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“No. Absolutely not. Darth Vader is not joining the Alliance.”
“Come on Leia, at least hear him out. Think of how much he could-”
They had been arguing back and forth for several hours, and Han almost regretted being released from carbonite at all. Because surely being frozen was better than spending majority of the day half blind, almost being cast into the Pit of Carkoon and eaten by a Sarclacc, barely escaping from Jabba’s sail barge with his life and being chased back to the large grey blur that was the Falcon by an angry black blur, who managed to catch up with them anyways.
Because that was apparently what happens when Darth Vader, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Armed Forces, Right Hand to the Emperor, intercepts you and declares that he wants his son’s help to kill the old raisin.
If that wasn’t bad enough, halfway through Luke’s panicked explanation of what happened on Bespin, Vader whips his head around to stare at Leia, whispers “Padme” and kriffing falls to his knees, having what Han could only assume was the closest thing a Sith Lord could have to a panic attack, before proclaiming that not only was Luke his son, Leia was Luke’s twin sister.
That had resulted in a long string of curses so vile even Han was shocked at hearing them coming from the princess, and a volley of blaster fire that Luke had to step in to deflect while Vader simply stared at the pair. After a few hours of screaming, crying, arguing, and an apparent intervention by the ghost of old Ben Kenobi (Which Han was pretty sure was a lie. It had to be a lie. Right?), a consensus seemed to have been reached about Vader stating the truth about their relation. Han’s eyesight had almost completely returned, which meant that now he was subjected to not just listening to, but also watching them argue, with the topic now shifting to the sincerity of Vader’s intention to overthrow Palpatine.
Despite Luke’s valiant efforts to act as a moderator, Vader and Leia paid no attention to him as they traded barbs with each other. “Your pathetic rebellion would be nothing if not for me princess,” said Vader, his voice dripping with irritation.
The glare Leia shot him could have melted durasteel. “Just because your son destroyed the Death Star, and your daughter is on the Alliance High Council, it does not give you credit for any of our victories, Lord Vader.”
“I was not referring to that Your Highness. I believe you remember my apprentice Galen Marek. It was I who instructed him to gather those who would rise up against the Emperor and formally unite them as the Rebel Alliance.” Vader countered. “Surely you can not have forgotten. Was it not you who chose his family crest to be the symbol you rally behind?”
The colour drained from Leia’s face. “So it’s true then. Marek was acting under your orders. But, how? How did you know it would work?”
A burst of static emerged from the vocoder, which could only be interpreted as laughter. “It worked because it was not their first meeting. Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis had been plotting against Palpatine long before the fall of the Republic, and if I am not mistaken, the first time they held a secret meeting for this purpose was at your mother’s apartment at 500 Republica, where I was living at the time.”
“Wait you mean to tell me our mother was involved with the Rebellion?” exclaimed Luke.
“She was one of its founding members.”
“Senator Amidala,” whispered Leia, her eyes widening. “Padme Amidala. That’s who our mother is, isn’t it?”
“You do not know the name of your mother? Neither of you?” Vader asked, anger creeping into his voice as the twins shook their heads.
“Artoo, Threepio, you never told them?” he growled. The astromech let out a string of indignant beeps. “What do you mean his memory was wiped?”
“Wait how do you know Artoo? Or Threepio?” Luke asked, growing increasingly confused by the minute.
“Artoo Detoo belonged to your mother, and served with me during the Clone Wars, and I built Threepio as a child, before he served your mother as an aide.”
“You built goldenrod? No wonder everything goes wrong the moment he says ‘Thank the maker!’” Han muttered, against his better judgement. All three of them turned to glare at him. “Alright. I’m kidding” he said, rolling his eyes.
That seemed to snap Leia back into reality. “But that still does not make me earn your trust Lord Vader. Nor will it gain you any favour with High Command.”
“Funny you mention that. Winning over High Command is no challenge for me. I knew quite a few of them personally. In fact I recall serving with Admiral Ackbar during the Clone Wars, and saving his life multiple times.” Vader said smugly. “And it doesn’t end there. I believe you know of Fulcrum, the head of your intelligence network. She was my apprentice. I trained her and practically raised her. We came up with the idea of Fulcrum together during the civil war on Onderon.”
“So let me get this straight” Luke said, “Your son blew up the Death Star, your daughter is the face of the Rebellion, your wife was one of its founding members, your astromech carried the blueprints to the Death Star, along with a protocol droid that you built, your apprentice consolidated the Alliance, and your other apprentice is the head of the intelligence network. Anything else?”
Vader was silent for a few moments. “Saw Garrera. The leader of the Partisans. I trained him during the Clone Wars.”
“Oh come on!” Leia threw her hands up in defeat. “This is insane. There is no way you can find one more connection to the Rebellion.”
“I believe the Naboo Resistance is led by former Senator Pooja Naberrie. Your cousin, and my niece.”
“I give up”