corner, leaning forward a bit to see down the intersecting hallway. It didn’t go on for very long before it was interrupted by a large sort of rotunda made of glass panels, covered in strange circular designs. Leia, one hand on his shoulder, leaned out past him, but quickly retreated when the sound of jangling metal and heavy footfalls came echoing down towards them. She pulled Luke back around the corner just in time, and from his vantage point he could see as a man in Mandalorian armour came striding along the front of the rotunda, blaster rifle balanced in his arms. He was quickly followed by two Cloud City guards, pushing a long, rectangular box along in front of them. There was the vague shape of a person, frozen in place, attached to the top, and Luke realized with a start that they were frozen in carbonite.

Behind him, Leia let out a quiet gasp. “It’s Han,” she whispered, her grip tight on his arm. Luke frowned.

The grim procession was brought up by two stormtroopers, their weapons drawn. After they had disappeared around the rotunda, Luke rushed forward, blaster in hand. He stopped right where the rotunda began, pressing his back close to the wall.

“What do we do now?” Leia asked, her voice hushed as she hurried up beside him. “Is he even still alive?”

Luke nodded. “I think so,” he said. “Carbonite freezing is survivable. We’ll just have to—“

He was cut off by a blaster bolt exploding into the nearby wall. Flinching back, he threw up his arm to protect his face from the flying sparks. Several more bolts came flying at them, all of them striking harmlessly at the wall, more like warning shots than an actual attack. When he peeked back out around the corner, he was just able to see the back of the Mandalorian as he disappeared.

He waited several heartbeats to see if the man reappeared, and when he didn’t he dashed out onto the rotunda, Leia close behind him. They moved quickly, heading in the same direction as the Mandalorian. The rotunda soon ended in a short, curved hallway, and he glanced back for just a moment at Leia, who nodded and urged him forward.

They had not even cleared the curve when several bolts came sailing towards them, just barely missing them. They shuffled back a bit, pressed tight to the wall, and Luke leaned forward just long enough to see that it wasn’t the Mandalorian shooting at them, but rather a pair of stormtroopers. Behind him, Leia cursed quietly and then dashed past him, taking shelter in the doorway at the end of the hall. Luke was quick to follow her, ducking his head low to keep it from getting blown off and taking up a position on the other side of the door. The stormtroopers kept blasting, their bolts striking ineffectually against the floors and walls.

The hallway led into a small, rounded intersection, and across the way, through the haze of smoke from the blasterfire, Luke could see Chewbacca, towering high over the stormtroopers surrounding him. He had a sack strapped to his back, with C-3PO nestled inside; the droid had been for the most part reassembled, but was still obviously lacking the legs that allowed him to move about on his own. Lando was there, as well, watching the assault nervously.

Appearing to see them, Chewie let out a loud guttural roar, waving his arms wildly as he was pushed through into another room. He attempted to shove his way back out, but the stormtroopers quickly surrounded and overpowered him. One trooper kept firing at Luke and Leia until Chewie was all the way inside the room, then he followed after his companions, leaving the door open.

Luke frowned. If he’d still had any doubts about all of this being a trap, they were gone now. Vader was purposefully directing them somewhere, using their friends as bait.

But what choice did they have but to spring the trap?

He looked across to Leia, and she gave him a reassuring nod before hurrying out into the intersection. R2 trilled nervously, but reluctantly followed Luke as he ran out after Leia. He hung back a bit as she pressed close to the open door and peeked inside, giving the darkened interior a cursory glance. After a moment she leaned back out and nodded that it was safe, before diving in.

Luke hurried to follow, R2 close behind him, but just as he was about to cross the threshold the door slammed down in his face, locking him out and trapping Leia inside. He reached over, palming the activation button, but nothing happened. Banging on the door, he pressed his ear to the metal.

“Leia!” he called, speaking as loudly as he dared. “Leia, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” came her reply, muffled by the thick door between them. “Don’t worry. It seems like they were trying to lure me in here, though. I don’t think Chewie’s actually here.”

“I’ll try and look for him,” Luke said. “Han, too. You just find a way out of there, and quick.”

“Alright. Be safe.”

“You too.”

He heard the soft sound of her feet hurrying away, and then there was silence. R2 looked up at him, beeping sadly, and Luke gave him a gentle pat. “She’ll be fine,” he said. “Come on. We should get moving.”

R2 beeped again, and trundled off alongside him down the hallway, neither of them entirely sure of where they were going.

Chapter Text

Leia stepped away from the door, taking a few hesitant steps further into the room. There wasn’t much light, and her eyes strained to pick out the shapes of the machinery lurking in the shadows. Hissing vents of steam created the illusion of things moving, forms shifting and dancing about in the dark. She moved forward unsteadily, her blaster held tightly in her hands and her eyes darting blindly around the room.

They had to have brought Chewie through here, meaning that somewhere up ahead there was some way out. She could hear no sounds save the hiss of steam and her own footsteps against the metal floor. She doubted it would be easy for her to get out; they had lured her in here for a reason, and separated her from Luke and R2. Ben’s warning rang through her head — it was her abilities the Emperor was after. She suspected she would not be leaving Cloud City without a fight.

The small room quickly came to an end. Thin shafts of light trickled down from a circular grate in the ceiling, and Leia stepped under it, staring up in an attempt to see whatever lied above. The floor beneath her began to rise, and the circle opened up, spitting her out into a much larger chamber. It was brighter than the room below, if only slightly. A dull orange glow emanated from the gaps in the grated metal floor, and dark blue light illuminated the rest, shining from some invisible source.

She stepped slowly forward. In the dim light, she couldn’t see any walls, creating the sensation that she was standing on a large platform instead of a room, floating in some great empty space. Steam continued to rise from the floor, given the look of smoke from a burning fire by the soft orange light. She was surrounded by various pieces of machinery and wiring, none of it with a purpose she knew or understood.

