Like My Father Before Me



The Dark Lord retreated a step at every slash, swiveling once to bring his cutting beam up viciously- but Luke batted it away, pushing Vader back yet again. The Lord of the Sith momentarily lost his footing on the stairs and tumbled to his knees.

Luke stood above him, at the top of the staircase, heady with his own power. It was in his own hands now, he knew it was; he could take Vader. Take his blade, take his life. Take his place at the Emperor's side. Yes, even that. Luke didn't bury the thought, this time; he gloried in it. He engorged himself with its juices, felt its power tingle in his cheeks. It made him feverish, this thought, with lust so overpowering as to totally obliterate all other considerations.

He had the power; the choice was his.

And then another thought emerged, slowly compulsive as an ardent lover: he could destroy the Emperor, too. Destroy them both, and rule the galaxy. Avenge and conquer.

It was a profound moment for Luke. Dizzying. Yet he did not swoon. Nor did he recoil.

He took one step forward.

The Emperor, watching joyously, saw this, and goaded Luke on to revel in his Darkness. "Use your aggressive feelings, boy! Yes! Let the hate flow through you!" Luke stood silent a moment more, his mind whirling and considering. There were too many factors in the universe for him to deal with alone, even with the power of madness rushing in him as it was now. He needed someone, as the Emperor did, someone to be visible for him and frightening for him. The Emperor would not serve that purpose, and was in the way. Luke spun and closed on the Emperor, deciding quickly between his two enemies. The hate poured through him, loathing for the dessicated ruler powering his blade. The Emperor realized his fate, and accepted it. In the moment before he died, Palpatine spread his arms, presenting himself, defenseless, to the Dark Side.

As Luke's lightsaber touched Palpatine's skin, there was a burst of lightning from the old man's body, earthing itself on Luke and filling the room with a flash of light. Luke fell to the floor, as did the Emperor's empty robe.

Darth Vader stood slowly a few minutes later, recovering his composure. The boy had almost beaten him, almost taken his life, and had destroyed his Master. He touched Luke's mind, finding that he still lived despite the Dark Side energy that had struck him unconscious. Darkness enveloped the thoughts of his son, but they were still there. The Emperor was gone, and without him the battle could easily be lost. They had to get off the Death Star, before the Rebels had a real chance of destroying it. Vader lifted his son's body gently, carrying him out of the Emperor's throne room and to his own personal shuttle. No one questioned his presence or his burden. He fastened the restraints of an attendant's chair around the boy and left the battle station without fanfare.

Moments before they dropped into hyperspace, the Death Star exploded behind them in a fitting pyre for the Emperor of the galaxy.





As he saw himself strike the Emperor down, Luke felt a great cloak of darkness surround him, and he understood why Palpatine had allowed himself to fall. At death, Jedi were free to roam the Force and be a part of it, unless there was some pressing matter in the material world. Any Jedi Master could bind himself to his apprentice, if his will was strong enough and the need was great enough in the eyes of the Master. So Obi-Wan had done, binding himself to Luke, and so the Emperor had done as well. The dark essence of the Emperor clasped itself around the boy's mind and soul, and he accepted the presence. Obi-Wan was gone, somehow, and it did not matter. Perhaps he was free, a part of the Force again. Luke did not hear his Master's thoughts as though they were having a conversation, rather, they entered his mind as his own.

Vader is still mine, still my puppet, but he must not be allowed to run free in the height of his powers lest he betray me. Luke rejected that thought. Why control Vader's strength? It would not be used against him. But the power was right at his fingertips, he knew how, without a blink of an eye he could do it -or the Emperor could, through him.

I will wait to see how he uses his full powers before I move to deny them to him, Luke told his Master, knowing that he was heard. True, came the response. But my biggest advantage is in not allowing him to sense this new strength, in letting him believe I am still his weak son that has no idea how to use his anger. And controlling him without his knowledge, certainly. That is simple, easily done. But now he must see what I wish him to see, and for that I must wake. Luke's anger at this, his reluctance to leave this perfect state, was easily overcome by slight prodding from his Master to whom his whole mind was clear. Luke let his body wake while he became more familiar with having the Emperor as an intimate part of himself.

