This isn't exactly Tosche Station, huh?

"Unidentified Rebel command cruiser, I am Lord Shadowspawn," the voice intoned through the holoprojection as Luke watched from aboard Justice, his ship. "You have defeated us. I respectfully request permission to board, that I may formally treat for the lives of my men."

( Plot be here! )

[OOC: Um. Oops? Taken from Shadows of Mindor, by Matthew Stover. Truncated version of book to follow later!]

It turned out that the mission to Mustafar had been kind of a waste of fuel.

It'd taken the folks in Intelligence months to crack the coding around a captured Imperial file that mentioned the planet, so they'd figured that it must have held a weapons cache of some kind.

A dozen snubfighters had blasted into the system to discover...nothing. Well, a lot of volcanoes, but other than that nothing.

"I don't get it," Wes complained when they'd finally landed on Hoth to refuel. "Who puts that much effort into trying to make a planet that boring disappear?"

Luke shrugged, half to keep warm, half in agreement. "Is there a colder spot in the galaxy?" he asked Wedge in an undertone as his teeth beginning to chatter. "Seriously. This is a ball of ice."

Wedge laughed. "You missed the first time we were here," he said. "Bespin's close, too, but it has a nasty Imp infestation we're trying to avoid. Unfortunately Hoth gets better. We have to go out in the cold and put up sensors to make sure no one's sneaking up on us."

Ten voices behind them spoke in unison, "Not it!"

"Sorry, my friend," Wedge said, clapping Luke on the shoulder. "Do you mind?"

"Of course not!" Luke lied, climbing onto a tauntaun and heading outside. "Why would a guy from a planet with two suns mind being sent outside on the coldest planet in the history of anything?" he whined to himself when he was safely out of earshot. He slammed one of the sensors into the snow. "I love it when my nose might fall off."

The wind was blowing in the wrong direction for him to hear the wampa approaching, and the little prickle the Force sent him as a warning was hidden among all of his shivers.

The last thing he saw before everything went black were claws.

Luke had written down several outlines of what he wanted to say to Leia.

He'd also written down a page of Things Not To Say Ever, Ever, Ever and had them in prominent view when he locked the door so he'd have warning if Z was coming in, then picked up his comlink.

Telling his twin that their father was getting remarried. He had a bad feeling about this.

( Yay, Leia! )

[OOC: Preplayed with the lovely trickster_twin. NFI, totally for broadcast, Luke's around in his room after the conversation…]


Fix You - Coldplay

Luke, hair sticking up in hundred different directions, finally uncurled himself from around Jo and went in search of coffee.

And aspirin.

And ice.

And his shirt, which he was positive he'd started the evening with.

He opened the door to the hallway and blinked, temporarily blinded by the brightness of the hall lights.

[For them that know who they are...]

After spending some time removing onion dip from Artoo’s internal systems—Force know how that had gotten there—Luke finally reached for his comlink and made a long-delayed transmission.

Leia answered immediately, and Luke chattered happily on about his workshops—and Tori— and some of the new students he’d met, including Bigg’s cousin—and Tori—and why getting bit by a gremlin had been a terrible mistake.

Leia laughed for a solid minute once Luke explained who Siegfried and Roy were. “It sounds like you’re settling right back in,” she said.

Luke nodded, then took a deep breath. “There’s something I need to tell you,” he said quietly. “I shouldn’t have taken this long to do it.”

“What happened to the shuttle?” Leia asked immediately, eyebrows flying up.

“Nothing,” Luke said, “but when I came back to Fandom, I wasn’t alone.”

Then he told her who’d been with him.

Leia’s momentary silence was the dangerous calm of the Tatooine desert before a wind storm kicked up.

“He’s WHAT?! You WHAT?! You waited how long to tell me?!” she exploded, her voice loud enough to be heard down the hallway.

Artoo moaned and rolled into Luke’s closet.

Luke chewed on his lower lip. “I was wrong,” he said quietly.

“’Wrong’ doesn’t come close to describing this, Luke Skywalker,” Leia spat, her image going in and out of his view as she paced. “He stood there on the Death Star and did nothing as Ald…he put Han into…He’s alive?!”

Her eyes finally focused on Luke’s and the anger in them made him flinch backwards. “I’m coming to see him,” she said, every inch the icy royal. “I’ll be there on Friday. We’ll talk about this more when I arrive.”