As she took another step away from the pad, the circular grate snapped shut with a loud metallic clang, trapping her once again. She stared at it for a moment, suddenly overcome with a horrible sense of dread. The room was deathly silent; not even the machines seemed to be making any noise. She had known this was a trap all along, but suddenly faced with the actuality of it, she couldn’t help but feel unprepared.

The orange lights in the floor flared, growing suddenly brighter as overhead the white lights ringing a large, circular apparatus blazed to life. From behind her, a voice spoke that left her heart stuttering and her breath hitched in her throat.

“The Force is with you, young Skywalker,” they said, and Leia did not even have to look to know that it was Darth Vader. She turned, and saw him standing atop a platform not too far away, steam rising behind him like a great cloud. His awful mechanical breathing echoed around the chamber, and an eternity seemed to pass before he spoke again.

“But you are not a Jedi yet.” There was the smallest hint of amusement in his voice, mechanized as it was, as if it was absurd for her to even think of facing off against him.

And perhaps it was. Vader had had decades of training in the ways of the Force, and he had been a fully-trained Jedi before his turn to the dark. Against him, she was nothing — her three years of training, most of them master-less, could not even compare. For a moment, she let blinding fear overtake her. Her victory against him was impossible. Her death would be the best probable outcome, because at least it would deny the Emperor the satisfaction of capturing her.

But she had known this was coming; from the moment she had set foot on Cloud City, this was what had been waiting for her at the end. Perhaps, if they were lucky, Luke would find Chewie and escape. But Leia decided, standing there, staring up at Darth Vader, that if she did not leave Bespin free, she would not leave it at all.

She holstered her blaster and began to make her way towards Vader, her footsteps on the metal floor sharply dissonant to his deep, laboured breathing. She climbed the steps up to the platform, not allowing herself to waver. Though her heart pounded wildly in her chest, she clenched her jaw tight and willed the fear she felt not to show on her face.

At the top step, she stopped, unhooking her father’s lightsaber from her belt. She stared at Vader, and he stared back through that impassive black mask, the eyes emotionless holes that led nowhere. Placing one foot forward, she steadied her stance and raised the ‘saber, its blue blade igniting with a sharp hiss. Vader was still for a moment, and she almost expected him to laugh, amused by the prospect of fighting an untrained Jedi hopeful.  

But then he raised his own lightsaber, the blade shining crimson red as it was activated. He crossed their blades, the energy of the ‘sabers humming loudly as they hovered close to each other. Leia could see the reflection of the two swords, one blue and one red, in the lenses of his mask. For a moment, neither of them moved.

She was the first to strike. She spun her blade away from his, bringing it down towards him. He blocked it effortlessly, and the two lasers crashed together with a crack as loud as thunder.  

◊◊◊

Luke heard Chewbacca before he saw him, the Wookiee’s fierce growl echoing down the hallway towards him. Beside him, R2 let out an excited chirrup, speeding up as he trundled off in the direction of the noise. Luke quickened his pace, hurrying after the headstrong astromech.

“Artoo, be careful!” he said, his voice a loud whisper, not wanting to alert any Imperial troops that might be lingering nearby, though it was likely too late for that. “Slow down!”

R2 paid him no mind, and Luke let out an aggravated sigh. There was another roar from up ahead, much louder this time. Breaking out into a jog, Luke quickly overtook R2, pausing at the end of the corridor to peek his head around the corner and see what he could.

He certainly didn’t expect to see Chewie standing only a few metres away and yelling angrily, his fists wrapped tightly around Lando Calrissian’s neck. Lando was on his knees, pawing uselessly at Chewie’s hands as he gasped for breath. C-3PO, still strapped to Chewie’s back, was calling out in vain for Chewie to stop before he killed Lando. There were no stormtroopers or Imperial officers of any kind in sight.

R2 rounded the corner before Luke, beeping loudly to draw Chewbacca’s attention. The Wookiee looked up, barking in confusion, and Luke quickly stepped out into the corridor, hurrying towards them.

“What’s happening?” he asked, looking from Lando to Chewie, whose claws were still gripping the con-man’s throat.

“Oh, Prince Luke, is that really you?” 3PO cried, waving his one attached arm. “I’m so glad to see you’re alright! And you’ve found Artoo!” R2 beeped a greeting, rolling behind Chewie to look up at his old counterpart.

Lando took in a rasping breath, his fist hitting weakly against Chewie’s arm as if to remind them he was still there, and choking. Chewie growled a deep warning, shaking Lando slightly, and he wheezed, eyes bulging.

“What happened?” Luke asked again, and Lando’s lips moved soundlessly, his strained vocal chords attempting to make any sort of meaningful sound.

“I… I’m just trying to help,” he croaked, and Luke nearly scoffed.

“Why would we want your help?” he asked. “Do you think we can trust you, after what you did? I saw what happened to Han. I’ve half a mind to let Chewie kill you!”

Chewie growled, as if pleased by the suggestion, and his grip on Lando tightened. Lando let out a harsh gasp.

“I had no choice,” he wheezed.

“Chewbacca, what are you doing?” 3PO cried, his head swiveling from side to side as he attempted to see what was going on. “Trust him! He let us go, you great buffoon!”

“Oh, yes, we understand that you had no choice,” Luke said, ignoring 3PO’s pleas. “We understand perfectly well, don’t we, Chewie? Han’s been taken because of you, and who knows what’s going to happen to Leia because of the trap you helped set.”

Lando shook his head, his mouth opening and closing like a washed-up fish. “Ha… a…”

“What?”

“Ha-a…”

“It sounds like Han!” 3PO said, and Lando nodded enthusiastically.