The newfound darkness in Luke was blooming, growing like a newly emerged butterfly spreading its wings for the first time and feeling them strengthen as the air hits them, gaining from freedom what could not grow beyond a seed in captivity. He felt his mind blazing with visions of what might be, what his will demanded must be. To rule, to sit upon the throne of the galaxy, never again to let conscience control actions, to have freedom again to let anger flow, to have the power every fiber of his being demanded- all of this was within his grasp now, as it was in the Emperor's before him, the Emperor who had gifted Luke with his own strength and experience, augmented his abilities at with the sacrifice of his own. This thought burned through him as did his Master's strength, filled him like the darkness sweeping through his soul. He did nothing to check it, but he reveled in it, in his new powers still undiscovered.

His father, sitting silent beside him at the controls of the shuttle, felt the change in his son. All the strength of madness belonged to Luke now, the gift of his father and the last bequest of the Emperor. The Jedi training kept him sane even with the full tide of the Dark Side sweeping through him, and once he developed some control over his power and his anger, no one would be able to stand against the boy. The only sound in the ship was Vader's breathing, but he did not need words to know what was occurring within his son.The man behind the black mask smiled, concentrating on listening to the boy through the Force.

Mentally, Luke stretched as if waking from a fitful dream, touching all the new parts of himself sprung open by his Master. He stretched his own body as well, then laughed, breaking the silence in the craft.

The ebony mask turned from the mottled sky of hyperspace to study him. "I can barely believe I was so blind, Father." Luke laughed again. "You must have found it ludicrous that I clung so hard to the weak side of the Force. I denied my strength, and that was purely fear: of myself, of my own abilities." He stopped, knowing that he was leading his father in the right direction. He felt the approval of his new Master and wondered just how much of that had been his own words.





Leia watched the Death Star explode with a mixture of glee and consternation. Han looked at her face and broke off in the middle of an exulting shout. All around them were cheering Ewoks, but Leia did not share their joy wholeheartedly. Something prevented her, somehow. "Hey, I'll bet Luke got off that thing before it blew," Han told her over the squeaky din.

"He did. I can feel it," she responded. "But- something is wrong. I don't know how to explain it, but something is out of balance. Luke-" she broke off in confusion and sighed. Han moved closer to her.

"You really care for him, don't you?" She nodded. "Well, listen. When he gets back, I won't stand in your way..."

"Oh no. No, it's not like that at all! He's my brother," Leia answered his half question with a smile. She watched as stunned embarrassment, then elation spread across his face. But his grin fell into a worried look.

"Then- what's the matter? Didn't we just win?" Han moved to embrace her, trying awkwardly to be comforting. She accepted gratefully, glad of his strength but wary of her newly injured shoulder.

"I don't know. It's probably just nervous tension," she told his shoulder, though she knew that wasn't true. Something was wrong with Luke, but worrying Han too wouldn't help. They were an island of silence in the waist-high joyous crowd.



At the celebration that night, Leia was even more worried. Luke did not return with Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles, the leaders of the space battle. Sick at heart, she could not enjoy the party and instead went outside to look at the stars. She stood out upon the balcony, searching the limitless sky for the source of her certainties that Luke lived, for the dread she felt about him. She prayed to the stars that one of them was no star at all but her returning brother. The music from the revels filtered out to her as she scanned the star-pricked night again and again. Despite

the warmth of the jungle, a chill was reaching to her core. She shuddered and turned her gaze down from the heavens, backing away to go to her bed. She snuggled down into her blankets and tried to relax.

Gradually she became aware of warmth on her face and sensed a blue light through her eyelids. She sat up suddenly and looked around her chamber. Before her stood an old robed man who seemed to be the source of the light. "Who are you? How did you get here?"

He spoke in a calming, reassuring tone. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi. I came here through the Force, Princess Leia Organa, because the galaxy needs you."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi? I thought you were dead!"

"Yes, that is true. Dying, for a Jedi, can be simply moving into another stage of life. But I did not come here to discuss death with you. Your brother has fallen to the Dark Side."