Her image shut off abruptly and Luke let out a deep sigh.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” he muttered.

From the closet, Artoo wibbled his agreement.

[OOC: Leia was loud, ya'll. Feel free to knock on the door.]

After the third recitation of Threepio's history of the Alliance, Luke had to get some air.

He slipped out and stared down towards the forest bottom a hundred feet below them, trying to screw up the courage to do something potentially stupid.

Leia's voice came from behind him almost immediately. "Luke? What's troubling you?"

He bit back a wry smile. Of course she'd picked up on that. It was their father in her.

But the other half would be easier to talk about.

"Leia," he said, turning to face her. "Do you remember about your mother? Your real mother?"

Maybe she'd gone with Leia. Vader had never said. Neither had Ben.

Leia gave him a confused look. She didn't, but he seemed to want to know so badly..."Just a little bit. She died when I was very young."

That's what her father had told her.

Luke's eyes lit up. "What do you remember?"

Crap. Leia hedged. "Just images, really. Feelings."

"Tell me," Luke insisted.

"She was very beautiful," Leia said, keeping it general. "Kind...but sad." Something else her father had told her. "Why are you asking me about this?"

Luke sighed and stared off into the mist. "I have no memory of my mother," he said, his tone without accusation. He knew Leia had been making most of her memories up. "I never knew her."

Leia bit her lip. "Luke, tell me. What's troubling you?"

"Vader's here," Luke said. "On this moon." Or near enough.

The color drained from her face. "How do you know?"

"I felt his presence," Luke said quietly. "He can feel when I'm near. That's why I have to go." He turned to face her. "As long as I stay, I'm endangering the group and our mission here." He swallowed hard. "I have to face him."

Leia blinked. "Why?"

Because I promised Rory. Because it's what Ben wanted. Luke finally went with the absolute truth.

"Because he's my father."

She recoiled. "Your father?"

Luke moved closer. "There's more. It won't be easy for you to hear it, but you must. If I don't make it back, you're the only hope for the Alliance."

Leia stepped away. "Luke, don't talk that way. You have a power I--I don't understand." She smiled nervously. "And could never have."

He shook his head. "You're wrong, Leia. You have that power too. In time...you'll learn to use it as I have." He took a deep breath. "The Force is strong in my family. My father has it...I have it..." he looked into Leia's eyes..."And my sister has it."

Leia stared back, realization slowly dawning in her eyes.

"It's you, Leia," Luke said quietly.

"I know," she replied, voice sounding far away even to her own ears. "Somehow...I've always known."

Luke nodded. "Then you know why I have to go," he said.

"No!" she said sharply. "Luke, run away! Far away. If he can feel your presence, then leave this place. I wish I could go with you."

Luke was reminded sharply of Rory only a few days before. He shook his head.

"Why must you confront him?" Leia asked, holding back tears.

"Because...there is good in him. I've felt it. He won't turn me over to the Emperor. I can save him. I can turn him back to the good side." Luke shrugged. "I have to try."

Leia flung herself at him, holding on for a long moment before finally letting go.

There was really nothing left to say.

Luke'd had a nagging suspicion in the back of his mind all of yesterday that something was missing.

When he heard the radio, everything snapped into place.

Vader was gone.

After a sleepless night staring at his comlink and wondering if he was being paranoid, he finally called Leia.

"It's me," he began.

He didn't get another word in edgewise for a solid five minutes, but his eyes got wider and wider.

"I'm on my way," he said. "Give me the coordinates." His expression turned stern. "Leia? This time you wait for me. I have something I need to tell you."

He flipped the comlink off with a sigh, then began packing.

Again.

He had a bad feeling about this.

[OOC: Posted early because of work of doom tomorrow. SP is love for anyone Luke might've handwavily called to let know he was off to face his destiny home for a bit.]

Luke had spent every waking moment since the vision on Tuesday trying to get in touch with Leia on her comm.

And getting nothing but static in return.

It never even occurred to him to leave a message on the Falcon for her.

Now he was perched on the top of his desk, staring out into the darkness with slightly bleary eyes, still hitting the redial.

[OOC: Locked to darthbanthabell, and the images, they won't be happy...]

Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes - Beck