“There’s… still a chance to save him,” he said, “at the East Platform.”

Luke blinked in surprise, before looking up at Chewie and giving him a brief nod. “Chewie,” he said, and the Wookiee released Lando, who fell forward onto his hands with a great gasp. Chewie took a step back, and Luke reached down to help Lando to his feet as he struggled to catch his breath.

“And what about Leia?” Luke asked. “What’s going to happen to her?”

“Vader’s planning on freezing her in carbonite to take her to the Emperor,” Lando revealed, his voice still raspy. “Han was a test to make sure she could survive the process. I don’t know why he wants her. I’m sorry.”

“Do you where she could be? We were together, but got separated.”

“Vader only wanted her. If he hasn’t already captured her, then she’s probably in the carbon-freezing chamber.” Lando glanced nervously over his shoulder. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have time. If we want to save Han, we have to get moving.”

Luke frowned, looking over at Chewie. The Wookiee was watching him with a sad look on his furry face, and beside him R2 let out a series of concerned tones. He looked back to Lando. “You go ahead,” he said. “Take Chewie and Artoo with you. The Falcon is docked on platform two-eight-five.”

Chewie growled, worried, and Lando gave him an incredulous look. “You’re not going after Skywalker, are you?” he asked. “There’s nothing you can do for her! If Vader has her, then it’s too late.”

“No, it’s not,” Luke said, shaking his head. “I have to try.” He looked around, scanning the doorways that lined the hall. “Where can I get into the carbon-freezing chamber?”

“Through the door at the end of this hallway,” Lando said, pointing down the corridor. He paused, frowning deeply. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked

Luke nodded. “I’m sure,” he said, and he started off down the hall. Chewie let out a mournful cry after him.  “Go!” he called, glancing briefly back over his shoulder. “Before it really is too late!”

A few seconds passed, and then Lando nodded, turning and shepherding Chewie and R2 down the hallway in the opposite direction. They disappeared quickly, their footsteps echoing off the tiles as they rounded a bend. Luke stared after them for a moment, before looking away and continuing on. The thought of facing Vader again made a tight knot of fear coil up in his gut, but he pushed it away. He needed to focus on Leia. It had been foolish to bring her here; now both her and Han were in trouble, and the odds were stacked up against them.

If there was any luck left in the galaxy, at least one of them would make it safely out of Cloud City.

◊◊◊

Their lightsabers flared and cracked as they struck together, the once-silent chamber now filled with the sounds of their duel. Leia pressed forward, her breaths already coming hard and deep as she swung again and again, her every blow deflected. Vader barely moved; she was the only one attempting hits, and he remained almost entirely on the defensive. He was much taller than she was, and more powerful, but if she used that correctly it could be to her advantage. He could not move as quickly as she could, nor as deftly. If given the chance she could potentially outmaneuver him.

He swung finally, his blade swiping towards her neck. She ducked, and his ‘saber crashed into a pipe, sending up a blaze of fire and smoke. It did not take long for him to recover, and now he was on the offensive. He took a large step forward, his blade swinging down towards her, and she jumped back to avoid it.

“You have learned much, young one,” Vader said. There was surprise in his tone, and, strangely, pride.

Leia breathed in deeply, working her jaw as she stared him down. “You shouldn’t underestimate me,” she said, and lunged, driving her blade towards his masked face.

He blocked it quite easily, knocking it away. She swung again and he parried, hooking his blade against hers and twisting until the hilt of her ‘saber was wrenched from her hand. It landed, deactivated, at the bottom of the stairs. He advanced, blade held high, and Leia had to dive down the stairs to get away. He jumped down after her, and she rolled quickly out of the way, coming up into a low crouch. Her lightsaber rested only a few feet away, just barely out of reach.

Vader moved slowly forward, his ‘saber poised, ready to attack. Leia inched back, her eyes darting between Vader and her lightsaber. She could call it into her hand using the Force, but Vader would likely see the movement and attack before she even got the chance to activate it and defend herself. But he wouldn’t kill her. Obi-Wan had said so himself — the Emperor wanted her alive.

“Your destiny lies with me, Skywalker,” Vader said, as if he had heard her thoughts and was affirming them. “Obi-Wan knew this to be true.”

She shook her head. “Never,” she said, and stretched her hand out towards her lightsaber.

Before she had a chance to call it, Vader swung, his blade arcing high through the air, and Leia leaned back to avoid it. She nearly lost her balance in the process, and when she stepped back to catch herself she found that the ground was gone. A pit in the centre of the room had opened, its cover retracting noiselessly without her notice. With a surprised cry she tumbled into it, hitting the metal bottom hard. She scrambled quickly to her feet, looking up; the pit was nearly twice her height.

“All too easy,” Vader said from somewhere up above. There was a burst of freezing gas from valves lining the side of the pit, and Leia had no time to think before she was jumping up, the Force propelling her much higher than she really meant to go. She grabbed onto some exposed piping in the ceiling, clambering up as below her the pit filled with white gas.

“Perhaps you are not as strong as the Emperor thought,” Vader mused, watching the plume spill out into the rest of the chamber.

As quietly as she could, Leia hoisted herself up further to rest her feet on a lower pipe. Steadying herself slightly, she reached her hand out towards where her lightsaber still rested at the bottom of the stairs. Her hand trembled as she called out to the Force, pulling the ‘saber towards her. It flew readily into her grasp, and Vader looked up in surprise at the movement.

“Impressive,” he said, catching sight of her hanging amongst the piping. “Most impressive.”

He swung again, and Leia lifted her feet to avoid his blade. It sliced easily through the pipe they had been resting on, and clouds of the white gas poured out into the room, blocking her view of him. She jumped down, landing on her feet and igniting her lightsaber. She could just barely see Vader’s outline through the haze, and with her teeth clenched she brought her lightsaber down towards him.