Suddenly everything she had felt that night fell into place. He was alive, and the worry she had felt- it must have been the Dark Side. "Then Vader, and the Emperor-" she faltered, the implications of what her brother had done creeping into her consciousness.

"The Emperor is dead. Luke struck him down by his own urging. Palpatine knew that such an action would facilitate Luke's fall greatly. Vader and your brother escaped the exploding Death Star in the Dark Lord's ship. I predict that they will withdraw from sight for a time while Luke becomes stronger in his abilities.

"Although time will only make his path into the darkness more irrevocable, you haven't the training to help Luke now. To acquire it, you must go to the Agra system. The true last of the Jedi lives there. We hid this fact from your brother for fear of this exact circumstance. You must go now. Tell no one lest the Empire be able to extract it from them.

"According to my instructions, Wedge Antilles has prepared an X-wing equipped with a hyperdrive for you. The coordinates of the system are programmed into the main computer, something he does not know he did. He has no memory of the past minutes."

Leia smiled a little, needing the release of tension. "Jedi powers do have their advantages, don't they?"

"Sometimes they can be a great help, but there are great risks as well. Go now to Mistress Valena Dyreth. Be careful, and stay patient." The old man turned from Leia and walked out of her chamber before she had a chance to bid him farewell.

Leia controlled herself with a few deep breaths. She would have time enough for shock on the voyage to meet this person. She gathered up two changes of clothing in a bag, along with a change of bandage for her arm and flicked on a handlamp on her way out the door. She made her way along the walkways to the clearing that was serving the Alliance fleet as a hangar.

Wedge Antilles was indeed waiting there with a single lamp. As she drew near to him, she could see the puzzlement on his face. "Princess Leia?"

"Yes, Commander Antilles?"

"What am I doing here? Someone told me to come out here, but I don't know why, or who it was."

She was glad of the dark night, suddenly. It meant that when she lowered her lamp from eye level, the loyal Rebel could not see the grin on her face. Despite all the stress of the day, Wedge's look of innocent consternation was too much for her. "Don't worry about it, Commander. What exactly did this person tell you to do?"

"Well, ma'am, he- I think it was a he- said I had to get this ship ready for you, with food and fuel and things. The last thing I remember was gathering them up and starting across the clearing. I don't know when I stowed all of it, or anything."

"Thank you for listening to him, Commander. You're making my task much easier."

"You can fly an X-wing, can't you Princess?"

"Yes, I probably can. Piloting skills run in my family. Have faith, sir. I must leave."

"Leave? Now? Right after our victory? Where are you going?"

"I can't say, sir. If you know, someone can always make you tell. Goodbye! Tell Han I love him." With that, Leia stepped into the low cockpit, slipping into the form-fitting seat and looking at the controls blankly for a moment. Finding the switch for the lights, she turned them on and her own lamp off. Wedge stepped back as she activated the repulsorlifts and left the ground. As the trees fell away beneath her, she engaged the main engine and streaked off, away from the moon of Endor, leaving behind Han Solo and Chewbacca in a merry crowd of Ewoks, as well as Wedge Antilles standing in a clearing, peering into the darkness after her with a single lantern.





Han heard the X-wing's engine start up over the singing of the Ewoks. Curious, he took a lamp and walked along the balconies until her reached one overlooking the hangar clearing. Peering out, he saw a man holding up a lamp and looking into the sky. "Hello out there!"

"General Solo?" the man turned and Han could see that it was Wedge Antilles.

"Who just took off, Commander Antilles?" Han called in his most authoritative voice.

"Princess Leia Organa, Sir." Wedge started walking towards where Han was standing.

"What!"

"Princess Leia just took off, General Solo."

Han wiped his brow. "I heard you the first time. Where is she going? When will she get back? And why didn't she tell me?!"

Wedge was at the base of a ladder by this time. "I don't know, sir. She didn't say. The only thing she told me was to tell you that she loves you." He blushed a little upon delivering that message.

"Well, that's very lovely and wonderful, but why did you ready the X-wing for her without telling anyone?" Han was exasperated, and the reassurance that Leia loved him wasn't helping in the slightest.