He parried, his red blade swiping out from the gaseous cloud. “Obi-Wan has taught you well,” he said, and she could hear it again — that strange pride. “You have controlled your fear.” Their blades clashed, one, two, three times in quick succession. “Now release your anger. Only your hatred can destroy me.”

Their blades were locked together, Leia pushing up and Vader pushing down. Her skin was slick with sweat, her hair sticking to her forehead. Her arms burned with the strain, but their fight was far from over. She let out a deep breath, forcing herself to unclench her teeth as she did. Obi-Wan had cautioned her against using her hate to fuel herself, and Vader’s prompting reminded her of his warning. She couldn’t rely on anger to get her through this — she wouldn’t allow Vader to have the satisfaction.

He lifted his blade, and she stumbled back, raising her lightsaber just in time to block his quick series of blows. She leapt to the side, his blade just narrowly missing her shoulder. She spun, deflecting his strikes, their blades buzzing with each crash. They moved around the platform, their feet dancing forward and back.  Leia advanced, pouring as much strength as she could muster into her strikes, and Vader retreated, expertly blocking each blow.

Lunging, she swung her sword high through the air, and Vader took one too many steps back. He stepped backwards off the platform, falling with an angered cry into the dark, swirling steam below. She stood for a moment, staring down into the pit, but there were no signs of movement. Deactivating her lightsaber, she clipped it onto her belt before jumping down after him.

A sharp beeping sound filled the air at the bottom of the pit, and steep walls of piping and wiring rose up on either side. Leia kept one hand near her ‘saber as she moved slowly across the floor, looking for any hint of Vader. There were none to be found.

A large, circular grate was set into the wall nearby, and as she stepped near it slid open, revealing a long, dark tunnel; where it led, she couldn’t see, but perhaps it was some way out. She hesitated only a moment before stepping up into it, and dozens of tiny white lights laid into the rounded walls immediately lit up. She could see a dark room at the end.

She moved through the tunnel quickly, hopping out into another darkened chamber. A grate immediately closed over the end of the tunnel, a thicker, metal door snapping into place behind it and blocking out the incessant beeping. Leia was left in silence.

Wary, she unhooked her lightsaber from her belt, holding it tightly in her hand. Some sort of strange, circular machine sat in the middle of the room, and she walked around it, her eyes darting about the dark, searching for Vader. A large rose window took up most of the far wall, shining dim light into the room, and as she approached it the sound of Vader’s deep, mechanical breathing began to fill the air. She paused, turning and igniting her lightsaber.

Vader’s steps were heavy as he walked towards her, emerging from the shadows of a triangular hallway that branched off from the room. He stopped a few feet into the room, his lightsaber blazing to life in his hands. Leia stared at him for a moment, stepping slowly forward, her hands shifting along the hilt of her ‘saber.

Vader looked past her, and there was the sound of metal tearing apart and sparks exploding. A grouping of pipes tore themselves from the wall, flying towards her, and she spun just in time, slashing them apart with her blade. Smoke filled the room from the scorched metal. Leia turned back towards Vader to see him charging towards her, his blade slicing through the air, and she raised her own ‘saber to block him. They duelled, their blades clashing, Leia’s teeth grinding together as she tried to keep her focus. She pushed her mind away from her tired arms and burning lungs, thinking only of the fight and Vader’s next move.

They paused, their blades locked, Vader staring her down. A piece of equipment came soaring towards her, and she only just saw it out of the corner of her eye before it was striking her in the face. She cried out, scrambling away towards the window. Vader didn’t pursue; he stood where he was, his blade held in front of him, and without moving a muscle began to send pieces of machinery and equipment flying towards her.

She swung, successfully deflecting one, but then another struck her in the back, and then another in the shoulder. A large pipe ripped itself from one of the many apparatuses filling the room, moving slowly through the air, and she stumbled out of the way to avoid it. It crashed through the large rose window, and a strong sucking breeze started up, pulling everything that wasn’t bolted down into the great chamber below.

Leia pressed herself tight to the wall, deactivating her lightsaber and hooking it onto her belt as she scrambled for something to hold onto. Her body throbbed painfully where she had been hit, and she could feel a trickle of blood running down the side of her face. Her hands, slick with sweat, slid across the smooth metal surface of the wall, and then she was being pulled through the air, sucked out through the window.

A scream caught in her throat as she fell, and she reached out, her arms stretching for something, anything to grab onto to keep herself from falling into the abyss below. Her arm slammed onto the edge of a metal walkway, the impact instantly turning it numb, and her fingers curled into the grate. She flung up her other arm, quickly hoisting herself up and scrambling away from the edge.

Breathing deeply, she chanced a glance down. Orange and red lights circled the round pit as it stretched down into darkness, whatever lay at the bottom entirely invisible. She guessed that she had somehow made it into the spire that hung from the bottom of Cloud City, part of whatever technology kept the giant complex floating in the atmosphere.

She pulled herself to her feet using the railing, leaning heavily on it until the feeling returned to her arm. The walkway was attached to a tall metal station that stretched halfway out into the spire, connected to the surrounding wall by a long tunnel; she figured it was the same tunnel she had crawled through only a few minutes earlier. The broken rose window hung on the side of the station, several metres above her.

She stumbled down the walkway, heading the only direction she could — further out into the spire. Pain in her leg caused her to limp, and her chest felt bruised, making every breath hurt. Where the walkway disconnected from the station, stretching further out into the shaft, there was an open doorway. It led into one of the triangular hallways that had shot out from the window room. After a quick glance, she stepped into it, unhooking her lightsaber from her belt and holding it at the ready in her hand. This was her only way out, but it was also where Vader was almost certainly lying in wait, ready once more to attack.

Careful not to make any noise, she moved slowly through the hallway, her eyes scanning every shadow and flicker of movement. She was about halfway down when a sharp intake of mechanized breath came from somewhere off to the side, and Vader lunged at her, his blade humming as it whipped through the air. She took a step back, just barely managing to avoid it, and held her own ‘saber out in front of her.

Vader moved forward, pushing her back the way she had come. He swung, again and again, his hits quickly growing in force, and Leia was just barely able to block them. She stumbled back through the doorway, ducking as Vader swung for her neck; his blade connected instead with the metal doorframe, sending up a flurry of sparks. He was absolutely brutal; his strikes were merciless, and though she knew he wouldn’t, it felt as if he was aiming to kill.

She pressed herself against the railing, the metal digging into the small of her back, and attempted to stave off his attacks. She needed to get away, but she had no escape — the only way open to her was to go further along the walkway, out into the middle of the shaft.

Vader pressed forward again, and Leia moved away from the railing, shuffling backwards down the walkway. He continued his barrage of attacks, and she struggled to deflect them all. The sound of whipping air in the shaft was overpowered by that of their blades crashing, again and again and again. Sparks flew where the lasers slipped and struck the metal railing.

Their blades locked, Vader pushed against her, and she stumbled back, crashing onto the set of steps that led up to the platform at the end of the walkway. He aimed his lightsaber at her chest.

“You are beaten,” he said, stepping slowly forward, the blade growing closer and closer to her heart. “It is useless to resist. Don’t let yourself by destroyed, as Obi-Wan did.”

She scrambled backwards, crawling awkwardly up the stairs in an attempt to get away. She knew he was right — she could see no way for her to make it out of this. But she wasn’t going to give in. She wasn’t going to let him take her alive.

Taking in a deep breath, she screwed her face up in determination and lifted her lightsaber, using it to bat Vader’s blade away. She rolled to the side, and he brought his ‘saber down on the now-empty space where she had just been. He was quick to recover, lunging for her as she hurried backwards up the steps. She blocked his blow and ducked out of the way, his blade connecting instead with the metal railing of the platform.

There was no way out: Vader was blocking the only exit. She was trapped. She had thought she would be able to outmaneuver him — to find some escape — but she had been foolish. She had walked willingly into a trap, all to save Han, and she hadn’t even succeeded at that. Luke had likely been captured as well, just as she was about to be. It had all been for nothing. She had given Vader and the Emperor exactly what they wanted.

Desperate and frightened, she swung at Vader blindly, and managed to hit him in the shoulder. He cried out, and she stumbled away, surprised. At the end of the platform, a small opening in the railing led out to some sort of instrument complex, balanced on the end of a narrow metal beam. She stepped through the opening, her free hand tightly gripping the rail as she balanced herself on the beam.

Vader charged her, enraged by the injury he had sustained. He swung wildly, his blade severing pieces of the instrument complex positioned near the opening. She ducked, straightening just in time to deflect another blow of his ‘saber. But she was thrown off by her positioning on the beam; she had to keep one hand on the rail to keep herself from falling to her death, and she couldn’t move far or fast enough.

Vader’s blade arced through the air, a blur of crimson light, and then it was slicing through her arm. Blinding, burning pain raced through her nerves, and she screamed. Her vision seemed to dim for a moment as the pain overwhelmed all her senses, and when it came back she was on her knees, her one remaining hand still wrapped tightly around the railing.

The other was gone, disappeared already from sight down the endless shaft. Her father’s lightsaber had gone with it.

She looked up to find Vader looming near the opening in the railing, his lightsaber still ignited. Struggling up off her knees and onto her feet, Leia stayed crouched on the beam, her injured arm tucked against her chest. It had been cut off a couple of inches below her elbow, but it wasn’t bleeding; the lightsaber had instantly cauterized the wound. So at least she wouldn’t die of blood loss.

“There is no escape,” Vader said, extinguishing his lightsaber. “Don’t make me destroy you.”

Leia’s breathing was coming in ragged gasps, but she said and did nothing; she stayed where she was, crouching on the beam, and stared up at him as he spoke.

“Leia, you do not yet realize your importance,” he continued, his hand stretched out to her as if pleading. “You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.”

She shook her head, closing her eyes for only the briefest of moments before opening them again. Slowly, unsteadily, she began to stand. “No.” She shook her head again. “No. I will never join you.”

There was anger and impatience in Vader’s voice when he spoke again. “If you only knew the power of the dark side.”

Swaying slightly, she glanced quickly behind her. The beam ended only a few feet away in the instrument complex, and Vader stood right in front of her, blocking her escape. There was only one way out of this.

She looked back towards Vader, determined to stare him down as she released her grip and let herself fall to her death —

But then he spoke again, and what he said gave her pause.

“Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.”

She frowned, her forehead creasing in confusion. “Yes he did,” she argued, and for a moment she forgot Ben’s warning and let her hatred show, let it seep into her voice. “You killed him, like you killed the other Jedi.”

“No,” he said, and in the split-second pause between phrases Leia felt her burning anger melt away as her blood turned to ice in her veins. The images she had seen in her vision on Dagobah flashed through her mind — the dark-clothed man with the sky-coloured lightsaber, the Jedi massacre, the old man shrouded in shadow. She remembered the feelings of fear and hate and uncontrollable anger that had accompanied these visions.

Feelings she now felt in Vader.

She knew what he was going to say next before he even spoke the words, and she screwed her eyes up tight, as if that would keep them from being said.  

Vader’s harsh breathing ripped through the silence, but his mechanized voice was calm as he spoke.

“I am your father.”

Chapter Text

The corridors of the undercity were dark, but Luke ran through them as if his vision was perfectly clear. He had no idea where he was going — he had no map, no indication of where Leia or the carbon-freezing chamber might be, but he knew he was going in the right direction. It was like she was a transponder and he had picked up her signal, and it was guiding him through the maze-like chambers of this giant floating complex.