Wedge reached the level where Han was standing. "Sir-it was a voice." Wedge broke off, trying to frame a coherent sentence and unsure how to describe the kindly visitation. "He told me to come to the field with things to get an X-wing ready for the Princess."

"A voice," Han repeated slowly, incredulous and angry. "Have you been

drinking, Mr. Antilles?"

"Yes, General Solo, it was a voice, and no sir, I haven't been drinking. And I don't know how to say it, but I couldn't disobey him. I would have had to cut my own arms off to do that."

"Did you tell Leia this?" Han was skeptical. But, on the other hand, Wedge had always been very dependable in the past.

"Yes, sir. And the funny thing was that she didn't seem surprised at all." Wedge shrugged. "I don't know what that means."

"Disembodied voices, eh? Where's our Jedi Knight when we need him?" It occurred to Han that Leia, who had been so worried about Luke-her brother, he amended mentally- might have gone off to look for him. He turned away from Wedge, bellowing "Chewie!" as he half-ran back to where the site of the Ewoks' revels. A few seconds later, the Wookiee stuck his head out of the door with a good natured growl. "Chewie, we've got to get to the Falcon. Where's Lando?"

The Wookiee growled a reassurance, pulling his head back inside to search for Calrissian. Han turned back to Wedge, grimacing. "We've got to find the princess, Mr. Antilles. Make sure the Millennium Falcon is well stocked and flight ready while I get a few things together. You're sure you have no idea where she's going?"

"I'm sure, sir. She said she couldn't tell me; she seemed to be afraid of interrogation. She outranks me, so I didn't feel I should press the issue." Han sighed, understanding that Wedge had done the most diplomatic thing under the circumstances. If only that had included detaining Leia.

His thoughts were interrupted by a Wookiee growl. Turning, Han saw Chewie and Lando. "All right then, Mr. Antilles, you have your orders. Lando, I want to see how the Falcon endured her stay in your hands." In the dim light from his lamp, Han could see Lando's face. His friend's mouth twisted a little as he suppressed some emotion or other, and then the expert sabacc player brought himself back under control. This did nothing to reassure Han about the state of his beloved ship. The trio descended the ladder into the clearing, Lando borrowing Han's lamp and leading the way to where the Falcon sat in the subtly loud jungle night.

As the familiar silhouette loomed out of the darkness, Han took the light back and turned it all the way up, shining it all over the surface of the Falcon. As he inspected the minor-seeming damages, Han raised his voice indignantly. "Do you call this 'not a scratch'? I had your word! Look at my beautiful bird, gouged like this, just when I need her the most. How in the galaxy did you manage that?" Chewie leaned in to inspect a particularly bad spot and concurred with an angry growl.

"Look, Han, I'm sorry. We were just engaged in blowing up the Death Star," Lando said sarcastically and without a hint of apology. "You never saw how cramped it was in there; the Falcon barely fit in some of those passages. It was hard enough not to commit suicide, let alone avoid little scratches!"

Han shook his head and ignored the annoyance. "Lando, it's not your fault Leia just took off and that no one knows where she was going, but I will consider it to be your fault if anything bad happens to her before we reach her. Come on Chewie, let's get out of here." Wedge came back to the group carrying three boxes of provisions. "And it's not your fault either. I'm sorry -I'm just worried." Han moved to Wedge and took one of the boxes from him, then went inside the Falcon to stow it. He came back for the second one. "Chewie, let's get this Falcon hunting. You did refuel her before you came to the party, didn't you Lando?"

"Yes, I did. You really shouldn't leave yet. The techs were kind of worried about all this. They wanted to check it out."

Chewie growled, and Han agreed. "We've never needed techs before." He stowed the second box of food and came out for the last and Chewie. "Goodbye, you two. Chewie, we're going to look for Leia. Commander Antilles will pay our regards to the Ewoks and Mon Mothma, won't you Wedge?" Wedge nodded.

"Good luck, General Solo. I am sorry she didn't tell me where she was going."