It was not long before the sounds of a duel reached his ears. He picked up his pace, his feet banging noisily against the metal floor. He didn’t care if they heard him coming. He just needed to make it to Leia; he needed to help her, to make sure she got out alright.

In the distance, lightsabers cracked together like thunder, the sound echoing all around. Luke couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from, but it didn’t matter — he could find his own way.

Up ahead, an open doorway loomed. The hallway it led into was long, the walls angled together like the sides of a triangle. Lights illuminated the ceiling every few feet, but he couldn’t see where it led; a curve blocked his view of the end. Still, he didn’t hesitate as he stepped through the door into the hallway. He knew it would take him to Leia as surely as he knew his own name.

As he made his way down the corridor, the sounds of the duel grew steadily louder, intermixed with the sound of rushing wind. He kept his blaster poised tightly in his hand, though he didn’t think he would need it. Not yet. This place seemed as abandoned as the rest of Cloud City, and Vader would hopefully be too preoccupied to realize he was there, at least at first.

The hallway ended not long after the curve, opening up into a large circular room. Like the rest of the undercity it was full of strange bits of machinery, most of which had a purpose Luke couldn’t even begin to guess at. This particular room looked as it had been torn apart. Pipes and wires had been wrenched from the walls, and various pieces of machines lay dented on the floor. A strong wind whipped through the chamber, and Luke had to keep one hand firmly on the wall to stop himself from blowing away. A tall rose window on the far wall was broken, bits of glass laying strewn nearby, and he quickly determined that as the source of the wind. It looked out over a ginormous shaft, which he guessed to be the spire that hung from the bottom of the city.

Over the roar of the wind, he could still faintly hear the sounds of crashing lightsabers. Carefully, he made his way across the room, using the wall like a guide rope until he was standing in front of the window. Through the broken glass he could see a walkway extending out into the middle of the shaft, and at the end two glowing blades, one red and one blue, danced around each other and struck in flashes of yellow light.

He backed nervously away from the window, and hurried as quickly as he could across the room to another hallway, where the wind was not as strong. It led to a set of descending stairs, and Luke rushed down them so quickly he nearly tripped. Halfway down, an agonized scream ripped through the air and stopped him in his tracks. He recognized it instantly as Leia, and he bounded down the rest of the staircase so fast his feet barely touched the steps.

At the bottom, the hallway continued on for another few feet, before ending in an open door. Through it he could see the walkway, where only one lightsaber now shone, its blade the colour of blood. He couldn’t see Leia, hidden as she was by Vader’s towering form, but if the scream was anything to go by she was injured, and trapped at the end of the gantry.

He moved forward, lifting his blaster and aiming it at Vader’s back; he hadn’t noticed Luke yet, too distracted by Leia, and so Luke made sure to keep his footsteps quiet as he approached.

But it didn’t seem as if Vader was intending to hurt Leia any more than he already had; he extinguished his lightsaber, and began speaking to her, seeming to plead with her. Luke slowed, just the slightest amount, and strained his ears to hear Vader’s words.

“Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.”

“Yes he did.” Leia’s voice was ragged, full of pain and exhaustion. Luke readjusted his grip on his blaster and gritted his teeth. “You killed him,” she said, “like you killed the other Jedi.”

“No.” There was a pause, and Luke heard Leia’s sharp intake of breath. “I am your father.”

Luke faltered, stumbling in his shock, but he quickly recovered. There was no way Vader was telling the truth; he was lying, trying to get under Leia’s skin, get her to join him. It was impossible. Leia’s father was Anakin Skywalker, the famous Jedi hero. He was not Darth Vader.

Vader began to speak again, but Luke didn’t hear what he said. Pausing, he aimed his blaster and fired off one shot, then another. The first struck Vader in the back of his shoulder, the second tearing through his cape and scraping along his side. He cried out in pain, staggering backwards, and Luke finally saw Leia. She was standing on a narrow beam that jutted out from the end of the walkway, her left hand wrapped tightly around the railing. Her skin was pale and shiny with sweat, her hair a dishevelled mess. Bruises had already begun to form on her face, and a cut oozed blood down her cheek. Her right arm was tucked close to her chest, and she hunkered over it as if trying to protect it.

“Luke!” she called, swaying as she scrambled off the beam back onto the walkway.

Luke opened his mouth to yell out to her, but found his throat suddenly tight, his airway squeezing shut as an invisible force pressed down on it.

Standing off to the side, Vader now seemed unfazed by his injuries. His arm was outstretched, his fingers curling as if around a neck. Luke let out a strangled gasp, and he dropped his blaster as his hands went instinctively to his throat, scratching at his skin as he tried to pry off fingers that weren’t really there. 

“Prince Luke,” Vader said, taking a slow step forward and raising his arm higher into the air. Luke’s feet began to lift off the ground, and he kicked them uselessly, scrabbling for purchase. “I should have known you would come. Your loyalty to your friends is commendable.” His fingers moved closer together, and the grip on Luke’s throat tightened. “But it will be your downfall.” Luke’s heart pounded in his ears, and he tried continually in vain to suck in a breath, gurgling and gasping like a dying man.

“No!” Leia cried, and from the corner of his eye Luke could see as she pulled her blaster from its holster and aimed it at Vader. Even injured she moved quickly, and she had let off one shot before Vader even seemed to notice she had a weapon. The bolt struck his mask, and his head jolted to the side; his hand dropped, and the grip on Luke’s neck was released. He fell to his knees, both palms flat on the floor as he sucked in great breaths of air, filling his lungs until he could struggle to his feet, quickly retrieving his blaster from where it had fallen.

Vader was down on one knee, his head turned to the side. His suit wheezed with every breath; Leia must have damaged it somehow. But Luke didn’t care about Vader — Leia was limping towards him, and he hurried forward to meet her. Up close, he could see that her right arm had been severed just below the elbow, and he winced at the sight. He took her left arm and slung it across his shoulders, and without a word they began moving as fast as they could back down the walkway. A quick glance backward told him that Vader was already on his feet and stumbling towards them. The hole in his mask was smoking, and Luke quickly looked away before he could see whatever lied beneath it.

He would pursue them, but his damaged suit would slow him down. And Leia might have been injured, but she had Luke. He would get her out of here, no matter what it took.

◊◊◊

They ran through the corridors of Cloud City, Luke practically dragging Leia along beside him. Her arm felt as if it was on fire, and every time her feet impacted with the floor it sent a jolt of pain coursing through her. She was exhausted, and she could feel herself growing weaker with each step. She didn’t even know where they were going, the dark hallways nothing but a blur as they passed by.

Vader’s harsh breathing echoed behind them, a constant reminder that they were being chased. They were moving slow, but so was he. She had damaged his breathing apparatus when she had shot him in the face, and it weakened him, slowed him down.

A sudden nausea washed over her, and she nearly stopped running. That man — that monster, who had killed Ben and countless other innocents, who had committed unspeakable horrors — was her father. She kept replaying his words in her head, over and over again, while bits and pieces of her vision flashed through her mind. Her father had been the one to slaughter all those Jedi. Her father had massacred helpless children. He had claimed that the Jedi were evil — his mind had been twisted by the dark side, distorted until all he felt was hate and anger. Until he had become the creature chasing her through the darkened hallways of a mining complex.

It seemed so glaringly obvious now that she felt stupid not to have realized it sooner. Her lightsaber had tried to show her the truth, and she’d been too blind to see it. Her father had become Darth Vader — his descent to evil was there in her vision, clear as the Tatooine sky. She wanted to believe he had lied, that he wasn’t truly her father, but she couldn’t. She had the proof.

Luke ducked into a doorway, pulling her with him. It led to a dark, narrow stairway, and they went down, down, down, seemingly forever. Vader had been far enough behind that he couldn’t have seen them walk through the door, but that gave Leia little comfort. She was his daughter (another burst of nausea) — it was likely that he could sense where she was and follow them that way.

They finally reached the bottom of the staircase, where a thick door waited, its control panel blinking in the dark. Luke let go of her, and she collapsed against the wall, trying to catch her breath while he fiddled with the panel. She hoped he knew what he was doing. She didn’t know if it was just her pain-addled mind or not, but she felt as if she could hear Vader’s boots clanging their way down the stairs after them.

As he worked, Luke pulled out a commlink and spoke quietly into it. Leia didn’t listen; her heartbeat thudded loudly in her ears, and she could feel herself swaying slightly where she stood. Her vision faded in and out of focus, and she was so, so tired. She felt like she could fall asleep standing on her feet, and was nearly about to when the control panel suddenly beeped and the door slid open, letting in a gust of frigid high-altitude air.

It jolted her awake, and she pushed herself gently away from the wall to peer through the now-open doorway. It led out to a small platform attached to the side of the city’s metal hull, most likely used for maintenance. Luke reached out, taking her hand, and pulled her with him out onto the platform. Its floor was made of metal grating, with nothing but a rickety railing to keep them from falling off the side to their deaths. It was absolutely freezing, and the wind whipped around them so strongly that she clung to Luke’s arm, afraid that she might be blown away.

“What are we doing out here?” she asked.

Luke pressed a button, and the door hissed shut; she could hear the mechanisms within it tumbling together as it locked. As if that would stop a lightsaber.

“Trust me,” he said, slipping his arm across her shoulders. “Everything is going to be alright.”

They stood together in silence, Leia shivering as she pressed herself closely to Luke’s side. She tried to regulate her breathing, to focus on anything but the pain of her severed arm, but it was difficult. She tried to listen for the sounds of Vader’s pursuit, but they never came; all she could hear was the whistle of the wind. No one tried to open the door, and no lightsaber attempted to cut its way through the metal.

Leia couldn’t say how long they stood out on that platform. Reasonably, she suspected that it was only a minute or two, but it felt like it could have been five hours. By the time the Millennium Falcon appeared suddenly in the distance, she was hardly even standing on her own, propped up entirely by Luke. The Falcon steadily grew larger and larger, until it was hovering in the air only a few metres away from the platform. Through the cockpit’s viewport, she could see Chewbacca seated in the co-pilot’s chair.

The hatch on the top of the ship opened up. Leia expected Han to appear, safe and sound, but instead it was a stranger, a man whose face she could barely focus on. There was a ladder descending from the platform, and Luke helped Leia climb down it, where she was helped into the Falcon by the stranger. She could hear Luke clambering in after them, as the stranger led her through the ship’s corridors and onto one of the bunks.

He hurried off, likely to the cockpit, but Luke was there immediately after, throwing a blanket over her and peeling what remained of her shirt sleeve away from her wound. She winced, and he apologized quietly before easing her into a lying position, so that her right arm hung over the side of the bunk. He had brought over a box of medical supplies, and worked quickly to get a bacta cuff over the injured stub. It hurt going on, but there was almost immediate relief once it was secured, and Leia closed her eyes with a sigh.

The Falcon rocked violently, and Luke stood, giving her a gentle squeeze on her shoulder. “I’ll be right back,” he promised.

She nodded, gritting her teeth as she was jostled by the shaking ship. Though they had made it off Cloud City, her heart still thundered in her chest, and she found it impossible to settle her breathing. All she could think about was Vader, and the fact that Ben had lied to her. He had said that Vader had killed her father, and so he must have known the truth. And he had kept it from her.