"I'm sorry too, Mr. Antilles. But she told you all I needed to know. Goodbye, Lando you old pirate. Take care of the droids, and try not to disintegrate Threepio unless you really have to." Han threw them both a cocky salute and followed Chewie up the ramp into the Falcon, closing it behind him. He slipped back into his beloved pilot's seat, powering up the main engine and the lifts. When the engine was reaching its stride, the majestic, battered freighter streaked away from the moon of Endor.





During the flight from Endor, Leia felt the myriad shocks of the day settling in. The Emperor was dead and the Death Star was destroyed. Her heart soared at the the long-awaited tasks that were finally accomplished.

But Luke- he was her brother, and Darth Vader her father. She shuddered, repulsed at the thought. And Luke had joined Vader in the Dark Side, leaving her as the last hope of the galaxy. To be sent off, away from Han- just when she thought that they were starting to understand each other- by an apparition, to become what her brother had trained for years to be, but had still failed in the final testing. Somehow she had to be stronger than he had been, and still was. So here she was, streaking away from a victory in a craft she had never flown before, towards a system she had never heard of, to meet a complete stranger, on the advice of someone she only knew about through her parents and her newfound brother. On any other night, she would have doubted her own sanity, but the day had prepared her, sort of. She hoped so.

A noise penetrated her preoccupation and brought her back to the moment. She scanned the controls, looking for some clue to tell her what it had been. Oh, that was it: the ten second warning for her jump to hyperspace. She found the lever just as the five second alert sounded and pulled it. She felt the familiar increased speed push her back in her seat for a moment as the stars stretched to infinity ahead.

Her mind wandered away from the present again, still trying to get a grip on everything. Her tenuous hold slipped and her firm resolve not to lose control of her emotions dissolved into despair. How could Luke have abandoned her like that? Unconsciously she called out, "Luke, Luke!" Far, far away, she felt his mind, reached out to him in her extremity. The feeling was different than when he had called to her from the underbelly of Cloud City, though. Whereas then it had been a tangle of confusion and pain, now it was tightly focused and ordered. And somehow, impossibly, another mind was entwined with Luke's, a mind as black as the void of space where nothing can live. Leia recoiled from the alien presence, from Luke, rushing back to the comfortable limits of herself. Her hands flew out from where they had been folded on her lap, touching the canopy of the X-wing, the control panel, reassuring her that everything was still there. As her heart slowed to a steady beat and rationality returned, she remained puzzled. What could the dark mind have been? What could it mean? Perhaps she could ask the Jedi Master she was going to see. If such a person actually existed.

The gentle beep of the navigation computer woke her from her reverie once more. Curious as to where she had been sent by Kenobi, she pulled the hyperspace transfer lever again. The starlines resolved into mere points once more. A planet hung before her now, somehow both stark and inviting against the blackness of space.

As she surveyed the world set out before her, she suddenly felt common sense return. There was a whole planet stretched out below her, and she was searching for a single individual. Yet another madness to this day. On second thought, she would find some safe-looking place to land and put up her shelter. Whatever tomorrow brought, it would not catch her without sleep.

She saw only a few small lifesigns as she orbited the planet and decided to land near the strongest one, but not too near. That way she would be safe from hostiles, but close enough to make contact with friendly beings eventually. Perhaps they would have some idea of where this Jedi was. Leia was getting a better feel for the X-wing's controls as she circled over high mountains on the surface, then brought her ship down on a relatively flat area.

Her sensors also told her that the atmosphere was breathable for humans, so she popped the canopy and felt her ears tingle as well as her cabin pressure equalized with the outside air. She pried her stiff body out of her seat. Her knees shook a little as she stepped onto the rocky ground of the planet Agra. Leia reached back into her cockpit once her legs were steady and got out the boxes Wedge had stored. She peeked into the first and recognized a standard Alliance shelter.

She took the box and walked a little way from the X-wing until she found a relatively level place to set up camp. She opened the box more fully and pulled out the shelter, letting the memory panels spring into place. She found that there was also an inflatable mattress as well as an emergency blanket in the box. She spared some breath for her bed and then lay on the cushion, letting exhaustion overcome her and drag her to sleep.





As Endor disappeared behind the Millennium Falcon, Han began to realize how futile his search was. The ship Leia had taken was equipped with a hyperdrive. An infinite number of worlds were within her grasp, and he didn't even know which direction she had been heading. Han sighed and loosened his grip on the controls. He relaxed in his seat, rethinking his fool's errand. Lowering his gaze from the majesty of space, he noticed a flashing red light. "Chewie, we've got a problem with the powercells. The levels are very low." Chewie grunted in agreement and projected their resources onto the local starmap. Quickly, Han surveyed the systems they could reach. Running back to Endor seemed like the safest bet. Kind of an anticlimax after blasting out of there, but they didn't know how stable the powercell levels were. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

He glanced at his copilot and realized that Chewie had reached the same conclusion. Han grasped the controls more firmly and turned the Falcon back towards Endor. She still navigated like the smuggling bird they so loved, despite Lando's careless abuses. That was another broken promise. Not only had he fed Han to Boba Fett on Bespin and tried to seduce Leia, but now the damned pirate had clipped the Falcon's wings. That was the last straw! As soon as they got back to Endor, Calrissian was going to get what he deserved.

The Forest moon loomed large ahead, a variegated green marble against the vast backdrop of the universe. It grew rapidly, engulfing the viewscreen. Chewie muttered something. He had just noticed that the communications dish had been knocked off.

"No, I don't know how we're going to find the Ewok village again. Maybe our best bet is to land on the day half of the moon and search for our fuzzy tribesmen once we get her fixed up a bit." Chewie gave an amused verbal Wookiee shrug, acquiescing to the pilot who had gotten him through much touchier situations than this one. Han glanced at the powercell levels. They had enough to land with, certainly, but not enough to get her off the ground again without help and some serious recharging. Since the drain was artificially high, the powercells themselves were probably damaged and would have to be replaced before they would hold a charge.

He shifted their trajectory into a mock orbit, powering down the main engines until they reached the light half of the midget world. There was nothing to be done but watch the power levels drop until the local star dawned on them.

As the Millennium Falcon fell through space at the mercy of Endor's gravity well, pilot and co-pilot examined the craft. They had no way of contacting the Alliance for help without a communications dish, no replacement parts from it, and were unable to land near the Rebels again.

Light dawned as Endor rushed them along out of its own shadow. "Are we ready?" Han asked rhetorically. He started the main engines again, and pulled them out of orbit into a rather steep atmospheric entry orbit. Powered downwards by the Falcon's mighty engines, it was only a matter of moments before they reached the treetops. "Here we go, back into the forest. Good thing one of us is used to it. Corellia was never big on trees," Han commented. To himself, he noted yet another benefit of having a friendly Wookiee around. He took them down to skim just over the

There didn't seem to be many convenient clearings on this area of the moon, but they could make one themselves with a little push. Below them was a place where a large tree had come down recently. It was almost big enough to land the Falcon in, and only a few smallish saplings would need to be destroyed. Although most of his recent had been in battle and doing shuttling duty for the Alliance in spacious hangars, Han was a pirate and smuggler at heart, and the Falcon was the consummate smuggler's bird. She was tuned to get in and out of the stickiest situations without blinking an eyelash. He shut off the engines and flicked on the repulsorlifts. He tipped the Falcon on edge and slid into the open area, then brought her level and extended the landing gear. He leaned back in his seat and put is hands behind his head. "There we are, nothing to it!" he commented. "Now, if we could only leave." He had been neglecting to look at the powercell levels, half afraid of what he might see. Indeed, there was almost no power left in them now. They could not even restart the main engines without new powercells.

Han unbuckled his restraints and leaned forward to get out of his seat. Before he stood, he patted the control panel tenderly, once, bidding his beloved ship farewell for the time being. He left the Falcon with one of Wedge's boxes. "There's nothing to be done but wait now," he told Chewie. "We can hardly start looking for them tonight." As he spoke, he erected the shelter Wedge had given them. "There's a whole moon out there, you know, and we've had a long day."