“Ben,” she muttered, her one remaining hand twisting anxiously in the fabric of her blanket. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

There was no answer.

The Falcon shuddered and then evened out. The bunk filled with the gentle hum of hyperspace, and even though her mind was reeling and she felt as if she might be sick, Leia quickly fell asleep, too exhausted to stay awake for even one more minute.

◊◊◊

The medical centre of the Redemption was quiet. The room they were in was small, used mainly for non-invasive procedures and examinations. C-3PO, newly rebuilt, stood off to the side with R2, watching as a 2-1B droid performed numerous tests on Leia’s new mechno-arm. The robotics joined with her organic muscle and tissue near the elbow, but it was nearly impossible to tell. All the machinery and metal was covered by synthetic skin, matched perfectly to her skin tone. The only indication that the arm was mechanical was the panel open on her forearm, revealing various bits of robotics that 2-1B poked and prodded at, adjusting the motor and sensory components as needed.

Luke stood at the end of her chair, his mouth drawn into a thin line. He had just spent several hours holed up in a conference room with General Rieekan and a number of other members of Alliance brass, trying to convince them not to take disciplinary action against her. While it seemed as if he had been successful, Leia was sure she could expect a serious reprimand in the next few days, now that she was almost fully recovered. It had been reckless of her to just run off and abandon the Rebellion, but she regretted it only because it had put her friends in danger.

Her commlink beeped, and she dug it out of her robe pocket. Lando’s voice came through from the other side.

“Leia, we’re ready for takeoff,” he said, and she could just faintly hear the whirr of an engine in the background.

“Good luck, Lando,” she replied.

“When we find Jabba the Hutt and that bounty hunter, we’ll contact you.”

Chewie growled into the commlink, as if to affirm what Lando had just said.

Leia smiled faintly. “Then we’ll see you at the rendezvous point on Tatooine,” she confirmed. It was strange, to think that she would soon be returning to her home planet. She had thought she would never go back — with her aunt and uncle gone, there had been nothing for her there.

But now there was.

“We’ll find Han,” Lando said. “I promise.”

She took in a deep breath. “I know.” She glanced over at Luke; he was watching her closely, his expression unreadable. “Chewie, I’ll be waiting for your signal,” she said. “Be safe, both of you. And may the Force be with you.”

Chewie let out another wail through the commlink, and then it went quiet. Luke gave her a small smile, before wandering away towards the large window that took up an entire wall of the room. Leia watched him go, then looked back towards 2-1B. The droid had finished with his adjustments, and had begun running some quick tests, pricking each of her fingers in turn and observing her reflexes. It hurt as if her hand was real, and each finger flinched at the needle as it should. Seemingly satisfied, 2-1B closed the panel on her arm, latching it shut; Leia could just barely see the seams. Back to normal — or as close to it as possible.  

Nodding to the medical droid in thanks, Leia pulled her sleeve down and slid off the chair. R2 and 3PO had joined Luke at the window, and Leia took her place at his side. The protostar shone bright and huge in the distance, while X-wings and Y-wings flitted around the cruisers. Luke reached over, draping his arm across her shoulder.

His gaze remained focused on the protostar as he spoke. “I heard what Vader said to you, back on Cloud City,” he admitted.

Leia’s heart stopped. She hadn’t told anyone about her conversation with Vader, and it hadn’t even crossed her mind that Luke might have heard. But of course he had — he had shot Vader right after he’d spoken. It would have been impossible for him not to hear. Blinking back tears, she tried to look up at him, but couldn’t. Her father was Darth Vader, the man who had tortured Luke for hours and had had a hand in the destruction of his home planet. How could he even bear to speak to her?

Luke continued, “I know he was just saying it to manipulate you, but— “

“No.” Leia shook her head, cutting him off. “He… he was telling the truth.”

“What?” Luke’s arm slipped from her shoulders, and he took a step back.

She forced herself to look at him. “I’m sorry. But it is true.”

He was silent for a moment, his forehead creased. “How long have you known?”

“As long as you have,” she said. “But… when I was on Dagobah, I had a vision. It was made up of memories — memories from my father’s lightsaber. I should have seen it then, but I was too blind to make the connection. Or maybe I did see it, subconsciously, but I chose to ignore it. Whatever the case, those memories are proof that he was telling the truth. I saw it, with my own eyes.”

Luke nodded, and then stepped back towards her, taking her in his arms. “I won’t tell anyone,” he whispered, and Leia let out a shuddering breath. “This doesn’t change anything.”

“How can you say that?” A tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek, and she buried her face in his shoulder. “You know who he is, what he’s done— “

“And I don’t care,” Luke said. “Not when it comes to you. You’re still Leia Skywalker. It doesn’t matter who your father is — not to me.”

She was silent for a moment, trying to puzzle through how she had gotten so lucky as to have a friend like Luke Organa. There was no one in the galaxy who could have been more understanding and kind, even in the face of a horrific revelation like that of her parentage. She did not think she would have acted similarly, had she been in his position.

“Thank you,” she muttered, and he squeezed her tightly before stepping away.  

“Everything will be alright,” he said, a smile on his lips as he turned to look back out the window. “You’ll see.”

She smiled, and though she wasn’t so sure, she didn’t say anything. What she needed to focus on now was Han. Vader was a problem for another day.

As they watched, the Millennium Falcon appeared from underneath the cruiser, piloted by Lando and Chewie. Its engines flared blue as it sped off towards the protostar, on the way to set their plan for Han’s rescue into motion. Luke and Leia watched it go, growing smaller and smaller until it disappeared, nothing more than another star in the field of space.

Leia didn’t move, even long after it had vanished, repeating Luke’s words to herself over and over again in her mind.

Everything will be alright.